Working professionals can now pursue a Northwestern degree with little disruption to their daily lives.
The School of Continuing Studies has developed several online programs that allow students to get both undergraduate and graduate degrees online.
“The benefits are that people really can be anywhere in the world and attend Northwestern and get a Northwestern degree,” said Tracey Schroeder, manager of marketing and communications at the School of Continuing Studies.
There are two master’s degrees that are entirely online programs, Schroeder said. Currently, the medical informatics program has about 260 students and the public policy and administration program enrolls about 60 students, she said.
For the medical informatics classes, students dial in online once a week to participate in a live lecture, she said.
John Middleton, a former physician who is now the chief medical information officer at St. Vincent Healthcare hospital in Billings, Mont., is enrolled in the medical informatics online program.
Middleton signed up for the class after he was chosen to lead St. Vincent Healthcare’s new electronic medical records system, he said.
“No question, I would never have had the background and skills to even think about the new position without the Northwestern preparation,” he said.
The goal of the online programs is to reach out to adult learners, said Thomas Gibbons, dean of the School of Continuing Studies.
“The programs offer the opportunity to have learning experiences away from the classroom at times that are available for them,” he said.
Classes feature Webinar lectures that allow students to interact online through video lectures in addition to posting on bulletin boards and having access to online handouts, Gibbons said.
Navigating the online systems was difficult at first, Middleton said.
“I felt like a kid from a small town trying to figure out how to get around the university,” he said.
Teaching online is difficult too, Gibbons said. The School of Continuing Studies has a program to help faculty members with technology and online teaching techniques, he said.
“Northwestern does an excellent job as far as utilization of Blackboard and Web access tools,” said Suzanna Schoenleber, coordinator of distance education at the School of Continuing Studies. Schoenleber received an undergraduate degree from NU in leadership and organization behavior, which includes both distance-learning and classroom-based components.
The School of Continuing Studies is also working with Weinberg administration in hopes of expanding online class offerings, Gibbons said.
“We are exploring the possibility of creating some summer classes online,” he said. “It’s important because other institutions have summer programs online, and we think that would be valuable for Northwestern day students.”
Ideally these classes would be offered for the first time in summer 2011, Gibbons said.Online classes are a great option for anyone with a busy schedule, Schroeder said.
“The fact that people don’t necessarily have to take the classes chronologically offers a lot of flexibility,” she said. “It gives a lot more people the opportunity to participate.”[email protected]
