U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan recently issued the National Education Technology Plan, which sets aggressive goals for the 21st-century American education system. The plan’s many targets include developing a majority college-educated American workforce (at least 60% of working Americans should have either a two-year or four-year degree by 2020, up from a current 41%), as well as a level of technological and new-media integration into all levels of education on a par with other major industries such as business and entertainment. Other stated goals include a greater shift towards Internet-based learning across the board, a decreased emphasis on student “seat time” and greater flexibility for all students, especially those pursuing higher education (US Department of Education, 2010).

As the nation’s largest university and a longtime leader in online learning, University of Phoenix has been leading the way when it comes to employing interactive technologies in higher education since 1989. Conversely, University of Phoenix College of Education’s numerous undergraduate and graduate programs feature the kind of technology-focused curriculum expressly called for in the National Education Technology Plan, with further enhancements and relevant pedagogy developed continuously.

"Our degree programs address Internet-based learning and are highly flexible, especially since a majority of our students are adults who are also working full time,” says Kathy Cook, M.Ed., Director of Curriculum/Advanced Programs at the College of Education. “We’re always looking for ways to improve our existing programs for current and future educators, including integrating new technologies into our platform, and even offering our students new options to complete their assignments.”

Some of those new options include the ability for some students to submit audio and/or video projects to meet their course objectives—as an alternative to a traditional written paper, for example. The College of Education is also constantly updating its curricula to reflect changing state and national standards for online learning.

The UOPX College of Education currently offers undergraduate degrees in elementary/secondary education, as well as multiple advanced-degree programs that feature concentrations in such diverse areas as Adult Education/Training, Special Education, and Teacher Leadership. “The Teacher Leadership program in particular affords our students many opportunities to engage technology as part of the learning process,” says Cook. The University is also in the process of developing a new online learning platform that will integrate additional media content and that will be more student-centered.

“We’re really trying to model our programs around the media and technology that will become the 21st-century classroom,” says Jackie Mangieri, PhD and Regional Assistant Dean for University of Phoenix College of Education. In addition, several of the College’s advanced-degree programs include courses that focus specifically on the pedagogy of e-learning. “We currently have a module of six e-learning theory courses,” says Mangieri. “These courses can be taken together or individually, and focus on both virtual K-12 schools as well as how to integrate online learning into the traditional face-to-face classroom.”

As a resident of Mississippi, Mangieri also has personal experience with the emergence of virtual K-12 schools. “In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we had schools that were literally flattened,” she says. “Obviously those students couldn’t go to a school building, but the state of Mississippi was able to continue offering education to those students virtually.” The state expanded from that initial basic online-learning platform into offering a wealth of other options, including advanced-placement courses, a state requirement for all Mississippi public school districts that isn’t always easy to fulfill in the classroom due to a shortage of qualified instructors. “Online learning really has grown state by state,” says Mangieri. “Forty-eight U.S. states plus the District of Columbia now have legislative provisions for virtual learning opportunities, while 39 states have state virtual schools and/or online learning objectives,” she says. “It’s all about how to customize schools with the student in mind, city to city, state to state, country to country, eventually reaching global levels of collaboration.”

A new online learning and teaching technology tool is being developed by Cook and others for the College of Education. The Technology Resource Library will be available to students and alumni. Via the use of online tutorials, video demonstrations, and links to free interactive Web teaching tools, the Technology Resource Library will serve to help get more technology into the classroom. “We want our graduates to have more than just a familiarity with these tools,” says Mangieri. “We want them to really affect teaching and learning through the use of technology.”

Kathy Cook emphasizes that online learning isn’t just a short-term trend: “While more and more K-12 schools and universities are adding online programs as alternatives, eventually we are going to get to the point where online learning is the preferred teaching method.”

The National Education Technology Plan certainly echoes that sentiment: “Just as leveraging technology can help us improve learning and assessment, the model of learning calls for using technology to help build the capacity of educators by enabling a shift to a model of connected teaching,” the report says.

References

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, Washington, DC, 2010.