Public university becomes first to endorse untraditional online model

About 20 percent of Wisconsin adults have some postsecondary course credit.

Students at the University of Wisconsin (UW) can earn college degrees based on proven competency in a subject, making UW the first publicly-funded school to launch a competency-based degree program.

Led by officials at UW-Extension, a continued learning program with offices located across Wisconsin, the UW Flexible Degree will let incoming students demonstrate their knowledge and cut down on the time it takes to earn a degree.

UW Chancellor Ray Cross and Gov. Scott Walker unveiled the Flexible Degree program June 19 as a way to help Wisconsinites boost their education credentials and fill empty jobs that require a two-or-four-year degree.…Read More

States look to Indiana as a model for online instruction

There's no limit to the number of credits a WGU student can earn in six months.

Washington state could mimic Indiana’s successful model for online instruction if a state legislator’s proposed bill that would make online college classes more available to students there becomes law.

In a Jan. 6 announcement, Washington State Sen. Jim Kastama, a Democrat, said he soon would propose legislation that would form a partnership between the state and Western Governors University (WGU), a nonprofit online school formed in 1999 with about 20,000 students nationwide.

Kastama said teaming up with the Utah-based WGU would be a way for Washington to meet its “huge unmet need for higher education,” especially during the nation’s economic downturn, when millions have gone back to college to attain extra education while they’re unemployed or underemployed.…Read More