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Dr. Royce Ann Collins, our esteemed Chair, is taking a well-deserved vacation in the lovely Italian countryside, so she asked me to write about what has been happening with CAP since our last newsletter. There are many exciting things going on! First, as you all know, our Annual Conference is coming up soon: Thursday and Friday, July 22d-23d, in Denver. Our hosts, thanks to Dr. Chad Gruhl, our Events Officer, will be the Metropolitan State College of Denver in the heart of the city, and we’ll be housed at the Curtis Hotel just up the street. Along with Chad, the hard-working planning committee of Tom Castle, Dawn Spaar and of course, Jeannie McCarron, has put together a great conference with speakers and round table discussions on topics of interest to all of us. The awards committees have met and chosen outstanding winners with whom we are sure you will be impressed. The Best Practices subcommittee has been working feverishly to add Part II to the Handbook of Best Practices in Accelerated Learning and they will offer a roundtable discussion to up-date everyone. [See article below by Kalpana Muetz.] There will also be two pre-conference workshops from which to choose. More information is below. We hope all of you can join us. In other news, the CAP consulting arm is still active with several members working with Luke Dowden to present a series of webinars to CALL members in Louisiana on the subject of Retaining Students in Higher Education. [See Luke’s article below.} Another exciting innovation is that CAP will offer its first Regional Meeting on October 7-8 in the northeast Philadelphia area. Long-time CAP member Honour Moore, Associate VP in the Division of Extended Learning at Holy Family University—CAP’s co-sponsor for the meeting—will host us on their Woodhaven campus in Bensalem, PA. We invite all our east coast (all are welcome no matter your geography) members and non-members to join us! [See her article below.] All in all, there are lots of things happening. Please join us when you can and let us know what you think!
Pat Ellis, Vice Chair
Associate Dean for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Stevenson University
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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Written by Luke Dowden
Some of the best advice I have received over my brief work in accelerated learning is, “You can’t be a prophet in your own country!” Although I could argue the truth in that statement, I offer it as a way for accelerated program leaders at all levels (state, system, or institution) to approach their ongoing program development. Sometimes, there may be a need to look outside of your organization for support, help, and a different perspective. Many times, the help needed to increase enrollment in accelerated learning, improve student learning outcomes, or transition to new delivery systems such as hybrid / online must be customized to your organization’s culture in context. In these instances, I suggest you consider working with the Commission for Accelerated Program’s (CAP) Outreach Services.
When I noted certain enrollment trends in the online accelerated programs offered by public college and university members of the Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana (CALL), I spent many hours considering strategies my consortium could employ to shift the trends that gave me concern. Through a series of conversations with CAP Executive Director Jeannie McCarron, I discovered a real strength of CAP – its large and ever-expanding network of experts. These experts have unique skill sets with problem solving capabilities and the ability to communicate these ideas to a diverse audience with different needs and institutional contexts.
In spring 2009, CALL had 6 member campuses (now we have 10). Through a contractual arrangement with CALL, CAP assembled a team of experts in accelerated program enrollment growth, conducted field research on CALL member programs, and designed a customized one-day retreat for teams from these campuses. The retreat provided a non-judgmental “wake-up” call about focusing on the basics of recruiting and converting interested students to enrolled students. As a result of the retreat and subsequent campus efforts, CALL programs as a whole experienced double digit improvements in conversion rates from applicant to enrolled in the 2009-10 academic year. Our staff believes the work with CAP “to be our prophet” played some central role in these positive shifts, although I must also give great credit to the hard work of our dedicated member campuses and their accelerated program staff. Other environmental factors such as the economy contributed as well.
