Alison Koop, UW Educational Outreach
206-685-6344
akoop@extn.washington.edu
March/April, 2007

From supporting lifelong learning for all to forging education partnerships with business and community organizations

University of Washington Educational Outreach as your source

University of Washington Educational Outreach (UWEO) is one of the largest and most highly regarded continuing and professional education programs in the U.S. Helping University of Washington schools, colleges and departments to administer evening master's degrees, certificate programs, distance and online learning, international outreach and more, UWEO is entrepreneurial and innovative in its approach. It employs its own market research department to identify and serve the emerging education needs of industry and society; it can launch new programs in as little as six months. This profile makes UWEO an excellent source on trend stories and emerging needs in continuing and professional education, including the following themes:

• Responding to the emerging education needs of industry and society
• Supporting lifelong learning for all
• Improving access to education for all
• Forging education partnerships with corporations and community organizations
• Employing new technologies in continuing education
• Sharing U.S. expertise with global communities

Responding to the emerging education needs of industry and society:

• Solving information overload: How can we manage information across an organization to make it easier to find and use? How can we implement technology solutions tailored to the individual organization and how people interact with information resources critical to their needs? Offered by the iSchool, the Master of Science in Information Management is a unique blend of IT, information science and business leadership. The program is project-based: students identify problems and design solutions for real-world corporations.
  
  
• Our aging society: Few physicians and healthcare workers have chosen specialties in, or completed focused training in, the medical and psychological issues of aging. UWEO has launched a number of new courses in this area for working healthcare professionals, partnering with the University of Washington Institute on Aging.
  
  
• Homeland security needs: UWEO has launched the Master in Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructures, an online professional degree program designed to train managers in strategic decision-making required to prevent and counter threats to the country's critical infrastructure and public health.
  
  
• Our returning veterans: A six-session weekend course on psychological trauma for mental health professionals offered by UWEO will address the needs of soldiers returning from Iraq.
  
  
• Cyber security concerns: Information Ethics, Security and Privacy, debuting in April 2007, is a UWEO open-enrollment, online introductory course geared to a wide spectrum of professionals. Those wishing to deepen their knowledge after this grounding have many options from a UWEO certificate program to a Master of Science in Information Management.
  
  
• Strengthening K-12 education in the U.S.: UWEO will launch the Master of Education in Instructional Leadership in summer 2007. This program prepares teachers who hold or aspire to leadership positions in their schools in instructional coaching and mentoring, assisting other teachers as they learn new teaching approaches.

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Supporting lifelong learning for all:

• For nontraditional students of all kinds: From the working single parent finishing her bachelor's degree in the evening, to the soldier overseas enrolled in an online course or graduate program, to the student in his 90s who earned a degree in program management, and much more.
  
  
• For adults 50+: The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Washington (OLLI - UW) invites adults over 50 to come together to share intellectual interests via workshops and special events, for a nominal yearly membership fee. Courses range from Go Safely into the Net to Introduction to Murder: The Reality of Investigation and Prosecution. Today, the Bernard Osher Foundation supports 93 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes on university and college campuses in 39 states.

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Improving access to education for all:

• Reaching underserved local populations: UWEO extends beyond its Seattle metro area headquarters, administering programs in small communities across the state. In a partnership between the University of Washington and schools in the Yakima Valley, the UW School of Music is using service learning to promote the musical development of underserved children.
  
  
• Offering convenience and flexibility for busy professionals: Teachers can earn a master's by intensive summer programs coupled with online learning during the school year. Engineers can take advantage of streaming video delivered to the workplace. Business people of all stripes can complete professional certificate programs or earn master's degrees in the evenings. Students all over the U.S. and the globe can pursue online degree programs including the Master in Strategic Planning for Critical Infrastructures (i.e., homeland security in the face of natural disasters and other threats).
  
  
• Providing a public service for all, nationally and globally: UWEO has just launched a new, updated version of BENEFIT, a free, comprehensive, online course developed from a National Research Council Report that answered the question, "What should every citizen know about information technology" and putting it to use in everyday life? BENEFIT was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

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Forging education partnerships with corporations and community organizations:

• The Boeing Co.: UWEO and the UW College of Engineering have partnered with Boeing to develop and present courses in new composite materials used in airline production. The Corporate University Exchange, a national organization, will honor this program with an award for business-university collaboration in late February 2007.
  
  
• Yakama Nation: Engaging the expertise of the University of Washington Business School, the Yakama Nation has established several Small Business Development and Technology Centers on the reservation with a grant from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Native Americans.

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Employing new technologies in continuing education:

• Distance and online learning: Using the resources of the Education at a Distance for Growth and Excellence (EDGE) program at the University of Washington, on-campus classes are recorded and then transferred to the Web, CD-ROM or videotape for students to access at any time.
  
  
• Student interaction with course materials: New strategies and technologies are being investigated for the future.

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Sharing U.S. expertise with global communities:

• Abu Dhabi: Through UWEO, the University of Washington has just launched a series of business certificate programs offered to women managers in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates.
  
  
• Japan: The UW School of Nursing and UWEO have brought Japanese nurses to the University of Washington's Seattle campus for a rigorous, one-week program designed to highlight the latest innovations, ideas and technologies related to nursing in the U.S., with emphasis on comparative analysis of nursing in the two countries.

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