Welcome to the third and final post in our series on higher education enrollment shifts. In our first post, the WCET Steering Committee work group focusing on this area reviewed historical enrollment trends, changes in student markets, and what may be coming in the future. In the second post, the work group discussed ways higher education institutions are responding to the shifts in enrollment.
Today, Patti O’Sullivan, who coordinated the work group, joins us for a final reflection on enrollment and shares ways digital learning can impact enrollment by expanding paths for learners.
Enjoy the read,
Lindsey Downs, WCET
When I first began teaching online in 2005, it came as no surprise that most of my students were working adults who had previously abandoned their bachelor’s programs. I loved how my university was offering these students a second chance to earn their degree without the additional burden of having to come to campus multiple times a week. A few years later, the student profile shifted in my online courses. In 2010, I had lots of student athletes, a few expectant mothers, and students transferring into the university who had not yet moved to town. In 2013, even the courses I traditionally taught on campus moved online when my family temporarily relocated abroad during my spouse’s sabbatical year. When I returned to campus the next year, students in my face-to-face classes began requesting the same access to course materials I provided for my online students: such as lecture slides and notes, video alternatives to the text, and the option to complete quizzes and assignments online. These days I only teach online. It was a choice my department made because of scheduling and classroom space limitations. Most of my students are traditionally aged and take most of their classes on campus. They might be in my class because of scheduling conflicts or because all the face-to-face sections were full when they registered for classes.
Digital Learning – Expanding Access for All
What the last eighteen years of teaching online has taught me is that digital learning spaces and tools have not only expanded access to students, but they have also expanded the types of learning opportunities institutions can offer everyone in the community.
Digital learning, which I define as any learning environment that uses digital technologies, is everywhere. Just in my own campus community, I have seen digital learning used at multiple levels of education and for various educational purposes. The local high school has a virtual school for students off campus to access classes and for students on campus who work better in a monitored virtual learning environment. In addition, students at the high school can take online dual enrollment courses for college credit. My university offers hundreds of undergraduate online courses, with a handful of fully online degree programs. Professional schools have long offered hybrid and fully online advanced degree programs as well as certificate programs, professional continuing education units (CEUs), and specific skills training for software applications, first aid, and grant-writing. Employees of the institution must complete yearly online training courses in cyber security and compliance, with dozens of other optional training courses tailored to specific departments and workloads. Finally, the institution is experimenting with Virtual Reality tools to provide training and educational opportunities that may be otherwise cost-prohibitive, ethically prohibitive, or dangerous.
There are four primary ways in which digital learning can expand learner pathways:
1. Providing access to students who benefit from flexible course schedules.
Working adults, caregivers, student athletes, and countless others use digital learning to achieve their educational and professional goals. Digital learning allows them to continue to work full time, enroll in school full time, and to mitigate the risk of lost time, money, and opportunity due to scheduling conflicts. The most common application of the flexible course schedule is asynchronous online courses.
2. Providing access to students who benefit from flexible course locations.
This benefit often overlaps with the benefit of flexible scheduling, but there is much more to the location flexibility of digital learning. Dozens of programs and even entire universities have been established for active military, veterans, and their families. These programs allow their students, who often move frequently and suddenly, to stay on track with their educational goals. Students living in rural locations, students with health concerns, and those with limited mobility also benefit from online programs or hybrid programs with local campus options or minimal location requirements. A long-established example of location flexibility is universities live streaming classes from the main campus to satellite campuses. Mary Ann Gufstason, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication, Purdue University Online, said it best in an interview with The EvoLLLution, “Focusing on the student experience infrastructure is critical. Accessing information policies, enrollment policies and minimum credit policies isn’t student-friendly. Institutions have to take a step back and think about what hasn’t changed and what needs to change to serve more nontraditional students.”
3. Providing access to students who benefit from assistive technologies.
What began as digital learning tools to help students with disabilities such as voice-to-text converters and screen readers, has now grown into tools that benefit non-native speakers and students learning in specific environments that pose limitations on audio, keyboard access, and Wi-Fi. Closed captioning is a great example of an assistive technology designed for the deaf community that also helps viewers who struggle to understand unfamiliar accents, viewers who need to maintain a low volume as a courtesy to others, and viewers who prefer to print out a transcript to read and annotate.
4. Providing learning experiences previously inaccessible or prohibitive.
The virtual field trip saves time and money with transportation, but also allows teachers to bring students to learning environments they could never access even with an unlimited amount of time and money.
Using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, students can experience the past, go deep into space or into the human body, and experience dangerous weather events. Virtual reality also enables schools to avoid the high cost and ethical issues relating to animal dissection and chemical waste. Virtual meeting software allows schools to connect students to speakers without the additional financial and environmental costs of bringing them to campus.
Finally, the League for Innovation Online Course Sharing Consortium allows students at its member institutions to take online courses at other institutions to support progress and completion without having to enroll in the partner institution or cede course credit at their home institution. Hundreds of community colleges are already members of the League and the goal of the non-profit is to expand course sharing benefits across the United States and even to international institutions.
The Impact of Digital Learning on Enrollment
In a time of concern over declining enrollments of traditional students seeking traditional learning experiences, institutions should remain mindful of how digital learning tools have changed who is invited into higher education learning spaces and what kinds of learning experiences they can offer. Because of inherent biases, we need to reflect on assumptions within the status quo, and where and how digital learning can advance an institution’s mission and expand (or limit) other learners in intentional ways. Intentionality and decision-making at this crossroad will be important for future investments and justifications for approaches.
As we approach the fall semester we also approach the start of the first full academic year in a generative AI, ChatGPT world. We’ve heard that many institutions have used the summer to examine how they will integrate (or not) AI into their campuses. In March and April, WCET surveyed higher education leaders around the United States.
That report, Supporting Instruction and Learning Through Artificial Intelligence: A Survey of Institutional Practices and Policies, found that only four percent of respondents reported that their institution had an overall institutional strategy for approaching AI, and only seven percent had strategies at the department or college level. In fact, the majority (52 percent) reported that their institution had no strategy at all. Clearly campuses are struggling to make sense of AI and its impact on higher education.
Our report closed with a number of recommendations which you can find outlined in our July 20th blog. But, as institutions prepare for what is sure to be an AI filled fall semester, we wanted to share with you what we believe are the top five things you can be doing to prepare for artificial intelligence on campus as the new academic year nears.
1. Put an AI Statement in your Syllabus
Every syllabus should include a statement that addresses how/if AI can be used in your class and what academic integrity and artificial intelligence looks like in your class.
Why this is important
Students need transparency when it comes to faculty expectations around AI use in class. This sort of transparency should go beyond an academic integrity statement to include instruction on the acceptable use of AI in your class as well as the ways that you as an instructor may leverage AI in your class. Since expectations around AI use will vary from instructor to instructor and discipline to discipline, it is especially important that we provide students with clear expectations at the beginning of the term.
What this could look like
Lance Eaton has collected a number of excellent examples of AI syllabus statements that run the gamut from disallowing the use of AI to instructing students on the proper use of AI. Three statements (one disallowing the use of AI, one allowing for minimal use of AI, and one allowing for significant use of AI) are highlighted below.
1) No use of AI:
“All work submitted in this course must be your own. Contributions from anyone or anything else- including AI sources, must be properly quoted and cited every time they are used. Failure to do so constitutes an academic integrity violation, and I will follow the institution’s policy to the letter in those instances.” A theater course at a small liberal arts college.
2) Minimal use of AI:
“You might be permitted to use generative AI tools for specific assignments or class activities. However, assignments created with AI should not exceed 25% of the work submitted and must identify the AI-generated portions. Presenting AI-generated work as your own will have consequences according to university policies. Importantly, while AI programs like ChatGPT can help with idea generation, they are not immune to inaccuracies and limitations. Further, overreliance on AI can hinder independent thinking and creativity. Note that, in the spirit of this policy, it was written in part by ChatGPT.” A marketing course at a public university
3) Significant use of AI:
“Within this course, you are welcome to use generative artificial intelligence (Ai) models (ChatGPT, DALL-E, GitHub Copilot, and anything after) with acknowledgment. However, you should note that all large language models have a tendency to make up incorrect facts and fake citations, they may perpetuate biases, and image generation models can occasionally come up with offensive products. You will be responsible for any inaccurate, biased, offensive, or otherwise unethical content you submit regardless of whether it originally comes from you or an Ai model.
If you use an Ai model, its contribution must be cited and discussed:
What was your prompt?
Did you revise the Ai model’s original output for your submission?
Did you ask follow-up questions?
What did you learn?
Having said all these disclaimers, the use of Ai models is encouraged, as it may make it possible for you to submit assignments and your work in the field with higher quality and in less time.” A graduate level library sciences course at a public university
2. Create A Campus Taskforce
Hopefully by now your institution has created a campus task force to examine the use and impact of artificial intelligence on your campus.
Why this is important
Any development of a campus wide AI policy must take into consideration multiple stakeholders beyond academic affairs—AI is neither a strictly academic or IT issue.
Often times our institutions are siloed; by creating a taskforce that represents all campus stakeholders, your institution will be well positioned to create a comprehensive set of AI policies.
It is critical that your campus taskforce include all stakeholders, including students. A comprehensive task force should include:
IT,
faculty,
instructional designers,
student support services (especially your campus accessibility office),
faculty development,
student affairs (especially your conduct office if your campus has one),
general counsel, and,
students.
A great example of a comprehensive task force is the one that the University of Alberta created that includes students, instructional design, faculty, IT, and the Dean of Students.
3. Create an AI assessment plan
Just like any pedagogical practice should be assessed for effectiveness, so should artificial intelligence.
Why this is important
AI usage on campuses can be vast. Faculty may choose to use AI in their classes in a number of ways. Institutions may incorporate AI through predictive analytics programs. Student academic support services and student affairs may use AI driven chatbots to help students with academic and personal needs. And the business office and student recruitment may use informational AI driven chatbots to respond to basic student questions and requests. Institutions need to create an assessment plan to help determine which AI efforts are effective and worth continuing. This will be especially important as AI driven software and apps become more prevalent in the marketplace.
What this could look like
Institutions that have research and assessment offices should consider tapping into that resource to develop and implement a campus wide AI assessment plan. Any plan should include multiple assessment practices including end user surveys. Institutions without assessment and research offices should consider leveraging their campus taskforce to develop an assessment plan.
4. Review Your Data Privacy and Security Policies
Data privacy and security policies will become especially important as campuses begin to leverage more and more AI tools. Current policies may not be applicable to these new tools.
Why this is important
Large language models are trained on vast amounts of data scraped from numerous sources. Although ChatGPT now has a setting that allows users to opt out from having their interactions become part of the training set, that option is not automatic. Other large language models such as Bard currently don’t have such a privacy option. It is critical that campuses ensure that FERPA and other data privacy and security regulations are followed in any AI implementation. Additionally, faculty planning on using AI in their courses need to have a privacy discussion with students on the first day of class so students can make informed decisions regarding the use of AI and the sovereignty of their data.
