SUNY Empire State College’s Immersive Cloud Learning (ICL) has emerged as a way for its students to get broader access to expert professors.
ICL offers in-person instruction at multiple locations simultaneously, through the use of high-definition video and audio technologies. ICL classroom spaces are designed specifically to promote collaboration, content sharing and dialogue between faculty and students. Each space accommodates up to 20 students.
ICL is featured in the inaugural issue of “A View from the Edge,” a magazine published by NJEdge that spotlights emerging trends and technologies in higher education.
“SUNY Empire was created nearly 50 years ago to be an innovator in higher education and the college continues to lead today,” said Officer-in-Charge Mitch Nesler. “Immersive Cloud Learning has provided a new platform for our students and faculty to engage with one another and it has created a synergy throughout the college for new ideas, practices and modalities that enhance our service to students.”
“Higher education is changing dramatically and I feel like our college is moving in a great direction,” SUNY Empire Director of Educational and Emerging Technologies Joshua Gaul said. “We can be at the front edge of that wave if we stay committed to it and continue to put in the hard work to make sure our students experience an education supported by sound technology design and support.”
“ICL course delivery is easy to market, excites students when they see it and is deliberately different from any type of instruction they’ve ever taken before.”
ICL is available for students to attend classes at SUNY Empire college in Saratoga Springs.
NJEdge is a nonprofit consortium created to support New Jersey’s institutions of higher education in their pursuit of excellence in teaching, learning and research, with a focus on active collaboration, adaptive technology, defined solutions and transformative engagement nationally.
SUNY Empire State College educates nearly 18,000 students online, at 34 locations throughout New York state, and at eight international sites. With one of the college’s more than 1,300 faculty mentors, each student designs his or her own customized pathway to a college degree, which accommodates his or her schedule and awards credit for prior college-level learning.
Officials said SUNY Empire awards more than 3,000 degrees annually and 94 percent of graduates stay in New York state.
According to he college, more than 81,000 SUNY Empire alumni are entrepreneurs, veteran and active members of the military, professional athletes, teachers, medical professionals and leaders in their field as well as their communities.
To learn more, visit www.esc.edu.