Year: 2020

GI Bill Guidance Provides Some Relief and Real Challenges for Veteran Students

By Lindsey Rae Downs

March 17, 2020

2 Comments

Updated 3/17/2020 2:50 PM MT time

We are pleased to share that although the guidance we referenced in the article below was provided by the Veterans Administration (VA) on March 13, 2020, the VA rescinded this guidance. Senate Bill, S.3503, was introduced on March 16, 2020 and passed the same night. It is anticipated that the House will pass with Unanimous Consent. This legislation is in regards to programs that are converted to online education for emergency and health-related reasons and ensures that such programs will be treated the same as other programs. The VA is expected to provide further guidance and asks institution to “temporarily refrain from making any adjustments to enrollment certifications” if the modality was changed due to COVID-19. We will continue to follow this situation and share further details as they unfold.

WCET wishes to continue to support our community with resources on the WCET website to address the massive, nationwide shift of postsecondary face-to-face education to online formats due to the COVID-19 outbreak. We have shared guidance regarding flexibility and emergency protocols for institution and program approvals provided by the U.S. Department of Education (on March 5) and accrediting agencies (as of March 12).

Unfortunately, the latest guidance from the Veterans Administration reveals some statutory restrictions upon them that may result in the loss of some or all financial support for student veterans.

Today’s Frontiers post will examine the status of GI Bill benefits for recipients whose institutions are converting courses through a shift in modality and/or closing campuses.

In previous Frontiers posts we expressed concern about reduced housing allowance allocations for Veterans taking all of their courses online. Generally speaking, GI Bill recipients need to be aware that, currently, there are specific statutory requirements that apply when, for reasons due to a medical emergency, institutions choose either to a) convert face-to-face courses to online courses or b) close institutional operations for a time.

But, help may be on the way. Congress recently introduced a bill to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide GI Bill Benefits for distance learning under certain emergency and health related situations.

Institutions should review recently released guidance from the Veterans Administration: COVID-19 SCO FAQs (for School Certifying Officer) and COVID-19 Q&A. This post is an attempt to highlight the problems addressed in those guidance documents and to illustrate some of the challenges institutions may face.

Summary of the Veterans Administration Guidance

A quick review of the Veterans Administration’s guidance reveals challenges for some veteran students and their institutions:

State Approving Agency. An institution that changes the modality of the course must have approval by the State Approving Agency (SAA) for online modality. Note that this is not the state higher education agency, nor the agency charged with overseeing state authorization. If the institution is not approved for online education by the SAA, VA benefits may be affected. This is probably most problematic for institutions with few or no online courses who must now pivot to virtual teaching.
Basic Allowance for Housing and Changing to All Courses Being Online. This has long been an issue for veterans who take all of their courses in a term at a distance. Those veterans receive only half of the Housing Allowance that veterans who enroll completely on-campus or in a mix of face-to-face and online courses. But what if the institution forces the veteran into online classes? There are two answers:
- Changing Modality in the Middle of a Term. Monthly Housing Payments are not affected when a modality changes (e.g. from face-to-face to distance learning) after the first day of a term due to COVID-19. The guidance provides that the benefits fall under the hybrid definition.
- Changing Modality Before the Beginning of the Next Term. What about the institutions that operate in shorter terms or quarters? For example, schools that operate in quarters will enter the Spring term in a few weeks and have announced that they will finish the year online. Since all the veterans’ courses are online for the full term, the student will be eligible for only half of the housing allowance. This is true even though the student had no option for face-to-face courses.
Remedial/Deficiency Classes. Any classes classified as “remedial/deficiency” courses that are converted to online learning are not subject to benefits. The student will need to “terminate” based on the last day of attendance in the face-to-face course prior to conversion.
Veterans Without Computers. Veterans who are unable to participate in the online conversion of their face-to-face course due to lack of equipment or other issues are to terminate as of the last date of attendance in the face-to-face course prior to conversion. We are hearing that institutions are doing what they can to help students find computers, internet, and other tools required to continue. If not, the student must withdraw and will lose their benefit for that term.
Practical (Non-College Degree) Programs. Only face-to-face education will be approved for Non-College Degree programs for purposes of GI Bill Benefits. If training is converted from face-to-face to online learning, the student may continue on a prorated basis or terminate and receive a refund per VA approval policy. One could understand that many, if not most, Non-College Degree programs require hands-on learning. However, we wonder if there are some training programs that could be completed online.

Need Your Help in Overcoming the Statutory Challenges Faced by the VA

There are no easy answers to these challenges, and current statutes limit the VA’s discretion on these issues. Fortunately, recently proposed Federal legislation could provide some relief to Veterans when faced with institutional decisions to convert their entirety of offerings to online education or institution closure due to an emergency situation.

House Bill, H.R.6194, proposed on March 11 by Rep. David Roe (R-TN), would “authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to treat certain programs of education converted to distance learning by reason of emergencies and health-related situations in the same manner as programs of education pursued at educational institutions, and for other purposes.” In a press release, Rep. Roe explained “my bill would ensure that Secretary Wilkie has the flexibility to continue serving students well during times of uncertainty and I am committed to seeing it signed into law quickly.”

As of March 16, the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. Because the full text has not yet been published, it is impossible to say whether this bill would address all the challenges we have identified in this post. However, WCET sees value in the intent of this bill and is hopeful that it would address the challenges faced by our nation’s veterans. If you are interested in seeing these changes made, we suggest that you follow this bill, alert your administration, and consider your next steps. WCET will continue to follow bill progress and advocate for our Veterans.

Thank you to our colleague Lane Huber, Chief Distance Learning & Military Affairs officer at Bismarck State College, for sharing this information and shedding light on these challenges to our student Veterans. We will certainly follow up on the progress of the bill and management of these concerns. We hope that you will consider calling your legislators to ensure forward movement to support our student Veterans!

Cheryl and Dan

Cheryl Dowd
Director, WCET State Authorization Network
cdowd@wiche.edu
@dowdcm

Dan Silverman
Assistant Director, WCET State Authorization Network
dsilverman@wiche.edu

Photo Credits:

Flag Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

Working on laptop Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash

Blended/Hybrid Learning, COVID-19, Digital Learning, Disaster Planning/Recovery, Distance Education, Legislation, Managing Digital Learning, Military and Veterans, Online Learning, Regulation, Student Success, Technology, U.S. Department of Education

Practice

Accreditation, Continuity of Operations, and COVID-19

By Lindsey Rae Downs

March 12, 2020

2 Comments

On March 5, 2020, the Department of Education issued guidance to institutions facing possible interruptions of study because of COVID-19. WCET’s Cheryl Dowd, Director of the WCET State Authorization Network, provided an overview of the guidance for WCET Frontiers. As of the morning of March 12^th, a growing number of institutions, especially those on the west coast, have opted to at least temporarily suspend face-to-face instruction and transition coursework to remote delivery. As educators involved with the complex development and delivery of online education, we know that offering a course or program online is not as simple as merely flipping a switch; there are complex instructional design and technological and regulatory issues evolved with high-quality online instruction. This use of educational technology to ensure the continuity of operations is certainly not new, but we are now seeing it deployed on an unprecedented scale. Today’s Frontiers post will examine the response of accreditors to COVID-19 and the use of online learning for institutional continuity of operations.

The Department of Education’s March 5^th Guidance

The guidance issued by the Department of Education on March 5, 2020, focuses on federal financial aid compliance and addresses five scenarios:

Students unable to complete or begin a travel-abroad experience;
Full-time students who are no longer full-time because one or more classes (such as an internship, fieldwork, student teaching, or clinical rotation) have been cancelled due to COVID-19;
Students who miss classes due to being quarantined or sick due to COVID-19;
Campuses that temporarily stop offering face-to-face courses in order to slow or prevent the spread of COVID-19; and
Students enrolled in a foreign institution that has temporarily suspended operations due to COVID-19.

