Academics at Westfield State University | Online Bachelors Degree

Academics

Distinguishing Characteristics

School type	Public
Terms	Other
Academic calendar (as submitted by school)	Semester and two summer terms
First year of program	2008-2009

Faculty & Classes

Full-time instructional faculty that teach courses accessible online	72
Part-time instructional faculty that teach courses accessible online	40
Average online teaching experience	3 years
Faculty have at least 1 year online teaching experience	80%
Faculty have at least 2 years online teaching experience	70%
Faculty have at least 3 years online teaching experience	47%
Full-time faculty with doctorate	59
Part-time faculty with doctorate	10
Full-time faculty whose highest degree is a bachelor's	1
Part-time faculty whose highest degree is a bachelor's	3
School finances online instructor training	Yes
Continuing online instruction education required	Yes
Full-time course development tech staff supporting faculty	4
Part-time course development tech staff supporting faculty	6
Average class size	20
Maximum class size	20

Programs

Online bachelor's degree programs

Online courses

114

Five most popular majors

Business/Commerce, General	100%
N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A

All majors

Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services

Business/Commerce, General

History

History, General

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies

Social Sciences

Sociology

About the online bachelor's degree program (as submitted by school)

The on-line degree-completion program has been designed for community college graduates with 1990 Commonwealth Transfer Compact status. Students should complete an associate's degree curriculum designated specifically for the On-line bachelor's degree completion program and earn a minimum cumulative QPA of 2.30 before transferring to WSU. Other transfer students also may apply to the exclusively on-line bachelor's degree-completion program.

Integration With Campus

Can earn degree entirely online

Yes

Possible in-person attendance requirements

Orientations	No
Classes	No
Group projects/simulations	No
Exams	No

Same academic track as campus-based program

Yes

Collaboration among online and face-to-face students

Neutral

Students enroll as online students

Other

Credits earned online equal earned on campus

Yes

Faculty who teach online also teach on campus

All

Same curricula for online and face-to-face students

All

Veterans

Institution is G.I. Bill certified	Yes
Institution participates in Yellow Ribbon Program	No
Institution is SOC Member	Yes
Offers DANTES course(s) for credit	No

Delivery

Archived classes	All
Classes can be received live	None
Live online/on-campus classes after 5 p.m.	N/A
Online chatrooms	Yes
Web conferencing (webinars)	Yes
Skype or other visual software	Yes
New-student orientation	Optional
Review and sign ethics statement	No
Percentage of classes with lectures	51-75
Number of times per week students must login to a typical course	2
Number of times per month faculty evaluate student participation	1
Number of times per month faculty provide feedback to students on participation	4
Courses requiring students to work collaboratively with other students	Majority
Class participation graded	Yes
Exams	Yes
Number of settings in which in-person exams are administered	One setting
Anti-plagiarism screening required for essay assignments	Depends
Measures to instill academic integrity (as submitted by school)
Access to course material requires a University ID and is password protected. Integrity in the examination process is promoted by the administration method. The exams are timed, questions are presented in a scrambled order on each exam delivery and only one question is presented at a time. Written assignments are checked by Safe Assign at the course instructor's discretion.

List of Student Assessments Administered

Graduation & Retention

One-year retention rates

Limited time to complete degree	No
Target time to earn final 25% of credits	1 year
Maximum time to earn final 25% of credits	N/A
Graduation rates

School tracks graduates	No