Blackboard Ultra Base Navigation is here! Learn more at the Blackboard Learn Ultra Transition webpage.
Prospective Students: Check out our viewbook!
Education Trends
We are excited to announce the date of the highly anticipated 12th Digital Education Summit (#DES23)! The summit is scheduled to take place on Friday, September 22, 2023. This free one-day event is dedicated to promoting the best practices and methodologies in online education.
Online Program Insights
Supporting academic success in online learning is a crucial part of this growing and ever-evolving mode of education. Online education has been on the rise in recent years and has seen a significant boost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the widespread availability of high-speed internet and the proliferation of online learning platforms, online education has become more accessible and convenient for learners of all ages and backgrounds.
Voices of Online Students
This piece by doctoral student Diana Lopez is the first of several articles submitted by students following our call for submissions in the February issue of SHSU Online Newsletter. We hope that these student voices will help faculty and staff members better understand our students' perspective on their various online learning journeys.
Tools and Services
Open Educational Resources, also known as OER, are pedagogical materials intentionally created to reside in the public domain or exist under an open license. OER material varies in presentation, occurring in many forms and mediums.
Training/Faculty Development
In support of digital teaching and learning in The Texas State University System, SHSU Online is hosting the annual TSUS Faculty Development Day for Digital Education.
Online Program Insights
In Academic Year 2021, SHSU Online partnered with the College of Criminal Justice to reimagine the design and delivery of online, undergraduate CJ courses. The result was a new online course design framework locally dubbed as “premium.”.
Training/Faculty Development
Blackboard Learn Ultra is an evolving learning management system with noticeable improvements since its first debut in May of 2022. In addition, the development team at Anthology considers feedback from the Blackboard Community into account as it has worked on the software.
Welcoming New Staff
The 24/7 Online Support Desk would like to introduce Alissa Cavazos. Alissa is joining the Online Support Desk as a Technology Support Analyst.
The Texas State University System is leading online education into the future. As of Fall 2016, among 37 public four-year institutions of higher education in Texas, TSUS institutions represent 12 percent of semester credit hours attempted online.
As of Fall 2018, among the six public university systems in Texas, TSUS leads the way in the percentage of students pursuing their degrees fully online, with 14%. The Texas State University System is uniquely positioned to move forward as the state’s leader in online education. Courses and degree programs offered online are increasingly important tools within the Texas State University System to address issues of both college access and student success. TSUS institutions plan to increase online education opportunities to support the growing interest among Texas students and families.
While colleges and universities have been facing overall declines in enrollment in recent years, distance (online) education has been the exception. As of Fall 2019, among the six public university systems in Texas, TSUS continues to lead the way in the percentage of students pursuing their degrees fully online, up 1% from last year with 15%. Making online education a priority is an appropriate response to the rapid growth in online programs nationwide.
2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenges—for higher education and for virtually every other part of American and global society. With the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic early in the year, which also brought a powerful economic disruption with it, 2020 is a year we will never forget. The implications for higher education are profound. This report will demonstrate the many ways in which the Texas State University System and its institutions have responded to the unique challenges of 2020 and will provide a glimpse of how we will continue to address those challenges in the years to come.
With the pandemic-driven increase in online education over the past year, a growing focus has developed on the quality of the experience in TSUS institutions. The quest for higher quality has taken several forms, from online departments finding new ways to expand or partner with academic service departments to addressing a growing need for online tutoring to thoughtful redesigns of online courses, which include inclusive content, greater ADA compliance, and recognition of disparate student learning styles.
As of the Fall semester of 2022, approximately one-third of students across TSUS institutions are studying exclusively online. Through the TSUS shared services initiative, our institutions are fostering collaboration to seize the moment. Over the past year, two additional System institutions—Lamar State College Orange and Lamar State College Port Arthur—have been brought into the shared ecosystem already being used by Sam Houston State University, Sul Ross State University, and Lamar Institute of Technology