The stakeholders of higher education are students, faculty, staff, administrators, employers of graduates, the state legislature, research funding agencies, parents, alumni, the local community, and the public. Serving the needs of students is fundamental to meet stakeholders' expectations. The Graduate School encourages faculty to embrace the online learning skill by providing the tuition for 30 faculty members to enroll in Walden Institute's Certified Online Instructor course in 2000. We plan to support 30 more faculty members for the online instructor course in 2001. The online teaching-learning skill can be mastered by online teaching practice after taking the online instructor course.
Online courses are the building blocks of online degrees.
Offering courses online can overcome UAF's disadvantage of being located far away from population centers. The M.A. in Rural Development, approved by the Board of Regents in June 2000, will be offered online in Fall 2001. The M.A. in Cross-Cultural Studies that is being reviewed is designed for distance delivery, but not necessarily on the Internet. Hopefully, it will be approved by the Board of Regents by March 2001. The M.A. in Criminal Justice that is being prepared is designed for dual online and on-campus delivery will be offered in Fall 2001.