Excelsior College’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) (owl.excelsior.edu) has been recognized with a 2015 OLC Effective Practice Award by the Online Learning Consortium (OLC). Excelsior accepted the award at the International Conference for Online Learning in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, October 15.
OLC recognizes outstanding work in the field of online education across multiple categories. The Excelsior College OWL was one of only 9 submissions selected through a peer-review process.
The publicly-available OWL, which an independent study found increased student final grades by 6.5 points, has earned a number of industry awards since its launch in late 2013, including:
2015 Award for Outstanding New Technology and/or Delivery System
2015 “Gold” award for Best Practices for Distance Learning Programming
2014 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award
2014 NUTN Distance Education Innovation Award.
Initial funding for the development of the OWL was provided by The Kresge Foundation. In November 2014, the Higher Education Services Corporation also awarded Excelsior $449,439 to expand the OWL’s adoption within community colleges in New York State.
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Excelsior
Excelsior College http://www.excelsior.edu is a regionally accredited, nonprofit distance learning institution that focuses on removing obstacles to the educational goals of adult learners. Founded in 1971 and located in Albany, NY, Excelsior is a proven leader in the assessment and validation of student knowledge. It offers more efficient and affordable access to degree completion through multiple avenues: its own online courses and college-level proficiency examinations, and the acceptance in transfer of credit from other colleges and universities as well as recognized corporate and military training programs. Excelsior College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education