UCF’s Institute for Simulation and Training this week was ranked the No. 11 organization in the nation for eLearning and the top academic institution on ELearning Magazine’s annual list. The ranking is based on innovation in simulations, augmented/virtual reality, mobile, and other advanced technologies [1].
UCF’s ranking was ahead of the next highest educational institutions Western Governor’s University and William & Mary University at No. 17 and 18. USC, Stanford and MIT also were on the top 40 list of nonprofit organizations.
The 10 top organizations on the magazine’s list were not academic entities, but government agencies and other associations such as the U.S. Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy at No. 1 and the American Heart Association at No. 4.
“It is an honor for UCF IST to continue to be recognized as a leader in advanced learning technologies and simulation, working with some of the top industry, health, military and academic partners across the globe,” said Randall Shumaker, director of IST.
Some of the IST projects that no doubt helped UCF achieve the ranking were a virtual co-pilot avatar for Boeing, smart-house technology in Lake Nona, an Innovations in Learning Summit hosted by the institute, and other projects, said David Metcalf, director of IST’s Mixed Emerging Technology Integration Lab.
The rankings recognizing the top 100 global learning organizations for high performance were announced Monday at the Learning! 100 ceremony in Alexandria, Virginia.
“These organizations are innovative, collaborative and have a truly immersive learning culture,” said Catherine Upton, award chairperson. “Organizations from six to 2 million employees are among the finalists this year proving size does not matter when it comes to making a difference in learning.”