What this could look like
Institutions already have data privacy and security policies in place that will need to be reviewed in the context of artificial intelligence. Considerations that institutions should take include:
how FERPA data and other identifiable information should be handled;
student ability to opt out of using generative AI; and,
faculty and staff downloads of various AI tools among other things.
Because OSU representatives have no recourse for holding externally hosted AI platforms accountable for data storage or use, and because these platforms may be hosted outside of OSU’s legal jurisdiction, the accidental or deliberate introduction of protected data could result in organizational, legal, or even regulatory risks to OSU and university employees. Unlike vendors who have undergone vetting before implementation in support of OSU business needs, OSU administrators lack the authority to enforce standard data governance, risk management, and compliance requirements upon publicly available AI platforms. Pursuant to these concerns, the Office of Information Security (OIS) strongly recommends that OSU employees who wish to utilize externally hosted artificial intelligence tools for research, instruction, or administration, reach out to OIS for a brief consultation prior to proceeding.
The introduction of Sensitive/IRB Level II (e.g., FERPA-protected or proprietary) or Confidential/IRB Level III (e.g., PII or PHI) data to AI platforms is strictly prohibited. OSU instructors who assign AI-enabled assignments should also remind their students that they should avoid providing sensitive data to AI prompts. OIS recommends that instructors who wish to direct their students to utilize Internet-based AI tools include the following language in their syllabi:
“Because OSU does not control the online AI tools associated with the curriculum of this course, the Office of Information Security advises students to avoid entering Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or otherwise sensitive data into any AI prompt. For additional information, contact the Office of Information Security, or visit the OIS website at https://uit.oregonstate.edu/infosec/ .”
5. Develop an Ongoing Professional Development Plan
With the rapid evolution in technology, an ongoing plan for professional development will be critical for faculty staff. As a participant in a recent meeting put it, “AI won’t replace faculty, but faculty that use AI will replace faculty (that don’t).”
Why this is important
Generative AI is already significantly changing pedagogical and assessment practices in ways in which many faculty will need assistance.
It is becoming particularly critical that faculty rethink traditional assessment practices as ChatGPT and other AI tools can create essays, answer problem sets, write code, and answer multiple choice and fill in the blank assessment questions.
Institutions should invest in frequent formal and informal faculty development activities that involve both general instruction on generative AI as well as discipline specific training. In addition to one time seminars, synchronous activities might also include the development of disciplinary communities of practice that discuss AI throughout the term or academic year.
Generative artificial intelligence is becoming prevalent on our campuses whether we are prepared for it or not. It is critical that campuses prepare for the use of AI in as holistic way as possible. We cannot confine our discussion to academic integrity; we must begin developing data privacy and security processes as well as address intellectual property and accessibility among other things. And the development of these processes and policies cannot take place in a vacuum; they must involve all campus stakeholders. WCET continues to develop new resources to assist campuses as they enter into these conversations and develop AI policies and practices. You can always find WCET resources on our AI page. We will also be hosting an AI pre-conference workshop at our Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, October 25-27.
**Editors note: A previous version of this post included a section with references to a news release and two news articles, on the University System of New Hampshire and a previously proposed plan to combine with additional institutions. The state did not move forward with that plan and there are no related plans being discussed now. We regret that this incorrect information was included in our article and have republished this post with the section removed. Thank you.
Lindsey Downs, Editor, WCET Frontiers.
Welcome to the second post in our series on higher education enrollment shifts. In our first post, the WCET Steering Committee work group focusing on this area reviewed historical enrollment trends, changes in student markets, and what may be coming in the future. The work group joins us today to discuss the ways higher education institutions are responding to the shifts in enrollment.
Thank you to our authors today for sharing on this important topic.
Enjoy the read,
Lindsey Downs, WCET
While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend, declining enrollments have been negatively impacting institutional budgets for nearly a decade. For a deeper look into the reasons why college enrollments are declining, see our earlier post, College Enrollment: Cliffs, Shifts, and Lifts. Higher education institutions are responding to the ensuing financial instability in ways that are both predictable and creative. A surprising selection of colleges and universities are thriving despite the culling of institutions and programs happening around them. Below are some of the most common responses to declining enrollments.
Cutting programs
Some schools have chosen to cut programs as a way to shore up finances. The majority of these programs are deemed low-enrollment and fall within undergraduate humanities: mostly religious studies, philosophy, English, creative writing, languages, history, fine arts, and classics. However, social sciences and natural sciences are not exempt from being cut. Several schools have slated the elimination of sociology, economics, political science, geography, mathematics, environmental studies, and geology. Outside of the liberal arts, programs in risk include business, journalism/communication, education, nursing, and family & consumer sciences. Graduate programs recommended for phasing out largely reflect their undergraduate counterparts; while certificate programs being cut often are tied to specific skills and careers such as health studies, criminal justice, gerontology, speech and communication disorders, and hospitality management.
Here is a short list of news reports about a selection of institutions that went through program cuts:
With payroll comprising the bulk of most institutional budgets, it is no surprise that many colleges and universities are looking to cut personnel to maintain financial solvency. Clark College in Washington is planning to eliminate positions in counseling, emergency management, and building services. According to the Tampa Bay Times, St. Leo University in Florida, “will close eight of its 14 education centers located in five states over the next six months, eliminate 111 faculty and staff positions, end three-degree programs and some course offerings, and discontinue six of its 23 NCAA Division II sports teams. The university said 27% of the faculty and staff positions were already vacant.” In December 2022, Catawba Valley Community College in North Carolina laid off 21 staff and six faculty members. In March 2023, Penn State leadership asked all departments to submit positions for elimination. More recently, in April 2023, the oldest HBCU in Georgia, Savannah State University, cut 23 positions and froze all open positions. The Connecticut State University System announced they would have to eliminate 650 faculty and staff positions if state funding for the system is approved as is. Other schools including Colorado University Denver, University System of Georgia, Millikin University, and Bemidji State University are also preparing for layoffs.
Institutional Closings
The majority of school closings are for-profit institutions, but nonprofits, rural colleges, and small liberal arts colleges are most at risk for closure.
The Washington Post reported in April on the decline of rural higher education, listing the following nonprofit universities and colleges that have closed or announced their closings in the last three years: including Chatfield College in Ohio, MacMurray College in Illinois, Nebraska Christian College, Marlboro College in Vermont, Holy Family College in Wisconsin, Judson College in Alabama, Ohio Valley University in West Virginia, Lincoln College in Illinois, Marymount California University, Cazenovia College in New York, Finlandia University in Michigan, and Presentation College in South Dakota.
Best Colleges has been tracking college closures since 2020. They listed 20 small public and private non-profit schools that closed or announced closures. In addition to the Washington Post list, the Best Colleges list includes St. John’s University on Staten Island, American University of Puerto Rico, Bloomfield College in New Jersey, Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin, Holy Names University in California, Quest College in Texas, San Francisco Art Institute, Wave Leadership College in Virginia, Vista College in Texas, Becker College in Massachusetts, Independence University in Utah, Judson College in Alabama, Holy Family College in Wisconsin, and Urbana University in Ohio.
Institutional Mergers/Consolidation
On April 1, 2023, two small, liberal arts colleges in western Massachusetts, Williams, and Amherst, announced a merger. While the announcement was later revealed to be an April Fool’s joke, a merger between the schools was not unthinkable in the current climate. While schools merging makes sense financially, mergers are not popular with alumni who want their schools to maintain their particular identity, or administrators who don’t want to risk upsetting alumni or be remembered as the ones who fundamentally changed the institution. Despite the hesitation, there have been some notable mergers and system consolidations in the past decade.
In 2021, Delaware State University acquired Wesley College: a private liberal arts college in Dover, Delaware. Wesley College is now DSU’s downtown campus. DSU has grown its enrollments over the last five years and recently reported its largest enrollment: 6,200 students, which is close to its 7,500 goal by 2026.
Northeastern University added Mills College in Oakland, California to its Global University System in 2022. Mills College was a small, private institution for women that had been experiencing financial difficulties, and was considering transitioning to a research institute before the merger with Northeastern.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education created two regional institutions on July 1, 2022, by merging three universities in western Pennsylvania (California, Clarion, and Edinboro) to create Pennsylvania Western University (PennWest), and three universities in northeastern Pennsylvania (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven, and Mansfield) to create Commonwealth University.
Another merger in Pennsylvania involves a private Jesuit university, St. Joseph’s, and a private health sciences school, the University of the Sciences in 2022. St. Joseph’s acquired the University of the Sciences, located in West Philadelphia’s University City. The arrangement between the two schools dissolves the University of the Sciences and brings all of their programs, students, employees, and facilities under the St. Joseph’s University brand.
Connecticut’s twelve community colleges are being consolidated into a single institution, Connecticut State Community College (CT State). According to the institution’s merger webpage FAQs, “The main drivers for the consolidation are closing the opportunity gap, improving student success rates and reorganizing our community colleges into a financially sustainable position, such that it is well positioned to continue to serve students for many years to come.”
The story is not all gloom and doom, however. There are many examples of institutions being creative to save money and expand enrollments without making cuts or formally merging with other institutions. What follows are strategies employed by these institutions.
Resource Sharing
Otterbein University and Antioch University announced in 2022 a plan, to partner in providing graduate and adult education programs. Although the two institutions will share the costs and governance of these programs, they will retain institutional independence and branding.
Also in 2022, The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) unveiled the HBCU-MSI Course-Sharing Consortium, which allows these institutions to share online courses. Credit for these consortium courses will remain with the home institution. There are 24 participating institutions including Central State University in Ohio, Cheyney University in Pennsylvania, Heritage University on Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington, Southeast Arkansas College, Stillman College in Alabama, Texas Southern University, Tuskegee University in Alabama, University of the Virgin Islands, and Virginia State University.
Adrian University in rural Michigan is keeping students local with course sharing arrangements with multiple other institutions that offer courses and majors because Adrian does not.
Finally, the League for Innovation Online Course Sharing Consortium allows students at its member institutions to take online courses at other institutions, to support progress and completion without having to enroll in the partner institution or cede course credit at their home institution. Hundreds of community colleges are already members of the League and the goal of the non-profit is to expand course-sharing benefits across the United States and even to international institutions.
With online courses providing a cost-saving solution for institutions, some have chosen to expand their existing online offerings. Colorado’s Rural College Consortium allows students at the state’s seven community colleges to share programs and services.
Some schools have found success doubling down on gaining new enrollments of high school graduates, and even current high school students. Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to satisfy both high school graduation requirements and collegiate general education requirements while still in high school. These programs set up a direct pathway for high school students to enroll in a college or university they already have a relationship with. Test-optional admission existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2021, hundreds of institutions suspended the SAT and ACT requirement for applicants. Those schools that have retained test-optional admissions, are finding that they are getting a more diverse applicant pool of students. Early admission is a strategy used by schools hoping to lock in student enrollment months ahead of the spring scramble to make a viable class. A newer strategy is direct admission, which bypasses the application process altogether. According to reporting by The Washington Times, “The process allows officials to review the electronic profiles of high school students and reach out to ideal matches with scholarship offers rather than wait for applications.”Finally, some schools are leaning into their institutional identity and recruiting students with a similar identity. Spelman College, an HBCU in Atlanta, has begun actively recruiting students outside of the continental U.S., but who share an African diaspora heritage.
