| Jan. 17, 2012
COPY BY: Rana McDonald, 806-651-2129, rmcdonald@wtamu.edu
U.S. News Ranks WTAMU’s Graduate Online Education Program
CANYON, Texas—West Texas A&M University has been recognized in the first-ever Top Online Education Program rankings by U.S. News and World Report. Recognizing the popularity and growing importance of online education, U.S. News ranked 196 online bachelor’s degree programs and 523 online master’s degree programs in business, engineering, nursing, education and computer information technology. U.S. News developed the ranking lists to provide information to prospective students interested in pursuing an online degree program. Graduate online education programs, with at least 80 percent of their course content available online, were ranked in three areas: student services and technology, faculty credentials and training and student engagement and accreditation. WTAMU’s program was listed among the top 11.5 percent in the student services and technology category with a score of 87.0 and received positive responses for career placement assistance, live tutoring, smartphone app and live streaming video. The University’s 24/7 tech help combined with discussion boards, streaming audio and video and online chat rooms also helped WTAMU score well. In the category on faculty credentials and training, WTAMU landed in the top 33 percent of all universities ranked. The University earned high marks for its percentage of faculty with terminal degrees—90 percent of which have at least two years of online teaching experience—and for its online training opportunities and support available for faculty members. WTAMU fell short in the third category of student engagement and accreditation, ranking in the bottom 20 percent of universities ranked. This category looked at class size, student collaboration and teacher-response time frame, but placed much of the weight of ranking in the area of outside accreditation. Dr. Amy Andersen, head of the Department of Education, said WTAMU’s programs are accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, State Board for Educator Certification and the Texas Education Agency. The department is currently pursuing accreditation through the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) which will help WTAMU’s ranking in the student engagement and accreditation category in the future. “We are pleased with how well WTAMU did overall in this first-ever ranking of online programs but while accreditation can be an important factor, student performance on certification exams as a result of their online graduate program is an indicator not considered in the survey,” she said. “Our online graduate students certify in several fields and in almost all of them, 100 percent of students taking the certification exams pass them with a high score, and we are very proud of that.” The WTAMU Department of Education offers a variety of online graduate education programs in areas that include curriculum and instruction, educational leadership, counseling, special education and instructional technology. For more information about online opportunities, call WTAMU’s Department of Education at 806-651-2626.
—WTAMU— | 