AUSTIN – As University of Texas institutions opened their classes this fall, thousands of students took their seats without ever visiting a campus. Instead, they logged into their online classrooms through the UT TeleCampus (UTTC). The UT TeleCampus facilitates the delivery of online degree and certificate programs from University of Texas System institutions.
Since launching in 1998, online enrollments have gone from 189 to this fall semester’s record count of more than 5,000. The popularity of online learning in the UT System is not an anomaly. According to the Sloan Consortium, more than 3.2 million students are learning online in the United States. Since opening these online classroom "doors," the UT TeleCampus has served more than 50,000 enrollments.
“Our growth illustrates the increased demand for access to high-quality educational opportunities in addition to a traditional campus environment,” said Dr. Darcy W. Hardy, assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and executive director of the UT TeleCampus. “We are proud to provide innovative programs and serve the students of Texas in a flexible format that meets their needs and career goals.”
While the enrollment for the UT TeleCampus continues to climb, the quality of the online programs consistently remains high. Recently, the U.S. Distance Learning Association presented the UT TeleCampus with the 2007 21st Century Award for Best Practices in Distance Learning - Higher Education. The UT TeleCampus received the prestigious award based upon contributions that have helped change the landscape of distance learning.
Currently, students studying online via the UT TeleCampus can select from more than three dozen online degree and certificate options as well as freestanding courses across varied curricula. The majority of students are from Texas, but most U.S. states and more than 30 countries are represented in the student body. Students range in age from 17 to more than 65 years old.
Demographics from spring 2007 indicate the largest population by age group was 20-25 year olds at 32 percent, followed by 26-30 year olds at 24 percent and 31-35 year olds at 14 percent of the student body. Traditional undergraduate students ages 17-19 only comprised 3 percent of the UTTC population.
Surveys of UTTC students indicate more than half of the respondents would not be involved with the UT System were it not for the online option. One such student, Sheryl Holliday, a UT Pan American student in the Master’s in Kinesiology online program, is a police officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The nature of her job in Saskatchewan, Canada, led her to explore this option. “I knew there was a possibility of a transfer before I completed the degree, and I didn’t know if my next placement would be near a university,” Holliday said. “The interaction between classmates has been extremely rewarding, and helps me realize I’m not alone in the struggle to juggle my home life, my work life and my school.”
For more information see www.uttc.org
The University of Texas System is one of the nation’s largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $10.7 billion (FY 2008) including $2.3 billion in research funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Student enrollment exceeded 190,000 in the 2006 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 80,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.