Additional Funding
In 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) provided $14 billion to U.S. colleges and universities through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF). That funding helped higher education institutions to keep their doors open during the COVID-19 lockdown but will be suspended in May 2023.
Hampshire College was on the verge of closing without a viable merger option back in 2019 until alumni kicked in $33 million to save the school. An article in Inside Higher Ed reported that Hampshire College has offered admission and matching tuition to students at Florida’s New College, who are considering transferring due to state political interference in the school’s administration. This kind of poaching, once considered unethical by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, is now fair game under the organization’s revised Code of Ethics and Professional Practices.
A month later, Higher Ed Dive reported that the provost of Binghamton University, Donald Hall, published an op-ed in the Miami Herald in response to Florida’s governor’s campaign to strip trans persons of healthcare and other human rights, as well as quashing DEI initiatives at Florida colleges.
“Send us your woke, your trans,” read the headline of Donald Hall’s op-ed in the Miami Herald, in which he proclaimed his college, the public Binghamton University, would aggressively recruit and poach Florida students and faculty amid DeSantis’ campaign to wipe out diversity programs and restrict faculty tenure on state campuses (Bauer-Wolf, 2023).
Many women’s colleges have offered admission to transgender students for a decade or more, but the new wave of anti-trans legislation has prompted these schools to reaffirm their role as a safe haven. Activist and researcher Megan Nanny, Ph.D., tracks the admissions policies of gender-selective colleges on her website, Trans @ HWCs. According to Nanny’s research, most Historically Women’s Colleges (HWCs) admit trans women while also admitting non-binary students who “consistently live and identify as women.”
Thriving Despite Declining Enrollments
It is no surprise that prestige schools with low acceptance rates and high endowments are doing just fine during the downturn in enrollments. But in a surprising twist to this story, there are several non-elite schools that are thriving despite the national trend in declining enrollments.
Non-selective, public flagship institutions have experienced record-high enrollments in recent years. According to the Urban Institute, the 50 state flagships increased their enrollment by 24% between 2010 and 2018. Most of that growth was in the South. Five of the top ten fastest-growing universities include the University of Alabama, the University of Mississippi, the University of Arkansas, West Virginia University, and the University of South Carolina. Two fast-growing flagships are located in the northeast: the University of Connecticut and the University of Rhode Island. Rounding out the top ten are the University of California, Berkeley, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Nevada, Reno. The rise in enrollments can be attributed to several factors including affordability, high acceptance rates, and an expansion in the number of out-of-state students. According to a report by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the boom for flagship institutions is coming at the cost of enrollment declines at state regional institutions. IPEDS data indicate that “In 28 states, enrollment rose at flagships while it dropped at regionals between 2010 and 2021.”
Schools leaning into their identity or their unique approach to education are also thriving. Enrollment in trade profession programs is rising despite the general trend of catastrophic declines in enrollment at community colleges.
According to reporting by National Public Radio, “Across the country, associate’s degree programs in fields like HVAC and automotive repair have seen enrollment numbers swell.”
A recent edition of the Hechinger Report echoed this finding: “Mechanic and repair trade programs saw an enrollment increase of 11.5 percent from spring 2021 to 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. Enrollment in construction trades courses increased by 19.3 percent, while culinary program enrollment increased 12.7 percent, according to the Clearinghouse.” Interviews with students in these programs reveal that they are choosing them over the more traditional 4-year degree because they are less expensive, they offer a clear path to a career, and they can begin applying new skills immediately rather than waiting until after graduation.
When taken as an aggregate group, enrollments at religiously-affiliated schools have dropped by 9 percent between 2019 and 2020. However, enrollments in that same period increased by over 12 percent at evangelical colleges. A 2017 article in U.S. News & World Report attributed the enrollment growth of large, Christian colleges to low tuition and a broader selection of courses than at smaller schools.
According to the National Catholic Register, smaller Catholic schools have been experiencing enrollment growth despite the overall decline in enrollments at Roman Catholic schools. Academic leaders at these schools attribute the growth to their schools offering in-person classes during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as students craving a faith-affirming community and curriculum during times of uncertainty. The Cardinal Newman Society, an advocacy group for Catholic education, recognizes the schools mentioned in the National Catholic Register article as being committed to “a faithful Catholic education” as opposed to Catholic colleges “compromised by ideology, infidelity, and scandal.”
A final category of schools with healthy enrollments according to a Campus Reform report is “Liberal arts institutions that emphasize great texts of the Western tradition and classical education.” These institutions include Hillsdale College in Michigan, Grove City College in Pennsylvania, Liberty University in Virginia, and Thomas Aquinas College in New York. These are all schools that cross-categorize with the evangelical and conservative Catholic schools listed above. What makes this list different is the emphasis on a curriculum grounded in traditional education, and a clear avoidance of programs or courses that might be regarded as promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
In April 2023, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) undertook a national survey to ascertain how and why postsecondary institutions are using Artificial Intelligence to support instruction and learning, what policies are in place, and what are the perceived barriers to, and benefits for, its use. Guiding research questions included:
How and to what extent are postsecondary institutions across the U.S. using AI?
Where is the greatest uptake, use, and impact of AI within and across institutions?
What key issues and challenges are affecting AI use for institutions?
What is the potential for its use?
What types of AI are most likely to impact higher education?
Upon analyzing the over 600 responses, Sebesta and Davis developed several key findings and insights around AI utilization; support, incentives, and training; strategy, planning, and policy; and the challenges and benefits of AI. Some of those key findings include:
Utilization
Using AI to support instruction and learning is nascent on many campuses, although some have been using it for this and other purposes for years.
Concerns about AI and academic integrity – i.e. preventing cheating – are a focus for many institutions and the top reason given for not using AI.
At the majority of institutions, use of AI to support instruction and learning at the institution is on the radar or scattered but there is no systemic action yet. The highest percentage of existing, planned, or considered use is for detecting AI-generated content or plagiarism, with editing and content creation close behind.
Support, Incentives, and Training
Online and Distance Education Administrators and Staff, including Instructional Designers, are the primary roles who are leading this work on their campuses, with faculty and Chief Academic Officers and Provosts (as well as Associate and Assistant CAO/Provosts) close behind. Additionally, on some campuses leaders at the highest level are being engaged in work around AI – and some are including students in AI policy development and practice as well.
The overwhelming majority of institutions do not offer incentives to encourage faculty to use AI, and a majority also reported no faculty development or training around AI.
Strategy, Planning, and Policy
The majority of institutions lack official strategy around the use of AI but have or will be developing policies, primarily around academic integrity and instructional use.
Some institutions are adapting existing policies to include the use of AI.
Challenges and Benefits
Image of “AI on a college campus,” created by Bing AI Image Creator
The primary challenge to using AI was lack of expertise among faculty and administrators, followed closely by lack of policies and guidelines and concerns about protecting academic integrity.
A majority of respondents identified both teaching critical digital skills and learner engagement as the top benefits to using AI to support instruction and learning. Interviews confirmed a need for a new, “digital literacy 2.0” – for both students and faculty – as well as an imperative to include industry in conversations and planning to prepare students for a workforce already using AI. But a new version of the “digital divide” may result from lack of access to training and skills acquisition around AI.
Overall, attitudes about the use of Artificial Intelligence to support instruction and learning range from optimism and excitement about the possibilities, to skepticism and even fear.
A number of respondents expressed that they just don’t know enough about the technologies to be able to predict their impact on the landscape of higher education. One respondent captured what seems to be a common sentiment: “It is the wild wild west. And we don’t have any horses.” And one interviewee argued that AI will upend the very nature of what we do: “The bigger question becomes: What is learning? What is a college education?”
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the survey, as well as interviews with six higher education administrators, staff, and faculty, we have developed a number of recommendations of best practices for the use of AI to support instruction and learning. We understand that each institution and organization has its own unique situations and, therefore, these recommendations may not apply to all. Nevertheless, we hope they will help institutions better plan for, develop, and implement Artificial Intelligence to support student success.
Create clear, consistent, well-developed policies around the use of AI for faculty, students, and others not only to address academic integrity but to anticipate the range of potential instructional uses, intellectual property issues, and others relevant to your context, being sure to include students in policy development.
Provide a secure environment around the use of AI, addressing growing concerns regarding data privacy and AI, through policy, training, and practice.
Leverage AI as a powerful tool to support increased equity for learners, ensuring learner accessibility as well as adequate campus resources, and mitigate impediments to equity in the use of AI.
Develop and teach digital literacy centered on the use of AI to better prepare learners for its utilization in a wide range of workforce sectors.
Review and update course and program curricula regularly to ensure alignment with current, relevant AI skills students will need to succeed in the workforce.
Allocate resources, where possible, to offer ongoing, diverse trainings, both formal and informal, on using AI to support instruction and learning to address the gap in knowledge of AI for faculty, staff, administrators, and students as well.
Engage as many disciplines, departments, and offices internally across the institution and organization – and externally in industry – as possible to develop policy, train, and build a community of practice around AI.
Offer low-risk, collaborative and exploratory opportunities for faculty, students, staff, and administrators to explore and discuss Al.
Conclusion
WCET recognizes that institutions often have limited resources to experiment and collaborate. But as some of our survey respondents pointed out, the use of Artificial Intelligence in higher education – and in other sectors and society in general – likely is not going anywhere and might be well on its way to ubiquity. As one administrator suggested:
[AI] is maybe different in magnitude, but not kind, from the internet. The internet also made plagiarism easier, etc., but it brought great benefits for, say, connecting with students. All advances have drawbacks — I think it’s critical that higher education be thoughtful in our use to try to promote student benefit and avoid abuses.
WCET is committed to assisting its member institutions and all in higher education with navigating those drawbacks while taking full advantage of the advances. You can find existing posts, papers, and webinars on using AI to support instruction and learning on the Artificial Intelligence Resource page on the WCET website. Stay tuned for additional upcoming initiatives and resources on supporting instruction and learning through AI, including an October 25, 2023 pre-conference workshop for WCET members at our Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
This month, WCET will be focusing on enrollment trends and the impact those trends will have on higher education.
To kick off the theme, the WCET Steering Committee work group on enrollment joins us for the start of their Frontiers series on enrollment. We hope you enjoy the series and hope you will join us for our themed events happening this month. Thank you to the work group for this excellent series!
Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,
Lindsey Downs, WCET
Hundreds of colleges have closed since 2004, according to tracking by Best Colleges Most closures occurred in 2018, and the overwhelming majority of them (80%) were for-profit schools. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Best Colleges has tracked 39 school closures or mergers. Of these schools, 64 percent (25 schools in total) had enrollments of less than 1,000 students; 23 percent (9 schools in total) had enrollments between 1,000 – 2,000; and the remaining 13 percent (5 schools in total) had enrollments over 2,000. The smaller enrollment schools were more likely to list economic concerns or enrollment issues as the primary reason for their closure or merger. Only two of the larger enrollment schools had unclear and sudden closures, while a third lost its accreditation.
