Colorado State University-Global Campus (CSU-Global Campus quickly found willing takers when the Colorado State University System Board of Governors opened the nation’s first 100 percent online state university in 2007. Enrollment by those seeking bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, or certificates of completion has zoomed past 13,000 and may hit 14,000 by year-end – a success by any measure. It’s made more remarkable because many work full time but still want to advance their educations.
“First and foremost, we have a focus on working adults, especially those coming back and seeking their bachelor’s degree as well as those looking for a master’s degree,” said Dr. Jon Bellum, senior vice president and provost of CSU-Global Campus.
The school constantly upgrades its curriculum to keep it current with the needs of area businesses – some of which also place their training programs in the school’s hands.
The school is unique in that it’s a “public institution created by the public to serve Colorado and beyond,” Bellum said of its roots in the CSU System. “That’s one of the first differentiators between us and some of the other nonprofits, and definitely one of the main differences between us and for-profit schools.”
CSU-Global Campus also wants to help the 900,000 adults in Colorado who started college but didn’t get a degree. “That’s part of why we started this school, to help them earn that degree,” Bellum said. “In the short term, around 2025 or 2030, about 60 percent of new jobs in the United States will require a bachelor’s degree,” he said, citing a study by the Lumina Foundation, which urges Americans to get college degrees.
The school offers courses in eight-week terms year round, enabling students to earn a degree in less time than at other schools, or more if they so choose based on their other priorities.
“So many of the course portfolio projects give me the opportunity to enhance my current teaching, and invest time and energy in identifying new ways to improve my GED programming that I would not have considered without the assignments for my courses,” said Haley Todd, who earned a master’s of science degree in teaching and learning from CSU-Global Campus while working at Urban Peak as a lead education specialist. She now is a teacher and teacher leader at Emily Griffith High School.
[See “Here’s what CSU-Global Campus is about]
Academic excellence is their student’s success. At CSU-Global, they measure their success by the success of their students. Below is a small sampling of the metrics used every day to improve the academic experience offered, and to best achieve students’ professional, academic, and personal success.
All this and more if you’re interested in becoming a teacher! Now individuals can earn K-12 teaching credentials while earning a master’s degree, thanks to a partnership between CSU-Global and TeacherReady. Today’s K-12 students need dedicated, passionate teachers and this partnership celebrates such individuals – who have the talent and the determination to become great teachers—get trained, licensed, and into the classroom as quickly as possible.
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Special thanks to Dr. Jon Bellum, Provost and Senior Vice President of Colorado State University-Global Campus, for granting permission to publish this content originally published in the Denver Business on Journal on August 21, 2015, via this link. We appreciate Dr. Bellum’s continued partnership to provide select graduate students at CSU-Global an opportunity to earn a Florida professional teaching certificate through TeacherReady.
Sources within article: * CSU-Global Annual Alumni Survey ** CSU-Global Annual Completion Survey *** Ed Pays **** ETS Proficiency Profile
TeacherReady® is state of Florida approved and is the Educator Preparation Institute of the NCATE accredited Professional Education Unit at the University of West Florida. TeacherReady is an online alternative teacher certification program providing teacher candidates valuable theoretical and conceptual knowledge of teaching as well as an opportunity to apply this knowledge in a classroom setting through field experiences. For more information about TeacherReady visit http://TeacherReady.org or connect with current teacher candidates and alumni on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/teacherreadyprogram.
Filed under: Who’s Engaged? Tagged: #altcert, #teacherprep, @CSUGlobal, CSU Global, Professional Development, Teacher, TeacherReady 