In an effort to maintain continuity of academic operations, the Department announced that it is “providing broad approval to institutions to use online technologies to accommodate students on a temporary basis, without going through the regular approval process of the Department in the event that an institution is otherwise required to seek Departmental approval for the use or expansion of distance learning programs.”

Under normal circumstances, the approval to offer online education is a multistep process and also includes approval from an institution’s accreditor. Although the Department cannot unilaterally waive accreditor standards, it did note that it is “also permitting accreditors to waive their distance education review requirements for institutions working to accommodate students whose enrollment is otherwise interrupted as a result of COVID-19.”

Accreditors’ Response to COVID-19

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) currently recognizes seven regional accreditors, four faith-related accreditors, one national career-related accreditor, and 48 programmatic accreditors. What guidance have these organizations provided to their members regarding waivers of distance education review requirements as institutions move face-to-face courses online in response to COVID-19?

Regional Accreditors

Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACCJC WASC): Per a March 9^th communication to its members, ACCJC WASC announced it was “waiving review and technology requirements for distance learning and correspondence education at institutions affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Distance education instructors must maintain regular, substantive communication with students.”
Higher Learning Commission (HLC): HLC has shared a brief statement to its home page affirming that it is “following the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations” and will “continue to track this issue and inform stakeholders as needed.
Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE): Per a March 9^th communication to its members, MSCHE announced it “will temporarily waive the substantive change requirements for distance education and contractual agreements put in place in response to the coronavirus.” To facilitate that waiver, MSCHE requests that institutions provide by April 1, 2020, formal written notice of distance education measures, temporary agreements with other institutions, changes to the academic calendar, and temporary sites for instruction.
New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE): NECHE is currently handling any waivers of distance education requirements on a case-by-case basis and has not yet released a statement.
Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU): WCET is unaware of any public comments or guidance from NWCCU but will update as soon as that information becomes available.
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC): Per a direct March 9, 2020 communication to its members, SACSCOC instructed that institutions that do not already have approval to offer distance education must send an email or letter to Dr. Belle Wheelan requesting a waiver in accordance with the Department of Education’s March 5^th
Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC): Per an update posted to its website, WSCUC writes that institutions “are in the best position to make accommodations so that students and employees can be as safe as possible” and “leaves these important decision to individual campuses, believing that each will adhere to its learning objectives/goals as they can reasonably be achieved in the climate in which you are operating.” The statement also refers members back to the Department of Education’s March 5^th

Faith-Related and Career-Related Accreditors

At this time, none of the four faith-related accreditors have issued public guidance for their members related to distance education accrediting regulations. Because the one career-related accreditor, the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, deals only with institutions offering distance education, it has not needed to issue guidance related to the transitioning of face-to-face instruction online in response to COVID-19.

Programmatic Accreditors

Most of the 48 programmatic accreditors recognized by CHEA have not issued public guidance to their members. The following accreditors, though, have addressed COVID-19:

WCET Resources on COVID-19

This is a highly dynamic situation and WCET will continue to update this post as needed. As always, we recommend that you directly contact your accreditor for specific guidance. WCET will continue to provide resources and updates related to COVID-19.

Please see the WCET COVID-19 webpage which lists several resources including:

Dissemination of Information and Continuity of Operations, a joint statement by WCET, OLC, UPCEA, and Quality Matters
Joint Response Regarding COVID-19 and Advice on Transitioning Face-to-Face Courses Online, a March 12, 2020 joint statement by WCET, OLC, Quality Matters, and UPCEA
Videos that discuss general preparedness; current progression and warnings across the United States; strategies for messaging students, staff, and faculty; and information on moving courses online including financial implications and compliance concerns. Members can access the videos on YouTube in the 1:1 interview channel.

WCET suggests that you review the Department of Education’s guidance as well as its COVID-19 Information and Resources page along with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Interim Guidance for Administrators of US Institutions of Higher Education.

WCET is committed to helping all of its members navigate these unprecedented challenges and will continue to share and update information as it becomes available.

Van Davis
Policy and Planning Consultant WCET
vdavis@wiche.edu @historydoc

Travel Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash

Virus Image – CDC, Alissa Eckert, MS; Dan Higgins, MAMS

Access, Accreditation, Digital Learning, Disaster Planning/Recovery, Distance Education, Enrollment, Financial Aid, Leadership, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, Professional Development, SAN, State Authorization, Student Success, Teaching, Technology, U.S. Department of Education, Virtual/Augmented Reality, WCET

Practice

A Flower (and some great quotes) for International Women’s Day

By Lindsey Rae Downs

March 6, 2020

March 8^th is International Women’s Day.

According to the International Women’s Day (IWD) website, IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and the celebration has occurred annually for well over a century.

To honor the day, I chatted with women in the technology-enhanced learning field about their careers and experiences. Finally, I asked for some thoughts from my mom, because she is one of the most inspirational women I know.

Celebrate, Reflect, and Honor

Growing up in Romania, March 8th was always a reason for celebration. Everyone took time to honor the women in their lives. It is customary to give at least one flower (usually spring flowers like a tulip, iris, or daffodil) to these women. Everyone in the country would carry flowers home, whether they received them, or bought them for their loved ones. Some gentlemen even bought extra single flowers to offer to women that were walking without any, ensuring no one is forgotten. The smell of spring flowers will always bring me happiness and remind me of how such a simple gesture brings so much joy.

Spread the joy this year, even if you only take two minutes of your day to tell your coworker, mom, or friend how much they empowered you to do something you thought you couldn’t. Because you CAN!

– Laura DaVinci, Assistant Director, Every Learner Everywhere, WCET

When I think about International Women’s Day, I think of how far we’ve come and how far we have to go. I turned 40 this year, and I’m amazed that just when you think you’ve got it figured out, some new realization pulls the rug out from under you. These arise because we’ve spent so long focused on other people and denying our own needs. Women take on the larger amount of emotional labor at work, and this is a time and energy drain that keeps us from pursuing our goals and dreams. This is magnified for women of color.

Regarding the future of women’s equality, I think about the importance of white women learning when to speak up and when to shut up. We need to speak up for women of color and demand gender AND racial equity in higher education leadership, to use our voices to amplify those of women of color, and to ask why more resources aren’t devoted to supporting them on our campuses. When do we need to shut up? “More often than we think.” This is a tricky balance, and I don’t have it figured out, but I am working on it.

I also think about the importance of creativity in women’s personal and professional lives. This is one of the reasons I’ve started Gather, a beyond-institutional collaborative space for women+ in higher education where women are starting projects and movements that inspire them. We need more spaces like this, both within and outside of our institutions.

– Karen Costa, Writer, Adjunct Faculty, Faculty Development Facilitator

This message from my teammate Cheryl may be short, but it’s definitely sweet: I tell my daughters: don’t let other people’s expectations of you define who you are.

– Cheryl Dowd, Director of the State Authorization Network, WCET

The only way to make change to our structures of inequality is through our own individual actions, so be the woman to make change – listen for women’s voices and amplify those voices, search for women in the crowd to lend a hand to bring her on stage, and value women’s qualities, such as care. I used to think if I took on the qualities of men, I’d show them that women were just as good. But I learned that path continues to value masculine ways. I am now learning to value women – all of who we are and all of what we can become.

– Tanya Joosten, Director, Digital Learning R&D and National Research Center for Distance Education and Technological Advancements (DETA)

Cali Morrison is a wonderful friend and she recommended I apply for my current position, for which I am very thankful.