CALL member campus faculty and staff enjoyed the presentation so much that they requested a second workshop to focus on retention of adult learners in online and accelerated programs. Originally, CAP was contracted to deliver a one day customized retention workshop – much like the model of the recruitment workshop. Yet, due to three rounds of statewide budget cuts this fiscal year, all travel funds at CALL member campuses were eliminated, making a face-to-face workshop impossible. In true CAP fashion, their Outreach Services team went to work and created alternative delivery formats. One suggestion was adopted – a Webinar series accompanied by activities on a Louisiana hosted Moodle site. This workshop day turned into a series of structured experiences, accommodated the lack of travel funds of our member campuses, and allowed CALL to respond to its members’ needs. CAP’s ability to transition their planned format to meet CALL’s changing needs is one more example that our organization made a good investment. Moreover, our second engagement with CAP Outreach Services reinforced that sometimes, it is better to invite another prophet to your country to help you see the forest (attainable goals) from the trees (distractions and barriers to reaching those benchmarks).
If your organization has used its own data on accelerated programs to identify challenging areas and feels stuck on how to address them best, I encourage you to contact Jeannie McCarron about CAP’s new Outreach Services. CAP has demonstrated its ability to assemble the appropriate leaders in the field to help any accelerated program, regardless of scale, to address its specific topics or needs and customize approaches that fit budget constraints.
Note: Luke Dowden serves as Executive Director of the Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana (CALL). CALL is a statewide consortium of adult learning focused institutions providing 15 online accelerated degree programs for the 609,444 adults in Louisiana who started college and never finished. CALL was an initial client of the newly formed CAP Outreach Services efforts. Learn more at www.yourCALLla.org or follow CALL on Twitter – yourCALLla, or join the CALL collaboration group on LinkedIn.
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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Written by Audrey Ashton-Savage Adjunct Associate Professor, Whittemore School of Business and Economics, University of New Hampshire, Past Chair of CAP
After directing and teaching in adult accelerated programs for 15 years, I am now back teaching (mostly) traditional undergraduate students in semester-based university. The transition wasn’t difficult, since I quickly realized that the facilitation techniques we all use in our adult programs are quickly embraced by the younger students—no more endless blah-blah-blah lectures! They enjoy the discussions, the group work, and the student-led class activities as much as the adult learners.
There is, however, one innovation that I tried in my semester-based undergraduate Advertising and Promotion class that I believe has many benefits for adult programs. I use a free, on-line textbook from Flat World Knowledge. Eric Frank, President of FWK, was a presenter at the last CAP conference, so many of you are aware of this company and its products. I’ve been using the open source text from FWK for three semesters now and would like to share some of my experiences with it.
• It is free. Hard for me to believe at first: I kept looking for the “catch.” Students simply access the FWK website, look for the “University of New Hampshire” listing and then my name. The first semester this was easier, because I was one of 23 beta testing sites. Now, there are 49 pages in the list! Students who want to take advantage of the free option simply click my listing to access the textbook on line. Before adopting, I checked out the text for quality/content and found it comparable in all aspects to other texts I had used.
• Purchase option is available. Some students prefer a hard copy of the text, which is available at a very reasonable price ($30-50, depending on black and white version, or color). In my class, usually 25-45% of students purchase the text. Other options include an audio version, and there is a kindle version on the way. Students may also purchase practice quizzes and study guides at very reasonable prices. (These purchases provide the FWK revenue stream.)
• No excuses allowed from students. One huge benefit the FWK text has brought is that students no longer have any excuses for not having/reading/using the text. Before switching to the FWK text, the previous textbook price at our bookstore was $180. About 1/3 of my class never purchased the book (too expensive was the common explanation), making teaching more of a challenge when students have not read the assigned material prior to class, or can’t easily complete exercises from the text. Now, there are no excuses—every student has instant and free access to the text. (Think of those accelerated students who register at the last minute. Instant access gives them the ability to get that first night’s assignment done immediately upon registration.)
• No dealing with the bookstore. Because the text is on line, I never have to fill out the bookstore forms. Never have to deal with problems when the bookstore runs out of the text or the text is not delivered on time. From the accelerated standpoint, think of all the time that will be freed up when you don’t have any more hassles from the bookstore! (Note: this may actually pose a problem on some campuses, where the institution gets a “contribution” from the bookstore based on dollar sales. There may be pressure from the CFO to continue using the bookstore for this reason.)
