Two new national UCF awards for distributed learning reflect the escalating prominence and reach of the university鈥檚 online programs.

  • The Center for Distributed Learning, along with partners in the Department of Mathematics, today won the Digital Learning Innovation Award from the Online Learning Consortium. The $100,000 award recognizes the program鈥檚 use of digital courses to improve student success, especially minority, first-generation and other underrepresented student groups.
  • Thomas Cavanagh, UCF鈥檚 vice provost for digital learning, recently received the WCET Richard Jonsen Award from the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies. The career-recognition award is given each year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the e-learning community and the cooperative.

    • 鈥淭his is a growing national recognition for the quality of UCF鈥檚 large online program and an increasingly prestigious reputation for the work we do,鈥� Cavanagh said.

    Key to the CDL award was the work of the personalized adaptive learning team overseen by Baiyun Chen, he said.

    Most of the award, $80,000, will be reinvested in the digital-learning operations. Two mathematics faculty members will share in the award. Associate lecturer Tammy Muhs and lecturer Rachid Ait Maalem Lachen, each will receive $10,000, Cavanagh said.

    The consortium said the award recognizes 鈥減rojects that inspire innovation, increase access, support implementation, improve outcomes, enable accessibility and promote sustainability鈥� of digital courseware.

    During the 2017-18 school year, about 82 percent of UCF students took at least one online or blended course. About 73 percent of students took at least one class that was totally online.