UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State World Campus has established an advisory board that will work to bring improvements in the online learning experience — and it is composed entirely of students.
The newly created advisory board consists of 30 Penn State World Campus students who were selected after an application process. They will work in committees to examine different areas of learning online, such as student government and academic services, and how to engage students who are enrolled through World Campus.
The advisory board members are in both undergraduate and graduate-level degree programs. They are also across all regions of the United States, and two are from outside the country.
The advisory board is being run by the Penn State World Campus Student Affairs office.
“This is another important milestone for Penn State World Campus,” said Ashley Adams, the director of World Campus Student Affairs. “Our goal is to bring students to the table in decision-making processes to enhance the services we offer. The Penn State tradition is that students are part of the process, and we’re trying to bring that tradition to World Campus.”
Adams organized the board members into five committees: academic affairs; clubs and organizations; engagement; governance and campus relations; and marketing and communications.
Among some of the initial projects, Adams said the government and campus relations committee will look for ways to give World Campus students a voice in the student government organizations that exist across the University. The student engagement committee will look into programs and services that can be developed to make World Campus students feel more a part of the Penn State community while they are learning online.
The advisory board met online over the summer for a leadership training session. Several of them visited Penn State’s University Park campus the weekend of Oct. 1 to attend another leadership workshop and meet face to face. On Saturday, two of the students represented World Campus during the All-University Day halftime ceremony at the Nittany Lions’ football game at Beaver Stadium.
“Coming to State College is a really powerful experience,” Adams said. “I am really excited to have them visit and to connect with them in person.”
One of the students, Chris Moore, traveled from his home in Chester, Nova Scotia, Canada, to attend the session. Moore is pursuing a master’s degree in human resources and employment relations and works as an HR specialist for a Canadian energy company.
Moore said he joined the board with the hope of developing ways for online students to more fully connect with the rest of the University community.
“How do we create that experience that I can be sitting in my office in Chester but still feel like I’m a Penn State student?” he said. “I’m familiar with a brick-and-mortar university experience. How can the board help World Campus students have an experience that may be better in some ways than the brick-and-mortar? Maybe the brick-and-mortar will look at the World Campus students and say, ‘We have to do that.’”
Visit the Penn State World Campus website for more information about learning online.