• The only negative feedback I’ve received from students is that some students do not like having to read and scroll on the computer. I’ve reminded them that there are other options available to avoid having to read on line.
My experience with Flat World Knowledge has been overwhelmingly positive. FWK and CAP are now partners in making CAP members aware of this product offering. Texts are available for numerous courses (primarily business courses, but they intend to expand into other areas, especially general requirements types of courses). My advice is to check out this company. Go to the CAP website first: www.capnetwork.org and then on the left side where it says “Main Menu,” the third item is for Flat World Knowledge. Click there and explore the website to see if your program would benefit.
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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Written by Kalpana Muetz, Affiliate Faculty member at Regis University
Have you been looking for a comprehensive resource to gain new perspectives on how to assess and improve your accelerated programs? Look no more. As many of you know, the Handbook for Best Practices in Accelerated Learning is now available to members of the CAP community. The goals of the handbook are to provide a medium for collaboration for our members and to share practical applications that have made all of our programs successful.
Accelerated programs are comprised of numerous facets from facilitation to addressing diverse learners to technology to enrollment, retention, and assessment. No understanding of accelerated learning is complete without looking at each of these components and more. Therefore, the handbook has been divided into two parts: Part I emphasizes the facilitator, use of technology, and strategies for diverse learners. Part II is currently in the making and will focus on the infrastructure of the programs themselves, such as accreditation, advising and mentoring learners, assessment, enrollment, retention, financial aid, and more. Combining both parts leads all of us to concentrate on student needs from enrollment to graduation.
Each section in Part I addresses a variety of information that facilitators may find useful. This information includes different teaching philosophies and ideas for training faculty. The instructional design and technology sections include instructional models, use of technology, and effective use of modules and syllabi. The section on teaching diverse learners provides ideas on strategies and how to arrive at knowledge about our learners in order to make learning successful. In addition, Part I contains ideas to support part-time faculty and student services, and there is an area to discuss barriers that exist as well as possible future research that may be needed.
Currently, Lesley Kleveter (Chair of this BP Subcommittee) and our Executive Director, Jeannie McCarron are reviewing the best way to submit member contributions and accessibility. At this time, please submit your ideas/concerns to Lesley at lklevete@css.edu. Part II will be presented in Denver at the conference in July. We will discuss ideas on how to make the handbook a live document. So do join us and be a part of this dynamic process. Come share ideas and let your voice be heard. See you in the Handbook…
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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First Regional Meeting Offered by CAP and Holy Family University by Honour Moore
The Division of Extended Learning at Holy Family University, in conjunction with Commission for Accelerated Programs, is delighted to be co-sponsoring the first Regional Meeting for Accelerated Degree Programs in Higher Education. This meeting will begin at 2 PM on Thursday, October 7, 2010 and will end at 3 PM on Friday, October 8, 2010.
The meeting sessions will be held at Holy Family’s Woodhaven location, the home of the university’s accelerated degree programs. Overnight accommodations will be available at the Hampton Inn Bensalem, next door. Dinner on Thursday night and lunch on Friday will be provided.
The topic for this inaugural venture is The New Definition of Learning: Seat Time vs. Learning Outcomes. The keynote speaker will be Ellie A. Fogarty, EdD, Vice President, Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Dr. Fogarty, who joined MSCHE this year, had been employed by The College of New Jersey, including roles as Associate Provost for Planning and Resource Allocation, Deputy Compliance Officer, and Business & Economics Librarian. She served as an evaluator on many MSCHE accreditation team visits to a variety of institutions. Dr. Fogarty earned her Ed.D. in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Honour Moore, Associate Vice President for Extended Learning at Holy Family, will present her research on perceptions of accelerated degree programs. She has been involved in adult education for over 26 years and with accelerated degree programs since 1994. She has a BA from Rosemont College, an MA from Villanova University, and is currently in her third year of a doctoral program in Education Leadership (Higher Education) at Nova Southeastern University. Her dissertation is entitled Identifying and Improving the Perception of Accelerated Degree Programs for Working Adults. Her research involved a self administered survey; results of this survey and future recommendations will be shared with conference participants.
