Contact: Yuan Yuan
(262) 472-5458
yuany@uww.edu
WHITEWATER For students enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater living across the country and around the world, online courses make a college education and a career possible.
Finance and Business Law Professor Yuan Yuan has secured a $5,000 grant to expand the university’s online course offerings. This fall, UW-Whitewater offered for the first time its senior-level insurance course online. This spring, a hybrid insurance course with both online and in-class components is available.
With only 20 UW-Whitewater students enrolled with insurance emphases, the demand for online courses in insurance might seem small. Since insurance is a major component to any business, Yuan said business majors of all emphases benefit from exposure to the field.
Seventeen students enrolled in the insurance course online this fall, most of them taking the course from outside Wisconsin.
The grant comes courtesy of the Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges.
“UW-Whitewater has been very supportive of online courses,” Yuan said. “This grant will help develop the curriculum as well as educate students working in countries like China and India.”
The grant, along with contributing funds for the online course, will help provide tools such as reference books and software for audio and video learning guides.
“There are challenges teaching online since interaction with the student isn’t as easy,” Yuan said. “Part of creating better software is making interaction as easy as possible.”
The grant and subsequent expansion of UW-Whitewater’s Finance and Business Law Department helps expand the university’s already considerable influence in the field of business education. Students interested in the newly offered online courses should contact the Finance and Business Law Department at financelaw@uww.edu or (262) 472-1316.
