InSpace & CCO: A Partnership That’s Transforming Online Education Experiences
Written by: Johnna Herrick-Phelps, Vice President for Online Education, Champlain College Online
Champlain College Online (CCO) has been a leader in online education for nearly 30 years. Since 1993, the College has offered online learning opportunities to students from all 50 states and around the world. And we’ve been using innovative EdTech not just to support engaging, collaborative online learning experiences, but to improve and evolve those experiences over time.
That’s why our newly-announced partnership with InSpace is so meaningful. Together, we’re setting a new standard for asynchronous online learning by pushing it to an entirely new level.
InSpace is designed to mimic the fluid, personal, and interactive nature of in-person learning experiences where students can create knowledge together through teamwork and collaboration using the first-of-its-kind video collaboration platform. InSpace will give CCO students the opportunity to build relationships through purpose-driven, frictionless collaboration, in a fully virtual asynchronous environment.
Where some institutions have struggled to overcome perceptions that online learning is less engaging than in-person learning, CCO has always had a strong reputation for high-quality, student-centered online programs. InSpace is going to help CCO push this reputation even further by demonstrating just how engaging and fulfilling online learning can be.
Currently, CCO faculty and subject matter experts are incorporating InSpace in their communications with students, peer collaboration, and networking. Our eLearning team and faculty are creating new courses that reshape how online content is designed and delivered with the focus on peer collaboration and teamwork first, resulting in highly-engaging learning experiences. In the next phase of our partnership, we will extend our use of InSpace across all asynchronous courses and the academic advising process as well.
A Distinct and Differentiated Online Learning Experience
With InSpace, CCO aims to take the best aspects of in-person learning experiences – the fluid, personal, and interactive nature – and combine them with the unique offerings of an asynchronous online environment to create a distinctive, highly-engaging learning community where students and faculty are able to foster collaboration, inside their online classroom and beyond.
For example, if an instructor wants students to work together in small groups, they can join visually-connected breakout rooms where the instructor and the students can still see everyone else in the class. Students can easily collaborate around a virtual screen, and the instructor can easily enter and exit the room without disrupting the flow of discussion.
With InSpace, students will be able to communicate in new dynamic ways, create and foster collaboration, and form a connection with their classmates, instructors, and the rest of Champlain’s online community, regardless of geographic location.
In the future, online students will have the option to interact with aspects of the in-person Champlain College campus in Burlington, VT as a virtual campus, further enhancing their online experience. This will include a variety of campus buildings, live event streaming, library spaces, and more.
We’re excited about the possibilities InSpace holds beyond the classroom as well. Our academic advising team will begin using InSpace to connect with students. This will afford students and advisors added flexibility in where and how they engage, and it will enable them to deepen their connections through a natural and engaging online experience.
As online learning continues to evolve, we’re excited to work with InSpace to differentiate the experiences students have at CCO. Together, we’ll support students more holistically and reshape the future of online learning with the use of this transformative technology.
To learn more about this partnership, we invite you to read the press release.