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The “New Normal” and Reflections on Accessibility

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date April 7, 2022
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WCET welcomes Kara Monroe, President and Founder of Monarch Strategies LLC. In partnership with her, WCET is launching a new article series on the continued shifts in leadership in higher education and educational technology. This is the second blog post in the series that will be featured at the start of each month. Enjoy her first post “Shifting from Covid-normal to New Normal.”

Thank you Kara for the thoughtful post.
~Russ Poulin, WCET

Accessibility has many meanings in the higher education vernacular. First, we must get clear on how we’re talking about accessibility and then we can analyze how we can improve accessibility in each of the areas where it is critical to do so.

In this essay reflection, we will look at accessibility from its most traditional meaning–accessibility for those who are otherly abled. Then we’ll look at accessibility from the outside of our institutions inward, and finally we’ll consider accessibility in relation to our colleagues.

Accessibility and Those with Disabilities

We often talk about accessibility in the framework of legal access to content, services, and the overall educational experience. In my experience, institutions still spend a significant amount of time focusing on ways to make content accessible.

woman in a wheel chair participating on a web meeting, smiling and raising her hand.
Photo by Marcus Aurelius

President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law on July 26, 1990. More than two decades later, however, higher education faculty and students still face many challenges in accessing versions of various course materials (books, online learning tools, etc.). While major publishers have adopted accessibility statements or at least put together accessibility guides to their content (like Oxford University Press, Pearson, Cengage, McGraw-Hill, Wiley), these efforts do not always address the needs of students and faculty.

From faculty-authored content to content written by much smaller publishers and professional organizations, obtaining accessible content is still a time-consuming process for higher education staff that leaves students without access to the tools that they need to learn. Fortunately, tools like Blackboard Ally can help faculty identify and fix inaccessible content in their courses as well as learn to build more accessible content from here forward.

All institutions need to develop programs or services that help faculty and students learn about making content accessible and how to do it. For institutions unsure of where to start, aligning with Quality Matters(™) on its 8th course rubric standard and using training provided by Quality Matters are excellent places to begin.

Accessibility from the Outside In

Who does our institution serve? The answer to this question is defined in many ways. When answering this question, we often think about the following:

  • Institutional mission
  • Admissions standards
  • Location
  • Programs offered
  • Cost
woman with curly hair and glasses holding a notebook
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

What We Promise Our Students

As leaders in higher education, we can alter some of these objectives to change our accessibility, like dials on a machine. For example, we might hold tuition stable or offer “free” courses or even “free” tuition. Perhaps your institution has recently gone test optional or, if you’re a community college, you are exploring new pathways to corequisites and program level courses like math and English. Maybe you even add new programs to serve new or emerging markets.

Although we all turn these dials, what we’re doing doesn’t seem to be working. College going rates since 2009 have been declining overall. This is especially true amongst America’s fastest growing demographic groups. Fewer black students attend college, and the same is true for Hispanic populations. 

Perhaps the reason this isn’t working is a lack of focus on our goal. When we move these dials, we often talk about our goal in terms of adding enrollment–primarily from underserved or underrepresented populations. We do need to add enrollment from underserved and underrepresented populations–both because we have not served these populations well but also because smaller. That said, we also need to make sure the product we are offering students is going to help make their lives better.

However, if we go back to the reason each of our institutions exists, it isn’t to enroll students–it is to help students complete something. So, if you are turning those dials to bring more students into the institution, you must also add the tools and support services all students need to help your institution, AND the students you serve, reach their end goal. For the institution, the end goal is typically more successful graduates, and for students, the broad goal is simply the means to create a better life.

As your institution reviews programs, how do you ensure that the process is a meaningful exercise that results in the growth of the student experience and student population rather than simply a way to preserve the status quo within your institution?

Accessibility from the Inside

Man sitting in a chair reviewing a page on a clipboard.
Photo by Mikhail Nilov

Prior to March 2020, we had daily patterns and rhythms that helped us keep time during the day. As nearly all of us shifted to fully remote work, those rhythms were destroyed. We took a few days to get, as one colleague called them, our “sea legs.” Once we did, however, we “were rocking.”

We are, however, in the midst of another change of rhythms, one of the worst kinds of change–one that is unstable and of an uncertain length of time. 

Issues with daycare and schools are causing additional strain for our colleagues with children as they rearrange their daily lives, more than previously required. Supply chain issues cause what used to be a minor inconvenience like a fridge going out to become a multi-week saga that throws off a person’s flow for weeks. While these things seem minor in the moment, the compounding effect of them is weighing on all of us.

Institutions are also struggling with how often they want employees to be in the office and employees are struggling too with why they need to be in the office some arbitrary percentage of the time when they were incredibly productive from home. When employees are in the office working in open office environments, they are often fighting over limited focus room space because everyone is still on video chats rather than meeting in person. This results in more distractions and decreased productivity.

The one thing I have heard unanimously from my higher education colleagues is that their institution’s work from home policies–or lack thereof–are void of emotional intelligence. There is no doubt that many jobs in higher education are best–and perhaps even only–performed with students and faculty/staff in the same physical location. However, it appears that rather than learning from the pandemic and pushing new ways of serving students, many institutional leaders are simply trying to go back to “the way things were.” As learning organizations, sometimes we refuse to learn that there are multiple ways of achieving outcomes successfully.

What Can We Do?

We need to be vigilant about improving accessibility to and within our institutions, and we need to keep looking at accessibility through a variety of lenses.

