Online Teaching at UIS

UIS Online Information
In the last academic year:
  • Students living in 47 states and 11 foreign countries studied online
  • 64.2% of all UIS students took at least one online class
  • 37.8% of online majors pursued UIS degrees from other states or outside the country
  • More than 200 faculty members taught online
  • The average age of our online students was in the mid-30s
  • Online courses accounted for more than 9,650 cumulative enrollments
Hallmarks of UIS Online

  • Integrated into the mainstream academic structure
    Requested and developed by the department, approved through the college and governance structures as part of the normal academic structure of the university.

  • Same faculty teach on ground and online
    The same full-time tenured, and tenure- track faculty teach our face-to-face, blended, and fully online degree programs.

  • Faculty development and support
    Pedagogical and technological orientation, development and support continuously provided online and in person in small group and individualized sessions

  • Data Collection, analysis and research support
    Enlightening decision-making through comprehensive data collection and analysis; promoting best practices and encouraging discovery of new techniques and effective approaches through pro-active research support

  • Online Program Coordinators
    Online Program Coordinators -- an essential role in the delivery of online programming at UIS -- provide support to online students, including student advocacy, problem solving, and informal advising. Giving online students a single point of contact improves their experience at UIS.

  • Small class sizes
    Most UIS online classes are capped at 20. Small class sizes allow students and faculty to develop personal relationships over the fifteen week semester.

  • Low-cost e-Tuition and technology fee
    All students who are enrolled in online-only degree programs and take only online courses pay e-Tuition plus a low per-credit hour technology fee.
    Support office exclusively for faculty teaching online
    The Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning provides broad support for faculty developing and teaching online for UIS. From pedagogy to technology to troubleshooting, the office is a hub for information regarding online teaching.

  • Entire degrees moved online, not individual courses
    Online courses are developed for degree-granting programs, rather than as stand-alone courses.

  • Online student support
    The Career Development Center and Center for Teaching and Learning both offer extensive services for our online students.
Recommendations for Faculty Moving Online

  • Start early
    When you decide to move a course online, start developing it at least one semester before you plan to teach.

  • Work backwards
    Examine your learning objectives and then design your assignments and choose technologies. Let pedagogy drive your technology choices.

  • Adopt technologies incrementally
    Explore many technologies, and then choose just one or two to implement in your course.

  • Focus on student engagement
    Give students plenty of opportunities to contribute to the course and interact with you and their peers. Build student trust and model dialog by front-loading your communication with them.

  • Stay organized
    The key to student success in online environments is a well-organized course structure. Always err on the side over-organizing, over-explaining, etc. Making your expectations clear will help your students succeed.

  • Ask for feedback
    Midpoint and module-end surveys will help you continuously improve your teaching. Make you create a discussion forum for students to ask questions -- try KQS (Keep, Quit, Start).

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