While it is true that the overall enrollment of high school graduates in colleges and universities is dropping, enrollments are also shifting away from small, private institutions and for-profit institutions to larger, public, non-profit schools. There is also a gender and racial demographic shift happening with enrollments. In short, there are fewer college-bound students who are less likely to choose small for-profit schools and these students are more likely than in the past to identify as women and Latino.
Enrollments in U.S. colleges and universities have historically fluctuated, but this current drop in enrollments is not like previous ones. In this blog, we will share with you a historical overview of dips and surges in U.S. enrollment in higher education, and we will outline what makes the current enrollment situation different from previous ones.
How it Started
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), higher education in the U.S. began with a limited vision of who should receive a college education.
“When the federal Office of Education began collecting education data in 1869-70, only 63,000 students were attending higher education institutions throughout the country, which amounted to only about 1 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old population. This small number of students was divided among 563 campuses, giving an average enrollment size of only 112 students. About 21 percent of students were female” (Snyder et. al., 1993, pg. 64).
This NCES data point does not account for race or gender, although a healthy percent of enrollments were women, this should not be interpreted as widespread acceptance of female students on the part of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
Multiple Enrollment Surges of New Markets of Students
Postsecondary enrollments grew steadily in the post-Civil War era. The majority of students were white men attending both public and private institutions; many of which explicitly barred female and Black students. However, newly established schools catering to these untapped student markets began to change who was able to get a college education in the United States. There were significant gains in the female collegiate population at schools that accepted applications from women, such as Oberlin College in Ohio, and land grant institutions in the Midwest and West that only allowed women to enroll to secure the financial viability of the school (Thorne, 1985). With the establishment of the Seven Sisters, Mount Holyoke College (1837), Vassar College (1861), Smith College (1875), Wellesley College (1875), Bryn Mawr College (1885), Radcliffe College (1879), and Barnard College (1889), white women finally had schools of their own. Schools to train Black students in trades and as educators were established quickly after the end of the Civil War. “The majority of HBCUs originated from 1865-1900, with the greatest number of HBCUs started in 1867, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation: Alabama State University, Barber-Scotia College, Fayetteville State University, Howard University, Johnson C. Smith University, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, Saint Augustine’s University and Talladega College.”
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), higher education in the U.S. began with a limited vision of who should receive a college education.
“When the federal Office of Education began collecting education data in 1869-70, only 63,000 students were attending higher education institutions throughout the country, which amounted to only about 1 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old population. This small number of students was divided among 563 campuses, giving an average enrollment size of only 112 students. About 21 percent of students were female” (Snyder et. al., 1993, pg. 64). This NCES data point does not account for race or gender, although a healthy percent of enrollments were women, this should not be interpreted as widespread acceptance of female students on the part of the nation’s most prestigious institutions.
At the turn of the century, the high rate of immigration to the U.S. contributed to steady gains in college enrollment, although only 2% of the population earned a postsecondary degree. Colleges that began offering programs for professional training—such as business, accounting, engineering, and teaching—enjoyed enrollment bumps due to the popularity of these degree programs.
Small Enrollment Dips and Surges
In the 1920s, enrollments dipped for women and slowed for all populations during the years of the Great Depression. In the 1940s, it was men who left or deferred college for military service. This was the first big dip in enrollments during the modern era. However, thanks to the 1944 G.I. Bill, enrollments of white males surged after World War II. After the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act, new immigrants and international students bolstered enrollment, even as the nation’s birth rate began to drop. Additionally the 1965 Higher Education Act additionally opened new markets of students by providing a subsidy now known as the Pell Grant: a grant created for low-income students to be able to afford a college education.
The big story in the 1970s was the drop in male college enrollment. In 1969, 33 percent of high school men enrolled in college, but, by 1980, only 26 percent of high school men enrolled. What prevented this enrollment dip from being an enrollment cliff was high school women, whose enrollment in college jumped from 21 percent to 25 percent, and it has only continued to increase (aside from periodic dips through 2005). In fact, in the 1980s, women began to outnumber male students enrolled in college, and today women make up nearly 60 percent of all college enrollments.
The Big Dip
The surge of women in postsecondary education programs in the 1980s led to fewer college age students in the current period. Birth rates have been incrementally falling in the U.S. since the late 1960s, with a slight peak in 2006-2007, followed by a faster decline through 2022. Because women with a college education tend to have fewer children than women without a college education, sociologists suggest that the declining birth rate is due to fewer years in their lifetime when women consider pregnancy.
Another new market of students opened up around the 2000s, with college programs designed specifically for adult students who held jobs and had children. An important development coinciding with this new market was online education, driven by the development of new schools like Western Governors University and the University of Phoenix, and the expansion of online branches of existing schools like Southern New Hampshire University and the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus). Currently, 11 percent of postsecondary institutions in the U.S. offer primarily online degrees, and 14 percent of undergraduate students are enrolled in primarily online programs.
How It’s Going – The Impending Enrollment Drop
For 150 years, U.S. colleges and universities have increased college enrollments by:
expanding who has access to college,
offering new programs that meet student demands, and,
offering new ways of attending college.
But the impending drop in enrollment feels different this time. The U.S. birth rate has been declining for fifteen years, and it is lowest in families who can afford to send their children to college without loans. College costs continue to rise, and subsidies continue to shrink, making college unaffordable for low-income and middle-class families. Outside of adults without a college credential, there are few new markets of students to boost the lost enrollments.
College Costs and Public Funding of Higher Education
Although they’ve been rising steadily since the 1970s, tuition and fees skyrocketed in the generation between Gen X attending college and when Gen Z attended college. From 1992 to 2022, tuition and fees rose 80.24 percent at private nonprofit institutions; 124.64 percent at public 4-year institutions; and 64.96 percent at public 2-year institutions. At the same time, state support for public institutions has plummeted.
“Overall state funding for public two- and four-year colleges in the 2017 school year (that is, the school year ending in 2017) was nearly $9 billion below its 2008 level, after adjusting for inflation. The funding decline has contributed to higher tuition and reduced quality on campuses as colleges have had to balance budgets by reducing faculty, limiting course offerings, and in some cases closing campuses. At a time when the benefit of a college education has never been greater, state policymakers have made going to college less affordable and less accessible to the students most in need” (Mitchel et. al, 2017). Student debt has been cited as a major reason for low home ownership and higher reliance on government relief programs among college graduates, even 20 years after earning their degree. It is leading high school students and their families to question the value of a college credential.
A 2021 survey of high school students by the ECMC Foundation found that fewer than half were interested in a four-year college degree (down from 71 percent), and 65 percent cited the cost of college as an important factor in their decision to attend college, while 43 percent cited the cost of college as the most important factor in their decision. A more recent survey by Gallup and Lumina Foundation found that “Financial barriers are most frequently identified as very important reasons unenrolled adults are not currently enrolled, including costs of programs (55%), inflation (45%) and the need to work (38%).” (Gallup and Lumina, 2023).
Immigration and international students
Another aspect of the enrollment woes being experienced by many institutions relates to international students and immigration. International students often pay full tuition, making them an attractive market for tuition-driven institutions (versus in-state students who may pay significantly less tuition dollars). However, travel restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant drop in international student enrollment in U.S. schools in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years.
Immigration to the United States also slowed between 2017 – 2021.
“Legal permanent and temporary immigration rose in 2022 after a few years of chill brought about by the COVID-19 public-health crisis and the Trump administration’s restrictive policies and rhetoric. Amid crises around the world, the Biden administration extended or expanded Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for certain eligible immigrants already in the United States and announced special humanitarian parole programs allowing some migrants from several countries to enter the United States and stay temporarily” (Ward & Batolova, 2023).
Why is immigration good for college enrollment?
“Of the 19 million students at U.S. colleges and universities in 2018, 28 percent were either first-generation immigrants or the children of immigrants. Together, these immigrant-origin students play an important role in postsecondary enrollment across the country, accounting for 58 percent of the growth of the student population between 2000 and 2018” (Batalova & Feldblum, 2020).
While institutions may have been able to anticipate enrollment declines among international students and immigrants due to the political climate, they could not have prepared for the greater impact of a global pandemic on their enrollments.
The Perfect Storm
Decreased college enrollment is not simply a matter of falling birthrates shrinking the market of new students: high school graduates who would attend college. The current “enrollment cliff” is the perfect storm of decades of states scaling back funding of public colleges and universities, skyrocketing tuition and fees, a decline in birthrates, a slowing of immigration (which contributed to enrollment rises in the early 1900s and in the 1960s), a global pandemic which added to economic instability, a drop in international students, and young adults questioning the value of a postsecondary degree over the burden of debt.
The changing demographics of college students
Schools preparing to meet the challenges of the decline in high school enrollments, which are expected to peak in 2025, will need to pay attention to changing racial demographics. Among white students, the projected decline is four million; 700,000 among Black students; and 100,000 among Native American/Alaskan Native students. During this same period, there is a projected rise of 3.5 million in high school enrollment for Latino students.
As noted earlier, over the course of the last 150 years, colleges established for young, white men began enrolling students they previously had banned, including women and students of color. Until recently, the expectation of these colleges was that students must adapt to the institution and not the other way around. Title III of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and subsequent amendments have provided recognition and funding for Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions (ANNH), Native American Serving Nontribal Institutions (NASNTI), predominantly black institutions (PBI), and Minority Serving Institutions (MSI). Title V provides recognition and funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). In this way, schools have an incentive to provide programs for specific populations of students for whom the institution was not originally designed. However, the demographic shift of students will require colleges to go much further than special programs and scholarships for historically excluded students, who will make up demographic majorities in the coming years.
The Shift in Student Expectations for Colleges and Universities
The scarcity of students enrolling in post-secondary institutions will create a buyer’s market in which students are able to demand more for their tuition dollars. What do students want from college? In poll after poll, affordability, and career readiness are the top considerations that students have when choosing college (see this poll from the National Student Clearinghouse, or the Princeton Review, or Georgetown University). In fact, according to the article about the results from the National Student Clearinghouse, which took a poll of high school students, 60 percent prefer to enroll in career specific programs versus programs balanced with or focused on a liberal arts education.
According to an Every Learner Everywhere report, students want an education that feels relevant to who they are and what they want from life. The report lists the three main takeaways that encapsulate students’ desire for relevance:
Students want to be recognized as individuals and appreciated in the classroom.
Students value the connections instructors make between course content and “real life.”
Students want to be treated with respect and trust.
As a membership organization made up of nearly 900 institutions across the United States, the SAN team considers it of the upmost importance to provide opportunities for our institutional colleagues to share the unique experiences of working in compliance at their respective institutions. It is in this spirit that we invited a select number of individuals to participate in a brief interview that serves to better understand the unique complexities of those working in State Authorization Compliance at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and small or faith-based institutions (those with less than 10,000 students). We consider this to be important to the advancement of the knowledge surrounding State Authorization and Interstate Compliance Professionals.
We are pleased to share the themes, thoughts, and insights that were gleaned from those who participated in our interviews. We sincerely thank the participants for taking the time to share their wisdom and experiences with us and find their contributions greatly valuable. We would relish the opportunity to hear from more of our colleagues. Please feel welcome to contact Dr. Jana Walser-Smith (jwalsersmith@wiche.edu) or Kathryn Kerensky, J.D. (kkerensy@wiche.edu) if you are interested. We present to you several major themes that emerged from our interviews and have included quotes and comments from our interview participants below and refer to them by their chosen pseudonym.
