Nashville–In response to a statewide demand for a more qualified and skilled workforce, the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) has developed two online educational programs.

The two programs — Regents Online Degree Programs (RODP) and Regents Online Continuing Education and Workforce Development (ROCE) — aim to expand educational opportunities and enhance the skills of the workforce.

TBR universities, community colleges and technology centers statewide—including Chattanooga State Technical Community College and its technology center—work together to offer courses, training, certificates, diplomas, and degrees, all online.

One RODP advocate is Dayton resident Bryan Mullins, who is preparing to receive an RODP information technology degree in May by way of Chattanooga State.

Mr. Mullins, the father of three, was the victim of an industrial accident that left him with a spinal cord injury and unable to continue working.

“After I became disabled, I knew I would need a degree to start a new career, but I couldn’t see sitting in one class after another all day in my physical condition. I was afraid that even if I did manage, pain and discomfort would interfere with learning or a busy class schedule would interfere with my recovery. Thanks to online classes, I can get my degree without sacrificing on either count.” Mr. Mullins said.

Chattanooga State’s Dr. Dan Throgorton said, “An educated workforce is the key to successful community and economic development. Study after study shows that a community’s per capita income is directly related to the quality of its educational system. TBR's collaborative online programs provide all Tennesseans the opportunity for quality education. If you have access to the Internet, you have access to quality higher education.”

One of the studies to which Dr. Throgmorton referred was conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau between the years 1997-99. The study, titled “The Big Payoff: Educational Attainment and Synthetic Estimates of Work-Life Earnings,” indicates that “each successively higher education level is associated with an increase in earnings.” Or, as TBR has been promoting, learn more, earn more.

According to the Census Bureau study, the “average earnings (per year) ranged from $18,900 for high school dropouts to $25,900 for high school graduates, $45,400 for college graduates and $99,300 for workers with professional degrees.” The study indicates that wages increase with each higher level of education.

Another study shows unemployment rates decrease with each advancing level of education. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in 2003 for high school graduates was 5.5 percent compared to 4.0 percent for individuals with an associate's degree and 3.3 percent for those with a bachelor’s degree. In the same year, the national unemployment rate was 6.0 percent. In Tennessee, the unemployment rate averaged 5.8 percent in 2003.
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More and more, businesses and industries seeking to expand or relocate are looking for a well-educated workforce, especially in the information technology and communications fields,” said Dr. Throgmorton, vice president of economic and community development at Chattanooga State.

“The best way to recruit new, higher-paying jobs to the state is to educate its workers, and that’s what the Tennessee Board of Regents’ campuses are trying to accomplish with the RODP and ROCE programs,” he said.

All TBR institutions are fully accredited and the courses are entirely online, meaning students do not have to be anywhere near a campus. Students have the opportunity to choose a “home campus" from among the six universities awarding bachelor's and master's degrees, the 13 community colleges providing associate's degrees and the 26 technology centers offering technical certificates and diplomas.

Individuals apply for admission, register for courses, and are awarded degrees, diplomas, or certificates from the “campus.”

Other programs provided through the RODP and ROCE Web site include a virtual library, online tutorials, virtual bookstore, advising, and virtual career center.

ROCE — a collaboration of the Continuing Education Departments of the TBR campuses — strives to satisfy Tennessee’s workforce development needs by offering courses that present new skills or enhance existing skills for career advancement.

“With the globalization of the marketplace, workers have to learn new skills to keep up with the demands of the job market,” said Dr. Throgmorton.

Increasing access to education for all Tennessee adults is one of the many goals of the collaborative RODP and ROCE programs. Other goals are to maximize technology to reach learners in remote areas of the state, and allow flexibility for students with time-sensitive needs. More than 9,000 students are now enrolled in coursework or degree programs.

RODP and ROCE offer the same education as TBR’s on-campus universities, community colleges and technical centers. The online format was designed to offer more flexibility and accessibility than traditional college courses can.

“The collaboration of the Tennessee Board of Regents’ campuses is what makes this program such a great success,” said Dr. Andrea Sanders, coordinator of the RODP program at Chattanooga State and associate professor of English. “The Tennessee Board of Regents Campus Collaborative RODP and ROCE is a gateway for students to easily access quality education via the Internet.”

Tennessee Career Centers and more than 300 public libraries have also partnered with TBR’s online programs to enhance access to Internet use and advance career training.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen endorsed the Tennessee Board of Regents Campus Collaborative RODP and ROCE programs through the Governor’s Books From Birth Foundation, which partners with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to establish a commitment to lifelong learning in Tennessee’s youngest citizens. The programs encourage reading from an early age by providing each child in Tennessee with an age-appropriate, new book each month until they’re five years old, regardless of parents' income.

“Tennessee Board of Regents Campus Collaborative online programs will constantly strive to measure quality while continuously attempting to improve performance standards,” said Dr. Sanders. “The mission and goal of RODP and ROCE are to provide quality education that serves the many stakeholders of the educational marketplace. This includes the numerous entities promoting economic and educational development.”

RODP has been rated one of the top three virtual programs in the nation by The Center for Academic Transformation of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — the nation's oldest technological university — which supports higher education institutions that take advantage of information technology to transform their academic practices.

To learn more about Tennessee Board of Regents Campus Collaborative Regents Online Degree Programs and Regents Online Continuing Education and Workforce Development, visit www.rodp.org or call 888-223-0023.

To learn more about the Tennessee Board of Regents, visit www.tbr.state.tn.us or call 615-366-4400.

Learn more at www.rodp.org.