On International Women’s Day, take a moment to reflect on those who reached a hand back for you when you first started your career — send them a note of thanks. Think about those who are in the trenches with you now and give them a shout out. Consider how you can reach your hand back for those younger (or more junior) than you who need the hand which was given to you. Banding together to celebrate our womanhood isn’t about being anti-male. It’s about being empowered in who we are, acknowledging our strengths, and not shrinking away from our duty to speak up. In honor of all of the phenomenal women surrounding me in every direction and for my daughters who have a longer fight for equity ahead of them, I raise a glass and offer my favorite quote, worn around my neck nearly daily: “Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

– Cali Morrison, Associate Dean, Alternative Learning, the Extension School at American Public University System

The statistics below are exciting but disheartening at the same time.

For me, International Women’s Day is a perfect time to reflect on how far we have come; many of us have educational and professional opportunities our mothers and grandmothers never had. I am grateful for the women and men who have mentored me, nurtured my ambition, and given me opportunities to learn, grow, and excel. As a leader, I take the responsibility to return in kind with the next generation very seriously.

As a woman, I am also reminded of how far we have to go. This is the 100th anniversary of US women securing the right to vote. Today, women vote at slightly higher rates than men, but less than two-thirds of eligible female voters utilize this hard-won right. We constitute 51% of the population, but only 24% of the US Congress. 6.6% of CEOs on Fortune’s 500 list are women, but that number, just under 7%, is a record high. Poverty rates for women are higher (13% vs. 10%) and the pay gap persists. That is why we need events like International Women’s Day: to remind us to reflect, honor, and strive for greater equality and equity.

– Kara Van Dam, Vice President and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and Overseas Academic Affairs, University of Maryland Global Campus and Chair of the WCET Steering Committee

It is important this International Women’s Day, we remember that in the struggle for women’s equality, fighting for intersectional women’s rights including the rights of non-white women and the rights for LGBTQ+ people is essential. If we just focus on women generally, we look over many other inequities that exist in society, and don’t have as much power to make real change for the people who need it most. However, if we focus efforts broadly on creating equal opportunities across genders, gender identities, races, ethnicities, sexualities, nationalities, religions, etc. we can hope to improve the lives of many more people.

So, this IWD, I am reflecting on the spectrum of privilege and thinking about ways that we can create better systems in order to bring opportunity to a greater number of people. By lifting up the most vulnerable members of society, we have the chance to lift everyone a little higher as a result.

– Rosa Calabrese, Manager of Digital Design, WCET

Mollie McGill, WCET’s Senior Director of Operations and Membership, is a wonderful role model and friend. Mollie reminded me of our former Executive Director Mike Abbiatti’s focus on staff professional development. He setup meetings for us to learn from leaders, including Deb Adair, CEO of Quality Matters. Mollie told me that we must “create opportunities to talk about leadership with your team. Mentorship is so important in today’s work environment. In Deb’s meeting with WCET staff, she closed with this comment about the qualities of a leader…”a leader should have integrity, a leader should be kind.””

Mollie has this quote on her whiteboard in her office. What a great reminder! Thanks to both Mollie and Deb.

As I said earlier, my mom is a huge inspiration to me. Not just because she’s a great mom, but because of her incredible career.

I was one of the first women in my field as a nuclear fuel technician. I felt I had to be careful to work at 100% (or MORE!) because if I failed it wouldn’t be because the job was difficult but because I was a woman. The perception was that women couldn’t do technical work. I proved them wrong by passing qualifications and practicums with top scores. I paved the way for other women in the field. Near the end of my career, I was chosen by the Department of Energy for a team whose mission was to secure nuclear material in the Former Soviet Union. It was also important to me to mentor other women. As I went through my career, sadly, some of the women I worked for didn’t mentor me well, suggesting that because they had to work hard, I had to, too. In any field, women need to mentor others and give them a hand up the ladder.

I didn’t have an opportunity to receive a college education, but I am happy with the career I made for myself. I am proud to watch my daughter accomplish her educational and career goals and I’m excited about the future for my granddaughter. Days like International Women’s Day are making the future brighter for little ones like her!

– Gail Walters, former nuclear fuel technician and education/internship coordinator, Idaho National Laboratory (retired). Oh, and Lindsey’s mom.

To close today’s post, I thought a quote from WCET’s inspirational founding executive director would be quite appropriate:

Throughout my long career I’ve met and gotten to know several intelligent, skilled, and gracious women leaders throughout the U.S. and the world. In trying to absorb the lessons they have generously offered, I’ve realized the most important was their ability to balance decisiveness and grace. They are/were able to treat every person they encountered with respect and humility, yet still lead in complex and challenging circumstances. On this International Women’s Day, I remember each of them and hope to do my best to pass along their grace.

– Sally M. Johnstone, President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems

A Virtual Flower

Thank you to all the remarkable individuals who sent me their thoughts in honor of International Women’s Day. You are all so inspirational to me and I’m incredibly luck to know all of you. To me, this day is to celebrate women’s accomplishments, cherish our achievements, and to highlight ways we can make this world a better place for all.

So, here’s a flower for all of you. Enjoy the day,

Lindsey

Lindsey Downs
Assistant Director, Communications, Community, and Social Media
WCET
ldowns@wiche.edu|@lindsey0427

Celebrate with us on social media!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
#IWD2020 #EachforEqual
March 8, 2020

Women Talking and Women Laughing Photos by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Diversity/Equity/Inclusion, Practice, WCET

Practice

Breaking news: U.S. Department of Education Guidance for interruptions of study related to COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

By Lindsey Rae Downs

March 5, 2020

3 Comments

***Update: On March 20, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education provided updated guidance by adding an FAQ attachment to the March 5, 2020 guidance previously released. Note that this update extends the term of flexibility from being based on students who were already enrolled in a term when the COVID-19 related interruptions occurred to students who enroll in payment periods that begin on or before June 1, 2020. Additional guidance is provided around the topics of Federal Work Study (FWS), study abroad students and foreign institutions, payment periods, institutional charges, withdrawal calculations, COD updates, clock hour programs, and overlapping terms. The Department indicates that they will continue to respond to questions.***

The U.S. Department of Education released guidance for institutions to address compliance with Title IV Higher Education Act (HEA) policies for students receiving federal financial aid whose activities have been affected by COVID-19. Institutions will want to review this guidance for all activities that are subject to Title IV policies and regulations. The Department is providing some short-term flexibility for schools to help students complete the term for which the students are currently enrolled.

Institutions may wish to note some parameters: The flexibility does not generally extend to students who have not yet enrolled or whose term has not yet begun. The Department acknowledges that they will continue to monitor the situation and may provide additional guidance as is deemed necessary. The Department will provide updates on the Department’s Coronavirus webpage.

Guidance is for Federal Financial Aid Compliance

Institutions must remember that this is guidance for Federal compliance. The direction from the Department is in regard to options for institutions that fall under current Departmental statutory authority. The directions are to provide flexibility with Federal compliance for institutions to continue to serve students. Flexibility beyond the Department’s authorization are not possible. For example, this guidance addresses issues that the Department requires for accreditation and for institutional approval to offer online education. Accreditors and state higher education agencies may still require certain additional requirements that are not subject to the rules of the U.S. Department of Education.

The Department strongly recommends that institutions document any actions taken as a result of COVID-19.

Compliance Flexibility to Allow Students to Persist

The goal of the Department is to find ways to accommodate students to continue with their education with as little disruption as is possible.

The Department acknowledges that online education may be a viable option to continue teaching students. In order to provide that option, the Department is offering options that will allow institutions to be flexible but also remain in Federal compliance for purposes of Title IV participation.