Theme 1: Agency, Institutional Support, & Buy-in
Agency is a key concept that plays a significant role in distance education compliance. For the purposes of this work, we refer to agency as the ability of the compliance professional to take control of the decision-making process as it relates to the compliance requirements at their respective institutions. When institutions and institutional leadership foster a sense of agency, it empowers compliance professionals and facilitates their sense of ownership as it relates to programmatic planning, problem-solving, and even plays a crucial role in ensuring student success.
This means being included in important decision-making meetings and having a say in the direction of the institution. Without a seat at the table, employees can feel undervalued and unimportant, leading to low morale and high turnover rates.
As such, several of the participants expressed concern about their lack of agency and/or voice. Others expressed frustration at simply not having a seat at the table. Most agreed that all institutions must understand and embrace the concept of agency.
One of our interviewees, Reese, suggests that “Senior leaders should bring [us] to the table as it would help the institution be more proactive and less reactionary.” April, another participant, finds that “not being a part of the bigger picture makes us feel like we are “not doing [our] job in its entirety”.
April also expresses additional frustration when not being invited to critical meetings. She explains, “…because we are [are not invited] we are missing out on so much information” and “…all compliance staff, would benefit by being brought into these conversations so that they are able to do their jobs effectively”.
Buy-in
In recent years, as leaders in the academy have been exploring new ways to foster growth and innovation within their organizations, one approach that has gained significant popularity is the concept of a buy-in culture. Buy-in culture refers to the degree to which employees are committed to the vision mission and values of the organization. When an employee has a strong sense of buy-in they are more likely to be invested in the success of the organization and to work collaboratively towards common goals
State authorization/distance education compliance has become an increasingly important topic in recent years, as institutions continue to face an array of legal and regulatory requirements. However, achieving and maintaining compliance is not a simple matter of ticking off boxes on a checklist. Rather, it requires a cultural shift within the institution, one that is heavily dependent on the idea of faculty buy-in. Thus, the importance of senior leadership, faculty, and staff buy-in/support in academia is not only vital for student success but also imperative if institutions are to remain viable and ensure sustainability. This buy-in plays a crucial role in the success of both students, faculty, and staff.
Faculty Buy-in
Faculty buy-in refers to the degree to which faculty members are willing to embrace and actively support compliance efforts. Without this support, compliance initiatives are likely to fail or fall short of their full potential. This is critical, as faculty members play a crucial role in shaping the culture of an institution. Their attitudes and behaviors can either facilitate or hinder compliance efforts.
One of the key challenges in achieving faculty buy-in is overcoming resistance to change. Many faculty members may view distance education compliance as an unnecessary burden that distracts from their core academic duties. Faculty may also be skeptical of compliance initiatives that are perceived as bureaucratic or top-down.
When asked about this topic, interviewee Blaine, reports that on his campus, “…faculty buy-in can be challenging”. He added that “… to gain buy-in, you must constantly work with faculty members to provide examples” of the benefits that implementing well-developed compliance programs offer.
Reese echoes a lot of that same sentiment when noting her efforts at her institution, “It feels like [much of my work] is trying to get buy-in and getting people to get on board”. She includes that at the center of her success is “…getting faculty champions to help spread the message because other people in the department take what other faculty say it better than administrators”. “It matters a bit less how much you know and how good you are with people”.
Leadership Buy-in
In recent years, leaders in the academy have been exploring new ways to foster growth and innovation within their organizations. As such, the importance of leadership buy-in in higher education cannot be overstated. If leaders are not supportive of change initiatives, then it is unlikely that their subordinates will be motivated to implement the changes. Contrarily, if leaders are fully committed to change, their enthusiasm and motivation are likely to trickle down and result in a swifter change.
April expressed frustration with the lack of leadership support when recalling a situation wherein she advised her leadership team on a significant change that was on the horizon for distance education compliance. April recalls that her leader discounted and discredited her interpretation of the new regulations by reaching out to a peer institution to better understand how they were approaching this situation. Once it was determined that the peer institution had no immediate plans to react to the new guidance, April was advised that because their sister institution was not addressing the situation, “neither should she.”
When discussing support, another participant, Babs acknowledges that enhanced leadership support could improve the state authorization role at her institution as well. She explains that her charge would benefit from leaders who “build time into their schedules to meet with the compliance person(s) and support the organization of a compliance team”.
According to Reese, “Trying to stay close to leadership and making sure that [her voice is heard] since I am not at the table is exhausting”. She also describes how she makes the extra effort to ensure “that I am on their calendars, in their inboxes, asking questions, and asking for meetings because compliance needs that leadership connection.” Reese notes how her role would be improved if senior-level administrators would bring her to the table, saying “even if there is not a big [title] change, just add me to the invite. [Leaders should] consider me the online campus, consider me a location, treat me as like those other campuses and locations are treated. Be more proactive and less reactionary.”
Contrarily, while some distance education professionals struggle to have voice and agency, we found that several participants who held titles such as Manager, Dean, Director, etc., had more autonomy to make critical decisions and were provided greater visibility to senior-level leaders (versus those who were deemed to be analysts, specialists, coordinators, or compliance managers).
Specifically, in some instances, these individuals were permitted to advise, counsel, make recommendations, and even guide senior-level administrators on specific compliance regulations versus those who were deemed to be analyst, specialist, coordinator, or compliance managers. For example, Jess, a director, explains how she was “allowed to establish, create, and cultivate partnerships and collaborations.” She understands that while “Each campus culture is different, cultures are based on relationships and collaboration. We all must realize that “these are the people you need to get to know to get what you need.”
Jess offered that to be successful, we must “Create a process to have check-ins to look into whatever you need to check-in so you can prepare to complete things such as the annual renewal application”. “I pulled together meetings with Deans, financial, legal, etc.”. “I even established a [compliance] counsel that met twice, but timing became a challenge.”
Jess spoke of the importance of getting a [compliance] counsel active and meeting regularly. She advises that compliance professionals must feel empowered to, “start a process. Keep the website updated.” Leaders must provide the compliance team with “the leeway to set that process and [they must] also take the time to introduce them to the people they need to know.”
In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education, the concept of agency, empowerment, and buy-in continue to be critical factors that impact an institution’s success. While all participants agree that progress has been made, collectively, they contend that empowering compliance professionals, ensuring support and agency, not only equips individuals with the necessary tools and resources to make decisions and take action, but doing so would also lead to increased efficiency, productivity, and job satisfaction.
Theme 2: Lack of Manpower & Funding
There is a myriad of regulatory and legal requirements that colleges and universities must adhere to. As such, remaining compliant is not an easy task. It requires a thoughtful and carefully planned effort for a compliance program to facilitate a comprehensive compliance initiative. However, building this type of costly initiative continues to be a major challenge for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), as they regularly face limited funding. This funding disparity is often a direct result of decreases in state appropriations and/or changes in federal student aid programs. However, even as these institutions regularly receive less funding compared to their Predominantly White Institution (PWI) counterparts, they are expected to generate the same results, (mainly improving student outcomes). This, in turn, makes it difficult for the MSIs to fund support and non-academic services.
Jess explains that as an HBCU in a state-run system, “We are expected to operate just like all the other institutions, just like the flagship. Yet we are expected to do so with less resources. Just based on the funding model we’re always going to be underfunded.”
The issue of funding continued to persist across multiple interviews. Coco, another interviewee participant, warns, “we need funding support. We have to train all these people so that they provide the best opportunities for students” and it takes money to do it.
Consequently, compliance-related programs and initiatives tend to take the brunt of the shortage, as it is typical for these programs to have a smaller workforce/lower staffing levels. This results in a lack of time, staff, and other resources that staff feel imperative to be the most effective in their roles. Accordingly, staffing issues throughout the academy have become a growing concern in recent years. An example exists in the fact that 85.7% of the professionals interviewed for this project had compliance teams consisting of only one individual. The majority of our interview participants were not full-time compliance staff but were in the position of directors or managers who were assigned to do state authorization in addition to their other job responsibilities. In fact, the “team of one” premise was a fervent commonality, as Jess told us, “I am still a team of one when it comes to state authorization.”
She continued by explaining that due to the lack of manpower and time constraints, she often spends less than 5 percent of her working time on state authorization compliance issues. “l use my [state authorization] time to double check and ensure that we are compliance; I then try to confirm that there aren’t any issues.”
Angel piggybacks on this concern. Angel is also a team of one when it comes to state authorization and has been able to make it work but believes there is room to grow. A key to such growth is the work Angel is doing to get senior administrators more involved in understanding the implementation, growth, and competition in online education.
Angel suggests, “The ideal thing would be [to have] more people but realistically won’t happen as quickly. In the interim, you learn to be resourceful and request those resources.”
Blaine confesses that if he had more time to dedicate to the role, he would be more effective. He even questions whether this compliance role should live in his department, “I believe that the state authorization compliance role should be [placed] with another compliance officer since it’s not the only compliance task the university has to do…I don’t think that I am doing the role the justice it deserves. For example, the professional licensure program information is not in this office, the responsibility is with the departments. The departments do all of the advising on whether it meets the requirements for the licensure. While I work with them to make sure that their information is up-to-date and then links out to their sites, they complete the huge amount of research that is involved. It’s a huge thing they try to knock out with less time.”
Jess had a similar experience, adding that “I had originally hoped that someone in Legal would take it over [the state authorization compliance responsibilities]”. At one point they started attending webinars and workshops but it [state authorization compliance] still remained my responsibility.”
Many at the institutions we interviewed contend that compliance action tends to be reactive (and not proactive), specifically as it relates to new regulations. Some believe this has a direct correlation to understaffing. It was noted that often an institutional response was the result of a worst-case scenario occurrence and seemed to never be a result of long-term planning.
For example, Angel agrees that state authorization should be a standalone position due to all the intricate details and research it takes to understand the requirements and internally educate fellow institutional colleagues and departments on the requirements.
Jess echoed the sentiment, stating, “we need personnel even if it is part-time” so that someone can focus on the work year-round rather than at key points in the year (ex. SARA (State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements) renewals). Given that Jess has multiple responsibilities on top of state authorization, they find it important to prioritize the most essential obligations and meetings, such as State Portal Entity (SPE) meetings/webinars, and due dates like SARA renewals and data reports.
Babs shares, “I would love to be able to create the dream team of compliance because those conversations would open the ability to have more clout because one challenge is convincing others that we can’t step around compliance. [For our leaders] “It’s easy to say, “This is for students,” or “This is laws and regulations,” or “This comes with a fine or adverse action.” However, it’s hard to convince others, those dreaming up offering their programs across state borders to stick with it!”
To varying degrees and for various reasons, staff turnover presented a challenge to our participants as well. Angel notes that at her institution there have been lots of leadership changes and she finds it because they “have to go back to square one” and explain state authorization and compliance again to new leadership. Although a challenge, Angel has found that leadership likes to be kept in the loop and that the more knowledgeable leadership is, the more they may be able to support the compliance role.
