The Fort Hays State Marketing and Psychology programs were granted national awards in January as they were listed as top online schools.
In its 2013 rankings, Online Education Database listed the Psychology program number six; and the Marketing program at number two in terms of top online schools in the country.
According to OED’s website, their ranking was “based our calculations on the quantifiable factors that we believe contribute to the ideal online learning experience: program cost; full-time to part-time faculty ratio; institutional financial aid, acceptance, retention, graduation, default, and job placement rate; and history of accreditation.”
“We just started offering online classes in fall of 2012,” Psychology chair Jennifer Bonds-Raacke said. ”We are really excited because the courses have just been developed.”
Bonds-Raacke said that the online courses were looked at and given two seals of approval. One seal of approval, she said, was given by department for content. The other seal was given by the Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technology for technology.
Bonds-Raacke added that the curriculum meets learning outcomes set forth by the American Psychological Association.
“We worked hard to make sure that students were getting the same quality education that the department has been offering for years,” Bonds-Raacke said.
Bonds-Raacke said that the main thing that helped them to win this award was the faculty members teaching within the program. “We have well qualified faculty members teaching the courses, ” Bonds-Raacke said. “They have the academic credentials that they need and are devoted to Fort Hays students.”
Dr. Mark Bannister, Dean of the College of Business and Entrepreneurship, agreed with Bonds-Raacke, saying that faculty played a huge part in helping them to earn a national ranking.
“We have multiple adjunct faculty who work in the real world and bring real world experience to the classroom, ” Bannister said. “We have a very forward looking program and a very strong lead marketing professor in Dr. Mary Martin.”
Along with the strength of faculty, Bannister said that “a combination of innovativeness of curriculum…” helped them to get a national ranking.
Bannister said that the ranking will boost enrollment in the marketing program. “It is a very positive ranking and will add to the prestige of the degree,” Bannister said.
The Marketing department will continue to expand on their program as Bannister said that they plan to hire an additional professor to teach both online and on-campus classes.
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