Key Areas of flexibility include:

Approval to offer distance education on a temporary basis.
Permitting accreditors to waive distance education review requirements, with limitations.
Institutions may enter into temporary consortium agreements with other institutions so that students can complete courses at other institutions but be awarded credit by their home institution.
Permitting accrediting agencies to waive the requirement that students complete a final number or percentage of credits in residence at the institution, for students impacted by COVID-19 and without objection by the Department.
Allowing students to take an approved leave of absence for COVID-19 related concerns or limitations, such as interruption of a travel-abroad program, including direction for managing Title IV funds. Students will be permitted to take such leave, even if the student notifies the institution in writing after the leave of absence has begun.
An institution may request a temporary reduction in the length of its academic year to close as the result of a campus health emergency, by contacting the School Participation team. The Department is authorized under 34 CFR § 668.3 to approve a reduced academic year.
Specific direction on enrollment status changes, return of Title IV funds, definition of withdrawal rate, and enrollment reporting.

The Department suggests that if you have further questions that you may email them at: COVID-19@ed.gov.

WCET Resources on COVID-19

WCET is working to provide resources and updates related to the virus. Please see our webpage with several resources and recommendations, including:

A joint statement by WCET, OLC, UPCEA, and Quality Matters (QM) to share resources that address Dissemination of Information and Continuity of Operations to help serve our online community.
Two videos, to discuss general preparedness, current progression and warnings across the United States, and strategies for messaging students, staff, and faculty as well as moving courses online, financial implications, and compliance concerns. Members can access the videos on YouTube in the 1:1 interview channel.

We urge you to review the Department’s guidance and the available resources. Additionally, regarding the Department’s guidance, institution staff may wish to communicate with the financial aid office to plan and develop questions to share with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). The NASFAA podcasts “Off the Cuff” are very informative.

This is a difficult and confusing time. We invite your questions and we will reach out to experts for more information and to problem solved. WCET pledges to continue providing updates as they become available.

Cheryl Dowd
Director, WCET State Authorization Network
cdowd@wiche.edu
@dowdcm

Accreditation, Disaster Planning/Recovery, Distance Education, Enrollment, Financial Aid, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, SAN, State Authorization, Student Success, U.S. Department of Education, WCET

Practice

Evaluating Faculty Participation in Online Workshops

By Lindsey Rae Downs

February 27, 2020

Last week we welcomed Lynn Wahl, Instructional Designer for UNC Charlotte, to discuss how they used design thinking to create online faculty development workshops. In a continuation of the topic, Lynn joins us today to talk about how to assess a learning opportunity such as the online workshops to ensure they continue to engage attendees and meet their needs.

Thank you very much to Lynn for showcasing the creative endeavors and assessment practices going on at UNC Charlotte!

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

A major focus in planning and development training is ensuring that it fulfills the needs of its intended audience. This is particularly important in online workshops since they often require a higher facilitation effort that you don’t want to be wasted. This places a heavy emphasis on iterative revisions of workshops to make sure everything is working well.

One method commonly used to determine where to make changes to training are end of workshop surveys; but in online workshops, surveys alone are not enough to show the complete picture of how participants engage with content, assessments, and the facilitator.

Learning analytics tracked within a learning management system can provide the rest of the picture developers need to make meaningful revisions to training.

Workshop Types

The Center for Teaching & Learning at UNC Charlotte began delivering online pedagogy workshops in Spring 2017. The first online workshop on writing learning objectives was created using a design thinking methodology. We discussed the development of our online faculty workshops in a post last week on Frontiers. After great participant feedback, two more workshops were transformed to an online offering.

All three of our online workshops utilize different facilitation models matched to the topics and the types of interactions most helpful for participants to learn the required skills:

Workshop	Facilitation model	Interaction types and skills
Introduction to Learning Objectives and Backward Design	Facilitated	Contains auto and manual graded self-checks, discussion, and an application-based assignment. Helps faculty practice a difficult skill and get feedback.
Syllabus 101	Resource Based	Contains optional auto-graded self-checks and a culminating discussion forum. Provides valuable “just-in-time” information.
Using Feedback to Improve Teaching and Learning	Discussion Based	Asks faculty to share their experiences in overcoming feedback challenges in their courses.

Gathering Data

Gathering and analyzing data from online workshops can be a little overwhelming, but even simple learner analytics like page views and discussion forum mapping can give you the extra information you need to improve participant experience. This type of information can be pulled from your learning management system (LMS).

For example, we use Canvas to house our faculty workshops. A free Canvas workshop created by Dartmouth College gave us a starting point for pulling data out of Canvas. We were able to pull information out of our institution’s instance of Canvas and use pre-built analytics tools to explore and map the data. This data should be available to your Canvas administrators who may be able to assist you with this process.

Analyzing Data

Once you’ve retrieved data, often the more difficult task is making sense out of it and answering the “so what?” question.

In looking through the huge amount of information provided through page views across multiple sections of the three workshops, we noticed a few things:

Participant working time is between 8am and 11pm, with peak working time between 9am and 11am.
Participants spend significantly less time than allotted in the facilitated learning objectives workshop (workshop 1 in the chart above).
There are clear divisions between the top page views in the workshop and the less visited resources.
Facilitation and engagement with instructors in the discussion-based workshop has a big impact on how participants interact in the forums.

Example of a network analysis graph for the discussion-based workshop. Each circle represents a participant in the workshop, while the shaded groupings represent different sections of the workshop. Circles show how particpants are grouped in large circles. The lightly facilitated group is more dispersed and have lines drawn between participants showing how they interact. The Facilitated discussion forum is one tightly connected circle with more interaction. — Example of a network analysis graph for the discussion-based workshop. Each circle represents a participant in the workshop, while the shaded groupings represent different sections of the workshop. Participant names have been blurred to protect their privacy. Author created image.

Survey results and participant feedback don’t always match up with how participants engage with the workshops
Participants frequently return to the content (both resources and discussion posts) in the resource-based workshop, infrequently to the facilitated workshop, and not at all to the discussion-based workshop

Revisions

Based on what we saw in the data, we could see that the best strategy was to design for the normal participant experience and accommodate the outliers when necessary.

Under this guiding thought, we are now implementing the following revisions in the online workshops:

Change the amount of time we state it takes to complete the workshops to more accurately reflect the workload.
Reply to questions and schedule announcements and the release of new content before 9am every day.
Create additional workshops and resources around the top page views in all of the workshops.
Remove the bottom viewed pages in all of the workshops.
Add more media and examples.
Remove some of the self-check multiple choice quizzes.

Once the changes are in place for a few semesters, we can rerun the analytics to see how our changes affect participant experiences.

How can you use analytics to help make your events or courses better? Once you have the data you are empowered to make meaningful updates to these learning experiences and make them better for your attendees.

Resources

Excel Pivot Tables: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/create-a-pivottable-to-analyze-worksheet-data-a9a84538-bfe9-40a9-a8e9-f99134456576
Canvas Analytics Course: https://learn.canvas.net/courses/1176

Lynn Wahl
Instructional Designer
UNC Charlotte Center for Teaching and Learning

Assessment, Course Design, Digital Learning, Evaluation, Faculty, Instructional Design, LMS, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, Professional Development, Teaching, Technology

Practice

Design Thinking for Faculty Pedagogy Training

By Lindsey Rae Downs

February 21, 2020

1 Comment

Have you heard of design thinking? This process is a non-linear, iterative process that focuses on understanding users and redefining problems to create innovative solutions and prototype said solutions to make them even better (interaction-design.org). We can use design thinking in a variety of arenas, not the least of which is to design courses. Today’s guest author, Lynn Wahl, Instructional Designer for UNC Charlotte, is here to discuss how they used design thinking to revolutionize a professional development opportunity for their faculty. Thank you Lynn for today’s great post!

