Ken Wiegman, GetEducated.com Distance Education Scholarship Winner is shown with his daughter, Erica.

Susan Hilal, Ph.D., and Cheryl Banachowski-Fuller, Ph.D., Program Coordinators of U of Wisconsin Platteville’s online Bachelor of Criminal Justice and Master of Criminal Justice, respectively, nominated Ken Wiegman to be the 2006 recipient of the GetEducated.com cash award.

Aside from working at the University, Ken is a 20- year member of the Wisconsin National Guard. For thirteen years Ken served with the 229th Engineer Detachment in Platteville. Presently he is enlisted as a Master Sergeant in the 115th Fighter Wing Air National Guard in Madison.

Online degree seekers tend to be older, with an average age of 36. Most hold down full time jobs and assume responsibility for keeping their families running at the same time they study online to earn their degrees. Mobile workers, such as military members, are especially well-served by distance education.

Ken has been in three online graduate courses and is currently enrolled in another one. He logs into class on a daily basis and participates in the discussion board significantly more than the required minimum. Last spring he was nominated to represent graduate students as a voting member on UWP’s Graduate Council. Ken was subsequently voted in by the Council to represent ALL UWP graduate students for the 2006-2007 academic year.

A researcher at East Carolina University needs input from online faculty. His distance ed faculty survey has been designed to gather information about what motivates faculty to teach distance education courses, discourages them from teaching such courses, and possible retention strategies that would encourage them to continuing teaching distance education courses.

As an online instructor, your answers and thoughts are important to this study. Data collected with this survey is to be kept confidential, and no reference is to be made in oral or written reports which would identify you as a participant in this study.

The Teachers College at Western Governors University (WGU), a completely online university founded by the 19 Western Governor's of the United States, has been awarded accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The NCATE accrediting body operates a performance-based system which requires entities applying for accreditation to provide evidence that candidates have the knowledge and skills to be effective in helping students learn. NCATE examined 70 institutions at its fall meeting.

Western Governors has previously received institutional accreditation from four regional accrediting commissions, and has been aided by a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. WGU's Teachers College was designed to address the growing need for high quality teachers through online, competency-based degree and licensure programs. The virtual university serves students in all 50 states, 10 foreign countries, and 3 U.S. territories. WGU has teacher candidates in all 50 states. The average student age at WGU is 36; most (77 percent) are female. Most (85 percent) are employed, the majority of them full-time. 4500 candidates are currently enrolled in the Teacher's College.

Although classwork is done online, Western Governors' Teachers College requires pre-student teaching clinical experiences as well as student teaching in a regular classroom. The university has a placement office which works with school districts to find student teaching placements (called demonstration teaching by the university) and Host Teachers. Clinical supervisors are screened and trained by the university. Candidates spend at least 12 weeks in Demonstration Teaching.

Core Faculty Members - Online: Ellis College, an online branch of New York Institute of Technology for working adults, is seeking core faculty. These positions are located in Chicago, IL office with a remote online working arrangement as an option. Salary + Benefits.

Not sure the online college you're considering is properly accredited? GetEducated.com's Diploma Mill Police sqaud will check on any online college (USA) for you for FREE and report back on that college's true accreditation status. Let a real college counselor check that school for you before enrolling!