Two of our region’s major universities have recently unveiled innovative programs designed to help students make the best of academic and real-world opportunities awaiting them.
Along with their classroom teacher, students from Billerica, Dracut and Methuen high schools will have the opportunity to access another academic resource — UMass Lowell professors teaching a variety of subjects, including ethics, economics, business law, environmental science, accounting and forensics.
And Fitchburg State University will soon offer a new bachelor’s degree program in Digital Media Innovation, providing students with a state-of-the-art, interdisciplinary education on topics of emerging importance.
The UMass Lowell initiative’s part of the University of Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Collegiate Academy, an early college pilot program funded by a renewable Incubator Grant from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
“By exposing high school students to college level courses and faculty, we can empower students who may not have considered a college education possible,” said Joseph C. Hartman, the university’s provost and vice chancellor for academic and student affairs. who disclosed the program will begin this fall.
According to Francine Coston, who leads the university’s early college initiatives, UMass Lowell hopes to expand course options and the number of high schools participating in the coming years.
The university’s goal is to eventually offer students different curricula — in STEM, business, liberal arts — to focus toward a specific degree. However, Coston noted that many of the courses offered will fill the general course requirements of multiple disciplines.
That in turn could save incoming students a full year of college costs, including tuition, fees, plus room and board.
“We want to get to a place where, by the time a student graduates high school, they can enter college as a sophomore,” said Coston, emphasizing that while the hope is they choose to become a UML River Hawk, the credits can seamlessly transfer anywhere in Massachusetts and out of state.
Hartman praised the advantages of pairing a familiar high school teacher with the college professor.
“… We’re so grateful to partner with them and with high school guidance counselors to ease the transition to college, minimize costs and launch these students into their careers as college graduates,” he said.
According to Fitchburg State University’s website, degree participants will “develop a wide range of new digital skills that span social media, multimedia storytelling, information design, data studies, and coding to meet the needs of a flexible and changing global economy.”
Matthew Bruun, director of communications and public affairs at FSU, said this novel initiative “offers students an innovative and adaptive pathway model that provides cutting-edge digital skills through hands-on experiential learning.”
Students choose a course of study worth 33 credits, which may include a semester overseas in Greece or Japan and internships.
In addition to integrating academic work with community engagement, students also must complete a capstone project, which will be community-oriented and geared around both scholarship and professional development, giving students the ability to develop a portfolio for future employment.
Although the program will be housed in the Communications Media department, faculty members span multiple university departments, including computer science, earth and geographic sciences, English studies, and humanities.
The degree is federally STEM-designated, which means the coursework includes subject matter in science, technology, engineering, and math, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education’s classification of instructional programs.
Graduates’ skills will allow an entrée into a variety of careers, including journalism, social media management, web development, digital media startups, data analytics, and multimedia production.
Digital Media Innovation graduates will receive a bachelor of science degree unless the student has advanced intermediate proficiency in a world language; in which case a bachelor of arts will be awarded.
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October 14, 2022 at 12:16PM
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Editorial: UMass Lowell, Fitchburg State University offer innovative course options - Lowell Sun
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