Join Lynn again next week for a follow-up to this week’s post!

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

Anyone working on training for higher education faculty knows that the phrase “if you build it, they will come” just isn’t true. Adult learners need to know that training will help them–not sometime in the future, but right now. For faculty with heavy workloads and numerous pressing responsibilities, dedicating even an hour to training can be a huge ask. This reality was the driving factor behind the Center for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) use of Design Thinking for the creation of a number of online workshops for faculty at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNC Charlotte).

What is Design Thinking?

Unlike other instructional design processes where preliminary analysis is focused on demographics or existing knowledge, design thinking encourages human-centered design.

Instead of starting with a problem, you start with the people, then define the problem based on what you’ve learned about your audience. With the problem defined, you brainstorm solutions, and then quickly develop prototypes in order to get the solution into the hands of your audience for testing.

Design Thinking in Action

Every semester, UNC Charlotte’s CTL and Distance Education run a Quality Matters Course Development process for faculty. By the end of the semester, faculty are expected to have a fully developed online or blended course that meets Quality Matters standards.

Preliminary training for the development process included the flagship workshop from Quality Matters on how faculty are meant to apply a course rubric; however, even after one iteration of the process, we could see that this workshop just wasn’t enough to teach faculty how to write good objectives and integrate those in their online and blended course design. We decided to offer additional training to our faculty.

Our Design Thinking Process

A few major elements came to light in our development of online workshops for faculty. These elements formed the basis of how we approached the modality, pacing, content, and facilitation of the trainings. The focus was on offering faculty what they actually needed, not what we thought or assumed they needed. Some challenges we noted:

Faculty are busy.
Not all faculty are on campus regularly.
Suggestions for pedagogy training may be perceived as a lack of knowledge or accusation of lack of ability.
Face to face pedagogy training effectiveness can be low when aiming for application of knowledge.
Many instructors do not have mental schemas for teaching, especially online.
Institutional culture determines priority.

After identifying these elements, we wrote a simple statement meant to guide all parts of the workshop’s planning and development. It was like a problem statement that guided our work and reminded us of what was important every time a decision about the workshop was needed:

Faculty with little free time, numerous professional pressures, and a learning gap around objectives and course planning need to learn how to write learning objectives to be successful in the course development process.

Now that we had a working problem statement that cut through the shallower assumptions about training and faculty perceptions, we could begin to brainstorm solutions. In design thinking the goal is to come up with as many solutions as possible, and then narrow those down based on feasibility, viability, and desirability.

With these in mind, we selected a solution from the list of brainstormed ideas. We chose to develop an asynchronous, online workshop, built in our existing learning management system. Content would be concise, written in plain language, and offer concrete how-to information rather than generalized best practice suggestions. Whenever possible it would use templates, examples, and forms to help faculty create learning objectives.

The workshop was planned and developed within a month in order to get it ready for the next cohort of developers. After running for three cohorts, feedback was extremely good. Although the workshop is our longest, spanning asynchronously over seven days, semester after semester it is one of the most attended CTL trainings.

Almost all participants recommend the workshops to colleagues and find the content helpful. Most participants comment on how helpful the asynchronous online modality of the workshop is with their schedule, and most participants also comment on how helpful the feedback they receive in the workshop is compared to what they’re used to experiencing in face to face sessions.

Using Design Thinking

Design thinking is an excellent tool to revise existing training or to create new training, to choose modality, and to choose content for workshops. Its main value lies in how it shifts the focus of design from the perceived problem to the audience itself.

If your face to face workshops have low attendance or your online workshops aren’t receiving excellent feedback, consider the true needs of your audience and see how design thinking can help to make your training more relevant and helpful.

Resources:

Online Introduction to Learning Objectives Workshop: https://lor.instructure.com/resources/163c38ce16c048f2a5ee598b0885dce7
https://designthinking.ideo.com/
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-a-quick-overview
https://medium.com/innovation-sweet-spot/desirability-feasibility-viability-the-sweet-spot-for-innovation-d7946de2183c

Lynn Wahl
Instructional Designer
UNC Charlotte Center for Teaching and Learning

Image 1 – design thinking process. Image attribution: Author/Copyright holder: Teo Yu Siang and Interaction Design Foundation. Copyright terms and licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Course Design, Digital Learning, Faculty, Innovation, Instructional Design, Online Learning, Professional Development, Teaching, Technology

Policy

Licensure Research & Disclosures: Stakeholder Meeting Tips

By Lindsey Rae Downs

February 13, 2020

Hello WCET,

Today’s post is a continuation from last week’s topic from the WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) Special Interest Team. The Special Interest Teams are workgroups on a designated topic area. This particular special interest team worked on contributions for the network on the issue of professional licensure research and disclosures. Today’s post focuses on the best ways to set up and prepare for meetings with stakeholders at your institution. These practices will help you be successful when working with other individuals and units.

Thank you to the team who collaborated on this great post!

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

_____________________________________

In a previous Frontiers blog post, the WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) Special Interest Team shared tips on how to initiate and prepare for stakeholder meetings to discuss licensure program disclosures. In this post, we dive deeper into meeting resources and recommended follow-up, including how to:

Create a meeting agenda and resources.
Develop licensure research and disclosure processes.
Follow up with regular stakeholder communications.

Remember that sharing licensure disclosures is required under current federal regulations in order to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. Effective July 1, 2020, new U.S. Department of Education regulations require disclosures for all licensure programs, regardless of whether the program is offered on-campus or online.

Sharing licensure disclosure information with students builds trust and demonstrates an institution’s commitment to integrity and student success. Reviewing state licensure requirements will help students to make an informed decision before enrolling in a program and prevent them from investing time and tuition dollars in a program that ultimately doesn’t meet their licensure or career goals. As students become increasingly mobile, it’s important to provide relevant licensure information for all states.

Stakeholder Meeting Resources and Tips

After a stakeholder meeting is scheduled and you have researched the relevant program information, it is helpful to develop a meeting agenda to define the scope of the discussion. Possible agenda topics could be:

Overview of relevant state, federal and NC-SARA disclosure requirements.
Verification of the program research you completed prior to the meeting.
Connection between professional licensure disclosure requirements, student success, and the institution’s mission.
Discussion of research processes, roles, and responsibilities.
Confirmation of program contacts for future questions.
Timeline development to complete state licensure research and draft disclosures.
Next steps and action items.

In addition to setting an agenda, it is helpful to intentionally share resources that will lend support and credibility to your message. We recommend sharing resources before the meeting to allow stakeholders time to review. However, other resources may be more meaningful after you have discussed them at the meeting. If a document is lengthy, consider sharing only the relevant portion, rather than the entire document. Depending on the scope of the agenda, meeting resources could include:

Federal regulations.
State regulations.
NC-SARA
Examples of state licensing board requirements.
Relevant university policies or process documents.
Relevant SAN articles or white papers.
A glossary of state authorization terms.
A document summarizing your program research.
A link to the institution’s state authorization website.
Licensure research templates to focus state licensure research.
Template documents to share with licensing boards.

During the meeting, remember that professional licensure disclosure regulations were put in place to protect students and to promote student success, and compliance is directly linked to your institution’s mission. The purpose of the meeting is to share information, verify program information, learn about current processes, and identify next steps. Remind stakeholders that you are a compliance partner, and you are seeking their input to inform the development of compliance processes.

Developing Licensure Research Processes

After you have verified licensure program information and discussed disclosure requirements with stakeholders, the next step is to develop processes to complete and maintain state licensure research and disclosures. Institutional research strategies and processes vary widely and may be informed by an institution’s size and structure, number of licensure programs, risk assessments, and available resources.

