Academ-e Offers UMaine Courses To High School Seniors
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
ORONO — Educational technology and the University of Maine’s desire to provide college courses to outstanding Maine high school students are combined in Acadam-e, Maine’s first early college distance education program. Beginning in the fall semester of 2006, UMaine will offer 14 courses, for credit, to Maine high school seniors. The courses will be delivered through a combination of on-line, videoconferencing and in-person teaching techniques.
“Year in and year out, we are impressed by the Maine high school graduates who enroll at UMaine,” says UMaine President Robert Kennedy. “They demonstrate strong academic capabilities, reflective of Maine’s outstanding public and private education programs. We are pleased to offer this new program, which will give those students an opportunity to access UMaine courses — taught by some of our outstanding faculty members — while they are still in high school.”
Courses come from five broad areas: mathematics, sciences, arts, humanities and social sciences. Among the 14 scheduled courses are Calculus, Introduction to Geology, General Psychology, Survey of Dramatic Literature and Fundamentals of Music.
“Maine’s public schools, particularly since the beginning of the Laptop Initiative four years ago, have evolved to the point where the use of technology in teaching and learning is both commonplace and highly effective,” says Robert White, associate provost and dean of UMaine’s Division of Lifelong Learning. “Those students will be entirely comfortable with the distance learning techniques involved in Acadam-e, and they will contribute to the educational process for all involved.”
While most of the Acadam-e students will be enrolled at public high schools, White also notes that home-schooled students, as well as those in adult education diploma programs, GED programs or independent high schools will be eligible for the program.
“Acadam-e is particularly exciting because it will create access to educational opportunities for students all around Maine, particularly those in rural areas,” says Colleen Quint, executive director of the Mitchell Institute. “These courses will be particularly interesting and effective because they will be delivered in a format that’s engaging and of high educational value.” The Mitchell Institute, based in Portland, administers scholarship programs and works on initiatives that create access to higher education for Maine students.
There are 560 student slots in the Acadam-e program. High school principals, guidance counselors and teachers will nominate qualified students, according to a formula based on school enrollment (five slots for the largest schools, gradually declining to three slots for small schools). UMaine Acadam-e scholarships will cover one-half the tuition for each course . Total tuition for an in-state student, based on current tuition levels, is $552 for a three-credit course, $736 for a four-credit course. In addition, UMaine will waive associated student fees. A National Governor’s Association grant will cover the remaining tuition costs for 160 Acadam-e students, and the tuition balance for an additional 25 students will be covered by an Excellence in Education grant from Bank of America.
Students will take the courses at a time and location of their choice, where the online technology is available. Some courses will also feature in-person instruction, in settings like laboratories. Those course elements will be offered either on campus in Orono or at regional locations
“We have designed these courses so that there will be real and significant interaction between the students and the instructors,” White says. “We want to do all we can to assure student success, culminating in a strong start to the participants’ college studies.”
State officials, noting Maine’s rural nature and its changing demographics, are paying close attention to the uses of technology in the delivery of education around Maine. Education Commissioner Susan Gendron says that technology helps to assure that “equal opportunities (are provided for every student.”
In a videotaped interview for the Maine Distance Learning Project, Gendron spoke in detail about the educational benefits that derive from the use of technology to teach and learn.
“In order to be competitive in an international market, our students must have these resources available to them,” Gendron said.
It is anticipated that students will receive dual credit for Acadam-e courses, earning both high school and UMaine credit. Each semester will begin with a day-long orientation for all students at UMaine.
UMaine sent a letter about this program to all Maine high school principals late last week.