Here are a few suggestions and take-aways for you to improve accessibility immediately and long term:

  • Establish and/or evaluate your institution’s accessibility training program. Launch your own accessibility training program or partner with organizations such as Quality Matters(™) to provide accessibility training at your institution. If you have an established training program, identify one or two improvements or updates you could make to the program to make it even more powerful.
  • Make live video sessions accessible. Use the Zoom Live Transcript option or research live transcription options in your video platform of choice. Use these whenever it is possible to provide another means for participants to experience the content of your session.
  • Have faculty create an accessible adoption policy. Faculty own the decision of what content is to be adopted for courses. As such, accessibility of the content starts with that adoption decision. Faculty members can individually or collectively adopt an accessible adoption policy and transition away from any course materials that are not accessible.
  • Make program review more meaningful. Too often, program review is completed as box checked for the purposes of fulfilling accreditation requirements. Program review should be an ongoing process of evaluating every program to ensure it is delivering on the promise to students and that the program is remaining aligned with the value proposition it sets out to students about the kinds of jobs, the availability of jobs, and the likely future of that area.
  • Ask–Who is on your accessibility committee? Develop a practice of reviewing the membership of your accessibility committee to ensure it is representative of your entire institution. Define its charge–whether that is only to look at accessibility of content or whether the committee takes a broader view of accessibility.
  • Ask–Is your work from home policy emotionally intelligent? Consider whether your work from home policy reflects the needs of your students and reflects the physical, emotional, and mental well being needs of your faculty and staff.

We must continue to make our institutions and our content more accessible while also keeping a close eye on the health and well being of our students, faculty, and staff. Accessibility should be viewed as a step in the path while keeping the ultimate shared goal in mind. In the words of one colleague, “Accessibility is no longer enough. We must focus on social mobility.” This is true for our students as well as for our fellow faculty and staff.

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Together, as an Online Community: Building an Online Program from Scratch

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date March 31, 2022
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We are pleased to welcome Ryan Faulkner of College of Eastern Idaho as today’s guest blogger. We often hear about the great things that large institutions are doing, but we have many members at smaller colleges and universities who are thriving in the online world. Thank you to Ryan for sharing a bit of his story.

~Russ Poulin, WCET

What was I in for? That is a question I can stand back and ponder more often these days.

When I accepted the challenge of building an online program from scratch, the thoughts running through my head were all over the place. Mainly, I was excited and ready for the challenge. Who knew that just four years later, this digital learning program would survive Covid-19, and for spring 2022, have 47% of all campus enrollments for the college? Currently, 60% of all students on campus take at least one asynchronous online course and 24% of head count is considered fully digital/online. Needless to say, this has been a wild ride!

I have worked with a great (but small) team and college faculty and leadership along the way. It’s attributed to Helen Keller as having said “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” Real spoiler alert–it takes a community (one like WCET) to “do so much!”

A Small College Has Online Dreams…

Let’s take a step back. Once upon a time, there was a state-run technical college, Eastern Idaho Technical College (EITC) in Idaho Falls, Idaho. In May 2017, the community voted to form a new community college taxing district. The almost 50-year-old EITC was transformed to College of Eastern Idaho (CEI).

college of eastern idaho logo

As the college transitioned, the community was clear that the career and technical education values of the college should stay a core component of the college. However, leadership understood that the future of general education would need to incorporate online learning to be relevant in today’s higher education market.

In late 2017, I was encouraged to apply for the inaugural Director of Online Learning position. The thought of how in the world one was to develop an online program raced through my mind. It was during the job interview that my self-doubt and worries melted away, and the answers became clear to me. The vision by college leadership of the new online program was laid out in a way that I could get behind and develop, and it felt natural to say yes. I accepted the role, knowing I was in for something special. Having the rare opportunity to build a new online program seemed a once in a lifetime opportunity I would regret if passed up. In January 2018, I began as Director of Online Learning and then became the Dean of Online for the college three years later.

Success Takes Collaboration…

Collaboration, mentorship, and a willingness to allow others to contribute to the betterment of a program have been the biggest take-aways of my 21 years in higher education distance education. But, hold on a minute…is this a story of I? No, this is a story of WE.

To really see the bigger picture, I must explain that this story begins with incredible Idaho peers. I have found mentors from the three universities and two of our colleges, along with the Idaho Digital Learning Alliance. I have been dumbfounded by the people willing to step up and share knowledge and experiences not only in Idaho, but around the world. Today’s online learning is truly a team sport, and WCET is taking a lead to help prepare us for the policies and areas of most importance to the changing online education world today. The folks at WCET connect all of us to members worldwide. Where else can a very green director of online from rural Idaho have an opportunity to not only join the organization, but quickly find himself pulled into the community to contribute as a member of the WCET Steering Committee (2018-2021)?

Is this a simple story of one person, or one institution and the building of an online program? Quite the opposite. This is a story of a community of dedicated professionals who have “seen some things” and are quick to aid others in learning from mistakes. I have never witnessed a member of our professional field turn down an opportunity to assist those of us in need.

WCET as a Catalyst…

WCET has been a catalyst for many of us and is always there to share new and emerging research, information, and policy with us. In essence, I commend WCET and the time the members spend exploring, researching, and gathering information to share with us. The information with which they provide us empowers our ability to make better decisions for our students.

And let’s not forget Mollie McGill, now retired from WCET! My first call with Mollie sealed the deal with me on what kind of organization I had joined. Her goal was to make a personal phone call or schedule a web meeting with each new school representative for every institution. It’s no wonder she seemed to know… well… everyone. It was this first call with her that truly transformed the direction my online program would take and how I would become involved with WCET. I was provided a direct avenue to current online higher education research and information and most importantly, a direct connection to so many amazing and giving online professionals.

She took the time to learn about my college and my situation and was also interested in a conference presentation on which I had been working. Who knew that an oddball conference presentation would become a WCET panel discussion? Mollie did. The WCET group is always looking at the areas that need more representation and how to keep the organization relevant for all areas of higher education–whether it is small rural community colleges, HBCU’s, tribal colleges, or the large global online universities. With this in mind, the staff at WCET has always encouraged my participation and always made me feel as though what we do at a college in rural southeast Idaho matters.

What I Have Learned…

Now, to share some learning moments in this blog post. I believe that the WCET provides many of us a voice, plain and simple. However, we must make the time and effort to use that voice. They also provide us with knowledge and relevant research opportunities facilitated by many of our selfless member institutions to keep us informed.

