Christi Boggs earned UW’s Hollon Family Award for Teaching Excellence in Off-campus
Programs. (UW Photo)
When teaching online courses, it is often difficult to get to know the students on a personal level, but the way Christi Boggs approaches her subject matter makes distance learning a joy for her students.
Since 1999, Boggs has taught a variety of classes, many centered on computer skills. Now, she has branched out to team teach a course titled “Discovering and Utilizing Information and Ideas” for the online Bachelor of Applied Science program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Even though she may not “see” her students on a daily basis, Boggs’ teaching style has made her one of UW’s more popular online instructors. Those accolades from students have earned her the Hollon Family Award for Teaching Excellence in Off-campus Programs.
Some of the comments from students taking her courses reflect that:
“This professor made the online course very easy to follow and paced very well. I feel I gained maximum learning experience from this course and what it offered.”
“I thought that the course was great. Very structured and I did not feel pressure to speed through anything because of deadlines that made it easier to work to my full potential.”
“I loved the teaching style and approach to learning. I feel like a great deal of emphasis was placed on the student. Everything was well organized and presented in an excellent manner.”
“Christi Boggs should be the template for distance learning instructors.”
Boggs, an Outreach Credit Programs lecturer, also has caught the eye of on-campus instructors, including Tricia Giovacco Johnson, UW Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education associate professor.
“For Christi, teaching is never defined by walls of a traditional classroom. She has worked tirelessly to ensure access to higher education for all students across Wyoming, the United States and the world,” Giovacco Johnson says. “Christi deserves recognition for the ways she has pushed online education forward to new levels for UW students. Through the use of these new technologies and approaches, students have greater autonomy, flexibility and choice in their learning. It is evident that Christi has incredible respect for students because her teaching approaches are responsive to student needs and accommodate a variety of learning styles.”
A colleague in the Outreach School concurs.
“On a small scale, Christi’s individual commitment to her work in online education and to her off-campus students is heartfelt. On a larger scale, the university’s mandate to be a model for access, opportunity and leadership -- especially leadership -- is defined by Christi Boggs,” Jeff Miller says. “Christi cares about teaching as much as anyone I have ever known, and she literally personifies the art of excellent teaching at a distance and otherwise.”
Boggs also is noted as UW’s Nordic ski club co-head coach. She has helped coach the UW teams to eight national titles, and has had 18 Individual national champions, 84 All-Americans and 72 national academic All-Americans.
She received her B.S. (1999) degree in biology; M.S. (2000) in instructional design; and Ed.D in instructional technology (2006), all from UW.
