Forbes names UIS a best affordable online college

The University of Illinois Springfield has been named to Forbes’ Best Affordable Online Colleges list for 2023.

According to Forbes, UIS made the list because it has offered distance learning programs to students around the country for more than two decades. Forbes also noted that UIS offers a low net price per year, has a high online retention rate and offers mental health/counseling services to online students.

Vickie Cook elected to the Board of Directors of the Online Learning Consortium

University of Illinois Springfield Vice Chancellor for Enrollment & Retention Management Vickie Cook has been elected to the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) Board of Directors.

OLC is a collaborative community of higher education leaders and innovators, dedicated to advancing quality digital teaching and learning experiences. It has approximately 800 member institutions.

Regular and Substantive Interaction

Summary

Due to federal financial aid eligibility for students, UIS instructors must engage in regular and substantive interaction with students in online courses. The definition of distance education from the U.S. Congress and guidance on regular and substantive interaction from the U.S. Department of Education are general and discussed in detail below.

Developing & Sharing Course Content

A GOLD course is a special type of course site that is used for developing, updating, and sharing content. GOLD courses can be used to develop and update course content for a single instructor or with multiple instructors teaching the same course. GOLD courses allow content standardization across multiple sections, which may be useful for accreditation and assessment purposes. The content can be copied into course shells for each term.