Distance and Online Education

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Continuing & Distance Education offers courses in many disciplines throughout the year. Courses are delivered through various technologies and formats including online via internet, or intranet, video conferencing, and video streaming technologies and combinations of these systems. Depending on the technology utilized, students participate in the class “live” or asynchronously through materials archived online.   

Distance Education satisfies the needs of a diverse student population as near as the University of Maine and as far as the most remote international location. Distance Education technologies offer maximum flexibility, allowing students to plan courses around their demanding schedules. Technology brings previously inaccessible courses to many more students, facilitating degree completion for some and opening new learning pathways for others.   

Online. Asynchronously delivered online and archived video streaming courses offer students significant flexibility for anywhere anytime access. Regardless of the time (or time zone) students may access courses at their own convenience via the Internet.  First time users should go through the online orientation to be sure they understand the nature and requirements of an online class.

University of Maine online courses are not simply text-based but deliver audio and video on-demand viewing. Audio and video files are delivered through “streaming” technologies that allow for immediate access. With access to broadband technology, there is no waiting for the material to download, and the files do not use any storage space on a student’s computer. Students contemplating enrolling in an online course should always refer to the course web page to ensure that they meet all technical requirements including access to broadband technology.

Video Conference or Compressed video.  Using a computer, digital signals are compressed and sent through phone lines. Through television or computer monitors, students interact synchronously in real time with classmates throughout Maine and all over the world. Students see, hear, and speak with people anywhere in the world, creating a global classroom environment. These classes are typically not archived.

Video Streaming. Video Streaming (formerly known as Interactive TV) courses are broadcast real-time via the Internet by faculty from the University of Maine campus to over 100 centers and sites across Maine. Some courses may also be accessed from a home computer via the Internet. Students view the class on TV or computer monitors and interact with the instructor and the other students using a toll-free classroom telephone. The classes are archived electronically and may be accessed at later times but without the telephone connection to the live class. Student contemplating enrolling in a course that utilizes video streaming should always refer to the course web page to ensure that they meet all technical requirements.

Please direct questions and comments to (207)581-3169, or toll free @ 1-877-947-HELP or email LearnOnline@umit.maine.edu.