WICHE ICE enables students, through their home institutions, to seamlessly access high quality online courses and programs offered by other four-year and two-year ICE member institutions. The collaborative model fosters faculty engagement, resource sharing, and innovation.

Collaborative Initiatives

Math and Science Education

Improving math and science education remains at the forefront of national policy priorities and is the current focus of the Math and Science Collaborative Initiative. In many of the Western states, secondary schools have many teachers teaching on emergency certification credentials or cannot find anyone to teach in some mathematics and science disciplines. No Child Left Behind legislation will soon require states to demonstrate that all math and science teachers are highly qualified. And many states predict a critical shortage in the availability of secondary math and science teachers for the foreseeable future.

In addition, practicing classroom math and science teachers increasingly seek high quality, effective, and affordable professional development for personal growth and/or advancement in wages and career opportunities. More and more, teachers are finding quality online professional development that does not limit them to time and place. For many involved in distance learning, our state’s public policy makers, superintendents and other school administrators often ask for secondary education programs to be offered in both rural and urban areas. In a recently released position paper on e-Leaning, the National Science Teachers Association "supports e-Learning as an important component of teacher preparation and teacher professional development. When designed properly, online delivery of teacher education and professional development has the ability to provide high-quality opportunities for science educators to learn content and pedagogy."

Needs

Science and math content courses designed for undergraduate pre-service teachers and/or second career teachers
High quality professional development in science and math content designed for in-service teachers

Challenges

Availability of faculty versed in content and pedagogy
Institutions with excess capacity (seats) or oversubscribed
Course development/delivery costs and return on investment
Individual institutional requirements and/or state licensure requirements

Opportunities

Course sharing using WICHE ICE enrollment model
Shared course development, teaching, and receiving capability
Shared marketing
Reach pre- and in-service teachers where they live and work with high quality content and instruction

Recent Activities

Submitted proposals to NSF and NIH to develop online courses and research the most effective use of Web 2.0 tools in deeper learning of STEM concepts
Conducted a Webinar for faculty at member institutions to introduce initiative and solicit participants

Leadership Team

	Kim Obbink, Director, Extended University, Montana State University, and Chair, WICHE ICE Math & Science Collaborative Initiative
	Fred Hurst, Vice President for Extended Programs and Dean of Distance Learning, Northern Arizona University
	Louis S. Nadelson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Curriculum, Instruction, Foundational Studies, College of Education, Boise State University
	Robert "Scott" Seville, Ph.D., Associate Dean in the Outreach School, Wyoming INBRE Program Coordinator, and Associate Professor of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming/ Casper
	Jim Seitz, MAT Program Coordinator, College of Education, University of Alaska, Anchorage

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"Looking for a way to offer online courses that provide your students more choices, stretch your funding, and keep low enrollment programs running? Check out WICHE ICE which provides a proven framework that supports inter-institutional collaboration, pairing providers with institutions that are looking for ways to enhance options."
Sam Gingerich, ICE Chair and System Vice President for Academic Affairs, South Dakota Board of Regents
"While universities and colleges have probably never been able to afford the faculty expertise and course diversity that would best benefit student learning, now during bad economic times it is essential for institutions to share resources in order to enhance learning opportunities and reduce costs. WICHE ICE is a proven organizational and financial structure that allows institutions to share courses and programs effectively, while ensuring that students have enhanced access to learning opportunities without additional administrative burdens."
Maggi Murdock, Associate Provost and Dean, Outreach School, University of Wyoming
ICE supplements the curriculum, allowing students to tap into expertise from around the region. It both broadens and deepens a program’s offerings.

John Dede, Interim Director of the Faculty Technology Center, University of Alaska Anchorage
"There are increasingly compelling reasons for certain programs to be developed and delivered collaboratively, and WICHE ICE provides the logistics for doing so."

Mark Wheeler, Dean, Extended Studies, Boise State University
"I have enjoyed teaching WICHE ICE students through an online course at UAA. They tend to be very engaged throughout the courses."

Becky Porter, Instructor, Center for Behavioral Health Research & Services, University of Alaska Anchorage
(Becky Porter is an instructor for the Center for Behavioral Health Research & Services at the University of Alaska Anchorage. During Spring 2011 and 2012 semesters, she taught a series of three workshops on the topic “fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.” Typically 10 students from another institution enroll in each workshop through ICE.)

"While universities and colleges have probably never been able to afford the faculty expertise and course diversity that would best benefit student learning, now during bad economic times it is essential for institutions to share resources in order to enhance learning opportunities and reduce costs. WICHE ICE is a proven organizational and financial structure that allows institutions to share courses and programs effectively, while ensuring that students have enhanced access to learning opportunities without additional administrative burdens."

Maggi Murdock, Associate Provost and Dean, Outreach School, University of Wyoming

Internet Course Exchange (ICE)