Most importantly, they provide US an opportunity to give back. Those of you whom I have had the privilege to meet know that I am not afraid to ask questions. I am certainly not afraid to ask the difficult questions. I truly feel empowered every time I work with the WCET team and the institutional members I encounter. I feel as though those of us in online learning leadership have the ability to make real and lasting change and do our best to make digital education a better tool for students around the world. In such a divided world, this is one arena where I feel comfortable and a community that truly understands the power of unity and compassion.

To conclude, without the many wonderful colleagues from Idaho and beyond, I firmly believe I would not be in the position I am today. Many of us would be lost without the tireless work our WCET team does day in and day out and the leadership work of the Executive Council and Steering Committee to help us stay informed.

In Conclusion…Make a Difference

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash

So, in a true conclusion, this is not a story of a singular person or online program. This is a story as to how, when we take an opportunity to reach out and work with others, share knowledge and experiences, and simply care, we can make a huge difference.

My dissertation topic was on transformational leadership and distance learning leaders. James MacGregor Burns wrote in his 1978 book, Leadership (MacGregor Burns, J. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc.) of at the time a new concept called “Transforming Leadership.” He defined this concept as:
“Such leadership occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality” (p. 20).

I have also had the privilege to teach an Organizational Leadership course at my college. I will leave you with the same question I end the course with these students:

“In what ways are you raising others to greater levels?”

Keep in mind your answer(s) as leaders may be to simply lift your own team, but it can also help others to build a new online program. I am living proof of that. Thank you to all of you that make a difference each and every day.

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Practice

Shifting from COVID-normal to “New Normal”

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date March 17, 2022
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WCET welcomes Kara Monroe, President and Founder of Monarch Consulting. In partnership, WCET is launching a new article series on the continued shifts in leadership in higher education and educational technology. This is the first blog in the series and additional articles will be released over the next several months. Please enjoy the read and see the call for action at the conclusion if you would like to participate in future interviews for the series.

Thank you Kara for the thoughtful blog and tangible strategies.

~Megan Raymond, WCET

Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels

Where are we and what do we need to be thinking about?

Our offices and conference rooms are starting to look a little more like they did in February of 2020 before masks, plexiglass, and taped off chairs marking a six-foot distance became the norm for our gatherings. Yet, the impact of COVID is still hitting us all–both personally and professionally.

A Shift in Perspective

I sat across from a colleague recently. It was Friday afternoon, and she had just led a small team in securing the second grant of over $500K in less than a month. For her small campus, those were future altering dollars. Yet, she had little physical or mental energy to celebrate.

“Did you know I almost died of COVID?”, she asked me.

“Oh my. No, I didn’t,” I responded, stunned.

I had only started working with this colleague a couple of months ago and was now still meeting new people and learning their stories.

We sat in stillness for a moment.

“I have to keep working even though I’d like to go out on my own. My husband is self-employed, so I provide our insurance and a steady income stream. But the thought of coming back in here every single day just fills me with dread. I love the work and I love our students, but I miss the balance that I got in COVID–even though it almost killed me.”

As I started to write this article series–a series on leadership in higher education and educational technology in this “new world” – I realized that this conversation I had with my colleague captures so much of what I’m hearing from others in higher education.

Shifting Relationships, Shifting Cultures

a person holding a rose
Photo by Nur Yilmaz from Pexels

COVID has caused an enormous amount of upheaval in our workforce.

First, there is a human toll. We lost colleagues to this terrible disease. Many colleagues are still suffering long term effects from having COVID. Many of us had to care for loved ones with COVID or with other diseases that were even more challenging to treat due to the COVID restrictions and the overburdening of our healthcare systems. The human toll, however, wasn’t only about the life and death aspects.  From the “great resignation” to the “great retirement” we have seen colleagues leave our organizations in droves. Additionally, childcare remains a challenge as K-12 schools continue to grapple with COVID. In some cases, whole departments were decimated. One interviewee even said, “First you’d see the leader go. Then you’d see everyone in their department leave. There was no one to do the work.”

This human toll also created a complex web of resource constraints. Jobs are open that cannot be filled. People who remained in the traditional workforce are being asked to take on more and more responsibilities. Work simply doesn’t get done because there are not enough people to do the work.

Higher education is a relationship enterprise, from the relationships every faculty and staff member creates and maintains with students to the relationships in and between departments on a campus. Higher education is often as much about who you know and get to work with as it is about what you know, regardless of how much those of us in the enterprise want to deny that. With so many people moving out of jobs, between departments, and out of the institution, we have caused long held relationships to shift and change. In some cases, these moves cause wholesale changes in the culture of the institution.

Additionally, these changes in personnel also create barriers for students that we must examine. For example, one interviewee said he discovered student essays–a required part of the application process–were no longer being read by anyone in admissions. Why was no one reading them? The admission team lacked the staff to do so and departmental leadership held no belief that this would change. Yet, no one thought to remove the barrier from students to ease their enrollment to the institution. At a time when every enrollment is precious and every student retained is critical to the health of the institution, the experience students have at every point in the process matters more than ever.

Shifting Forces

Beyond the forced isolation, ongoing fear, and human toll of COVID, the world has changed and is continuing to change dramatically. If you stop to think about it, the weight can sometimes feel crushing.

Handling Increased Costs While Remaining Accessible

photo of person studying anatomy on a tablet
Photo by RF._.studio from Pexels

Inflation is currently sitting at 7.5% for 2022–a number even higher than what was being predicted in mid to late 2021. Inflation and a Russian invasion of Ukraine have sparked concern that we will be paying continuously higher prices at the pump. Gas prices spill over into the cost of all the other goods and services we purchase as retailers seek to recoup their own costs. Higher education has already felt increased pressure in the last few years to make prices more affordable and increase access. These new inflation pressures will cause even more strain as we try to create high quality educational experiences that fit within family and adult student budgets.

Offering What Students Need

We also have to find product mixes that meet the new expectations that students have about the world. While much of the United States is already facing a decline in the number of high school graduates, attracting adult students has become even more important. Adult students need and want maximum flexibility. Institutions must continue experimenting with new course modalities and program designs that will attract students and ensure a high-quality experience for which students will be willing to pay.

