Distance-Learner Comes to Campus for Commencement

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University of Cincinnati graduate Ligia Hendrie will see UC’s campus for the very first time when she marches at All University Commencement at the 9 a.m. ceremony, Saturday, June 14, in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center. That’s because Hendrie earned her associate’s degree in early childhood education via distance learning from Watertown, N.Y.

She’s the first student at UC to graduate from a bilingual version of a UC distance-learning program, the Early Childhood Learning Community (ECLC), in which courses were also produced in Spanish to assist Spanish-speaking teachers in Head Start Centers who work with children of Spanish-speaking families. The program is on the edge of addressing a growing challenge nationally: Educating preschool-age, English-as-a-Second Language learners so that they’re on track to succeed when they reach kindergarten.

With a $93,000 planning grant from the Head Start Bureau in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the ECLC began offering courses in Spanish in 2005. This learning community allowed for Spanish-speaking students to connect with fellow students, as well as gain assistance from a bilingual instructor as they worked toward their degree. The planning grant grew into a $1 million Bilingual Bridge grant to continue expanding the courses in Spanish.

Hendrie gained legal residency in the U.S. after moving to the U.S. from El Salvador nine years ago and had spent four years in medical school in El Salvador. After marrying her husband (who was born in the U.S. but raised in Scotland) and starting a family, the couple decided to settle in the U.S. where they felt there was more opportunity. Hendrie, who’s 38, became interested in the ECLC while working at a Head Start center near the Ft. Drum military base. “The area was seeing an increasing number of Spanish-speaking families, so they needed someone to relate to the children, as well as their parents, in their native language,” Hendrie says. She now runs a private day-care business.

She says the supportive ECLC staff kept her on track to her college graduation, and she’s looking forward to seeing them face-to-face for the first time at Commencement. “Most of the classes that I took in Spanish were taught by Carla Amaro, and I want to thank her for being such a wonderful teacher and mentor,” Hendrie says. “From the very beginning, she would guide me through the smallest things – like which button to push on my computer – to advice on improving my teaching.

“My advisor, Alvaro Aristizabal, was instrumental in getting all of my paperwork and classes together,” Hendrie says. “Over the phone, he would work with me step by step on my computer skills, and I would have no problem.

“I also want to thank ECLC director Lisa Holstom,” she says. “This program helped me so much as I worked on my own (English) language skills. Everyone was so encouraging, and that meant so much for someone who was new to this country.”

That’s what’s bringing Hendrie to Cincinnati to march at Commencement, along with her guests, her husband, Joseph; her 13-year-old son, Joseph; nine-year-old daughter Christina; and her three-year-old son, Ian, as well as her mother. “I see how it can be difficult for immigrants to finish a degree. It was difficult for me, juggling family and work,” she says. “For other people, this might be considered just an associate’s degree, but for me, it means so much more, and I want to see my teachers and the other people who helped me get to graduation. It means so much to me to physically be there with them.”

“Ligia has been one of the most hard-working students I’ve ever had in my classes,” says adjunct instructor Carla Amaro. “Ligia’s dedication and commitment to getting her degree shows that students like her want to make a difference in the lives of the many Latino children and families with whom they work. Knowing that I will be able to see Ligia and her family and congratulate her personally will be an honor for me. I cannot wait to meet her.”

As the ECLC reaches learners around the world, agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense are providing online degrees to early childcare professionals in the Marines, Air Force, Army and Navy.

Last fall, the ECLC was awarded $1.2 million from the Office of Head Start. The five-year partnership, called “Todos listos” (Spanish for “Everyone is Ready”), will support 37 Head Start teachers in Ohio working with high populations of Hispanic children, providing the teachers with tuition, books and laptop computers as the teachers earn either an associate’s or bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the ECLC. That agreement provides for the ECLC to serve teachers in the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency, the Ohio-based programs of the Texas Migrant Council, WSOS Community Action Commission and the West Side Ecumenical Ministry (WSEM). “The purpose of this grant is to get preschool Hispanic children ready for kindergarten, and the only way that can happen is if the teacher has the strategies and skills to support the children and their families,” Holstrom says.

ECLC Web Site

College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services Web Site

UC Distance Learning & Outreach

UC Students Enrolled in Distance Learning Degree Programs

• Autumn 2000 – 213 students
• Autumn 2001 – 245 students
• Autumn 2002 – 386 students
• Autumn 2003 – 642 students
• Autumn 2004 – 1,213 students
• Autumn 2005 – 1,937 students
• Autumn 2006 –  2, 290 students
• Autumn 2007 –  2,559 students

UC developed its first distance-learning program more than 20 years ago when the College of Applied Science pioneered the Open Learning Fire Science program through correspondence courses in 1984. UC now offers 16 distance-learning degree programs spanning six different colleges.

Student Profile of UC’s Distance Learners
 
The majority of UC’s students in distance learning degree programs are part-time. In autumn 2007 there are 291 (11.4 percent) UC distance-learning students taking full-time class loads and 2,268 (88.6 percent) taking classes part time. Their average age is 34. More than 77 percent are female; 69 percent are Caucasian and 14 percent are African-American. Students in UC’s distance-learning programs of study originate from all 50 states, as well as the armed forces in Europe and the Pacific. They also originate from more than 35 countries. The highest number of international students, 40, report they’re Canadian citizens.
(Source: Office of Institutional Research).

UC’s Growth in Distance Learning Degree Programs

• 2003 – 8 degree programs
• 2004 – 9 degree programs
• 2005 – 14 degree programs
• 2006 – 15 degree programs
• 2007 – 16 degree programs

UC Colleges that Offer Distance-Learning Options (programs, certificates or courses)

• College of Allied Health Sciences
• College of Applied Science
• McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Business
• College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services
• College of Engineering
• College of Nursing
• College of Pharmacy
• Clermont College
• Raymond Walters College

Commencement Web Site

Commencement News