In an attempt to branch out and expand online learning programs, MSU recently introduced its newly established Global Initiative.
The program, an extension of the university’s already existing Virtual University and University Outreach programs, will target off-campus working adults and other college students who want to obtain multidisciplinary certificates or receive degrees via the Internet.
“We’re taking all the intellectual capital - faculty knowledge, research capabilities - and blending them with MSU’s interest in technology,” said Bruce Magid, director of the initiative. “We’re expanding beyond MSU’s boundaries.”
Magid said the goal of the Global Initiative is to make MSU a top-notch university. He hopes the program will help move the university into the top tier of colleges that provide online education courses and programs.
“If you look at what’s happening in the world, post-secondary education is exploding, especially in adult education,” Magid said. “We’re working with private companies that know how to package, market and distribute material.”
MSU has already been working with the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin at Madison in developing online programs.
“The key to success is to maintain the quality of the educational experience as we move into channels away from the classroom,” he said.
Magid came to MSU in June, after working at a private industry in San Francisco where he provided financial and e-commerce advisory services to companies that were establishing global Internet businesses.
Since then, he’s been meeting with the deans and faculty of MSU who are involved with the delivery and management of the outreach process. Magid has been soliciting their thoughts and ideas.
The initiative will add to a growing Virtual University. Nearly 2,400 students took classes online last year - up 149 percent from 1998. MSU President M. Peter McPherson said earlier this year he hopes to begin offering advanced placement courses for high school students.
In 1999, for the first time, seven students earned their master’s degrees via the Internet.
Kathryn Doig, program director of medical technology, said the new initiative will widen the doors of the Virtual University, expanding the number and variety of people it reaches.
“We have a certificate program in molecular laboratory diagnostics and we’re converting it to a Web-based format,” Doig said. “We have always taught it using two-way television.”
She said the expansion of Web-based curriculum will help reach a wider audience of working professionals in the fields of forensics and agriculture laboratories.
Robert Church, vice president of University Outreach, said the initiative will help tailor MSU courses to the needs of particular businesses or organizations while keeping online content similar to university courses.
“It will look for more overseas students and look at customizing it to the needs of a particular business as a modified course,” he said.