Caring for Emotional Wellbeing

If I return to the conversation with my coworker that I shared earlier in this essay, I realize I would be remiss to not also discuss the experience of employees in our institutions and how we can try to better meet their needs. Her statement that having to return to the office each day filled her with dread sent a shot straight through my heart. That is no way for an employee to feel. My colleague is fortunate to have a boss who I know values and cares for her, and yet she still felt hesitant to return. While he will do what he can to look after her wellbeing, they are a part of a larger institutional culture that may not be so oriented to the wellbeing and mental health of employees.

Take Action

Over the next few months, I’ll be exploring some of these topics in more depth. Through interviews and conversations with WCET members, l will also share practical ways that institutions are succeeding in these trying times. Here are a few practical ideas that I gathered from the conversations for this article:

  • Don’t ask for something you’re not going to use. This ranges from supplies to questions on forms to emails to colleagues asking for information that you’ve not actually created time on your calendar to digest. All too often we ask for something with the best of intentions, but don’t actually plan to use the resource. Keep physical and mental costs low and don’t ask for something you don’t have the resources to use.
  • For routine events, continue adding video/phone links to meetings. There are experiences that must occur in person. But, when a meeting does not have to take place in person, continue to allow flexibility by adding video/phone links to meetings. This approach also prevents the last-minute scramble when someone requests the meeting to have a video or phone option added due to last minute childcare or health issues.
  • Welcome coworkers who joined during COVID. Did you have new colleagues join your institution during COVID? Host a welcome celebration for them even if they joined in March of 2020. Honor whatever welcome tradition or adapt a new one that you would have done had COVID not happened. You can even welcome them into the fabric of the institution in a new and creative way. At the very least, acknowledge that their onboarding experience was not normal and offer them support to integrate further into the institution.
  • Look after your own mental health. The last two years have been challenging. I would not have made it without the support of a trusted therapist. Therapy, in my non-medical opinion, is not something you seek out in times of crisis. Rather, therapy is a form of exercise for your mind. Just like the two walks a day I take with my dog, I talk to my therapist every couple of weeks to check my thinking.

Share Your Story

Would you like to share your experience on some of these topics for a future article? Here are just a few questions we’re pondering in this series:

  1. How are you and/or your institution supporting overall wellbeing (mental, physical, financial, social, emotional) of yourself and others?
  2. How are you adapting to the changes in your organization’s culture and makeup as a result of the changes brought on by COVID, the great resignation, and the great retirement?
  3. What is a practice you’d like to share with the community that you think is making a positive impact in making education more accessible to students or making your institution more accessible to employees or the community?
  4. How are you and/or   your institution planning for continued increases in inflation? What are you doing to keep costs low for students and wages appropriate for employees?
  5. What services did you add or remove because of COVID that are changing the way you serve students at your institution?
  6. How are you continuing to use remote work at your institution? What policies and practices are making it effective for students and employees?

If you would like to share your story, please reach out to me via email or schedule directly using Calendly. You can share by email or schedule a time to chat. I’d love to integrate even more experiences and voices into this series.

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Networks Practice

Women’s History Month: Breaking the Bias in Higher Education  

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date March 10, 2022
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WCET + Every Learner Everywhere Celebrate Women’s History Month

To celebrate Women’s History Month, WCET and Every Learner invited inspiring women to share their reflections on International Women’s Day’s 2022. The 2022 theme is “Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality. #BreaktheBias.” Barriers in higher education are being dismantled brick by brick and women are leading the way by empowering, elevating, and supporting one another.  

Throughout the pandemic, a significant proportion of women were juggling multiple roles– employee, caregiver, and even teacher–often simultaneously, which left many, including me, feeling like I was doing everything subpar. Additionally, women left the workforce at a striking level. In September 2020, four times more woman than men left the workforce1. They were burned out and exhausted. Now, a few years after the start of the pandemic, we are seeing an exodus of both men and women from their positions, which is being called the “Great Resignation.” This “Great Resignation” is an opportunity to challenge the models and break the bias. This is the time for the “Great Reset” as Colleen Ammerman and Boris Broysberg write in the Harvard Business Review2. Organizations, and higher education, can and must debias their systems, “The headwinds of bias diminish workers’ experience at work and deprive their employers of their full contribution.” 

During the “Great reset” and in celebration of Women’s History Month, impassioned stories of #breakingthebias are timely and relevant and, as you will find, galvanizing. Thank you to the remarkable students of Every Learner Everywhere’s Fellowship Program and an Expert Network alum for sharing their stories about women who empowered, supported, and inspired them. Together we can continue to #breakthebias and celebrate women in higher education.  

Aajahne Seeney, Student Fellow

photo of student and her story (text in main blog as well)

“My aunt, Nini, who has always been like a second mother to me, is that main person who pushed me and supported me throughout my entire journey to college. Nini is my mother’s twin, and needless to say, she raised me almost just as much as my own mom did. In a way, Nini is kind of like my own twin. We look alike, act alike and more importantly, we share a love for education. For as long as I can remember, Nini has been teaching middle and high school English. When I was younger, she would take me into her classrooms, and I would watch her teach in awe. As I got older, she taught me her method for grading papers and creating lesson plans. When I was a junior in high school, Nini established a mentorship program called Girls Rock, which prepared me and a few of her students and other teenage girls from the neighborhood for the college application process. Nini is my inspiration and the person who led me to be an elementary education major.”

Zaire McMican, Student Fellow

Text: Two women who have supported me through my journey of higher education are my mom and stepmom. Growing up, my mom was the biggest influence when establishing the foundation for my love of learning. She has always instilled in me the idea that attaining an education would allow me to achieve anything I desired in life. She facilitated this belief in me by fostering an environment that celebrated the acquisition of any and all knowledge. She always welcomed my questions and insatiable curiosity, which still plays a big role in who I am today. My stepmom, who I have known for the past 13 years, has been the most influential and inspirational person in my life over the past two years as I have entered early adulthood. She consistently gives me words of wisdom that not only offer solutions to problems, but also force me to reflect on myself in the pursuit of growth. I have seen both of these women work, attend graduate school, and raise a family all while assisting me in my pursuit of higher education. Because of this I have immense love and gratitude for these two women and truly do not know who I would be without their guidance and support.