Dr. Royce Ann Collins, current Chair of the Commission for Accelerated Programs, will also be presenting on this topic of seat time and learning outcomes as well as talking about CAP. As Assistant Professor in Adult Education, Kansas State University, many of Dr. Collins’ students are the administrators of accelerated programs. She teaches graduate students how to administer programs and how to teach adults. Prior to starting with KSU in 2005, Dr. Collins had worked as an administrator of accelerated adult degree completion programs for 15 years.
Round tables and other speakers will address this timely topic as well. There will be ample time for small group interaction and discussion throughout the two day event. If you are interested in submitting a proposal for a round table discussion on this or a related topic, please send your information to Pat Ellis at pellis@stevenson.edu. If you think you might want to attend, please notify Jeannie McCarron at jmccarro@regis.edu.
Several members of CAP who have attended recent conferences and workshops have mentioned wanting more of an opportunity to meet and talk with each other about their own and others’ programs and situations and issues. That is one of the major reasons that Holy Family and CAP decided to offer this inaugural Regional Meeting. We are hoping that both CAP members and others from the area will come together to discuss these issues relevant to all of us at this time in higher education.
Please watch for formal registration information. We look forward to welcoming you to this exciting mini conference.
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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Written by Clayton Steen, Director of Enrollment for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Stevenson University
The uniqueness of college enrollment for adult learners often requires a separate enrollment management team dedicated to this population. Adult learners select their college based on very specific criteria that can even be contradictory from one prospective student to the next. Features such as accelerated or online can appeal to tech-savvy Generation X working professionals handling multiple tasks while setting their own priorities. This can, however, be extremely unappealing to some Baby Boomers who want to update their skills but prefer the more clearly defined structure and team environment attributed to onsite courses.
These variances pose many interesting challenges for marketing adult programs. Marketing materials that are wordy, too high tech, or that have pictures of traditional-aged students may drive adults away to the next college. Many prospective adult students are comparing numerous colleges and universities at the same time and using the highlights from each institution. This knowledge has resulted in each institution’s declaring that its programs are adult focused, flexible, accelerated, and designed to prepare their students for tomorrow’s jobs.
Despite these strong assertions, many adult learners are even more concerned whether their current skills are sufficient enough to keep up, or if their past academic learning experiences have become outdated. They prefer to take courses with their peers confident that their opinions will be valued. Marketing materials that show traditional-aged students send the message that the adults will be the only non-teens in their classes, rendering their experiences useless or at least less valued.
Adult learners rarely express their apprehensions about returning to college, preferring rather to “choose with their feet” by applying to numerous colleges prior to making an informed decision. These adults then approach the enrollment process similar to how they purchase a home or car. Many of these applicants fall prey to the “he who contacts first wins” strategy adopted by many of the for-profit admissions departments. The enrollment discussion often becomes a negotiation of the number of transfer credits accepted, how quickly the degree can be completed or how easy they find the admissions process. Initially, these applicants succumb to the “remove all barriers” to buying rather than focusing on the substantive factors for selecting a college or university such as the quality of faculty, cost/value, or resources available. Adult learners, however, are also well-informed consumers, so the initial “sales” approach to enrollment management eventually loses out to the “customer service” approach adopted by enrollment counselors who learn to relate to the consumer.
As indicated earlier, adult learners select their college based on very specific criteria; therefore, an effective adult learner enrollment counselor has to be more of a counselor and follow the “80-20 rule.” This is accomplished by allowing the adult learner to speak 80% of the time while the enrollment counselor speaks only 20%. During this discussion, the adult learners will express their interest in learning more about the features of the institution but ultimately will select the college based on its benefits. For example, several different prospective students might express concerns about taking an online course. One adult may be worried about the technology involved, while another may have several small children at home. Adult learners will eventually select the college whose enrollment counselor has allowed them to share their concerns and who assures them that online technical support is available or that they can log on at anytime to do their studies. The effective enrollment counselor, therefore, must develop a rapport before explaining the admissions process, reviewing course descriptions, discussing the quality of the faculty, and informing the prospective adult student of costs and financial aid options.