Related to change, April discussed how communication presents a challenge in their role at their institution. As April is not in a leadership role, they have found that they are not kept in the loop when processes or procedures that impact their work change, which has resulted in them having to redo tasks.
Even as the overall growth of state authorization compliance obligations in higher education has been well documented, funding and workforce limitations have seemingly hindered or slowed progress. While it is improbable for any one institution to cover each of their compliance bases, the academy must treat distance education compliance as a living, breathing, animal, or work in progress. Institutions must continue to search for strategic solutions and build long-term plans if they are to remain compliant. However tactically, participants agree that more institutions must work fervently towards building a true culture of compliance.
Theme 3: Passion for Work and Community
Despite any challenges compliance staff may face, a common trait they all shared is passion, whether it be for their institution, job, the students, or all of the above. Blaine said they “really enjoying working here [at their institution] because I know what this institution has meant for this population [of students].” Angel stated that they love “the cultural aspect” of their institution and job, explaining that “there’s a family feeling that’s shared here. When you become a part of the institution, you’re a part of that family, and it’s to your advantage to share that. You want to share that part of you with others.” Similarly, Coco’s favorite part of their job is “the sense of community and the opportunity to make things better.”
The staff’s passion for students was palpable throughout the interviews. Despite having a challenging or sometimes frustrating experience in their role, April stated that “students keep me going. It’s always been that way regardless of the role or capacity I’m in.” Babs felt that it’s honorable that the mission of their institution was recently renewed to be more inclusive and “calls us to be responsible for ourselves and others.” Babs stated that “it feels good to be working within a community with that kind of care woven in.”
Along with that passion is a strong sense of community and collegiality. All participants seemed genuinely interested in sharing knowledge and resources with those at their institution and with their colleagues at other institutions.
We asked what advice they would give to someone starting out in state authorization or struggling to get launch their programs:
Partnerships and collaboration first. Create those relationships with those who are really going to be integral pieces of your work in state authorization. Make a great rapport with them so that you can get their buy-in.
Engage politically, be collaborative, and be a good communicator. It’s important to be good at change management and being with people.
Absolutely be engaged and attend all the meetings you can. It is important to be on top of communication to maintain compliance.
It’s okay to take your time and focus on one important thing every now and then. Start from where you are, take your time to learn.
Be very resourceful, resilient, and patient. It takes a village with patience and time. It can feel overwhelming at times but if you take tasks one day at a time, it is easier.
It is very imperative to be an active listener. Being an active listener provides an opportunity for mutual understanding and allows for engaging communication.
Communicate clearly what the expectation is and ensure others clearly understand the information and resources available to them.
Do the research, stay organized, and pay attention to detail. It is important to stay knowledgeable.
Solutions
Despite the challenges faced, our participants illustrated the various ways that have approached such challenges and the solutions that they have found the most effective in their work.
Solution #1: Resourcefulness
Regardless of the individual’s institution, title, or perspective, a common theme among our interviewees was the importance of resourcefulness, of both the compliance staff member and the institution in general. According to April, she would advise compliance staff members to “be a go-getter” and to be persistent less some doors close. Similarly, Angel stated that compliance staff need to be “very resourceful, resilient, and patient” and “learn to use your resources including those at your institution and those at other institutions.” Jess echoed these sentiments, stating that compliance staff must be “able to be very resilient” because they are “expected to operate like all the other institutions” but “with less resources.” This has resulted in Jess and her institution “learn[ing] to do more with less.” The lack of resources and need for resourcefulness has in many instances built a sense of camaraderie and support in other ways. Jess mentioned that she felt her institution would support the hiring of additional staff if not for the lack of funding and having this recognition has helped keep her grounded.
Solution #2: Relationships
Across the interviews, regardless of institution or the individual’s role, our participants highlighted the importance of building and sustaining relationships as key to success as a state authorization compliance professional. Reese believes that the most important things are to “engage politically, be collaborative, and be a good communicator” and that “it matters a bit less how much you know and more how good you are with people.” April agreed that it is extremely important to build rapport with everybody who can be directly impacted with state authorization. To April, creating “those relationships with those who are going to be integral pieces of your state authorization work” is “extremely important.”
Jess would advise new staff to prioritize “partnerships and collaboration first.” To Jess, even if campus cultures differ, those cultures are “based off relationships and collaboration” and it is important to understand such and get to know people that you need to work with. Jess advised that compliance staff should “create a process to have check-ins” with those key individuals to do the work that needs to be done. Coco believes it is “very imperative to be an active listener” and that “being an active listener provides an opportunity for mutual understanding and allows for engaging communication.”
Thank You
It goes without stating that this work requires dedication, collaboration, commitment, and institutional support. Often, distance education compliance professionals are also engaged in multiple (additional) duties/responsibilities, while simultaneously remaining vigilant about this work. Most importantly, these individuals carry out and successfully complete this work despite difficulties and obstacles.
It was evident with each of the interviews that all participants were not only consummate professionals, but also champions of this work. All were gracious with their time, honest with their responses to the questions asked, and refreshingly open when recalling their lived experiences.
We cannot convey enough how grateful we are to our interview participants for sharing their knowledge with us. We hope that readers have learned more about the perspectives of their institutional colleagues and have found similarities in their own experiences.
Dr. Karen Cangialosi, Director, Every Learner Everywhere
I want to respond to this question by amplifying the voices of black leaders, and the Juneteenth dedication of thought leader, writer, activist, and change agent, adrienne maree brown, who quotes several black genius revolutionaries. The wisdom of these black women sustains and inspires me every day to do the work that I do:
“our radical imagination is a tool for decolonization, for reclaiming our right to shape our lived reality.” (adrienne maree brown)
“all that i touch, i change. all that i change, changes me. the only lasting truth is change.” (octavia butler)
“i have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. and i have to do it all the time.” (angela davis)
“until the killing of black men, black mothers sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother’s son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest.” (ella baker)
“when i dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether i am afraid.” (audre lorde)
“if i hear the dogs, keep going. if i see the torches in the woods, keep going. if there’s shouting after me, keep going. don’t ever stop. keep going. if i want a taste of freedom, keep going.” (harriet tubman)
“black lives matter. black trans lives matter. black disabled lives matter. black queer lives matter. black children’s lives matter. all black life matters.” (alicia garza)
Shannon Riggs, WCET Steering Committee Past Chair, WCET Executive Council, Executive Director of Academic Programs and Learning Innovation, Oregon State University Ecampus
Oregon State University’s President’s Commission on the Status of Black Faculty and Staff Affairs recently held its second annual summit, the State of Black Affairs Summit 2023. The summit was a full-day conference that offered concurrent sessions on important topics such as the multidimensionality of Blackness, Black public health, supporting Black rural students, creating inclusive spaces, and effective allyship and mentoring. The day also included a keynote by Oregon State Representative Travis Nelson regarding how attendees can get involved in local government to advance DEI priorities. It was an educational and inspiring event.
Patti O’Sullivan, Content Manager, Every Learner Everywhere
People talk today about Black contributions to the development of the nation being erased, but in my experience, they were never there to begin with. As a child in public schools, the only information I was taught about Black Americans was their enslavement and their achievement of Civil rights. Starting in college I had to deliberately choose to take classes that featured the stories and achievements of Black American in order to learn about them. I’ve continued that learning thirty years after graduating with various resources in multiple modalities. In my experience, white Americans must choose to learn the fullness of our nation’s history, even when – especially when, it reveals how our whiteness has been used to justify great harm to others. Some might describe this learning journey as divisive, but I disagree. It is humbling, enlightening, and healing. What is truly divisive is to willfully ignore the lived experiences of Black Americans and to expect them to move on from a trauma for which white America has never fully acknowledged or atoned. Below I’ve listed some of my favorite, recent resources for learning about Black history.
Lindsey Downs, Assistant Director, Communications and Community, WCET
Diversity, to me, is what makes each of us unique and those elements that make each of us who we are (such as our backgrounds, experiences, beliefs, etc), are valuable elements to a vibrant, interesting, and successful community. When we limit a side of ourselves, we personally become less able to contribute to our family, community, and the world in a meaningful way. The same can be said about limiting the inclusion of others. An exclusive world, to me, is a less meaningful one. This is why our work in DEI is important to me. Juneteenth is, in the words of the Smithsonian Institute, “our country’s second independence day.” I really never knew about this important day until I was in college. I took a Critical Race Theory course at Montana State University, and I will forever be grateful for that opportunity. Unlike some understandings of this type of course, my experience was a thoughtful and thorough review of how laws, policies, and societal structures have been and continue to be shaped by people’s concepts of race. The course was eye-opening for me. I am so thankful that I was able to take this course with a wonderful group of other graduate students and a great professor, and I continue to be thankful that my team at WCET supports us in not only extend our DEI knowledge and experiences but pushes us to examine how our personal work, projects, the content we create, etc., is or isn’t inclusive and to make adjustments to ensure our work reflects our equity principles.
In reflecting on this post, I determined it was important for me to develop a personal diversity and inclusion statement, in addition to assisting with the equity work WCET is actively doing. I have a lot to learn about our country’s history and how privilege and racism still impact so much of our world.
You can get a hint of my personal statement in my words today. There are many ways to go about writing such statements and I encourage you to consider using the Juneteenth holiday to brainstorm your own personal statement on these issues. While mine is definitely still a work in progress, I know having the statement will allow me to complete my work and go about my personal life in a more inclusive and open mindset. And, as we all know, that’s the best possible state to be in when we’re learning. Here are some resources for crafting a personal DEI statement:
Su Jin Jez, Every Learner Equity Advisory Board Member, Executive Director, California Competes
I am fortunate to be based in California, a racially diverse state that largely embraces and celebrates this diversity. Growing up as a mixed-race individual, I have memories of my parents being very intentional in their conversations about both Black and Korean culture, values, and histories with me and my brother. These conversations have deeply influenced me and continue to shape how I raise my own children, as well as how I interact with my colleagues and peers. It is essential to me that I bring this same mindset of intentionality and cultural appreciation into my work to reshape California’s higher education system into one that is equitable and inclusive.
At California Competes, we view understanding the historical and systemic underpinnings that have led to today’s racial inequities as a central and ongoing aspect of our work. For Juneteenth, our team will reflect on the holiday and what it commemorates. Over a shared meal, we’re inviting staff to share their favorite resources on black history, creating an environment where everyone can learn from each other and deepen their understanding of the historical significance of Juneteenth and the ongoing fight for racial justice.
Danielle White, Every Learner Student Intern, George Washington University
As a Black student at a private PWI, I engage in student run organizations that were established to maintain a safe space for the Black community. I believe that this promotes Black history by asserting our seat at the table, where we could not formerly sit. As the director of my institution’s gospel choir, I remind my members of the pain that was used to cultivate Black art. As the event planner for Young Black Professionals in International affairs, I remind my peers of the giants that came before us, who did not receive credit for their contribution to American Foreign Policy. We reflect on Black history in order to motivate the mission, and the change that we wish to create on our campus.
