Keith Hoell, Briarcliffe College, Director of Online Education
Technology Training Increases Access To Education
- Academic rigor is broadened and accessibility to education made easier when technological requirements are the same
across the institution, regardless of whether students take classes online or in a classroom. - One challenge of technology in higher education is ensuring that staff have basic troubleshooting skills to ensure that students can connect to courses and resources, regardless of the technology or equipment they use.
“Engaging students is really important from a retention aspect and also helps drive students to take online classes. I don’t think a student wants to take an online class just to post to a discussion board once a week.”
Keith Hoell, director of Online Education for Briarcliffe College, not only works with fellow academic administrators to ensure academic oversight, but is also charged with ensuring technological access to all Briarcliffe’s courses, both online and in the traditional brick-and-mortar ground classroom environments. “We run online classes for a mixed population, for both ground and completely online students. We have students who have disabilities. We have students who have never stepped foot in the state of New York before, where Briarcliffe College is located. We provide education to students outside the State and to those in other states who graduate from completely online programs for associate and bachelor’s degrees. Then, we have students who live in New York State who also have never set foot on our campus.”
This is an excerpt from Expanding Educational Opportunity. The eBook was generously sponsored by Blackboard.
