Continuing Education with Online Courses at UW-River Falls

By Kelly Sather

Jan. 31, 2011—The University of Wisconsin-River Falls, in partnership with Education To Go, offers a variety of online classes through the university’s Outreach program.

The program reaches out specifically to people with a common interest, a continuance of education. Whether this continuance is targeted towards business professionals, educational professionals, or community members, there is likely a course offered to meet the wants and needs of any individual.

In the academic year 2009-10, UWRF’s Outreach program had 51 registrations for their newly-offered noncredit classes. Classes begin each month with the next round of classes beginning Feb. 19.

Outreach also coordinates two graduate certificates that are offered completely online, Technology for Educators and Alternative Education. During the 2009-10 academic year, there were 18 and 40 registered students for classes in each program, respectively. Most of these courses are offered to meet licensing requirements of the Wisconsin Department of Instruction.

“Typically we hear that these classes are most appealing to teachers who live outside of driving distance to the university,” notes Deb Wulf, professional and continuing education administrative specialist at UWRF.

Students that were surveyed who have previously taken online courses agree that these courses are more convenient, fit better in their schedules, and are more affordable. A majority of these students also say that the price for the quality of their experience was just right and 96.5 percent said that they plan to take another online course in the future.

For more information, visit https://www.uwrf.edu/ContinuingEducation/, email outreach@uwrf.edu or call 715-425-3256 or 800-228-5607.