Russ Poulin, Executive Director, WCET & Vice President for Technology-Enhanced Education, WICHE
You Belong Here
Thinking about this Juneteenth made me think about the history of the holiday and the persistent inequities facing higher education. One of those inequity concerns surrounds falling college and university enrollments and the fear that it will get worse with the pending “enrollment cliff.”
Could these downturns reverse the years of trying to improve enrollments for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other students of color? Some data analyses have shown that is the case.
In recent weeks, I have been hearing about institutions that have been innovative in finding ways to welcome potential students who might not otherwise even consider enrolling:
The President of Northern Arizona University learned that many of the Latino residents of Flagstaff had never set foot on campus. It was not a place for them, although they often had to drive around it to get from one side of town to the other. He created an on-campus experience that invited school children to an extended visit. It gave the largely Latino youth a new vision of their possible future right in their own back yard.
Boston University acquired a local institution that was closing. From it, they developed the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success “aimed at enhancing educational opportunities for underrepresented and first-generation students.” The Academy is one component that grade 8-12 students to a summer enrichment program. These enrichment programs let Black students experience that college is a place for them. They are also starting a mentoring program and a new, residential two-year college to being in 2024.
It is all about overcoming history. The message of that history is that those population is that they can come to college but they are not welcomed or, worse, that they are to stay away from postsecondary institutions.
For those of us using digital learning, our history includes concerns about equity issues and retention rates for populations that are traditionally not well-served by higher education. What are we doing in online and digital learning to welcome them? What extra outreach is needed? What extra support is needed? What type of personal touch is required?
Juneteenth is a holiday based on messaging. The enslaved people were late in learning that they were free. How do we deliver a new message today…. that higher education and online education are places not only where they are welcomed…but where they belong?
The Equal Justice Initiative states, “as an opportunity for national reflection, Juneteenth invites us all to confront the promises of liberty and justice that remain largely unfulfilled in this nation. Through this reflection, we can recognize and commit to addressing the legacies of racial injustice present in our lives today. Strengthening our understanding of racial history empowers us to create a healthier discourse about race in America and foster an era of truth and justice.” Every Learner and WCET are dedicated to reflecting, recognizing and committing to addressing racial justice in our work with partners, peers, institutions and students. Juneteenth reminds us that US Black History is under attack today, just as it has been for more than 150 years. Today we celebrate the freedom of African Americans, honor their achievements, and work to catalyze change in dismantling systemic racism and removing structural barriers to educational equity for every learner, everywhere.
Thank you to those who contributed to this post and sharing how you encourage students, colleagues, and peers to reflect on Juneteenth and Black History to sustain the work for equity in education.
To learn more about Juneteenth, and racial injustice throughout US History, we recommend visiting the Equal Justice Initiative, A History of Racial Injustice Calendar, for more information and resources.
The WCET Steering Committee Microcredentialing workgroup is a small and passionate group of higher education leaders and practitioners. Led by Krysia Lazarewicz, Wiley University Services, and Suzanne Ehrlich, University of North Florida, the group has had discussions since December 2022 about where WCET can provide value and avoid duplication of work being led by other organizations.
Throughout the initial meetings, it became apparent that WCET should do what WCET loves to do anyway – collaborate as a community to share knowledge and experiences. The conversations between committee members were cathartic and reenergizing. They helped each other sort through the noise and surface potholes along the microcredentialing highway. This Frontiers blog is a result of those shared stories about opportunities and challenges.
Although everyone has a different map and destination, hopefully this blog post helps you navigate some of the potential potholes on your microcredentialing journey.
The Potholes
Definitions and Taxonomies
Microcredentials represent focused units of learning that validate specific skills and competencies. Microcredentials are typically a digital record of achievement of a skill or competency. There are various definitions across leading higher education organizations and currently, there is not a single industry recognized definition of microcredentials. WCET published a blog post in June 2022 about the definitions and the need for clarity at the start of a microcredential initiative.
Digital Promise defines a microcredential as “A competency or skills-based recognition that allows a learner to demonstrate mastery and learning in a particular area (Digital Promise).”
WCET recommends the following resources for definitions and key terms:
Establishing your institution’s working definition at the inception of a microcredential initiative provides clarity throughout the development and implementation of a program. The WCET working group found that spending time on crafting the ideal definition delays progress; therefore, find one that aligns with the mission of your institution and goals of the microcredential initiative, and get to work.
Verifying and aligning the skills and competencies acquired through microcredentials is crucial. Start small. Begin with a single noncredit microcredential and eventually scale up from there. Determine how competencies will be assessed. Assuring that competencies are assessed and meet or exceed quality standards are essential to the integrity of the microcredential certification. Partnerships between institutions, industry patterns, and professional organizations build trust and validity in microcredential.
Goals and Audience
In WCET’s May 2022 blog post, the authors wrote “When considering whether a microcredential strategy is right for your university, it’s important to begin with the end in mind. When your strategy is a wild success, what will be different for your learners and for your university? What will you measure, observe, or be able to report that highlights the ways that microcredentials have added to your overall impact as an institution? And perhaps most importantly, what will students say when asked how they have been impacted?”
Define your institution’s initiative goals. Microcredentialing is a lower barrier of entry for learners who may not be able to commit to a full degree but are still looking to invest in their potential. For students currently enrolled, a microcredential can aid completion by recognizing units of learning, rather than the zero-sum game of no credential unless a degree is attained. Typically, institution’s goals include one or more of the following:
Student recruitment,
Student retention,
Supporting lifelong learning,
Credit for prior/co-curricular learning,
Enabling students to upskill and improve employability and earnings,
Providing employee benefits,
Professional development for faculty and staff.
Goals that align with the institution’s strategy and mission, as well as meet the needs of learners/earners, are most effective. By aligning microcredentialing with the goals of the institution and identifying the right target market, funding is more likely as microcredentialing is viewed as an opportunity, not a barrier.
Funding and Investing in Microcredential Initiatives
The F word doesn’t have to be a pothole. Funding models for microcredentialing include:
grants,
institutional support,
funding through fees, and,
in limited circumstances, financial aid.
Educational benefits such as tuition reimbursement, subsidies, or employer-sponsored programs may also be available. These benefits incentivize learners to acquire new skills and competencies while reducing financial barriers.
Financial hurdles are another reason to start small and eventually scale up microcredentialing programs. Determine how costs will be covered, how ROI will be calculated, how the program will be marketed, and a timeline for sustainability. Clearly stating the reasoning for microcredentialing at your institution is key to calculating the return on investment and allaying fears of cannibalization of course or program enrollment.
Strategy and Leadership
Courageous leadership is key to a successful microcredential initiative. Strong leadership convenes key stakeholders, develops policies and procedures, outlines the strategy, identifies the goals, establishes metrics, and continually seeks process improvements. Leaders work across the institution to continually communicate, and pivot as needed.
Successful implementation of microcredentials requires collaboration among various stakeholders including industry experts, employers, faculty, admissions, the registrar’s office, and students in conversations surrounding the design and development of microcredentials. Creating a strategic roadmap that aligns microcredentials with the institution’s mission, vision, and long-term goals is essential for sustainable implementation and success.
Conclusion
Microcredentialing is gaining momentum as students spur demand, employers recognize the value of shorter-term certifications, and institutions see the opportunities for recruitment and retention. As your institution explores or evaluates microcredentialing, consider the road ahead, view the opportunities, plan for a few bumps, but know you can avoid the potholes.
WCET members, this month’s Closer Look Guide, sent through wcetNEWS, dives further into these topics. Additionally, the Closer Look covers:
Considerations for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Hello and welcome to WCET’s annual summer media review and recommendations list!
Each summer we like to share our staff’s recommendations for fun reads, listens, and watches for the summer. These suggestions are a mix of personal and professional development podcasts, books, articles, and shows.
We hope you enjoy our recommendations and that you are enjoying a great start to the summer!
I picked this one up last year to learn more about Juneteenth. The short book does cover that history briefly, but goes deeper into racism and struggles to overcome it in her life in Texas. It also gives a deep history of how racism was built into that state’s structures from the first settlers who came to Texas from what became the Confederacy to a state constitution that favored some over others. Since this is being published close to the holiday, it is still a good reminder of what is history and of what persists.
– Russ Poulin, Executive Director, WCET & Vice President for Technology-Enhanced Education, WICHE
Earlier this year some members of the WCET team held a book club in which we shared our views on John Medina’s Brain Rules for Work: The Science of Thinking Smarter in the Office and at Home. The author has been a frequent keynote speaker after the success of his original book, Brain Rules.
Medina is a molecular biologist focused on the research on human neural development. Throughout the book he cites research in tackling in the chapters: Teams, The Home Office, The Business Office, Creativity, Leadership, Power, Presentations, Conflict/Bias, Work-Life Balance, and Change. The accompanying website includes two bonus chapters on Grief and Personality. And his 10 brain rules for work include “Teams are more productive but only if you had the right people.”
While scientifically based, the book is readable for everyone. The insights and recommendations lead to useful discussions among your team members. Since it is a book for the masses, it does not go deep into the studies he cites. A reference list would help. Enjoy engaging fellow staff members with this book.
Academia is often called out for its many issues around race. This book addresses that topic, describes several personal stories, and challenges the way that academia tends to exclude and restrict access for many women of color. While framing the chapters as if they are sections of a course syllabus, the author thoroughly describes the need for developing community in academia and the role that these communities play in supporting people of color in an overwhelmingly white space. She furthermore points towards specific things that could be changed to create better equity and inclusion in academia.
I’m cisgender (the opposite of transgender, meaning that my gender identity is the same as the gender that I was assigned at birth), and as such, I sometimes feel like I don’t understand much about what it means to be transgender. I’d like to be a good ally and found that this book was really useful in helping me do better. This book helped me understand more about transgender experiences and the obstacles that transgender people often face. Author Shon Faye is a transgender woman in the UK who writes about trans “issues.” Faye explains that transgender people themselves are often seen as an “issue,” but she turns that phrase around by explaining the issues that are faced by – not unfairly blamed on – trans people. I highly recommend this book for everyone, but especially for people like me who feel like mainstream media has not done an adequate job of explaining trans rights.
I just completed an MS in cybersecurity and during the program I learned about how the internet works. I think it’s pretty cool that I actually understand how this essential and omnipresent artifact works, and then I think back about how strange it was that I never questioned much about its functionality before I learned about it. While most books out there that describe the internet seem quite dense and difficult to unpack, there is an occasional gem, and this book happens to be one of them. It is a great book for explaining the basics of network engineering and internet governance. Although it covers some very complicated subjects, I think the authors do a good job of putting the information into language and visuals that are easy to consume. Furthermore, with an illustrated cat by the name of Catnip as the central character alongside a cast of other creatures and personified objects, the visual experience creates an adorable setting to learn about any subject.
– Rosa Calabrese, Manager, Digital Design, WCET
I have not actually read any of these books, but they’ve been on my list for a while and I’m hoping to get to them this summer:
Parent Nation,
From the Hood to the Holler,
The 1619 Project.
– Kathryn Kerensky, Director, Digital Learning Policy & Compliance,WCET SAN
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated. With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a “page-turning, exhilarating, and unforgettable” (PopSugar) suspense novel. Also a TV series on Apple TV starring Jennifer Garner.
