While its often hard for students to figure out which online programs are good, or not, an increasing number of educators and technology specialists are developing ways to highlight best practices. Converge magazine and e.Republic’s Center for Digital Education, for example, released the results of their fifth annual “Digital Community College Survey” this month. While the survey ranks schools according to size for their outstanding technical support to students and faculty, it also looks at “online registration, distance learning, tutoring and advisory services; technology training for students and faculty; and Web 2.0 and social and collaborative capabilities.”
“Community colleges, year after year, impress us as forward thinking and quick to adapt,” said Marina Leight, vice president of the Center. “Our survey results show overwhelmingly that community colleges are fast embracing cyber technologies used by ‘First Digitals’ fostering collaboration in learning by using tools with which students are familiar. Those institutions chosen as this year’s top community colleges are exceptional examples of this investment in learning.”
The top three colleges in each size group are: Montgomery County Community C.in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, for large colleges; Laramie County Community C. in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for mid-sized colleges; and Panola C. in Carthage, Texas, for small colleges.
For a complete list of the colleges and more info on the survey visit http://www.centerdigitaled.com/
