UF has chosen the head of its new Online Learning Institute.
Carole Beal, who will also serve as a professor of Education Technology, is leaving the University of Arizona to lead the new education research program this August.
This institute is different from UF Online. This program is funded by the university’s grant money and includes the colleges of education, engineering, journalism and communications, and fine arts.
“These colleges will hire faculty that are experienced in those fields to pursue research that will benefit UF Online and the rest of the university,” said Andrew McCollough, a UF associate provost.
In addition to Beal’s appointment as head of the Online Learning Institute, she will also be a professor of education technology with a salary of $140,000.
“It was sudden,” she said. “But having the opportunity to work with groups on campus and lead the online learning program was something I couldn’t pass up.”
Beal currently works at the University of Arizona in the School of Information Resources and Library Science as a professor of science, technology and the arts. She will start at UF on Aug. 16 in the College of Education’s School of Teaching and Learning.
McCollough said having Beal as the head of UF Online Learning Institute is a step toward UF’s goal of becoming a top 10 public research institute.
This institute will allow UF to explore adaptive learning, such as combining different fields like arts and technology, he said.
Pavlo Antonenko, assistant professor in the College of Education, said Beal would be a good addition to the four-department program.
“The hope is that she will have competence and expertise,” he said. “She will be more of a coordinator as opposed to a primary researcher.”
She said she’s most looking forward to spotting UF’s scaly mascot in the wild.
“They drove me around campus and said, ‘Watch out for the alligators!’” she said. “I didn’t know if they were being serious.”
[A version of this story ran on page 5 on 5/29/2014 under the headline "Online Learning Institute gets first program director"]