At some institutions, a central state authorization team may complete and maintain all required state licensure research and disclosures. At other institutions, staff in each unit may be responsible for completing and maintaining licensure research and disclosures for the unit’s licensure programs. Another strategy may call for collaboration between central compliance staff and licensure program contacts. Regardless of who is responsible for completing this work, we recommend developing a research guide to document research policies and processes. The guide should include the following information:

Research roles and responsibilities.
Research tracking spreadsheet templates.
Licensing board correspondence templates.
Processes to share and store research and correspondence.
Timelines, deadlines, and regulatory review schedules.
Disclosure checklists.
Disclosure review and approval processes.
Location of general disclosures.
Processes for sharing direct disclosures.

Institutional processes for completing state licensure research and drafting disclosures can vary widely depending on many factors. Regardless of whether responsibilities are centralized, distributed, or shared, it’s essential to implement a process that is applied consistently across all licensure programs. Documenting research steps and creating checklists and templates will help to ensure that all licensure programs are compliant with disclosure regulations and NC-SARA requirements.

Follow-up and Regular Communications

After an initial stakeholder meeting, it’s critical to maintain regular communications with key stakeholders. As state authorization staff, we are immersed in state authorization topics every day. However, stakeholders are focused on many other important topics, and the compliance issues you discussed will naturally fade to the background. Establishing regular communications will continuously remind stakeholders about state authorization compliance issues.

We recommend sending a follow-up email after the initial meeting to summarize your conversation and document next steps and action items. This message may also include links to resources you discussed and a proposed date for a follow-up meeting. Remember to thank your contact for partnering on these student protection issues and offer to answer any questions.

In addition to the follow-up email, regular updates and check-ins will serve as reminders about state authorization topics and prompt stakeholders to contact your office with questions or feedback. We gathered some ideas on how to maintain regular communications with key stakeholders:

Send monthly or quarterly state authorization newsletters to a stakeholder listserv.
Schedule regular in person check-in meetings to discuss program or process changes, or regulatory updates.
Submit updates about reporting deadlines or regulatory changes for publication in campus-wide newsletters or emails.
Create an advisory committee or stakeholder group to regularly meet and discuss state authorization topics.
Share updates with stakeholders at institutional leadership or committee meetings.

Maintaining a regular communication schedule using a variety of channels will help stakeholders to remember state authorization requirements and that state authorization staff are there to help with their compliance needs.

Lessons Learned

It can be challenging to build stakeholder relationships, communicate complex disclosure requirements, and implement compliance strategies. Here are some important items to remember when you embark on this journey:

Set and share a meeting agenda in order to focus your meeting time.
Intentionally share meeting resources in order to focus stakeholder conversations appropriately.
Documenting research processes and responsibilities to help to consistently maintain compliance across your institution.
Establishing a regular schedule of follow-up communications to continuously remind stakeholders about these important topics.

These suggestions are a collection of strategies and tips from compliance staff at six institutions and aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Regardless of the compliance strategy you develop at your institution, we have found that strong partnerships and open communication with university leaders and staff are the keys to moving state authorization compliance work forward. We would welcome a conversation around other strategies or compliance tips that were successful at your institutions.

The WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) Special Interest Team:

Emily Woods, Distance Learning Compliance Coordinator, University of Kentucky
Matthew Gidley, Graduate Program Coordinator, Northern Arizona University
Lisa Siefker, State Authorization Program Manager, The Ohio State University
Leeann Fields, Executive Director, Office of Educational Compliance, UNLV
Ashley Stettler, Program Coordinator, Eastern Washington University
Cairesse Grimes, Office of the Provost Coordinator, Mount Saint Mary’s University
Jacqueline Hodges, Program Manager, University of Alabama

Teacher Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

Managing Digital Learning, Professional Licensure, SAN, SARA, State Authorization, Student Success, Teacher Prep, Teaching

Policy

Licensure Research & Disclosures: Stakeholder Engagement Tips

By Lindsey Rae Downs

February 5, 2020

3 Comments

Hello WCET,

Today we have a post from the WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) Special Interest Team. The Special Interest Teams are workgroups on a designated topic area. This particular special interest team worked on contributions for the network on the issue of professional licensure research and disclosures. Today, the interest team joins us to share ideas for communicating with stakeholders about licensure research and disclosures, especially how to ensure that institutional leadership are on board. Thank you to this team for sharing your ideas and lessons learned.

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

_____________________________________

The importance of licensure disclosures

Maintaining accurate licensure disclosures helps ensure that students know whether a program meets licensure requirements in a particular state. Sharing licensure disclosure information with students demonstrates an institution’s commitment to transparency, integrity, and student success. It also protects students from investing time and tuition dollars in a program that ultimately will not meet their licensure or career goals.

Currently effective federal regulations require institutions to disclose online licensure program information in order to disburse Title IV financial aid funds. Effective July 1, 2020, new U.S. Department of Education regulations require institutions to share disclosures for all licensure programs, regardless of whether the program is offered on-campus or online. For example, if an institution offers a Master of Respiratory Therapy licensure program at its brick and mortar campus, the institution must disclose the following information:

A list of states where the program curriculum meets educational requirements for licensure.
A list of states where the program curriculum does not meet educational requirements for licensure.
A list of states where the institution has not determined whether the program curriculum meets educational requirements for licensure.

Examples of other programs that may be covered by federal disclosure requirements are online and on-campus programs in healthcare fields, such as nursing or physical therapy, and programs that lead to teacher licensure. The State Authorization Network published a detailed analysis of the new federal requirements in a recent Frontiers blog post.

In addition to federal disclosure requirements, institutions that participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) must also meet SARA disclosure requirements. SARA-participating institutions are required to inform students in writing whether a program meets educational requirements for licensure in the state where the student is located.

Providing licensure disclosures promotes transparency regarding licensure program information and serves as an important protection for students. However, completing licensure research is a complex task that requires collaboration with many institutional stakeholders. In response, the WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) assembled a Special Interest Team to review and discuss licensure research and disclosure topics.

In this blog post, several members of the Special Interest Team compiled lessons they have learned when communicating with stakeholders about licensure research and disclosure requirements, including tips on how to:

Assess institutional culture and identify champions at your institution.
Initiate licensure disclosure conversations with stakeholders.
Prepare for meetings with stakeholders to discuss research roles and responsibilities.

Whether you would like to learn more about the work of state authorization staff at your institution, or you are responsible for implementing institutional state authorization strategies, we hope that you find these ideas helpful.

Assessing Institutional Culture & Finding Champions

As state authorization staff, we’ve learned the importance of working within the culture and structures of our respective institutions. For example, before meeting with stakeholders to discuss compliance, it’s important to understand how state authorization furthers your institution’s mission, values, and strategic plan. Professional licensure disclosure requirements were put in place to encourage transparency with students and promote student success. Therefore, compliance with these regulations supports your institution’s mission and strategic plan.

Understanding the link between state authorization regulations and your institution’s mission will help you to explain to stakeholders why compliance is important and that a successful strategy requires support from all units. We’ve found that it’s difficult for stakeholders not to support an initiative that furthers the institution’s mission and promotes student success.

In addition to aligning compliance work to the institution’s mission and values, state authorization staff should consider other aspects of institutional culture before reaching out to stakeholders. For example, it may be a requirement or a professional courtesy to contact a department dean or chair before contacting program staff to discuss regulatory requirements. In addition to lending support to your work, leaders can introduce you to key department staff who can share program information and assist with licensure research. Deans and chairs also have the authority to implement new processes in a unit, if necessary. Therefore, maintaining open communication with unit leaders is not only a courtesy but also supports and facilitates conversations with program staff.

