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The University of Maine is launching the state’s first early college distance program, which will give high school students in the Pine Tree state the chance to earn college credit.
The Academ-e program, which is slated to begin fall 2006, will offer 14 college-level classes to high school seniors through a combination of on-line, videoconferencing and live classes.
According to Robert White, associate provost for the division of lifelong learning, the goal of the Academ-e is to get high school students thinking about college.
“Early college programs encourage capable high school students to take university and college-level courses. By promoting upper-level work to high school students, you enhance their aspirations for college.”
In a press release, UMaine President Robert Kennedy said the program will continue to help the university attract the brightest students the state has to offer.
“Year in and year out, we are impressed by the Maine high school graduates who enroll at UMaine,” said Kennedy. “They demonstrate strong academic capabilities, reflective of Maine’s outstanding public and private education programs. We are pleased to offer this program.”
White said it was his idea to establish the program as an outgrowth of the university’s distance education program.
The associate provost said courses offered through his department account for 10 percent of all credit hours at UMaine and high school students have taken distance courses with great success.
He noted that in a recent online calculus course and coastal geology course, high school students earned some of the highest grades in the class.
“It is indicative of the fact that courses are appealing to not just university students, but high school students capable of doing university work,” said White, who added that about 30 high school students within driving distance have enrolled at UMaine as non-degree students.
White said there will be 560 seats in the Academ-e classes. That represents a total of 40 students in each of the 14 classes. He said the seats will be allocated by high school enrollment, using the Maine Principals” Association classification system. Class A schools, the largest in the state, will receive five seats. Class B schools will be allocated four seats, and Class C and D schools, the smallest in Maine, will receive three.
He said that the allocation of seats will enhance the program.
“We will have a mix of students from across the state bringing different perspectives,” White said.
He added that the student nomination process will be handled by the high schools.
“The schools will identify students that are capable of doing university work,” White said.
Students nominated for the program will submit a list of their first, second and third choices for classes based on their academic and personal interests. White said every attempt will be made to place students in one of their preferred courses.
The students enrolled in the Academ-e program will earn dual credit that will count at the high school and university levels. White noted that in advanced placement courses currently offered at many high schools, students do not automatically earn college credits.
“In an early college program such as this one, students are actually earning college credit,” White said.
The university is offering all 560 students a half-price tuition rate and no student fees through financial support from the Maine Legislature. In addition, funding from the National Governors’ Association and the MBNA Foundation will pay the full tuition on a need-based system for 185 students.
All students are expected to pay for their own textbooks.
In a press release, Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the Academ-e program will help ensure “equal opportunities are provided for every student.”
The commissioner said that because of the rural nature of the state, technology is vital to higher education here. She added there will be long-term benefits to the students who take part in the Academ-e classes.
“In order to be competitive in an international market, our students must have these resources available to them,” Gendron said.
White said the program will offer some live components where students will meet in Orono or a regional location for labs or field trips. White said these components will offer students a chance to mingle with their peers.
In addition, each student enrolled in an Academ-e course will attend a one-day orientation session at the UMaine campus. The session will include a chance to meet the program staff and faculty, a campus tour and an introduction to the FirstClass system. The orientation will conclude with all classes meeting for the first time.
White said the first meeting will give students a chance to meet their professor, go over the syllabus and assignments and answer any questions.
“We have designed these courses so that there will be real and significant interaction between the students and the instructors,” White said. “We want to do all we can to assure student success, culminating in a strong start to the participants’ college studies.”
The 14 course offerings will include classes in mathematics, sciences, arts, humanities and social science. There will be seven courses offered in the fall, and an additional seven in the spring.
The courses scheduled to be offered are: foundations of computer science, introduction to geology, introduction to creative writing, American literature survey, college algebra, pre-calculus, calculus I, calculus II, intermediate Spanish I, fundamentals of music, physics for engineers and physical scientists I, physics for engineers and physical scientists II, general psychology and survey of dramatic literature.
Bangor Daily News