Two women who have supported me through my journey of higher education are my mom and stepmom. Growing up, my mom was the biggest influence when establishing the foundation for my love of learning. She has always instilled in me the idea that attaining an education would allow me to achieve anything I desired in life. She facilitated this belief in me by fostering an environment that celebrated the acquisition of any and all knowledge. She always welcomed my questions and insatiable curiosity, which still plays a big role in who I am today. My stepmom, who I have known for the past 13 years, has been the most influential and inspirational person in my life over the past two years as I have entered early adulthood. She consistently gives me words of wisdom that not only offer solutions to problems, but also force me to reflect on myself in the pursuit of growth. I have seen both of these women work, attend graduate school, and raise a family all while assisting me in my pursuit of higher education. Because of this I have immense love and gratitude for these two women and truly do not know who I would be without their guidance and support.

 Cherise McBride, Expert Network Participant

Text: Women’s equality and empowerment to #breakthebias is crucial in higher education is a space that indeed was not designed for people like me. As a Black woman, I recognize disrupting this historical reality starts with me--how I value my belonging, my intersectional identities, and myself in a world of anti-Blackness and bias against women. And it is work that I am proud to do both in and beyond institutions of higher education. Whether through expanding our limited conceptions of what “learning” looks like, centering racial & educational equity, or training a new generation of educators to learn from Black girls and cultivate their success, my work of elevating women happens in the everyday. I’m grateful that, as I raise two Black daughters, I am not alone in designing a world where the brilliance, curiosity, and humanity of women can shine. Both locally through friends and family, and across time and space, several key women have inspired me. In common, they hold a worldview that resists hierarchy in human value and relationships, and that instead exalts reciprocity and interdependence. I appreciate Antonia Darder’s Pedagogy of Love which emphasizes the process and of being human. My academic advisor, Kris Gutierrez, who reminds us to resist the Cartesian divide that would separate our minds from our cultures and bodies. Toni Morrison, whose life demonstrated radical imagination beyond the confines of the moment. And most influential of all, my grandmother, Bertha Louise, who courageously traveled thousands of miles during the Great Migration, leaving behind the familiar in order to craft a brighter future for her children and her children’s children. I believe that with such courage, imagination, authenticity, and love, we will not only see but create the future that women deserve.

Women’s equality and empowerment to #breakthebias is crucial in higher education is a space that indeed was not designed for people like me. As a Black woman, I recognize disrupting this historical reality starts with me–how I value my belonging, my intersectional identities, and myself in a world of anti-Blackness and bias against women. And it is work that I am proud to do both in and beyond institutions of higher education. Whether through expanding our limited conceptions of what “learning” looks like, centering racial & educational equity, or training a new generation of educators to learn from Black girls and cultivate their success, my work of elevating women happens in the everyday.

I’m grateful that, as I raise two Black daughters, I am not alone in designing a world where the brilliance, curiosity, and humanity of women can shine. Both locally through friends and family, and across time and space, several key women have inspired me. In common, they hold a worldview that resists hierarchy in human value and relationships, and that instead exalts reciprocity and interdependence. I appreciate Antonia Darder’s Pedagogy of Love which emphasizes the process and of being human. My academic advisor, Kris Gutierrez, who reminds us to resist the Cartesian divide that would separate our minds from our cultures and bodies. Toni Morrison, whose life demonstrated radical imagination beyond the confines of the moment. And most influential of all, my grandmother, Bertha Louise, who courageously traveled thousands of miles during the Great Migration, leaving behind the familiar in order to craft a brighter future for her children and her children’s children.

I believe that with such courage, imagination, authenticity, and love, we will not only see but create the future that women deserve.

Conclusion

How are you #breakingthebias in higher education, and who has inspired and encouraged you during your journey? I’m fortunate to have an incredible network of women who nudge me when I need challenge, laugh with me when I’m too serious, and support me when I’m treading water or drifting. Cheers to all of you badass women of higher education. Together we’ll continue to dismantle barriers with a wrecking ball rather than brick by brick.   

Footnotes

1https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/centers/cwf/research/Publication%20Images/COVID%20stand-alone%2012-7-20.pdf  

2 https://hbr.org/2022/03/women-cant-go-back-to-the-pre-pandemic-status-quo  

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Networks Practice

Six OER Student Cost Savings and Cost-Benefit Principles for Decision Makers

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date March 8, 2022
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WCET is happy host the National Consortium of Open Educational Resources (NCOER), which facilitates collaborative efforts of the four regional higher education compacts: Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE).

In celebration of Open Education Week, today’s guest blogger is Katie Zaback, who is assisting MHEC in measuring the fiscal impact of OER programs. Thank you Katie and to all of our NCOER friends.

-Russ Poulin, WCET

The Open Education movement is one of the most compelling examples of a grassroots effort to make higher education more accessible by lowering the costs of learning materials. Educators worldwide are creating mechanisms, tools, and communities committed to producing Open Education Resources (OER). As defined in the SPARC Policy Playbook, OER is: “teaching, learning, or research resources that are offered freely to users in at least one form and that either reside in the public domain or have been released under an open copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with attribution.” 

6 Cost Benefit Principles for Decision Makers: 1: What You Need to Know Depends on Where You Sit. 2: Access to Course Materials Should Be Equitable. 3: Costs Should Account for Implementation Costs Unique to OER. 4: Adopting or Adapting Existing OER Can Reduce Costs. 5: OER Support Learning as Well as Commercial Resources. 6: OER Benefits Beyond Student Cost Savings Should be Acknowledged.

In the United States, this movement has been motivated1 by high college textbook costs, which grew more than 30 percent between 2006 and 2016. OER have saved students millions of dollars in recent years, and the calculation and reporting of such savings is a central concern for the OER community as they seek continued and new support for OER work at the state, system, and institutional levels. 