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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And here is more information about its content: The 2010 CAP Conference will focus on Implementing Best Practices in Accelerated Learning on July 22-23, 2010, at Metropolitan State College of Denver. This year’s exciting event will highlight four major themes:
• Marketing Accelerated Programs
• Prior Learning Assessment
• Online and Affordable Textbook Solutions for Accelerated Learners
• Preparing for Accreditation
This year’s event will also feature roundtable sessions that will focus on areas such as: Marketing/Recruitment; Academic Advising; Faculty Development; Retention; Assessment; Admissions/Student Services; Curriculum; Online/Hybrid Accelerated Learning; Technology in Accelerated Learning; and Research in Accelerated Learning.
CAP will also be offering two pre-conference workshops this year, both on July 21st, 2010. The first workshop, Accelerated Programs 101, will be a half-day workshop for those newer to accelerated learning who wish to attend a condensed ‘boot camp’ on the “how to’s” of accelerated learning. The second workshop, Faculty Development in Accelerated Programs, will be a full-day workshop that will address topics such as Accelerated Teaching Methodology; Hiring and Assessing New Faculty; Training, Continuous Development, and Evaluation of Faculty; and, Faculty Scheduling/Faculty Load.
From the Brochure: Plenary sessions and speakers:
As professionals who work with adult students, we all tend to wonder what is on their minds as they are selecting an institution to attend. In 2008, and then again in 2009, Stamats set out to answer that question, and many others, in its national survey of adult students. In this presentation, a review and comparison of the 2008/2009 Adult Students TALK™ study will be shared with participants in an effort to better inform those professionals who work most closely with them of the motivations and barriers that face this unique population. In addition, information regarding their use of social media, where they go to find out about their college options, and the college attributes that most influence their decision will be shared with participants to enrich the conversation about the opportunities they each have before them.
This session will be presented by Dr. Brenda Harms, an experienced higher education administrator and marketer who has built her entire academic career specializing in the adult student population. She offers a unique perspective having served this population in academic and administrative roles at a branch campus, as well as experience in classroom and online course development and instruction. Dr. Harms is active in the higher education community as a consultant to several institutions, a frequent speaker at national conferences, and author of the book Up to Speed: Marketing to Today's Adult Student. As a Principal Client Consultant at Stamats, she leads the firm’s adult student marketing initiative.
The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) has recently completed a multi-institutional PLA research study. CAEL’s Diana Bamford-Rees will share the findings from 62,475 students at 48 postsecondary institutions that show PLA students had better academic outcomes, particularly in terms of graduation rates and persistence, than other adult students; many PLA students also shortened the time required to earn a degree.
Diana Bamford-Reese currently serves as Associate Vice President for The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL); she is based in CAEL’s Philadelphia office. Diana’s responsibilities include management of CAEL’s
Higher Education member services, including the annual CAEL International Conference, Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) training workshops and webinars, and higher education publications. Diana also serves as CAEL’s liaison to the CAP Board. Since the founding of CAEL in 1974, she has held numerous positions in the organization. Prior to assuming the position as Associate Vice President in 2004, Diana worked – for almost five years – as CAEL’s representative in South Africa where she provided technical assistance for the design and implementation of a comprehensive workforce development model for South African workers.
PLA can take several forms. Dawn Spaar from Elizabethtown College will share the “Best Practices” that have worked successfully for hundreds of adult learners as provided through one small liberal arts college. The EXCEL Program, instituted at Elizabethtown College, uses PLA in the form of course equivalency proposals or CEPs. The pros & cons of this program will be discussed and shared with participants.