As you build relationships with leaders at your institution, you can begin to develop a coalition of state authorization “champions.” Think of champions as key stakeholders who understand the link between state authorization, institutional mission, and student success. Champions can help educate the university community about state authorization and disclosure requirements and lend support to the development of compliance processes. With a network of champions, you can reach more stakeholders across your institution and demonstrate leadership support for the implementation of licensure disclosure policies and processes.

How to Get Your Foot in the Door

It’s not difficult to identify a potential champion or key stakeholder at your institution; however, it’s not always easy to initiate a conversation with key stakeholders about licensure disclosures. University leaders are likely addressing many other high priority topics and have a limited amount of time to focus on state authorization topics. In addition, authorization and disclosure requirements can be complex and difficult to explain. So how do you get your foot in the door to talk about professional licensure disclosures? Based on our collective experiences, we compiled some tips on how to initiate an initial conversation:

Consider meeting with leaders individually instead of in a large group. Not only is scheduling less complex but meeting one-on-one may facilitate more meaningful and unit-specific conversations.
Request your manager, director, or unit leader send an introductory email on your behalf. A message from a leader demonstrates that state authorization compliance is an important issue that has leadership support.
Consider sending a calendar invitation setting a meeting date and time rather than sending an email requesting a meeting. Emails are easy to ignore, but calendar invitations require action. In the invitation, include a brief summary of what you plan to discuss at the meeting.
In an email or meeting request, focus on why disclosures are important (to inform students of licensure requirements and promote student success after program completion).

It takes time and effort to initiate and build stakeholder relationships, but leadership support and buy-in is essential to move state authorization compliance work forward.

How to Prepare for a Stakeholder Meeting

After a meeting to discuss licensure disclosures is scheduled, you will need to prepare for the conversation. Reviewing relevant unit and licensure program information demonstrates that you are a compliance partner and that you are there to help. Preparation also shows that you are committed to understanding the licensure program, licensure field, and any relevant research challenges.

Specifically, to prepare for a licensure disclosure meeting, we suggest researching the answers to the following questions using the licensure program website, course catalog, and institutional data:

Is the program offered on-campus and/or online?
Is the program offered at a branch campus? If so, is the branch campus located in another state?
Where are online and on-ground students currently located?
What type of license or certification does the program lead to?
Is state licensure or certification required for employment in the occupation?
Is a license or certification offered by a national organization?
Is a professional license or certification a prerequisite to enrolling in the program?
Does the program have programmatic accreditation (e.g., CACREP, APA, CSWE)?
Does the program include an on-ground field experience? If so,
- Is the field experience required or elective?
- May the field experience take place in another state?
- Are more than 10 students placed at a single placement facility?

Researching the answers to these questions will prepare you to discuss applicable licensure board approval and disclosure requirements, areas of high risk, and compliance priorities. Questions that you are unable to answer through research should be added to the stakeholder meeting agenda.

Lessons Learned

As state authorization staff, we have learned that it’s essential to communicate how compliance with state authorization regulations furthers an institution’s mission, values, and goals. It is also important to work within the culture of your institution to identify champions who can build support and move your work forward. Finally, it’s crucial to prepare for stakeholder meetings to demonstrate that you are a partner in developing and implementing a compliance strategy.

We hope these ideas help you to either understand the challenges and goals faced by state authorization staff at your institution or provide insight into your own compliance efforts. In a future post, we’ll dive deeper into the stakeholder meeting and share tips on how to develop meeting resources and follow-up after the meeting.

The WCET/State Authorization Network (SAN) Special Interest Team:

Emily Woods, Distance Learning Compliance Coordinator, University of Kentucky.
Matthew Gidley, Graduate Program Coordinator, Northern Arizona University.
Lisa Siefker, State Authorization Program Manager, The Ohio State University.
Leeann Fields, Executive Director, Office of Educational Compliance, UNLV.
Ashley Stettler, Program Coordinator, Eastern Washington University.
Cairesse Grimes, Office of the Provost Coordinator, Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Jacqueline Hodges, Program Manager, University of Alabama.

Managing Digital Learning, Professional Licensure, SAN, SARA, State Authorization, Student Success, Teacher Prep, Teaching

Practice

Algorithms, Diversity, and Privacy: Better Data Practices to Create Greater Student Equity

By Lindsey Rae Downs

January 30, 2020

Data is Everywhere

Everything we do online or out in the world is collected as data and stored. This data is tracked and analyzed and used to inform predictions about the future. Data about our spending habits informs companies about strategies for Internet advertising. Data about our values and interests informs online dating websites. And data about our beliefs informs political predictions.

Student data is no different. Educational institutions and organizations can collect data about students including anything from where students are originally from to how much assistance they need in their classes. This data, in turn, can be used to make predictions about student outcomes and hopefully then used to have a positive impact on students’ success.

However, there are dark sides to the prevalence of data. While issues in algorithmic bias have made headlines recently in industries such as criminal justice and healthcare, these same issues can exist anywhere that data is analyzed and utilized by machines, including in higher education. Problems arise both from the way that algorithms themselves are written (and who is writing them), and from biased data being used to make future predictions, which happens as a result of human bias that already exists in our society and creates feedback loops.

The Problem of the Biased Algorithm

For many generations in the United States, the most successful and powerful people in society were white men. Other members of society were not permitted many of the rights that would allow them to flourish – the right to citizenship, the right to vote, the right to an education, and more. Although rights in the United States have changed significantly since its early days, it would be an exaggeration to say that all issues have been resolved. Racism, sexism, transphobia, and other varieties of xenophobia are alive in America today, especially when considering issues such as wealth disparities, housing access, unequal criminal sentencing, stereotyping and prejudice, and much more. And those human biases present themselves in the data that we are creating today.

The tricky thing about algorithms and about technology more generally is that the tech itself cannot evaluate the decisions that it is suggesting or understand if a piece of the puzzle is missing. Past data may be suggestive of certain trends, but if we don’t look at the events that led to those trends then we have an incomplete picture.

One of the best and most amusing examples to help understand algorithmic bias is to look at the neural network experiments being done by Janelle Shane, which she chronicles on her blog AI Weirdness. In her experiments, she feeds public data into a neural network to create something new. For example, she has collected names of real Pokémon characters to train a neural network to create new characters, collected names of cats to come up with new cat names, and, most amusingly, collected real, preexisting recipes to create new recipes.

In the latter experiment, the neural network has created recipes that call for bizarre ingredients including mashed potato fillets and artichoke gelatin dogs, to make up equally strange dish names including things like Completely Meat Chocolate Pie and Strawberry-Onions Marshmallow Cracker Pie Filling. Something immediately apparent about all these neural network-created food items, aside from how strange and gross they sound, is that they are all based primarily on Western cuisine. In its own way, the data that was put in was biased in favor of Western food, so the results that come out are also biased in favor of the same. A collection of data can reflect a human bias, but algorithms do not have a mind of their own to correct the error.

Biased Algorithms in Higher Education

Algorithms are increasingly being used in higher education to help with things such as admissions and retention, adaptive learning, student support in the form of things like financial aid and early warning systems, and more. However, without careful development of said algorithms, we will see bias negatively impacting our students, especially many of whom need the most assistance and opportunity to succeed.

Considering students only as numbers and data can have devastating effects. To look at students merely as these data points fails to see the societal barriers that they may be up against – as individuals or as members of a specific socioeconomic group.

Aside from failing to help certain students, schools may also be giving additional privilege to students who already have it when they use algorithms. If a school already has a historical bias towards having students from one background more than another, it is likely that the trend will be perpetuated with the addition of the algorithm. If fed biased data, algorithms will compute results that match the data and thus are also biased.

