Stevens professor wins Online Learning Best Practices Award
Savitz presents research in e-Learning Effectiveness at Sloan Conference
HOBOKEN , N.J. — In what is billed as the world’s most prestigious distance-learning prize, the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) honored Stevens Institute of Technology’s Professor Steven R. Savitz for his work in the school’s e-learning unit, WebCampus.
Savitz, who directs WebCampus’ graduate Technology Management Program, teaches online and mentors new online instructors. A champion of web conferencing as a key pedagogical advance, he meticulously tracks feedback from students about how well online courses meet their needs. He then benchmarks his data against courses conducted in conventional classrooms.
“As an instructor, developer, program director, faculty coach, and champion of quality in online teaching, Steve Savitz’s performance has been in the best tradition of WebCampus,” said Robert Zotti who manages the school’s online program. “Professor Savitz tirelessly campaigns to maintain online quality.”
Savitz presented the results of his three-year study at this month’s Sloan Consortium conference in Orlando . He showed that once faculty gain deep experience teaching online, student positive response increases substantially and, in some cases, some say their online learning experience is better than in face-to-face classrooms.
He also reported that online and blended learning enabled the school to deliver degree and continuing education courses globally.
An Executive-in-Residence in the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management, Savitz worked in industry for 30 years before joining Stevens, where he was responsible for strategic management, design and development of high-technology products and medical systems. Savitz has worked at Columbia University , Union Carbide, Johnson and Johnson and, most recently, at Becton Dickinson as Vice President of Research and Development. A graduate of Columbia University , Savitz holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management.
USDLA Awards acknowledge major accomplishments in the distance-learning industry. Savitz received USDLA’s Bronze Prize for Best Practices.
About WebCampus
WebCampus.Stevens (www.webcampus.stevens.edu), the online graduate unit of Stevens offers more than 160 courses, 13 masters degrees and 33 graduate certificates, taught by more than 110 faculty. The unit recorded its ten-thousandth enrollment this fall. Students from 44 states and 41 countries have enrolled since it was launched in 2000. Partnerships with prominent professional societies and corporations extend its impact, including new blended programs in China (http://www.stevens.edu/gradadmissions/china.html). In addition to the present award, WebCampus has been honored by the Sloan Foundation as the best online learning school in the nation and by USDLA as the best online graduate school.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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