One World Class UMassOnline.

www.umassonline.net

Amherst Boston Dartmouth Lowell Worcester

Millions of Minds

Thousands of Possibilities

Endless Opportunity

One World Class

™

She’s had students from all over world: Peru, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Caribbean islands. She’s had students in the U.S. military who were deployed to Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even on ships aiding Haiti and Chile during the recent disasters.

And none of them ever came to her class. At least not in person.

Which is exactly why Lecturer Shirley Shmerling’s business courses — taught online at the University of Massachusetts — are so valuable.

“Having students from different backgrounds and geographical locations enriches the learning experience,” she says. “For example when we discuss electronic medical record systems, the discussion includes perspectives of [U.S.] patients and physicians as well as the perspective of patients and healthcare providers that live or work in other countries.”

It’s this ability to connect a diverse pool of students from all over the world using advanced technology that makes UMassOnline more important than ever in today’s integrated, global society.

UMassOnline:

The Thread that Weaves People Together

To thrive in a global world, students need to look beyond their neighborhoods,

beyond their borders. This happens every day, in classes offered through

UMassOnline, the online consortium of the University of Massachusetts.

Using advanced technology, students from all over the world are connecting

like never before.

Millions of Minds

“Having students from

different backgrounds

and geographical

locations enriches the

learning experience...”

—Lecturer Shirley Shmerling

Flexibility:

Rosalin, a student in the Early Childhood program, realized that in order for her to successfully string together school with her family and her job as an assistant teacher, UMassOnline was the only answer. “I’m a mom to two, plus I have a step son,” she says. “It’s a challenge, but they see that I’m committed. Once they’re in bed or I’m on my lunch break, I log in and do what I have to do.”

Value:

Not only are the online courses affordable, but there are other values involved with learning online. Students save on time, tolls, parking, and gas by not having to commute to campus several times a week. Online students can continue working at their jobs while still completing their degree on time. And UMassOnline means that students can do their classwork at their own pace without scheduling conflicts.

Quality:

Any program can claim to offer it all. But what really matters is quality. When Elaine, a litigation paralegal, chose UMassOnline to continue her education, her reason was simple: “The reputation of the criminal justice program.” Many of the courses she now takes are focused on cyber crime, her professional interest, which many of her classmates deal with firsthand. “They come from diverse backgrounds: local and state police and social work. Learning the field through their eyes, as opposed to just the paralegal view of criminal justice, has really taught me a lot.”

Accessibility:

The University of Massachusetts may have started as an agricultural college in a small state on the Eastern coast of the United States nearly 150 years ago, but today’s UMass is anything but local — or provincial — thanks to our online programs. With students from nearly every continent in the world able to take classes no matter where they live, and enroll in programs that are highly valued by employers, UMassOnline is truly One World Class.

Busy lives. Full-time jobs. The UMass reputation.

A great value. Every student who chooses online

learning, and UMassOnline in particular, does so

for a different reason.

Millions of Minds

The flexibility is incredible.

And the accessibility

is great. If I put out

a question, there’s always

someone — a professor

or another student —

who is online.”

—Rosalin, Early Childhood Education student

Technology for Creating

21

st

Century Learners

No matter where you are — at home, on a break at

work, or in a café in Tokyo — you can take classes.

But that doesn’t mean just logging in and checking

email. In addition to regular chat sessions and

discussion boards, students also take classes and

connect with one another and with professors

using podcasting, advanced learning management

systems, and web and video conferencing.

Together, these tools make every course relevant

and allow students and professors to connect as

much, if not more, as they would in traditional

on-campus courses.

“I run a graduate certificate program

in environmental policy. We have

students taking the program from

several areas of the United States,

as well as in other countries.

Without the online technology, we would not be able to have the

varied experiences being shared in the course format. For example,

we are currently discussing water distribution issues, and students

are getting a global perspective from the responses, including

perspectives from Florida to Jakarta.”

“These virtual classroom tools were new to me.

That’s one of the biggest reasons I came back.

I wanted to learn new technology. What it’s given

me is greater access to my professors. They’re out

there in the virtual world all the time.”

—Brenda, Bachelor of Arts student

What’s unique about

UMassOnline, and what sets

it apart, is that although we

use the latest and the best

technology, this doesn’t

mean that only those born

after the Internet was

invented should apply. We

make the programs easy to

use. Not only do the professors

make sure that every student

understands the tools, but

our technical support staff

is available 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

Learning Options that

Can Be Woven into Every Life

At UMassOnline, students can choose from a wide

variety of degrees and certificates that provide 21

st

century skills necessary in today’s global economy.

For a complete list, and to learn more about each

program, go to www.umassonline.net.

No matter where you are in your career or your life,

UMassOnline is a great option.

Busy parents:

When asked if he would be able to complete the same degree on campus, Rich, an Online MBA student, doesn’t hesitate: “Not a chance.” The flexibility to do the work on his own time, at his own pace, has been key. “I work full-time in a highly stressful environment, including shift work and rotating days off,” he says. “I am also the father of three children.”

Thousands

of

Possibilities

Students continuing

their education:

Anna’s children are grown. Her theatrical rigging and drapery business, which she does part-time, is well established. But when she wanted to go back to school to study gerontology, she worried that the long commute would be a problem. Five years ago she started taking care of her elderly aunt and uncle, about an hour from a UMass campus and from where she lives. “I go back and forth all of the time for them,” she says, “and so the online program made it much easier. It’s wonderful to be able to go up to my office and sit in the class, not sit in traffic for an hour trying to get to class.”

