University of Phoenix: A Pioneer (continued from cover page)
The curriculum design process is centrally managed. Each college develops a Master Curriculum Agenda annually. This agenda is the product of intelligence gathering from student and faculty End-of-Course Surveys, campus content meetings, and industry surveys. Curriculum outlines are created by teams of experienced core and practitioner faculty members, instructional designers, and academic administrative staff.
Creating and preserving an environment of academic excellence in a rapidly-growing institution in the face of an equally challenging external environment requires significant investments of human and financial resources. Rapid growth, particularly at the Online Campus, has been demanding, but not unmanageable. An institutional commitment to stay ahead of system requirements, maintain academic rigor, and continue to provide excellent student services is critical for the health of the institution, but more importantly of the students.
Student success workshops, student orientations, learning goal seminars, and online tutorials translate well from the traditional classroom to the virtual. The Online Campus constantly reviews processes to ensure students do not get lost in the system. Students receive pre-enrollment training. For the first ten courses, each Online student receives communiqués from an advisor. Recent research on effective student time management resulted in the Online Campus changing the “school week” from Thursday to Wednesday to Tuesday to Monday. This will allow students to make better use of weekends. Student persistence and retention is paramount and drives change at the Online Campus.
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that by 2008, 60% of all college and university enrollees will be between the ages of 18–24. Of this group, at least 75% will be non-traditional students. Online and blended delivery education will continue to grow exponentially to meet their needs.
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