The Midwestern Higher Education Compact, in partnership with the National Consortium of Open Educational Resources (NCOER), convened a working group in 2021 to decide upon principles and guidelines to bring consistency and more accuracy to the calculation of student cost savings and return on investments in OER. This resulting work, to be released in April 2022, is an attempt to support those who implement OER and report on their use to policymakers and decision-makers. Below we detail some of the principles outlined by the working group that informs the soon-to-be-released frameworks. 

Principles for Measuring Student Cost Savings and Performing a Cost-Benefit Analysis

From the existing literature, key informant interviews, and discussions, the workgroup developed six principles for measuring student cost savings and using cost-benefit analysis to understand how different groups benefit from OER. The principles can help to guide decision-makers in creating more consistent cost-savings metrics. 

Principle 1: What You Need to Know Depends on Where You Sit 

OER changes the way schools and faculty provide learning material to students, and it is championed and implemented at multiple levels. However, not all champions need the same level of specificity about student cost savings or system-wide cost-benefit calculations. For example, governors and legislators supporting programs and goals must understand the general direction and magnitude of the impact of OER but not necessarily the specifics, while department chairs and individuals making budget decisions need more specific information.

Principle 2: Access to Course Materials Should Be Equitable

As stewards of the higher education system, it is important for state and institutional decision-makers to create conditions where students have equitable access to the materials they need to succeed in their studies. Adjustments in estimates for actual student behaviors and other factors in student cost savings calculations may be appropriate in situations where precision is essential. However, it is crucial to ensure that cost-savings estimates do not further inequities significantly when they influence policy or decision-making. For example, student cost savings calculations and analyses used for policy and decisions about OER implementation should assume that, if a learning resource material is assigned for a class, all students should have equal first-day and ongoing access to it. 

     Why Our Assumptions Matter: Consider two colleges that adopt OER for English 101. They both have the same number of students and replace a textbook that costs the same amount. One of the colleges, however, has a higher percentage of Pell-eligible students, meaning they or their families have lower incomes. As a result, fewer of their students purchase required learning materials. Suppose a cost-savings calculation is adjusted for actual student behavior. In that case, the college with a higher proportion of Pell-eligible students will have a lower cost-savings estimate, even though both institutions adopted an OER under similar conditions.

Principle 3: Costs Should Account for Implementation Costs Unique to OER 

There are faculty and administrative costs associated with developing and implementing OER. Some of these costs are unique to OER and must be accounted for, but a portion of the expenses of OER implementation is not unique. All course development requires planning, assessment, and integration of learning materials. 

Principle 4: Adopting or Adapting Existing OER Can Reduce Costs 

One of the benefits of OER is its ability to be used and adapted by anyone due to it being in the public domain or having an open license. States and the national government have already invested millions on OER development, which has resulted in a significant library of OER available for anyone to adapt and implement. Cost and benefit estimates should also consider the benefits of scaling these resources more broadly, and planning efforts should encourage faculty to leverage existing resources. 

Principle 5: OER Support Learning as Well as Commercial Resources

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There is a consistent and growing body of evidence showing that, when compared with traditional resources, learning outcomes for students are at least as well or better when they use OER. In 2020, Hilton III2  conducted two meta-analyses3 that found positive or equal outcomes when students are enrolled in courses that use OER courses versus those who enrolled in courses that use “traditional” learning resources. Clinton and Khan’s study yielded similar findings4 in a meta-analysis and Chang found positive correlations5 between OER and student engagement. Research by Colvard, Watson and Park6 also showed that improved end-of-course grades and reduced DFW (Drop/Fail/Withdraw) rates for students enrolled in courses using OER. These findings were even more pronounced for Pell-eligible, part-time, and under-represented racial minority students. These studies show that, when implemented well, OER can help support student learning as well or better than commercial resources. 

Principle 6: OER Benefits Beyond Student Cost Savings Should be Acknowledged

Finally, as OER and the movement to increase its use across higher education matures, the research continues to show that the benefits of OER expand beyond the dollars and cents savings for students. As textbook costs increased, student cost savings was a clear and compelling benefit that propelled the OER movement into faculty conversations and legislative agendas. However, as awareness has grown, saving students money on textbooks has positive spill-over effects. OER has shown the potential to be a key enabler for better learning outcomes, closing equity gaps, and facilitating faculty engagement, among others. These outcomes should be captured and acknowledged using cost-benefit analysis or other approaches that shed light on their impact. 

In the upcoming publication, we will share two frameworks to help guide decision-makers to measure student cost savings and conduct a cost-benefit analysis for OER implementation. These principles and frameworks will help ensure that the field uses the same ingredients to calculate student cost savings even if their recipes are different. We hope that you will check them out and adopt and adapt them to your context.  

Footnotes

 1Ozdemir, O., Hendricks, C. (2017). Instructor and student experiences with open textbooks, from the California open online library for education (Cool4Ed). Journal of Computing in Higher Education 29(1): 98–113. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12528-017-9138-0.

 2Hilton III, J. (2020). Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018. Education Tech Research Dev 68, 853-876 Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11423-019-09700-4. 

 3Hilton III, J. Open educational resources and college textbook choices: a review of research on efficacy and perceptions. (2016). Education Tech Research Dev 64, 573–590. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-016-9434-9.

 4Clinton, V     ., Khan, S., (2019). Efficacy of Open Textbook Adoption on Learning Performance and Course Withdrawal Rates: A Meta-Analysis, AERA Open, 5(3). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419872212.

 5Chang     , I. (2020). Open versus Traditional Textbooks: A Comparison of Student Engagement and Performance. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 32(3), 488-498. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/6231.

 6Colvard, N., Watson, C. E., Park, H. (2018). The Impact of Open Educational Resources on Various Student Success Metrics. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 20(2) 262-276. Available at: https://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE3386.pdf

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Practice

Saving Our Students with Emergency Remote Teaching

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date March 3, 2022
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Today we welcome guest author, Pamela D. Williams from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Pamela’s experience saving a baby bird is analogous to how we jumped in and provided emergency remote teaching during the pandemic and the lessons that follow. Thank you for sharing this uplifting blog Pamela!

