The University of Illinois—Springfield is among the winners of the 2010 Sloan Consortium Awards for Excellence in Online Teaching and Learning.
Sloan is an online education association with more than 200 institutional and 700 individual members. Awards were given to schools nominated from Sloan’s pool of member institutions.
The University of Illinois—Springfield’s Masters of Teacher Leadership Program was dubbed the most outstanding online program. During their two to three years in the program, students, most of whom are already employed as K-12 teachers or school administrators, receive financial aid tips from advisers and work with tenure-track professors—not adjuncts—who are eager to apply their teaching skills to the online realm according to the program’s director, Scott Day.
Michael Chitty, middle school principal at Mansfield Christian School in Ohio and a Teacher Leadership Program student, says the course has taught him techniques that have enhanced his abilities as a school administrator. He says that he has been able to balance his life as a principal, father of five, and graduate student because the program accommodates his schedule. “It’s an extremely efficient program—very user friendly,” Chitty says. “The communication with the professors is outstanding.”
The Sloan awards were featured in a September 28, 2010, article by U.S. News & World Report.
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