UMass Dartmouth's online bachelor's degree program is ranked #1 in Massachusetts, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2015 Best Online Programs Rankings released today
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UMass Dartmouth's online bachelor's degree program is ranked #1 in Massachusetts, according to U.S. News & World Report's 2015 Best Online Programs Rankings released today.
"Online programs break down the barriers of time and distance for students," said UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Divina Grossman. "For students who are working full-time jobs or have family and other responsibilities that prevent them from attending classes at a specific time or place, quality online programs are critical to them as they achieve their aspirations."
The University's online bachelor's program ranks 55th nationally and second in New England. In 2014, U.S. News ranked UMass Dartmouth 69th nationally, second in Massachusetts, and seventh in New England.
Course registrations, meanwhile, have increased from 2,750 to 4,737 over the past three years, an increase of 72 percent, and by 610 or 15 percent over the past year. Additional growth is projected this year as Fall 2014 registrations were up 36 percent over last fall.
"Online degrees offer students the flexibility they need in their lives. It is UMass Dartmouth's understanding of the needs of the online student which distinguishes its services," said Executive Director of UMass Dartmouth's University Extension Karen Rhoda. "From the provision of advisors and support services to 24/7 online tutoring or financial aid packages, UMass Dartmouth offers essential resources to support the success of online students recognizing that the needs of online students are different from traditional on-campus students."
According to U.S. News new students admitted to nearly all ranked programs are predominantly adults aged 25 and older who have some credit already applied toward their degrees. U.S. News selected factors to compare programs were based on how these programs are being delivered and their effectiveness at awarding affordable degrees in a reasonable amount of time.
All UMass Dartmouth faculty who teach in UMass Dartmouth online programs complete a required training course in online teaching and design strategies. As part of the training, faculty learn to use the UMass Dartmouth template for online courses, which helps students easily navigate from course to course and focus on content rather than finding materials.
The courses in UMass Dartmouth's online undergraduate degree programs and graduate degree programs have class sizes of 20-25 students. This small class size facilitates faculty to student and student to student interactions.
"Faculty learn to use different instructional technologies so to present materials in a number of different ways both aurally and visually. Many of the courses in our online programs are taught by tenure track/tenured faculty," said Dr. Jeannette Riley, who serves as Academic Director of Online Education for UMass Dartmouth and Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. "UMass Dartmouth provides hands on student support services, including access to online writing and foreign language tutoring, library resources geared toward the online student, and an online portal page that links students to support resources across the campus."
Student advising for the online programs, as with our traditional on campus programs, is done by full-time faculty. In addition, online students have the benefit of being taught by the same faculty who teach in the classroom.
At the undergraduate level, UMass Dartmouth online program offerings include a Bachelor of Liberal Arts Degree Completion Program, Bachelor of Science in General Business Administration, Political Science Degree Completion Program, RN to BS in Nursing, and Women's and Gender Studies Degree Completion Program as well as a Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate Certificate Program.
In addition, UMass Dartmouth offers master's degrees in Public Policy, Computer Science and and MBA. Graduate certificates are offered in Business Foundations Graduate, Environmental Policy, Educational Policy, International Business, Organizational Leadership, and Public Management.
UMass Dartmouth distinguishes itself as a vibrant, public research university dedicated to engaged learning and innovative research resulting in personal and lifelong student success. The University serves as an intellectual catalyst for economic, social, and cultural transformation on a global, national, and regional scale.