Certain University of Cincinnati course lists are being diversified to accommodate students who wish to supplement their education.
Distance learning, a program in which the work is done through nontraditional methods, is currently being offered by 10 of the university’s 14 main campus colleges and can be accessed anywhere with an Internet connection.
As of Autumn 2008, more than 2,800 students enrolled in the distance learning program. Although the majority of those who took the courses were from the United States, there were also students who took classes from farther regions such as Kuwait and Belize.
“”We’re working overtime to make sure students get the most out of online education,”” said Eugene Rutz, academic director of the College of Engineering’s distance learning program.
Rutz has been laboring to effectively use the Internet to help students both in college and prospective UC engineers who have not enrolled.
“”We have an outreach for high schools,”” Rutz said. “”We give a pre-engineering course and seven local high schools take part.””
These courses, which are taught by high school teachers, can then have their results and progress monitored by Rutz and other members of the engineering distance learning group.
“”We use distance learning so students in high school can know the difference between civil engineers and aerospace engineers,”” Rutz said.
The program is still being fine-tuned, however.
“”You know how we engineers are,”” Rutz said. “”We like to take our time and get it right.””
The College of Engineering also offers a Master of Engineering plan that, if completed successfully, will allow a student to graduate with both a master’s and bachelor’s degree in engineering within five years.