CEHD Advances 19 Spots In Latest Rankings

The College of Education and Human Development jumped 19 spots in the latest rankings highlighting the best online graduate education programs in the country.

The 2018 U.S. News & World Report Best Online Programs rankings, released today, list the college’s online graduate programs at 53rd in the country.

Dr. Beverly Irby, professor and associate dean for academic affairs, credits the advancement to the college’s numerous support systems for faculty development in online education.

One of those support systems is a newly established college-level distance education committee. The committee is charged with ensuring quality in online education. Dr. Joyce Alexander, dean of the college, says this just adds to the longstanding commitment to high quality instruction in the college.

She points to the college’s new emphasis hiring instructional designers to assist faculty in creating the best courses possible. The college is also focused on courses certified by Quality Matters, a standards-based program offering faculty quality assurance in online course design with a focus on continuous improvement.

“Online education is simply the delivery method. The quality of the instruction and the curriculum is equivalent to that of face-to-face courses,” explained Dr. Irby. “We are consistently investing in our support systems to bring the quality to an even higher level.”

Online learning is becoming integral to all types of education, including higher education. This is the seventh year U.S. News has collected data related to online programs and the range and depth of information collected continues to expand.

For this year’s rankings, U.S. News focused on five general categories: student engagement, student services and technology, admissions selectivity, faculty credentials and training, and peer reputation.

For a full list of this year’s rankings, visit: https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education