10 Jul INNOVATIONEWS
YouSeeU Helps Make Higher Ed Online Learning Deeper and More Enriching than Ever Before
LOVELAND – Online learning has never been more in demand, and a Loveland company is making online instruction more responsive and enriching than ever before.
YouSeeU, founded in 2009, has been spreading its unique style of online education to colleges and universities for five years, creating a track record of success and instructor appreciation for its improvement of the online teaching experience.
“We’re getting a lot of attention these days,” says Jay Dokter, YouSeeU’s CEO. “It takes a lot of time to build that confidence, that trust. Colleges and universities want to be sure it’s credible and tested.”
The company grew out of the need of Jeff Lewis, a Metro State University business professor and YouSeeU’s chief learning officer, to create a better way to assess online student progress and achievement.
The result was YouSeeU, which offers instructors and students a way to better connect with each other and achieve a mutually more satisfying educational experience.
Rich communication
“It involves a rich level of communication,” Lewis says. “So much of online learning is based on text-based interaction. Now, with video, we can have that verbal and nonverbal interaction.”
YouSeeU is based on video assignments in which students – on their home computers either individually or in groups — respond to questions and complete assignments. Responses can either be time-lagged, with students taking their time to respond to an assignment, or “spontaneous,” in which questions recorded by an instructor are answered immediately upon hearing them.
Many online learning programs focus on written responses that allow students to Google answers and that don’t really measure their understanding of the topic. They also have little personal interaction with their professor or their peers, which YouSeeU helps remedy.
“A big part of online frustration is not seeing who you are working with,” Lewis says. “YouSeeU lets students feel more involved.”
Lewis says the system helps him “check for understanding.”
“They can either verbalize their understanding or I can see they’re struggling with it,” he said. “Through the video, I can check for their understanding.
“It’s a more complex interaction that is more authentic.”
Instructors thrilled
Lewis says he’s heard nothing but positive responses from other instructors using YouSeeU.
“They’re thrilled by this new tool set they have,” he said. “It gives them a tool that’s well-positioned to deepen and enrich their interaction in their online classes.”
Dokter said the YouSeeU system does not require any special accreditation for its use by colleges and universities.
“Accreditation happens at the school level,” he says. “We are just a delivery platform, like any software tool. But our system helps them get accredited because it demonstrates (learning) activity.”
Dokter said YouSeeU is tapping into a “new frontier” of online learning and accomplishment. While traditional online education focuses on students watching an instructor present a lecture, YouSeeU takes it to a higher level with student generated video.
“With YouSeeU the students are demonstrating their oral presentation skills and what they’ve learned. That’s really where learning happens. If students are only writing skills to show competence, you’re missing the quality, results, and interaction that is possible,” he says.
That “new frontier” can especially be seen in group interactions. Dokter noted one group presentation that included students from four different continents all contributing video to the project.
Users growing
Higher education institutions now using YouSeeU include Penn State University, University of Southern California, Brigham Young University-Idaho, University of Phoenix, Ashford University, John Marshall Law School and others.
That’s only a small sampling of the nearly 100 higher ed institutions that have taken out licensing agreements with YouSeeU.
Lewis and Dokter said YouSeeU allows online teachers to create their own special touch with their courses.
“We make it really easy for the instructor to put their mark on the class,” says Lewis.
“What makes this thing so amazing is if an educator could design exactly what they want, that’s what this is,” adds Dokter.
Lewis says he’s proud of YouSeeU and looks forward to rewarding investors with some payback in the coming year.
“We’ve made great strides, and from an entrepreneurial perspective, we’ve introduced something to the market that has real impact,” he says.
“YouSeeU is definitely having an impact on education, and now we’re focused on getting our investors that return on investment.”