Effective practices: Access

Access to a variety of programs, courses, and learning resources

• Open Source E-learning Platform (Uni Open Platform)
  FernUniversitat Hagen developed Uni Open Platform, which is a complete e-learning environment tailored for educational institutions. -- more
  
• Facilitating Access by Reducing the Need for Plug-ins
  University of Illinois - Springfield uses Impatica to eliminate the need for plug-ins by converting PowerPoint lectures into streaming Java presentations. -- more
  
• Course Information Access for Prospective Students
  Northern Virginia Community College employs several strategies to provide online course information for prospective students. -- more
  
• Continuous Enrollment and Expandable Course Sections
  Northern Virginia Community College offers continuous enrollment throughout the semester and expandable course sections to improve access. -- more
  
• Flexible Enrollment Options
  Flexible enrollment options at Washington State University offer learners choices and control of their pace of learning. -- more
  
• Using Streaming Technologies to Publish Course Descriptions, Faculty Bios and Student Testimonials
  Washington State University's Distance Degree Programs unit produces and publishes course previews, faculty bios and student testimonials in close-captioned streaming audio with revolving photos, allowing students an opportunity to quickly and easily see and hear the fine details of WSU-DDP online courses. -- more
  

• An Online Foundation for Course Content: Virtual Textbooks, Web Hot Spots, and Weekly Newsflashes
  University of Massachusetts Lowell offers The Virtual Textbook (VT), which provides valuable online resources to the students. -- more
  
• Modeling Experiential Learning and Exemplary Standards
  Harvard University illustrates that modeling experiential learning and exemplary standards can provide effective learning experiences. -- more
  
• A Consortial Approach to Providing Online Electronic Library Resources
  Maryland Digital Library (MDL) helps Maryland higher education institutions by providing access to essential library services and information. -- more
  
• Discipline-Specific Online Writing Lab with 24/7 Access and Asynchronous Peer Tutoring
  The Rogue Community College Online Writing Lab is a unique, multi-discipline, online writing assistance resource designed to equalize access for all students, across all digital boundaries. Its design and content is flexible and transferable, and provides a cost-effective vehicle for addressing a variety of needs at myriad institutions. -- more
  
• Open Access to Scientific Journals Online = More Equitable Access
  At Davidson College, open-access scientific journals provide improved and more equitable access to primary research papers as learning resources. Using primary published research results can enhance student learning by supporting instructional strategies which emphasize development of critical and other higher-order thinking skills. -- more
  
• Creating Skilled Lifelong Global Learners: Fairleigh Dickinson's Distance Learning Initiative
  Fairleigh Dickinson University requires all of its undergraduates to take one online course per 32 credits of study. -- more
  
• Faculty-Staff-Student Partnerships Support Production of Learning Objects
  Atlantic Cape Community College trains Digital Media Assistants to produce reusable and shareable learning objects for online courses. -- more
  
• Integrated Laboratory Network: Better Access to Scientific Instrumentation
  Western Washington University's Integrated Laboratory Network (ILN) provides access to scientific instrumentation and expertise anytime, and from anywhere by allowing students and researchers to operate instruments located at different campus locations from any Internet-equipped computer. The ILN also enables direct exchange of information, data, access to expertise, and classroom material. The ILN is conceived as a model for the virtual laboratory of the future, enabling learners and teachers to apply the philosophy that science is a dynamic, iterative, ongoing, and collaborative process. -- more
  
• Used Books: Buying and Selling Made Easy
  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's undergraduate course list page allows students to buy or sell back their books online. -- more
  
• Preparing Students to Succeed: Online
  Boise State University's IPT Department's "boot camp" is an asynchronous online training program that teaches students the technical and asynchronous learning skills. -- more
  
• Chemistry Laboratories for Science Majors in Distance Learning Courses
  Northern Virginia Community College's distance chemistry courses use home laboratories, computer exercises, field trips, and college laboratories to improve access and learning experience. -- more
  
• Virtual Electronics Laboratories
  The virtual microelectronics laboratory at the University of Virginia uses visual representations of microelectronics devices to help students internalize concepts. -- more
  
• Virtual ChemLab
  Brigham Young University's Virtual ChemLab simulates a complete instructional laboratory environment to provide learners with effective laboratory learning experiences. -- more
  
• Electronic Portfolios in a Teaching Credential Program
  The University of California-Riverside (UCR) Graduate School of Education uses ePortfolios in its teaching credential program. -- more
  
• Online Case-Based Role Play: The Doctor's Dilemma
  The Doctor's Dilemma interactive medical ethics program uses text- and photo-based material to explore "complex or controversial issues found in contemporary medical practice." -- more
  
