Katherine Louthan, dean of the School of Adult and Online Education, recently wrote an article for University Business about what other institutions can learn from Maryville’s model for fully online programs to ease the transition to hybrid and virtual learning experiences.
One excerpt: “The growth of online education in general, and the disruption caused by COVID-19, have increased awareness of the role and importance of learning design teams. We have found that a learning design team devoted to helping faculty members create meaningful learning experiences frees the faculty to focus on the content and teaching instead of spending all their time on how to best translate the material into an online format.
For instance, Maryville criminology professor Geri Brandt worked with our learning designers and production studio team to create an impressive investigation experience that utilizes 360-degree camera technology to create a staged crime scene that students can interact with virtually. Our criminology department has also created a ‘choose your own adventure’ experience in which students respond to dispatch and make a series of choices that lead to different outcomes. Such creativity and innovation were possible in part because our faculty have a talented team of professionals to complement their approach and expertise.”