Over the summer we gave you an update on some of the ways Academic Outreach and Innovation uses innovation and technology to advance the core missions of WSU. The team at AOI has been hard at work and we have additional updates to share.
But first, here’s a quick refresher on what AOI is and what we do:
AOI is the division of the university that champions and supports the use of academic technology in a variety of teaching and learning contexts — traditional classrooms, online courses and video conferencing courses. AOI is the home of Global Campus, Learning Innovations, Learn365, Professional Education, and a wide variety of other enterprising programs and initiatives.
With that, here are a few more AOI updates:
New Global Campus Online Degree Programs
The AOI team is continuously working with WSU academic units to ensure that adult learners around the state, nation, and world have access to a wide variety of high-quality educational opportunities and degree programs. Starting fall semester 2019, we are proud to have launched four new undergraduate degree programs designed for students learning 100% online.
New Degree Programs:
- Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology
- Bachelor of Science in Biology
- Bachelor of Arts in English
- Bachelor of Arts in Political Science
Each of these new degrees provide online students with high-quality online coursework designed to help them achieve their unique academic and career goals. We are currently working on adding several more online degree programs to our lineup, so stay tuned for more!
To browse all Global Campus’ online degree offerings, visit our online degrees web page.
Switch from Polycom to Zoom
“As mentioned above, videoconferencing capability in classrooms across the WSU system is a vital service AOI supports through collaboration with WSU IT.” Over the summer, WSU improved upon this capability (sometimes known colloquially as “AMS” in reference to Academic Media Services) by transitioning from on-premises Polycom bridging infrastructure to a cloud-based solution called Zoom. This change provides the university with a more reliable system while modernizing the tools available to faculty and students.
The changes to the system itself are not the only benefits to this transition. Collaborative efforts between the various units supporting this effort aim to improve the support provided to the WSU community, all while reviewing organizational processes in order to increase efficiency. In other words, AOI is continuing to work closely with our partners across the university to ensure the best possible videoconferencing experience for our students and faculty.
Tools and Resources for Online Instructors
We want to remind our WSU community that our Learning Innovations team provides a wide variety of tools and resources for instructors teaching online courses. These include assistance with instructional design and online course development, as well as general tips and tricks for teaching online.
Along with an Online Teaching Orientation for new online instructors, Learning Innovations also offers an Excellence in Online Teaching Course. This self-paced, non-credit course is designed for instructors with limited online teaching experience and focuses on achieving effective pedagogy in an online setting. To learn more about these online learning courses and resources, be sure to visit the Learning Innovations website.