– Patricia O’Sullivan, WCET and Every Learner Everywhere
We haven’t read this yet, but this book was just selected as the book club read for the ASWE book club for 2023. ASWE attendees will read the book prior to the WCET and ASWE meetings this fall and meet during ASWE to discuss.
The book overview: Michelle Obama offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully adapt to change and overcome various obstacles—the earned wisdom that helps her continue to “become.” She details her most valuable practices, like “starting kind,” “going high,” and assembling a “kitchen table” of trusted friends and mentors. With trademark humor, candor, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness.
Malcolm Gladwell is noted for writing books (The Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers) at which he looks at societal and business hidden realities, trends, and changes. He produces only a handful of episodes per year and they are both enlightening and entertaining. I particularly point you to some episodes from Season 6 (2021):
I highly recommend two episodes that are critical of US News & World Report college rankings: Lord of the Rankings and Project Dillard. If you didn’t know how hollow those rankings are, Gladwell lays it out. You will especially enjoy the conversation he has with the individual who is the “lord of the rankings.” I have talked to him and that is how it goes. Project Dillard shows how an HBCU can improve its rankings. The answer? Grow. Become exclusive. And don’t worry so much about serving Black students. Makes me mad and is funny.
He also has three (yes three!) episodes on The Little Mermaid, which is again timely. The episode is focused on an article about law and morality in Disney animated films. He asks in the first episode…do we need to overthink animated movies of fairy tale? He concludes “Actually, we do.” An illegal contract does not win out over a just outcome. Makes you think and is funny.
Anyone else here who doesn’t like horror movies, but wishes they liked horror movies? I’m too easily terrified by horror to watch it myself, but I always want to know what happens in popular horror movies, so I often find myself reading spoiler articles about them. And I always thought I was the only person who was like this because it does seem pretty weird. But then I found the Ruined podcast! The premise is that one woman tells her friend (who is a scaredy cat like me) exactly what happens in a different horror film each week. Then they discuss things like mistakes the characters made and what they would each do in the same situation. The episodes are typically quite funny, and don’t bring about the same dread inside of me that watching horror movies does.
In this series, Doireann aims to delve into the beauty of having a laugh, speaking to guests from all walks of life. From first memories of laughter to being laughed at to “if I didn’t laugh I’d cry” moments, these markers shape the interviews, bringing out the best in some of Ireland’s most influential people.
– Patricia O’Sullivan, Content Manager, WCET and Every Learner Everywhere
Holly Frey and Maria Triarchi look at historical crimes and examine them with a more modern viewpoint and the benefit of hindsight. Seasons have included “Treasonists,” “Artnappers,” “Resurrectionists” (or body snatchers), “Witches and alchemists,” “Lady Pirates,” and more! The hosts do a great job of researching and presenting stories from the past that I thought I knew a lot about (in some cases anyway) but common understandings weren’t the whole story. Plus, at the end Holly and Maria present mocktails and cocktails inspired by each story and/or crime, which is a fun little bit for each episode.
– Lindsey Downs, WCET
Some podcasts I like that are related to education are Times Higher Education, Teaching in Higher Ed, and Higher Education Matters. I also like Science Vs, Planet Money, Latino USA, and Stuff You Should Know, but they aren’t super related to higher education.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention OUR PODCAST. Did you know WCET has a podcast? Check out the WCET Frontiers Pod for our monthly (at least) episodes on solutions and innovations in the practice and policy of digital learning in higher education. Get caught up and subscribe now to get notified when future episodes are released! We’re on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
– Lindsey Downs, WCET
TV
I’m looking forward to these TV shows this summer:
Crime Scene Kitchen – this is like a combination of cooking show and detective series. Essentially, teams of two work together to try and investigate ingredients, crumbs, utensils left behind in a kitchen to see if they can replicate the dessert that had been made. I will say I’m not one who usually enjoys the typical cooking shows, but this is one that both me and my husband enjoy.
Claim to Fame – this was a surprise favorite of ours last year. Essentially, a group of relatives of various celebrities are put together in the house and they have to try to keep the identity of their celebrity relative a secret in order to last to the end of the game and win. Clues are revealed to the contestants throughout the game that hint toward who each person’s celebrity relative is.
Stars on Mars – I’m not fully sure of the premise of this show but I think celebrities are essentially competing against each other to see if they could last in a simulated Mars environment.
– Kathryn Kerensky, Director, Digital Learning Policy & Compliance,WCET SAN
If there is anyone out there wondering if they should watch Ted Lasso, well, here is your sign to watch it.
I can honestly say that this show was not only one of my very favorite television shows I’ve ever seen, but some of the episodes (especially this season) have, in my opinion, been some of the best episodes of TV ever. I know many would disagree with me, especially on this season, but to me the acting, writing, and production was top notch. They tackled some big topics and did surprisingly well in doing so. Plus even when things got heavy, they found a way to add some humor when it was really needed. Which I think we all need to know how to do sometimes. And you don’t need to know anything about football (/soccer) to enjoy the show. I laughed and cried so many times this season and I’m still a tad in denial that it’s over. It was absolutely lovely.
As higher education institutions seek to support learners in a more holistic and comprehensive manner, many are turning to wraparound services to ensure that learners’ full range of needs are addressed.
Specifically, wraparound services are programs and support initiatives that go beyond assisting learners with the normal rigors of academics.
These programs often help with non-academic needs such as:
mental and behavioral health,
housing and food insecurities,
social support, and,
familial issues like those involving transportation or childcare.
Why Wraparound Services?
Even as wraparound services are rooted in the medical practice of Systems of Care, or the community-based processes wherein healthcare providers coordinate their care to support the patient holistically, these praxes are becoming increasingly important in higher education.
One rationale for increasing wraparound services stems from the challenge postsecondary institutions face to expand equity and increase accountability. This has caused the academy to re-imagine ways to facilitate learner success.
As a result, it has become increasingly clear that a more holistic approach to learner support is needed to ensure both academic and personal success. Contemporary research also encourages this holistic approach, informing that learners who receive wraparound services are more likely to not only persist but also graduate. As such, colleges and universities nationwide have opted to implement a myriad of these programs.
Service Examples
Wrapping Up Food Insecurities
An example of new and innovative support services stems from the rising concerns related to food insecurity on college campuses. To respond, a number of institutions have implemented new student food assistance programs. One such program is the University of North Carolina Greensboro’s, Spartan Open Pantry, a campus-based food support system that allows students’ access to a variety of perishable and non-perishable foods, fresh fruits and vegetables, and hot meals.
Greater than 500 colleges and universities throughout America have also implemented the Swipe Out Hunger initiative on their campuses. Institutions such as the University of California, Los Angeles, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Texas A&M University, College Station, launched this program which simply allows students to donate unused meal swipes to their peers in need. Another program is the Food for Thought initiative, which was established during the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to provide learners with access to free or discounted meals. This programming has been implemented at prestigious and nationally known institutions including the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Empowering Learners with Mental Health Assistance
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, college campuses nationwide have seen an uptick in concerns about the mental health and well-being of learners. The perfect storm of the pressures of academic performance, social expectations, and the transition to adulthood, coupled with pandemic-related closed campuses, adjusting to online learning, and, for some, the death or illness of family, increased reports of learners experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression. According to the American College Health Association, nearly 40% of college students reported feeling so depressed in the past year that it was difficult to function.
To address this issue, campus administrators are taking steps to improve mental health support for their learners by increasing the number of counselors and mental health professionals available on campus, as well as expanding the hours and availability for counseling services. Some universities are also implementing peer support programs, where trained student volunteers provide confidential support and guidance to their peers.
In addition, the academy continues to work to develop a more supportive and inclusive campus environment. This includes offering mental health awareness and education programs, promoting self-care, stress management techniques, and reducing stigma around seeking help for mental health concerns. Some universities have also implemented policies and practices to address the specific needs of marginalized and underrepresented student groups, such as LGBTQ+ students and students of color.
While Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, bursts with pride when lauding the rigors of its academics and research programs, as well as the strength of its students, the university is also going to great lengths to publicize its Wellness Empowerment Center. The center incorporates programming on financial well-being, sexual health, self-care, etc., by using an “upstream approach” which works proactively to prevent student mental health issues. Administrators contend that by implementing innovative programs and wellness initiatives, they, in turn, facilitate learners’ ability to “always thrive as they move upstream.”
Community Partners
While some institutions have established campus-based centers that offer a range of these services, others have engaged in developing partnerships with community organizations to provide a mix of services. Third-party service organizations such as GraduLet in Houston, Texas, AdvanceEDU in Denver, Colorado, and College Together in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have partnered with several institutions across the country to provide enhanced learning opportunities for students.
Partner agencies also assist students with completing complicated federal financial aid applications, provide academic and personalized student success coaches, tutoring and writing center assistance, skill-building workshops, and special help for English language learners. Non-traditional assistance includes transportation support such as public transportation passes, onsite childcare, hot meals, healthcare referrals, mentorship programs, and dedicated workspaces.
The intent is for learners to become immersed in a well-rounded system of academic and non-academic support that by nature creates the structure and culture which allows them to reach their full educational potential. Thus, making the collaboration between post-secondary institutions and community organizations vital to student success.
State Authorization Compliance Implications
While the benefits of holistic student support are clear, implementing such programs can prove to be challenging for higher education institutions. A major challenge is the potential for these services to cause state authorization compliance concerns. As leaders contemplate implementing these services, they too must consider the state authorization compliance foundational principle, which cautions that higher education institutions must obtain formal permission from a state to conduct specific activities within its borders.
Institutions located in one state that engage in partnerships with third-party servicers or community partners in another state, run the risk of triggering a physical presence (the measure by which a state defines the status of an educational institution’s presence within the state).
Because the guidelines of physical presence vary by state, state authorization compliance professionals must remain cognizant of each state’s metrics and common physical presence triggers.
Issues may arise with community partner programs if these entities are not cautious when marketing and advertising their services. For example, some state regulatory agencies have expressed concern about some community partners’ advertising language which alludes to an institution maintaining instructional sites or administrative offices in their state. Other regulatory concerns arise from the possibility of an institution employing faculty or staff in their state.
To ensure that your institution is taking all necessary steps to remain compliant, consider the following:
Review the regulations of the state where the institution offers the activity to determine if the activity causes the institution to be regulated in the state.
Remember, states vary as to which activities will cause regulatory oversight.
If you are a SARA participating institution, make certain to understand the definition of physical presence found in section 5.10 of the SARA Policy Manual
Obtain and document state approval from the state’s higher education agency.
Establish internal policies and procedures to remain current on state requirements and to maintain state approvals.
Remember, non-compliance with state authorization regulations can result in serious consequences for institutions. Penalties can include fines, loss of eligibility for federal financial aid, and the revocation of accreditation. It is therefore critical for institutions to ensure they remain compliant with each state’s regulations. Also, remember that the State Authorization Network (SAN) is the leader for guidance and support when navigating state and federal regulatory compliance for postsecondary institutions conducting out-of-state activities. Know that SAN is always here to help!
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