The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) announced this week that Brian Wilson, instructional design technology specialist, and Christina Yao, assistant professor of Educational Administration, are recipients of a 2017 OLC Effective Practice Award. The award recognizes effective techniques, strategies and practices that are shared by members of the OLC community to advance quality and access to online programs.
Wilson and Yao organized a working group that included Erica DeFrain and Andrew Cano from Nebraska Libraries, and former graduate students Crystal Garcia, now an assistant professor at Auburn University, and Jeff Beavers, now associate director of admissions at Nebraska. Collaborating with EDAD faculty, the group developed the Student Success Center, an early orientation for online students in the Department of Educational Administration.
The Student Success Center is located completely online in Canvas, the university’s learning management system. It provides a foundation to help students learn how to engage in a community of online graduate program learners and helps students become socialized into the department and their field of study. The Student Success Center is designed to reduce students’ feelings of isolation and to make them feel part of a learning community.
Wilson will receive the award on behalf of the department at the OLC Accelerate Conference Nov. 15-17 in Orlando, Florida. OLC is a higher education community of leaders and innovators dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning.
EDAD’s Student Success Center was previously featured in an “Educause” online article and in "Inside Higher Ed." Some of the content from the Educause story was adapted for this article.