A collage of images of 45 students facing the camera. The majority of the students are white, with minimal diversity. — Schools that already have a disproportionate majority of white students risk creating a feedback loop that reinforces the acceptance of more white students in the future

Privacy Problems

The issue of biased algorithms leads to another problem as well: the issue of students having ownership and privacy of their own data. Often in conversations about privacy and data security, some version of this popular argument will come up: “I don’t have anything to hide, so it doesn’t matter to me who can see my data.” However, without the knowledge of how algorithms are designed or how the data that informs them is collected, it is more difficult to say with certainty that it doesn’t matter who can see (and use) the data.

The Solution

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to these issues. However, here are some ideas of where we can start to ensure the development of unbiased algorithms:

Institutional and organizational staff who are responsible for algorithm development should be prepared to conduct tests and analysis to ensure that none of their algorithms are biased. As with any human-based system, we must be diligent and introspective about the effects of our decisions – whether they are made by human teams or by a machine that has had data fed into it.
Whatever algorithms are put in place, and aside from the move to create more evaluation of those algorithms, people should always remain present. While algorithms may be able to help humans do their jobs better, it should never replace humans. There is nothing that exists that can replace thoughtful evaluation done by live humans, and we shouldn’t try to find something that can.
Teams of developers should be diverse. A diverse team of developers can help identify the ways that different algorithms could harm different people or groups of people. This is similar to how it is recommended that accessibility departments contain people with disabilities – there should be real people representing diversity so that they can design algorithms fairly, and not have someone designing algorithms on someone else’s behalf.
Lastly, everyone should be involved with the continued fight to create greater equity at institutions, even outside of technology departments. Data is improving as our society works toward more inclusive and equitable environments. In the meantime, we need to work to create better equity both on and offline.

coding-meeting2 — *By having more diversity on teams of developers, schools can avoid some of the biases that sometimes result from using homogeneous* *teams.*

What Is Your Experience?

Do you have experience working with algorithms and machine learning that you would like to share with us? We want to know! Tell us your stories of how algorithms are implemented at your school and what people working with them do to make sure they are not biased. We hope to publish additional blogs about specific experiences.

Rosa

Rosa Calabrese
Manager, Digital Design
WCET – WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies
rcalabrese@wiche.edu

Code Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Coders Photo by Tim van der Kuip on Unsplash

Meeting Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Digital Learning, Innovation, Managing Digital Learning, Online Learning, Privacy, Technology

Practice

What do they still need to learn? The Impact of Smartphones on Curriculum

By Lindsey Rae Downs

January 28, 2020

2 Comments

Hold on, let me finish up one thing on my phone. Okay, I’m finished! Now, onto our post.

I don’t know about you, but it can be hard for me to put my smartphone down sometimes. This relatively small device has become a large part of my life. I not only keep in touch with family and friends, but I can conduct some of my work using the applications on the phone. Basically anything I need to know is available in a few seconds and a couple of swipes. This is a dramatic change for our society – and higher education cannot escape that change. How is your institution and your classroom adapting to meet this change?

Today’s post considers a new way to consider curriculum in this modern, smartphone-centric time. Thank you to Maria Andersen, CEO of Coursetune, for this great post on using the ESIL Lens.

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

Lindsey Downs, WCET

The iPhone was released in 2007 and by the end of 2019, 81% of U.S. adults owned a Smartphone. Consider the implications. 81% of U.S. adults can look up what something means, the date when something happened, or the mathematical formula they need for calculating a solution – and they can do that with a device they carry with them all the time. 81% of adults carry a calculator, a dictionary, and a search engine for articles, books, and journals on them all the time. 61% of adults turn to YouTube when they want to learn how to do something they have not done before and, increasingly, they watch that video with the device they carry in their hands.

Changing Technology, Changing Curriculum

At a recent campus workshop, I asked the participants how their curriculum had changed to account for this incredible technological change that took place in the last decade. A couple brave souls in the audience replied:

Smartphones can be used as polling devices.
We can use Smartphones to conduct research in the classroom.
We use Smartphones to check in students for clinical hours.

And then I asked the question again with a slightly different emphasis: How has your curriculum changed to account for the existence of Smartphones in the world? This was followed by silence.

Most of our course objectives and learning objectives were designed more than a decade ago, when we could still say things like “you need to know this because it will take time to go look it up.” The reality is that today, if I want to be 100% sure that I know the steps of a complex procedure, that a formula is written down correctly, or that I’ve cited a fact correctly, I do take the approximately 5 seconds required to look it up. That information is at my fingertips and the Internet is a more reliable source of facts than my memory.

We are preparing students to be professionals in their fields and citizens of the world and that world is now one where information is no longer scarce in the way it was 20 or 30 years ago. If I went back in time to visit an academic scholar in 1990 and I gave them access to 2020 technology and taught them how to use it, do you think they would adopt the technology to improve their professional life or reject it in favor of making phone calls, sending letters, and acquiring books (with a card catalog) to find information? The Smartphone is an incredible technological advancement and it’s time we start making appropriate modifications.

Consider this an opportunity to teach faculty that it’s not necessary to test everything at a high-stakes level anymore. Some content and skills are absolutely necessary to commit to memory (high-stakes assessment with scarce resources). Other information can be accessed so easily and is not used as often – in this case, it might only be necessary for a student to demonstrate that they can use the information or demonstrate skills in a supported way (using the Internet as a resource, accessing video tutorials, etc.). Finally, there is probably some content we should just leave behind – some things we teach simply out of habit because we have been teaching them for a century or more. Ask yourself if these topics are actually used or needed in the modern world. What better things could you include in curriculum if there was a little bit of room to breathe.

A New Way to Examine Curriculum: the ESIL Lens

To make this process of sorting out what needs to stay and how deeply it needs to be learned, you can examine your curriculum through what I call the ESIL Lens.

Maybe it is only necessary for the learner to know something Exists – just a mention in class and no assessment.
The next level up would be Supported – the student should be able to perform the skill supported with resources that are easy to access. For supported topics you can use assessment strategies like take-home problem sets, projects, or recorded demonstrations.
If the student needs to be able to use the knowledge or demonstrate the skills readily in the next course (it’s part of a scaffolded learning process), you’ll want to bring them to an Independent level, assessing multiple times with both formative and summative strategies with at least one high-stakes assessment.
Finally, there is the Lifelong level. If a student needs to carry this skill or knowledge into their role as a citizen or into their career, we should make sure that these skills or knowledge are covered in multiple courses and assessed cumulatively and in multiple ways.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that there is more to do than just alter the course objectives and learning objectives from the past. We also need to consider what processes in daily life and careers have changed because of Smartphones. It’s likely that there are new ways of doing, analyzing, and researching that need to be added to our curriculum. Without doing the ESIL Lens work to make space, you’re not going to be able to include the modern ways of engaging.

Take a Deeper Dive

There’s a lot to unpack about using the ESIL Lens, and I invite you to take a deeper dive by listening to the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast on A New Lens to Support Learning Outcomes. In this episode, I discussed how to use the ESIL Lens to support learner outcomes. And maybe it’s time to schedule that heart-to-heart department meeting where you begin to answer the question: How does our curriculum need to change to account for the existence of Smartphones in the world?

Maria

Maria H. Andersen
CEO, Coursetune
coursetune.com
maria@coursetune.com
866.860.8863 x801

Smartphone and light photo by Rodion Kutsaev on Unsplash

Smartphone on computer photo by Tirza van Dijk on Unsplash

Audience photo by Antenna on Unsplash

Course Design, Digital Learning, Faculty, Innovation, Managing Digital Learning, Mobile Learning, Personalized Learning, Student Success, Teaching, Technology

***Updated 3/17/2020 2:50 PM MT time***

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