Cutting-Edge Online Education Research at KU | Lisa Wolf-Wendel

Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Associate Dean for research and graduate studies at the University of Kansas, considers the value of research-based education in an online format. Interested in online courses from the KU School of Education? Visit The University of Kansas https://educationonline.ku.edu/online-degrees/education-leadership-policy-studies

My name is Lisa Wolf-Wendel and I am a Professor in the Department of Ed Leadership and Policy Studies, and I’m the new Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies. My research, we talk about what makes students successful, challenge and support, so you provide a high bar for people to pass and then you provide sufficient support to help them achieve that goal. You don’t serve anyone if you lower the bar, and you don’t serve anyone if you make the bar too high and don’t provide support, so it’s that combination of challenge and support that’s going to help someone be successful.

Our courses are designed by full time tenure track faculty. They are taking into account the latest research, the latest theories, the latest ideas, and then they’re converting what they do in an on ground space into an online space. That, in ways that I think facilitate student learning that are interactive, that can create community that are really, really strong.

And then what you hope is that the student, in particular, again a grad student, is having sort of lived experiences, internships, work experience, those kinds of things, that they’re then allowing a space to test the theories that they’re learning in class. This is not a piece of paper. This is not a diploma mill. This is a real academic degree. And if we’re going to sign our name that it’s a University of Kansas degree, then we have to believe in the rigor of it. And we do.

So it’s not just about a credential, it’s about how do we figure out ways, how do we provide research that help people serve students with special needs, serve the diversity of students in K-12 schools, get people to go from high school into college, get people to graduate from college. Those are the things that we want to help people do and educate. I mean, that’s what education is about. It’s about making the world a better place. And so you want people who are committed to that and passionate about that, and the coursework, what you hope is, that it will help them to do that better.