UF Online releases fourth annual report detailing a year of growth

GAINESVILLE, FL – UF Online has unveiled its fourth annual report, recapping a year of tremendous growth and new initiatives for the University of Florida’s online undergraduate program.

Over 3,500 students are taking advantage of UF Online’s custom, flexible academic pathways. With 20 degrees to choose from, the program offers vast opportunities for career advancement and the pursuit of higher education. More than 1,200 students have graduated from UF through the UF Online pathway.

“We are incredibly proud of UF Online’s advances this last year in providing a rigorous, engaging and top-tier academic program for all students,” says Evangeline Tsibris Cummings, Assistant Provost and Director of UF Online. “The future is bright as we look forward to continued expansion to serve even more students with the best online undergraduate experience.”

The 2017-2018 academic year was fueled by a continued commitment to the academic core of the program, which resulted in several memorable achievements. Some of UF Online’s accomplishments from the last year include the following:

— Employer Pathways Program. UF Online launched this new initiative, which allows employees of Discover Financial Services, Walmart, and The Walt Disney Company to apply their company’s education benefits to select UF Online degrees. This initiative broadens UF Online’s access to working adults who aim to earn their undergraduate degrees while working full-time.

— New efforts in course production. The Center for Online Innovation and Production (COIP) has formed collaborative partnerships with faculty to help foster an innovative and dynamic learning experience for students in all courses. In 2017-2018, COIP developed 34 new courses and updated 15. They also implemented mid-course and end-of-course surveys to gather real-time student feedback and created a library of course designs and options to share with faculty, among other efforts.

— Initiatives in STEM courses. UF Online funded the UF Physics Department’s recruitment and hiring of a lecturer and curriculum developer with experience in online STEM education to focus on online Physics course development. Through the newly created IOLab, experiment material kits were shipped to students so they could collect and analyze authentic data in their homes as part of UF-developed lab experiments.

Here’s an overview of the 2017-2018 year by the numbers:

— This past year, the number of UF Online courses has increased from 313 to 489.

— Over 300 UF faculty in 13 colleges design and teach their courses, ensuring online students receive the same prestigious education as their on-campus counterparts

— UF Online has maintained the exceptional ratio of 1 advisor for every 250 online students.

— In Fall of 2017, UF Online introduced three new majors – Microbiology and Cell Science, Fire and Emergency Services, and Communication Sciences and Disorders.

For more details on UF Online’s 2017-2018 academic year, please see the annual report.