UC CEAS Wins 2013 Rich Media Impact Award

The University of Cincinnati College of Engineering and Applied Science, represented by Eugene Rutz, CEAS academic director, has been named a winner in the Video in Education Scholarship category of the Sonic Foundry, Inc., 2013 Rich Media Impact Awards. UC is receiving the award for its dual enrollment program in collaboration with 12 local high schools. The awards were announced Wednesday, April 29, during Unleash 2013.

The dual enrollment program is completed via distance learning using Sonic Foundry, Inc.’s Mediasite, an enterprise video platform. Sonic Foundry’s Rich Media Impact award recognizes academic excellence in higher education through video and provides an opportunity for students to reach their full potential through online, blended or distance learning. Eugene Rutz, CEAS professor and creator of the dual enrollment program, is pleased to provide local high school students with the opportunity to get a jump-start on their engineering education.

The UC program started in 2007 when four high schools—Harrison, Mother of Mercy, Mt. Notre Dame, and Princeton high schools—began offering a CEAS introduction to engineering course to seniors. Currently, 13 schools and over 500 students participate in the program. High schools participating in the program include Anderson, Edgewood, Harrison, Kings, Madison Plains, Mother of Mercy, Mt. Notre Dame, Oak Hills, Princeton, Roger Bacon, St. Ursula Academy, Turpin and Ursuline Academy.

This year, for the first time, high school students are able to take the introduction to engineering course as a dual-enrollment option, earning high school credit and UC credit for the ENED 1020 Engineering Foundations course. CEAS now offers a total of two engineering courses and the university itself also offers dual enrollment courses for calculus and English.

To date, the program has experienced success in increasing the college’s engineering enrollment, especially among female and minority students. As previously mentioned, the response to the program is greater than Rutz anticipated with student participants now totaling 500. Additionally, studies have consistently shown that individuals who participate in a dual enrollment program such as this are often more likely to succeed in a college setting. It also provides students who are unsure of their ability to be successful in engineering with the opportunity to participate in engineering courses prior to enrolling in a degree program at a university.

Jason Shields, mathematics teacher at Kings High School, says, “The UC partnership transforms students from being apprehensive and fearful to passionate and determined about engineering. They come into our program at the beginning wondering if engineering is the right career for them and leave with focus and commitment. My students are truly excited to find their calling and career. Our students don’t just merely study what engineers do, they actually do engineering. 

Before I started the program with UC, I had only taught mathematics courses and had no experience with engineering. The online video component and curriculum from UC allowed me to tap into a wealth of knowledge at UC. This has given my students a deeper understanding of engineering that I could not have given them without the UC program. And since the program’s inception, I have had an average of 75 students each year with 70 percent of those students pursuing an engineering major at college.”

Rutz envisions a future in which these high school students can participate in all of the courses that create CEAS’ first-year curriculum. Rutz continues to work tirelessly with the college and his UC partners to make this goal a reality.

“We hope to make the first-year curriculum available to seniors within the next couple of years. This would mean that a segment of our undergraduate population will be able to complete the CEAS degrees – including co-op experience – within four years instead of the current five-year curriculum. Time saving is not the only attractive part of this scenario—with a four-year curriculum, students/families’ tuition costs would be greatly reduced by cutting out a full year of on-campus schooling,” explains Rutz.

Rutz adds, “I’m pleased with the RMI Awards nomination in that it confirms that our outreach program is achieving exemplary results and that students in our region have opportunities not available in many other areas.”

Mediasite users nominated organizations for the company’s ninth annual Rich Media Impact Awards, an annual recognition of excellence in the practical and creative integration of Mediasite in business, education, health and government. Nominees were organizations that have achieved measurable improvements in information accessibility, cost savings, efficiency and productivity through Mediasite. This year’s finalists join more than 150 organizations from around the world that have been recognized since 2005.

Winners were announced during a special ceremony at Unleash 2013, the Mediasite User Conference, which took place from April 28 to May 1. All RMIA finalists in attendance at Unleash had the chance to win an annual license of My Mediasite during a drawing at the end of the conference. Sonic Foundry will also honor two higher education institutions each with a $2,500 scholarship to award to a student of their choice, as well as an annual license of My Mediasite for the institution’s use.

“The Rich Media Impact Awards program is one of our favorite parts of Unleash, because we get to go behind-the-scenes to see how our customers are using Mediasite to improve the way they communicate, save money and increase productivity through live streaming online video and rich media webcasts,” said Rob Lipps, Executive Vice President of Sonic Foundry. “This year’s finalists each had exemplary video success stories to tell and we’re excited to share their stories with the world.” 

The awards ceremony were webcasted live via Mediasite at 4:25 p.m. CT, April 29, from the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wis.

Click here for a

Video Presentation

by Eugene Rutz of the UC-CEAS dual-enrollment engineering program.

Select to view Sonic Foundry, Inc.’s

press release

honoring UC and other winners of the competition.