CASPER, Wyo. — University of Wyoming College of Education Dean Ray Reutzel attended the fourth annual Wyoming English as a Second Language Conference, held April 26-27 at Pathways Innovation Center and Roosevelt High School in Casper.
Reutzel said that the conference, which was a collaborative effort between the UW College of Education and the Natrona County School District, has seen substantial growth since its inception.
“Attendance was in the 80s our first year,” he said. “It is up over 240 now and I expect that we’ll continue to see it grow.”
Reutzel took the opportunity at the ESL Conference to talk about the College of Education’s vision in the coming years.
“This whole ESL thing is part of a larger vision to increase access to education opportunities for people in all parts of the state,” he said. “We can’t be holing up in Laramie.”
“We are moving rapidly to offering more undergraduate programs online. Within five years, I’d say, they’ll all be available online.”
Reutzel added that the university already offers graduate programs online, but said he saw a need to begin offering those options at the undergraduate level.
“We’ve had master’s and doctoral [programs] for a decade, but we’re moving rapidly to move undergrad programs online as well,” said Reutzel.
“There are significant access to education problems in the state of Wyoming.”
Reutzel said that the first College of Education online undergraduate program will launch this fall—a SPED (Special Education) bachelor’s degree program.
That new offering appears to align with the College of Education’s five year strategic plan. Their “Elevate and Innovate” plan sets goals to work toward from 2018-2023.
“The College of Education will develop and implement new, market-driven
undergraduate teacher education programs, e.g., Computer Engineering Technology Education, Early Childhood Education and Special Education, to meet the needs of an increasingly technologically-based and diversified economy,” reads goal eight of that plan.
He added that the goal for the elementary education program is to begin offering one distance education section during the fall of 2020 and add “asynchronous online courses” in 2021.
“At the secondary education level, we’re talking about doing more hybrid and distance delivery,” Reutzel added.
Reutzel added that the university and the Wyoming Community Colleges Commission are discussing the possibility of offering “3+1” Career and Technical Education teacher education programs.
Such programs would allow students to complete their first three years of coursework at a community college and complete their fourth year at the university. Reutzel added that those would likely begin in the fall of 2021.
“We’re looking at what, when and how,” Reutzel said.
He said that specific programs have not yet been determined because the commission needs to consider the resources available at the various community colleges in Wyoming.
The idea to offer more community college partnership programs aligns with another strategic plan goal.
“Engage with Wyoming community college partners to make selected educator preparation programs accessible throughout all geographic regions of the state of Wyoming to place bound students,” goal six of that plan reads.
Reutzel said that expanding ESL teacher training and Dual Language Immersion programs could benefit Wyoming.
“Schools need to foster both ESL and DLI environments,” he said.
Giving people more language skills would increase their ability to find international business opportunities which Reutzel said would help Wyoming ride out low points in the boom and bust economic cycle.
He said that he’d previously worked in Utah and had seen their economy benefit both from more distance learning opportunities and an embrace of the importance of language education.
“We invested in our universities [in Utah],” he said. “Their economy just started to explode.”
Reutzel added that he thought that more post-secondary education options were crucial for Wyomingites as technology continues to develop.
“In ten years, GPS could drive coal trucks,” he said. “That’s a real twist of the head. We can’t keep looking in the rear view mirror.”
Reutzel said that he thinks there is a strong understanding within the College of Education that the things he discussed are important and said he thinks they’d continue to move forward even without his backing.
“I don’t think we’re letting up on the gas pedal,” he said.
