The University of Fredericton has just passed a milestone, not only for themselves, but for online teaching technology.
The university, which has been fully online for six years, announced the completion of its first full year exclusively using a program called Cisco WebEx.
About 98 per cent of the university’s professors live across Canada and the United States, most of them working for other universities, according to David Large, dean of the Sandermoen School of Business.
He said the school’s students are mostly Canadian, “from all four corners of Canada . . . and everywhere in between.”
WebEx brings these professors and students together in a lecture or discussion situation, allowing participants to not only speak and listen to each other, but also to share files, videos, and slide presentations easily and in real time, according to Large.
The program was originally developed for workplace use, and has existed for over a decade. But last year, the company and the university partnered up to create a new and improved learning experience, providing over 1,000 live classes during the 2012-2013 academic year, he said.
Large said the program has met the school’s expectations thus far, with the university boasting three times as many students as last year, in addition to newly added programs such as Canada’s first social enterprise leadership degree.
“UFred realizes the world has changed and it’s simply not feasible for some students to fit the traditional educational model of in-person day classes into their lives,” Anthony Yu, an alumnus of the school said in a press release. “By embracing online classes and using the most advanced technology tools to deliver them, they’ve made it possible for me to pursue my goals on a schedule that is right for me.”
Rod Murphy, Cisco Canada’s regional vice-president (Atlantic) said in the press release that the university’s work is a “perfect example” of utilizing the Internet to improve learning opportunities to “unprecedented levels.”
“We’re impressed by the desire of the team at the University of Fredericton to work with us and remain at the forefront of online learning,” Murphy said.