• Connecting Graduate Students to Virtual Guests Through Asynchronous Discussions
  At a Rice University graduate-level College of Education course titled "Integrating Technology into the Curriculum," virtual guest speakers/experts were invited to address a variety of educational needs through web-based conferencing and discussion forums, providing unique opportunities for higher education faculty to rethink the resources that are available to them and re-envision their pedagogical techniques. The virtual guests hosted asynchronous interactive discussions with students in the course for a specified period of time. These technologies provided students with the ability to interact with guests in new ways by expressing individual concerns and discussing them without time and place constraints. -- more
  
• Courselets: Improving Learning Resource Access
  Stanford University offers courselets, self-contained, integrated sets of learning materials, to enhance the learning experience for students and reduce the demand for faculty time. -- more
  
• University System-Wide Access to Online Learning Communities
  State University of New York Learning Network's courses emphasize the importance of interactions between student and faculty and increase student access to available learning resources. -- more
  
• Anytime Anywhere Chemistry Experience
  Home-based science laboratories enable The University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) to offer lab-based science courses in online and hybrid formats. -- more
  

• Graduate Engineering Certificate Programs Online: University/Association Partnership
  Stevens Institute of Technology, in partnership with several scholarly global organizations, offers several online engineering certificate programs. -- more
  
• mLearning: Mobile Learning: A University In Your Pocket?
  Two pilot projects at the University of Helsinki demonstrate the potential of mobile learning to increase access to learning opportunities and resources. -- more
  
• University/Industry Partnership
  Pace University formed a partnership with CAEL and the telecommunications industry and collaborated on a degree that benefits telecommunications employees, their employers, and the University. -- more
  
• Access Means A Smooth Connection to Information, Programs, and Services.
  Pennsylvania State University World Campus website responds appropriately to users, emphasizes service, and projects a distinctive identity. -- more
  
• Instructor-Led Online Learning for Adult Voluntary Learners
  Rochester Institute of Technology demonstrates that instructor-led online learning is an effective way for "non-traditional responders" to acquire "just in case" job-related knowledge. -- more
  
• Visualizing the Enrollment Procedure
  By summarizing the enrollment procedure in a flowchart, Boise State University simplifies the registration process. -- more
  

• Re-Creating the Studio-Based Model Online for Art and Design Education
  Minneapolis College of Art and Design's Distance Learning Initiative creates online design education courses that retain the essential elements of traditional studio courses. -- more
  
• Web-Based Doctor of Pharmacy Pathway: Expanding Access to Underserved Populations
  Creighton University's web-based Doctor of Pharmacy Pathway provides a new full-time educational method to obtain a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. -- more
  
• Establishing Engineering Technology Online Degree Programs
  The University of Toledo's collaborative partnering approach enables UT to offer engineering technology degree programs online statewide. -- more
  
• Applying an Instructor-Led, Cohort-Based Model to Corporate Online Learning
  FCIB, an association of executives in finance, credit, and international business, and Michigan State University Global (MSU Global) recently formed an innovative partnership to create a new online certification program in international credit and risk management. -- more
  
• E-Service: Creating Experiential Service Learning Opportunities for Online Courses
  Bemidji State University's Distributed Learning in Teacher Education (DLiTE) program infuses Service learning opportunities into its online courses, enabling students to make connections between service and academics. -- more
  
• Library and Information Science
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers LEEP3, a site-independent distance education scheduling option for the Master of Science degree, to create a significant difference in the way students participate in a rapidly changing profession. -- more
  
• Offering Environmental Studies Online
  The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) Extension offers several environmental education courses in online and hybrid formats. -- more
  
• MA in Historic Preservation: Off-Campus Program w/Hybrid Courses
  Goucher College's distance education program in Historic Preservation is a hybrid program course that requires one in-person introductory meeting. -- more
  
• Distance Learning Faculty Specialists Bridge the Gap between Faculty and Administration
  The Distance Learning Faculty Specialist (DLFS) model, developed by Eastern Oregon University, is an effective way to involve faculty in distance education. -- more
  
• Summer Online Courses
  James Madison University's(JMU) Center for Instructional Technology developed fully online summer courses that have increased the number of online course being offered by the university, as well as increase revenues. Additionally, through the creation of a Faculty Summer Institute Program that is the catalyst for the development of these summer online courses, JMU faculty have enhanced their online teaching skills. -- more
  
• Professional Design Education and Opt-in Hybrid Course Migration Model
  Boston Architectural Center has utilized various innovative approaches to incorporating online delivery into the core work of studio-based learning. -- more