ONLINE COURSES & PROGRAMS  

The School of Education offers two fully online Master's degree programs.

M.S. in Curriculum Development & Instructional Technology

M.S. in Literacy: Childhood Education

In keeping with our commitment to excellence, our departments chose to deliver only online versions of already established campus-based courses and programs. The faculty and instructors who develop and teach online classes are the same faculty and instructors who teach on campus. In other words, online classes and programs meet the same high standards and undergo the same process for evaluation and review as do on-campus programs. The goal of our online education initiative is simply to bring our established and distinctive programs to a wider, more diverse student population.

The University at Albany was one of the first campuses to undergo and pass New York State's Distance Higher Education Initiative's Institutional Capability Review process. The University has also been authorized to provide online and distance education programs as part of its Middle States accreditation.

The University relies on its strong partnership with the SUNY Learning Network for the development and delivery of our fully online classes and programs. In fact, the School of Education was the first to put a fully online graduate degree on SLN. Established in 1996, the SUNY Learning Network is an asynchronous learning network of servers and personal computers communicating through the Internet. In an asynchronous environment such as SLN, class discussions are posted, one item at a time, and remain online so that each person sees what all the previous participants have written. This differs from the "synchronous" environment of the traditional class session, a live videoconference, or even a live "chat" room.

By working within an asynchronous online learning environment, we can provide better access to online classes. Online students can "go" to class whenever their work schedule and family commitments permit. Asynchronous learning is not self-paced learning, but is self-managed. Online classes start on the first day of the semester and run until the last day of classes. Progress through each class section (called "modules" in SLN) of the online course is scheduled throughout the semester. Students must finish each module on time. Although they can complete their assignments at any time of the day, students must complete them by specific dates throughout the semester.

SLN maintains all the server space and Lotus Notes software required for online course delivery. They also provide top-quality asynchronous course design, thorough faculty training, and extensive student technical support - all features that are critical for a successful online program.