Dawn Spaar, Associate Dean of the Center for Continuing Education and Distance Learning of Elizabethtown College in central Pennsylvania, is a specialist in assessment of adult student learning. For eight years, she has run the Center’s EXCEL Program, which is a degree-completion program for adult learners with prior learning experience in the field in which they are pursuing their degree. Learners receive credits for professional life-experiences. Since its inception in the 1970s, the EXCEL Program has graduated hundreds of adult learners and has provided an attractive alternative process for adults in a structured, yet flexible format. Dawn’s other responsibilities include the operations, strategic planning – including the development of new undergraduate programs, and curricular content for the Center which includes four regional locations and Internet-based courses. She manages course scheduling, facilitator course assignments, and the hiring, training and mentoring of part-time facilitators. She currently facilitates both business and liberal arts courses, including the capstone course. She holds both an MBA from Eastern University and an M.Ed. degree from the Pennsylvania State University.
Open content has been identified by business, education, and technology leaders as one of the most important near-term trends in education and technology, including a citation of Flat World Knowledge for key contributions in this area. Eric Frank, Founder and President of Flat World Knowledge, will examine the open content trend with a specific focus on the advantages for accelerated learners’ programs including:
* Affordability: free online editions and low-priced digital &
print editions for financially strapped students.
* Accessibility: “always on, always available” content for
busy students in accelerated learning programs.
* Choice: multiple formats for the multiple learning styles
of adult learners.
* Convenience: end coordination problems with bookstores
--books delivered to student doorsteps.
* Flexibility: customize our textbook content to meet the
unique course needs of accelerated courses.
This session will provide an update on the tremendous progress open textbooks have made during the last year—significantly impacting current textbook affordability issues with free, low-cost and open licensed textbooks that meet the needs of all constituencies involved in accelerated learning programs.
Eric Frank is co-founder and President of Flat World Knowledge, a venture capital-backed company publishing free and openly licensed college textbooks. Eric has 16 years of experience in higher education publishing, having held positions in sales, editorial, and marketing at Thomson (now Cengage) and Prentice Hall, a division of Pearson Education. Prior to starting Flat World, Eric was Director of Marketing for Prentice Hall Business Publishing. Eric is a frequent speaker at conferences on the subjects of college affordability, innovative business models, open-source publishing, and the transformation of the publishing and media industries. He has been quoted in the New York Times, USA Today, US News & World Report, Time, Wired, NPR, Publishers Weekly, and numerous other media outlets.
Panelists will share their experiences as accreditation evaluators and self-study leaders. This interactive session will provide a venue for questions and answers for accelerated program leaders who will be preparing for their accreditation visits. Those who have recently completed their accreditation process are also highly encouraged to attend in order to share experiences and best practices.
Prof. Patricia Ellis has her BA from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel), her MBA from Frostburg University, and her JD from Catholic University of America. She has chaired a division and designed a bachelor’s program, taught full time for about 15 years, and currently is the Associate Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) at Stevenson University, formerly villa Julie College. Pat has published and presented at national conferences and elsewhere, including a CAP workshop for CALL on recruitment in 2009. She is currently the Vice Chair of CAP’s Executive Board, and she chaired the CAP Subcommittee on Best Practices and also the Awards Subcommittee in 2009. In 2007 she was granted one of the inaugural CAP awards for Excellence in Teaching.
Dr. J. Steven Jacobs, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs, has held various leadership roles at Regis University over the past 22 years. After 18 years in the College for Professional Studies, which serves adult learners, Steve was asked to lead the ten-year reaccreditation of the University with the Higher Learning Commission, which occurred in February 2008 and resulted in another ten years of accreditation. He wears many hats today, including strategic planning, accreditation, academic governance and other projects within Regis and in concert with other Jesuit universities worldwide.
Dr. Jim Martin has been the Associate Dean of Academics at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College since October 2006. The Staff College is one of the Army’s two graduate institutions and responsible for the education of mid-grade officers throughout the Army. Prior to assuming the position as Associate Dean, Dr. Martin served as a member of the Staff College’s faculty, along with a stint on the teaching faculty at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Martin was an active duty Army officer for 22 years and since retirement has served as the Director of Instruction for Baker University’s School of Professional and Graduate Studies and then consecutively as the Associate Dean of the College of Adult and Professional Studies and the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for Friends University. Professional activities include accreditation work for the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association and the Joint Staff. Dr. Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in American History from The University of Texas at Austin.
