Overview
VTalumnNET, an initiative of Virginia Tech President Charles Steger, provides a virtual gateway to lifelong learning for Virginia Tech alumni. Created by the Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning at Virginia Tech in partnership with the Alumni Office, VTalumnNET highlights the exceptional expertise and experience of Virginia Tech faculty, staff and alumni, as well as selected internationally recognized web-based developers, to provide timely and high quality professional development and personal interest educational opportunities.
History
In President Steger's April 2000 Founder's Day address he stated, "I want to see Virginia Tech play a lifelong active role in the lives of our alumni. As a result, I have established a task force to consider how we might best make available computer-based instruction that would be of value in the continuing development of the careers of all our graduates." As President Steger spoke an electronic survey was sent to over 37,000 alumni across the world. Of these who responded, 80% indicated they were either "interested" or "very interested" in taking online courses from their alma mater. The results from this survey indicated that most alumni wanted to take courses to improve jobs skills or for their own personal development. The primary areas of subject interest expressed by alumni were
management, finance, marketing,
gardening/landscaping,
computer basics, and
Civil War studies. In addition, most wanted non-credit short courses where they could work at their own pace with limited or no interaction.
VTalumnNET WebSite
The VTalumnNET website provides complete information on the program, course listings, registration, and support services. It also includes a section with
online forms where alumni can submit suggestions, comments, express needs, as well as endow a course or program. This information will be used to target programming and to continually improve the alumni educational experience.
Course Offerings
Currently, VTalumnNET offers
79 courses on a wide array of topics. Most courses are self-directed, allowing individuals to move through the course materials at their own leisure and to return to the content material any time they choose for up to one year after enrolling. VTalumnNET courses are designed to best deliver specific content information in an online environment. Courses may have different styles and various lengths ranging from 90 minutes to over 20 hours of education. Some courses also provide opportunities for participants to interact online with the faculty member if they choose. The wide variety of courses offered through VTalumnNET includes:
Annuals and Perennials (5 lessons)
Cognitive Ergonomics (6 lessons)
Corporate Downsizing in the U.S. (13 lessons)
Emerging Infectious Diseases of Public Health Significance (9 lessons)
End user Desktop Computing (120 lessons)
Introduction to Bluegrass Guitar (8 lessons)
Negotiating: Closing the Deal (5 lessons)
Principles of Marketing (3 lessons)
Social Aspects of the Civil War (6 lessons)
Study Smart (24 lessons)
Technical MSCE (100 lessons)
Technical Web Development (75 lessons)
The Threat of Bio-Terrorism (1 lesson)
Theory of Structures (6 lessons)
