- Amherst College announced it is preparing for the fall semester by bringing some of its highest enrollment courses online through a partnership with 2U Inc (NASDAQ: TWOU)
Amherst College announced it is preparing for the fall semester by bringing some of its highest enrollment courses online through a partnership with 2U Inc (NASDAQ: TWOU) — which is a global leader in education technology. Amherst faculty are reimagining their larger lecture-style courses in a high-quality online format featuring the support of 2UOS Essential. 2UOS Essential is 2U’s bundled solution to help colleges and universities build, deliver, and support a hybrid learning experience this fall.
Amherst recently laid out a plan for students, faculty, and the wider college community for safely returning to campus in August. And as part of that plan, courses with over 35 students will be held online while large lecture halls will be used for medium-sized classes, and medium-sized classrooms will be used for small class sizes. 2UOS Essential is going to give Amherst the critical services to seamlessly bring the selected classes online while ensuring effective pedagogy and ongoing tech support.
These tools includes:
1.) Faculty Training — Faculty will receive support and guidance from 2U’s experts in online course design to apply online teaching best practices for building online courses. And this includes instructional design workshops and reviews as well as step-by-step guides and tutorials.
2.) Video Production via Studio in a Box — Faculty are going to create engaging recorded video content at home and on their own schedule with 2U’s support and expertise. And this includes all the production equipment needed to create high-quality asynchronous videos and detailed tutorials.
3.) Online Campus — 2U’s LMS utilizes a scalable and highly reliable secure cloud infrastructure. The mobile-friendly platform enables synchronous learning and collaboration through LTI-based Zoom integration.
4.) Student and Faculty Support — Once courses are up and running, students and faculty will have access to real-time support to assist with platform log-in, enrollments glitches, or any other technical problems that may arise.
Key Quotes:
“Students have come to Amherst College for 200 years in order to experience a rich liberal arts education rooted in the intellectual and social relationships that students build with their peers and Amherst faculty. While in-person interaction will always be core to who we are, we believe that we can bring the Amherst experience to life online for certain courses this fall with the support of 2U.”
-Provost and Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein
“2U is leveraging over a decade of experience to help Amherst bring the best of its liberal arts teaching online for the upcoming school year. COVID-19 has accelerated the trend toward blended education that combines the rigor of traditional campus-based education with the flexibility of a proven technology platform and world-class student and faculty support.”
-2U Co-Founder and CEO Chip Paucek
“The most important work to create high-quality online education happens well before the first day of classes. We’ve already started a collaborative process with Amherst’s faculty and administrators putting the building blocks in place to ensure a robust online education experience for both faculty and students this fall.”
-2U Senior Vice President of University Relations Nathan Greeno