Programs in Higher Education
The fees for the conference and pre-conference events are as follows:
Member Non-Member
CAP Conference $395.00 $700.00
CAP Pre-Conference AP101 $95.00 $149.00
CAP Pre-Conference - Faculty Dev. $175.00 $230.00
Attending Conference + AP101 $450.00 $750.00
Attending Conference + Faculty Dev. $515.00 $800.00
We hope you will join us for this singular opportunity to network, share ideas, and help advance and advocate accelerated education worldwide.
For questions or additional information, please contact Jeannie McCarron at (303)964-5253 or jmccarro@regis.edu. You can also visit the front page of the CAP Network Website at www.capnetwork.org for additional information and periodic updates.
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Posted by: Admin
on Monday, June 28, 2010
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Most if not all of our CAP members work in degree-granting institutions of higher learning that are accredited by regional groups such as the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, or the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).
Part of the Mission of the MSCHE, which appears on its website as well as in its publications, states that it “is a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association that is dedicated to quality assurance and improvement through accreditation via peer evaluation.” Such “accreditation instills public confidence in institutional mission, goals, performance, and resources through its rigorous accreditation standards and their enforcement.”
While such groups have been in place for almost a century, over the last decade, changes emanating from the US Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General have put even these bastions of high standards and rigor to the test. Today, it is more important than ever for our regional accrediting bodies to ensure that our institutions are compliant not only with their Standards of Excellence, but also with federal and our own state laws and regulations. It is no longer enough to consider only if faculty can teach so that students can learn; we must be accountable for student outcomes as well as proper assessment of our entire organizations.
The following are three articles about accreditation from three points of view: chairing the Self Study committee as an institution prepares for the site visit, being a site visitor, and making the final decision about the institution’s accreditation.
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Posted by: Admin
on Thursday, March 25, 2010
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To be chosen to lead the ten-year reaccreditation institutional Self-Study study process is both an honor and a challenge. Have your doctor prescribe an ample supply of Xanax. Yet there are many rewards. Those asked to lead this task in the end have a superb view of the University and a privileged appreciation of the talent and commitment of its faculty, staff, and students.
As we all know, regional accreditation is increasingly important and stringent in our universities, with a renewed emphasis on assessment of student learning. I’m told that most of the follow-up visits and reports required by the Higher Learning Commission, as one regional example, focus on these areas of assessment. Furthermore, if there is one thing I would emphasize again and again – document, document, document. If you say it’s true, prove it. It also helps to have on your Self-Study team someone who is seasoned in accreditation visits to other institutions. Happily, Regis’ Academic Vice President and several deans had ample experience. These people will have good instincts as to what is needed and not. Also, gather other Self-Studies and talk to those authors as it will help your team decide how to proceed. Finally, we chose to have the chair be the final author of the document so that it would read as one voice, which received praise from the reviewers.
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Posted by: Admin
on Thursday, March 25, 2010
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As one who sometimes gives over 100 talks in a year, my personal blog is titled TravelinEdMan for a reason. The phone rings. Emails pile up. Meetings are arranged at conferences. Shortly afterward, the Web links or faxes are sent to me with the talk schedules. And off I go to try to inform and hopefully motivate people about the possibilities of online teaching and learning.
One interesting fact is that it is not just college instructors who want to know what is happening online. The audiences include K-12 teachers, technology coordinators, and administrators as well as instructors, instructional designers, and many others from higher education, government, corporate, and military settings. More fascinating is where they are located. A decade ago, the destination sites were the standard elearning hubs of Finland, Canada, and Australia. After that, it was New Zealand, Iceland, Korea, and the UAE. More recently, requests have come from countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, the UK, and Canada (again). It seems many of these places aspire to be the elearning capital of the world or at least of their region.
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Posted by: Admin
on Friday, March 27, 2009
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