On-campus students

who want options:

For some students, taking every class online is ideal. But other students prefer “the best of both worlds,” mixing on-campus classes with those online. For Christine, a dental office employee who takes most of her classes on campus, this “blended learning” option allowed her to take a required anthropology course online when her schedule conflicted with the on-campus version. “It was a good way to balance my time,” she says.

Professionals who

need flexibility:

When Salman wanted to go back to school to get his Master’s in Public Health, he knew it was going to be tough. As a full-time physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center with an extremely busy schedule, attending classes and sitting in on lectures on campus was not an option. That’s why he chose UMassOnline. It allowed him the ability to work school around his career. “If I didn’t have the option of these online classes, it would have been very difficult to pursue this degree,” he says. “It would have taken much longer for me to complete my master’s.”

Programs offered through

UMassOnline include:

• Certificates

• Associate’s

• Bachelor’s

• Master’s

• Doctorate’s

A sampling

of disciplines includes:

• Business

• Education

• Public Health

• Nursing

• Information Technology

• Environmental Studies

• Criminal Justice

• many more…

There are 400,000 reasons to be

inspired by UMass. One of them is

Som, who got her undergraduate

degree from UMass Amherst. When

she decided to go back for her

master’s, there was only one choice

for her: her alma mater. “The quality

of UMass is top notch. This school

has helped me build a foundation

for my life,” she says. “And getting

my degree online was perfect.

I work full-time, I just purchased a

house, and I’m planning a wedding.

I consider myself a life-long learner.

UMassOnline has enabled me to

continue my education and complete

it within a couple of years.”

“The quality of UMass is top notch.

This school has helped me build a

foundation for my life.”

—Som Seng, Online MBA graduate

World-class Faculty, Top-notch Graduates:

The Fabric of UMass

When Professor Robert Nakosteen was asked to

teach the first online MBA course, he did it partly

out of curiosity. After getting his doctorate from

the University of Tennessee in the late 1970s and

joining the UMass faculty in 1985, he taught the

traditional way: face-to-face. So he admits that at

first, he didn’t respect the online medium.

“I thought it was a fancy, electronic correspondence course,” he says. “No longer! I think online education, with its flexibility, its use of technology, and its immediacy, is a rival to in-person education.”

The students in the online program are actually more professionally experienced, he says, which makes the experience better for everyone. It has also changed the way he teaches. He now records all of his on-campus lectures. “Students get the same course online as they do in person,” he says. “Right down to the bad jokes!” And Professor Nakosteen now spends more time making his lectures better. “I’ve learned to write answers to pretty complex questions in statistics. It is very different answering a question orally than it is to answer it in writing” he says. “Try to imagine writing down how to tie a shoelace!”

“Students get the same course

online as they do in person…

Right down to the bad jokes!”

—Professor Robert Nakosteen

There are lots of other

inspirational UMass alumni

out there in the world, from

artists like Grammy winner

Natalie Cole

and actor

Bill Cosby

, to business

powerhouses like monster.

com founder

Jeff Taylor

and

former General Electric CEO

Jack Welch

. Current

state representative

Paul

Frost

and former Vermont

Governor

Madeleine Kunin

are graduates, too. Even

America’s best-known

carpenter,

Norm Abram

, is

a UMass alum. Of course,

not all UMass alumni are

famous, nor do they need to

be. There are professionals

like Som, as well as writers,

small business owners,

lawyers, teachers, engineers,

nonprofit directors,

scientists, historians,

analysts, policymakers,

nurses, doctors, therapists,

and activists, to name just

a few. The possibilities are

endless for UMass alumni.

A Degree that is Respected

UMassOnline IS UMass.

Students who take

online courses earn the same degree, attend the

same graduation, and have the same full access to

services such as academic counseling, library help,

and fellowship advising as students who take

classes on-campus. UMassOnline faculty includes

acclaimed professors who have practical, real-world

experience, as well as are leaders in their academic

fields. All students, regardless of where or how

they learn at UMass, are eligible for the same

financial aid. And all programs, online or on campus,

are accredited by the New England Association

of Schools and Colleges. At UMass and beyond,

there is no distinction between an “online” and

an “on-campus” student.

Endless

Opportunity

“There is a fear by some of whether or

not this would be regarded the same way

in industry or wherever you decide to

go, but I have learned more through

the online program at UMass than my

traditional undergraduate degree because

you have to be more disciplined. You have

to be willing to put in the effort. No one

is telling you to do something. You have

to watch the lecture videos, do the

homework, and stay on top of things.”

—Eric, Online Part-Time MBA student

“Online students feels as though they have many

opportunities to communicate with instructors.

The technology provides both synchronous (chat)

and asynchronous (discussion board, blogs, email)

interaction tools, and students use them all! In my

experiences, there is more information sharing in

an online course than in a face-to-face course.”

At UMassOnline, students

from all over the world are

finding a mix of exceptional

programs, flexible options,

and practical value.

At UMassOnline, you’ll find:

• over 100 online degrees and certificates and 1,500

online courses.

• a fully-accredited university with top-ranked

schools and colleges.

• the same degree earned by on-campus students.

• a valuable network of more than 400,000 alumni.

• a staff and faculty committed to meeting the needs

of students, whether on campus or off.

• rigorous academic requirements that ensure a

degree or certificate of great value.

• technical support available 24 hours a day, 7 days

a week through phone, email, or live text chat.

www.umassonline.net

Contact us to

get started:

UMassOnline

333 South Street

Suite 400

Shrewsbury, MA 01545

Phone: 877.MY.UMASS

Fax: 774.455.7620

info@umassonline.net

www.umassonline.net

One World Class

™