College Consensus (https://www.collegeconsensus.com), a unique new college ratings website that aggregates publisher rankings and student reviews, has published their ranking of the Top 25 Most Innovative Online Colleges for 2019 at https://collegeconsensus.com/rankings/innovative-online-schools/.
Online education has been around for more than two decades, and it has made incredible strides from its early years, when online learning was viewed as a novelty at best, and a travesty at worst. But the colleges and universities of the 21st century are still pushing online education forward, with innovations in technology, in student support, in variety, and in vision. Those are the institutions highlighted by the College Consensus Most Innovative ranking – the ones shaping the future face of higher education on a daily basis.
The institutions in the running for Most Innovative were selected after extensive research by College Consensus editors for local and national media coverage of colleges and universities revolutionizing online education.
Schools in the Most Innovative Online Colleges ranking have been ranked by their College Consensus score (which combines published academic rankings and real student reviews). The full top 25 (in alphabetical order) are:
Arizona State University
Boston University
Brenau University
Brescia University
Campbellsville University
Central Michigan University
Champlain College
Drexel University Online
Eastern Illinois University
Eastern Kentucky University
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide
Florida Institute of Technology
Northern Arizona University
Old Dominion University
Oregon State University ECampus
Robert Morris University (PA)
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rowan University Global
University of Illinois at Springfield
University of Massachusetts – UMass Online
University of Minnesota – Crookston
University of Missouri – Mizzou Online
University of North Dakota
University of Texas – Arlington
Washington State University
“Innovation is a funny thing,” College Consensus editors write; “if an innovation really works, it becomes widespread, smoothed out, and conventional. A good innovation stops being an innovation once everyone adopts it.” As the editors note, “Online college degree programs were an innovation just two decades ago,” but today “experts can talk about ‘traditional online delivery’ without a hint of irony.” That is the burden of being an innovator, but “the things that make the most innovative online colleges innovative today, if they’re truly useful, will one day be an accepted way of doing things.” But it’s a challenge that the colleges and universities on the Consensus Most Innovative Online Colleges ranking are proud to take on.
