BANGOR - Early College programs have proved an effective way to boost the aspirations of high school seniors and encourage them to continue their education.
By attending classes at one of the campuses of the University of Maine System or the Maine Community College System, high school students earn college credit, experience life on a college campus, and gain confidence in their ability to master rigorous courses.
But many young people in rural areas haven’t been able to participate in an Early College program because they live too far away.
Until now.
Starting in September, the University of Maine plans to offer the state’s first early-college distance-education program to eligible high school seniors across the state.
Delivered primarily through a combination of online and video conferencing technologies, Academ-e will offer 14 courses, for both high school and college credit, to students who will be nominated for the 560 available slots. In-person teaching sessions will be offered for some classes.
The idea is to provide another way for high school students to jump-start their college experience and to capitalize on new and emerging technology. The concept is unique in Maine and possibly to the country, officials said.
Through Academ-e, students will be able to log onto the Internet at a time and location of their choice to watch and listen to previously recorded lectures. Those who don’t have a computer with a high-speed Internet connection may use the technology at their high schools. Labs will be done through video conferencing either at UM or at selected area high schools. Any in-person instruction will be at UM. Each semester will begin with a daylong orientation at the Orono campus for all students.
The classes, which cover math, science, arts, humanities and social sciences, include calculus, introduction to geology, general psychology, survey of dramatic literature, and fundamentals of music.
High school principals, guidance counselors and teachers will nominate students whose records demonstrate they are college bound, as well as those who may be underperforming but have the potential to succeed in higher education.
While most participants will be enrolled at public high schools, students who are home-schooled as well as those in adult education diploma programs, GED programs, or private high schools, also will be eligible.
All participants will receive a scholarship to cover one-half the tuition for each course. A National Governors Association grant will pay the remaining half of the tuition for an additional 160 students, while an Excellence in Education grant from the Bank of America will pay half for another 25 students.
Academ-e is tied to the state’s initiative to encourage more high school students to pursue college. That will help increase the number of associate and bachelor’s degree holders in the state, which in turn will work to boost economic development opportunities since businesses tend to locate in places with an educated work force.
Education officials in Maine have long held that technology can be used to ensure every student receives equal opportunity in the face of the state’s rural nature and changing demographics.
“Maine’s public schools, particularly since the beginning of the laptop initiative four years ago, have evolved to the point where the use of technology in teaching and learning is both commonplace and highly effective,” said Robert White, associate provost and dean of UM’s Division of Lifelong Learning. “Those students will be entirely comfortable with the distance learning techniques involved in Academ-e, and they will contribute to the educational process for all involved.”
James Toner, director of distance education for UM, said professors will be available through e-mail and also will hold office hours for chatting over the telephone or through instant-messaging over the Internet. Many of the faculty members who volunteered to participate in the program are department chairs, he added.
Colleen Quint, executive director of the Mitchell Institute, praised the new program, not only for using technology to reach students across the state, but also for including firsthand campus experiences through face-to-face meetings and field work.
“We certainly believe that for early college to have an impact it needs to be about more than academic experience,” said Quint. The high school students also need to interact with college students and with professors so they can see themselves as college-goers and realize what it’s like to be on a college campus, according to Quint, whose Portland-based group is studying how early college programs affect student aspirations.
White said the courses have been designed to promote “real and significant interaction between the students and the instructors.”
“We want to do all we can to assure student success, culminating in a strong start to the participants’ college studies,” he said.
More information may be obtained by contacting high school guidance offices or at www.umaine.edu/academ-e.