It was the Fourth of July, 2020, during the Pandemic, and I was making waffles for my family. I love making waffles for them and, although weekday mornings are so hectic and I promise to make waffles on the weekend, I normally sleep in on weekend mornings. This morning was different though—there would be waffles!

Suddenly, my husband bounded into the kitchen and our beagle, Bart, was howling right behind him.

“A snake is eating the baby birds in that bush!” he exclaimed and then rushed off to get dressed. While still in my bathrobe, I grabbed the broom, went out the back door, and went straight to the bush. I spooked the snake, and it dropped a hatchling from his mouth and slithered away. The waffles would have to wait.

Saving the Baby Bird

We drove the three remaining baby birds to an animal organization and hoped for the best. On the way home, our precocious daughter asked us several questions about the ethics of predators eating defenseless babies. I chuckled a little to myself. She clearly hadn’t reflected on the origins of the cheeseburgers and sausages we’d be grilling for dinner.

Baby birds in a nest.
Photo Credit: Pamela D. Williams, 2020.

After dropping off the birds, Fourth of July 2020 became just another unremarkable holiday. I hadn’t thought much about it until a short letter from the animal rescue organization arrived a few weeks later. They thanked us for intervening on the baby birds’ behalf and shared that, due to our collective efforts, one had survived. Only one survived. I am not sure what outcome would have been acceptable to me at that moment. As I reflect on that experience, I can say now that survival for one was enough. In a situation where nature was literally taking its course, it was worth it if my intervention, however small, made a difference for just one hatchling. Ordinarily, I would run from snakes, but that circumstance required me to suspend my fear out of concern for the baby birds. I still don’t like snakes and it seems reasonable for me to go back to my former strategy of avoidance. However, that’s hard to do when I know I have the capacity to do otherwise. My swift intervention mattered to those baby birds, just like it would my students. This is a lesson I learned once again during the rapid transition to online instruction during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Responding to the Crisis with Care

Consider the COVID-19 Pandemic and the rapid transition we all made to online instruction, and what it required of us. The required Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) wasn’t just for the birds, it was for our students. While it still matters, in the early stages of the pandemic, our intervention and responsiveness were critical for our students. As faculty and instructional allies, we rose to the occasion and worked diligently to address challenges that came our way using the internet, mobile devices, computers, laptops, learning management systems (LMS), apps, mail, and Zoom (we will never forget Zoom!).

For those of us who liked teaching online and plan to continue doing so, it makes sense to ensure ERT courses have completely transitioned to online courses by reaching out to our campus’ instructional design and faculty development resources. For those of us who hated ERT, that’s okay too. Armed with the essentials of ERT, when the next variant arrives, we can prepare ourselves knowing that we have done it before.

But, where do we go from here? We grabbed the broom, and intervened when the pandemic seemingly caused, but actually unmasked, struggles that had been there long before. Snakes eat baby birds, but my intervention mattered for that one who survived, just like it would matter for the one (or more) students whom I helped. When we know our capacity to intervene on our students’ behalf, we can then consider making long-term changes to our courses and advocating for systemic changes at our institution.

How Can We Apply These Changes?

In courses, these changes might include:

  • Reviewing your course policies on late work, re-submissions, and attendance.
  • Explaining the rationale behind your course policies and penalties.
  • Recording lectures or providing equivalent content for students.

On the institutional level, these changes might include:

  • Ensuring academic policies avoid legal jargon and are clearly stated.
  • Providing students with tools to evaluate course syllabi, quality, and compatibility during the drop/add period.

I am sure some of your ERT experiences could enhance the learning experience for generations of students, so what are you waiting for? Each one of us has the capacity to intervene and advocate for our students, just like I did it for the baby birds.

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Practice

Follow the Latest Trends. Then Set Your Own.

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date February 24, 2022
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Today our blog author, Todd Zipper with Wiley University Services, highlights trends that are impacting higher education and shares research insights to help illuminate how the ecosystem of teaching, learning, students, and employers are evolving and responding. Thank you Todd.

The evolving landscape of higher education is increasingly dynamic, especially with technology accelerating, talent deficits, and the lingering pandemic. Education is being changed instead of remaining the mechanism for changing the world. Wiley University Services has been observing and analyzing these trends and Todd Zipper, Executive Vice President and General Manager, shares findings below to help inform and examine higher education’s place in society and where it is headed.

It Starts with Career-Connected Education

One part of education is trend-proof — it transforms lives. However, the results that learners want are different today than before the pandemic.

More than ever, learners demand career-connected education. It’s a way to increase your university’s role in getting learners job-ready and equipping them with the skills employers genuinely need.

Providing a career-connected education comes down to outcomes. From the learner’s perspective, outcomes often center on vocational goals, such as securing a job, earning a promotion, or switching careers.

The word "skills" written on a black chalkboard in white chalk.

What lays the foundation for helping learners achieve these goals? Research and partnerships with employers. Institutions must consistently monitor the current and future skills employers need and communicate with employers to understand what they need today while planning for what they’ll need tomorrow. When you do, what students learn in your classes will always be relevant to their careers and the institution can develop upskilling programs in emerging fields.

Of course, the skills that learners need aren’t the only things changing. The ways they seek those skills are also in flux, and the pandemic is a primary catalyst.

The Pandemic is Transforming Online Learning

When we conducted our Voice of the Online Learner study in 2021, one statistic stood out from the rest. Of the 3,000 learners we surveyed, 33% hadn’t considered studying online before the pandemic.

Is this a bubble that will pop when the pandemic recedes? Or did it accelerate an existing trend? Answers to those questions remain to be seen, but newcomers to online education have different traits than the “old school” population. The research shows that new learners are:

  • often younger,
  • more interested in undergrad programs,
  • looking to start careers, not make a change, and,
  • less likely to work full time.

How can you entice this emerging student population to your online learning programs? Accepting transfer credits remains a draw; however, these newcomers often prefer synchronous classes to asynchronous formats. They also ask for more assistance and services than older online learners.

When you look at the entire online student population, you’ll see something positive: most are lifelong learners. For instance, 79% would take classes online again, and 63% would seek another degree online.

These statistics are excellent indicators of online learning’s longevity, but what do they mean for academic programs? Here are some considerations:

Motivations vary by industry

Learners interested in online nursing programs have different motivations and needs than business professionals joining an online MBA. By conducting ongoing market research, you can understand — and design programs for — learners in various industries.

Meet expectations for affordability

Our research shows that 55% of students feel affordability is the most important part of choosing an online program. Even so, only 33% pick the program with the lowest tuition. This contrast sheds light on how learners define affordability. This means that your prospective students don’t want a “cheap” degree. They want a good value.

Tap into tuition benefits

Partnering with employers helps identify skill needs and it is also a way to find and enroll students for your academic programs. More employers are offering a tuition assistance program (TAP) to retain talented workers. Working with organizations to make their TAP successful can help close skill gaps while making education more affordable for learners.

These ideas scratch just the surface of the opportunities available. New enrollment opportunities continue to emerge so it’s vital to monitor trends in higher ed, along with the industries influencing education.

Institutions don’t need to follow the trends; they can set them. Understanding where the education market stands is key to leading and setting trends. Here are four developments to consider:

Trend 1. Meet the hire-train-deploy partners

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Photo by Rebrand Cities on Pexels.com.

Employers aren’t sitting on the sidelines when it comes to workforce training. Many are partnering with mthree and other hire-train-deploy companies specializing in closing their skills gaps. This process works like it sounds, as these partners:

  • Hire college graduates with degrees in in-demand fields like STEM and finance.
  • Train the college graduate in skills that employers need, such as data science, cyber security, and DevOps.
  • Deploy the college graduate to take on open roles at a company.

This model is one part education, one part staffing. Combined, you get a frictionless experience for the employer and the college graduate.

Hire-train-deploy partners don’t just benefit employers. Partnering with them provides graduates access to internships and jobs after graduating from the institution.

Trend 2. Education as a benefit 2.0

As companies work to hire and retain talent, they’re grappling with four workplace dynamics:

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Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels.com.
  • Technology adoption
    While cloud computing, big data, and e-commerce remain high priorities for business leaders, many are also prioritizing encryption and artificial intelligence. Developing a workforce with these high-tech skills is becoming increasingly valuable.
  • Double disruption — automation and the pandemic
    As automation allows machines to complete tasks handled by people, the pandemic has caused pockets of higher unemployment in hospitality and other sectors. At the same time, automation and the rise of remote work are creating jobs for people with the advanced — and often rare — skills required to keep systems running smoothly.
  • The skills gap
    Although there were more than 10 million job openings in September 2021, nearly  8.4 million Americans remained unemployed. This disconnect suggests that workers’ skills do not match employer needs or that there is a disconnect in how skills are communicated.
  • The war for talent
    As the skills gap widens, the war for talent will escalate. Companies are seeking ways to gain an edge to attract highly skilled workers and retain the ones they already have on staff.

These dynamics have raised the profile of education as a benefit. Once treated as an afterthought, tuition assistance programs are gaining ground as an HR recruitment and retention tool. Employers are more strategic about these benefits, focusing less on degrees as they emphasize skills-based education, such as certificate programs and bootcamps.

This trend doesn’t mean online programs don’t apply to TAPs. To connect with TAPs, make sure courses and degrees align with the prevailing corporate learning and development strategies. Update curricula around skill needs and/or consider offering stackable credits that let employees build toward a degree through a series of short-term coursework.

Trend 3. Direct to learner (D2L) platforms are filling education gaps

Millions of learners have gravitated to D2L platforms. Some of these platforms have ties to higher ed, such as Coursera, edX, and FutureLearn, but there are others without school ties, like Udacity, Udemy, and MasterClass.

Many D2Ls got started to fill needs not being met by traditional higher ed programs. Those needs often stem from changing learner preferences and behavior, such as demand for lower-cost programs with a proven ROI that learners can start now and finish soon.

As learning preferences and behavior change, institutions that develop outcomes-driven programs that are accessible and affordable, will be attractive to this population of learners.

Trend 4. The rise of mega-nonprofits

IPEDS data shows dwindling enrollment numbers for the University of Phoenix, Strayer University, and other mega-for-profits since 2010 — and mega-nonprofits are racing to take their place.

Who are the mega-nonprofits? Consider Southern New Hampshire University, Arizona State University, and other nonprofits that have multiplied their investments in online learning programs in recent years. These institutions are taking market share from mega-for-profits by offering inexpensive, career-focused programs. Observing their progress and strategies is important to identifying how institutions can position themselves in an increasingly competitive market.

You’ve likely heard the motto “may you live in interesting times.” If the last two years are an indicator, 2022 is sure to be interesting. Let us turn that saying on its head. May we all thrive in these interesting times.

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Policy

Federal Policy Surprises! Updates and a Call to Action

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date February 22, 2022
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How many of you like surprises? Surprises can be great fun, but let’s be clear that rulemaking surprises are sometimes more like encountering the clown from IT. Not to be left out, Congress is also providing its own surprise so you may want to consider contacting your Congressional Representative and/or Senator.

What started out as a relatively nerdy fun time with popcorn and watching the rulemaking process unfold, has brought issues of alarming concern. You may recall that we shared in January that the U.S. Department of Education had begun its second Biden administration rulemaking. Despite the December 2021 announcement of the seven issues to be covered, – SURPRISE! – Professional Licensure and Reciprocity made a return appearance after the development of effective regulations that came from consensus in the 2019 negotiated rulemaking! Cue the face of shock at the lack of notice. Additionally, we learned that Congress is addressing the ability to disburse Pell Grants to students in short term programs, but with limitations including funds not being offered when courses are delivered by Distance Education.

Below we will share the content of the policy issues that you will want to know, our concerns, inform you of the steps WCET and the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN) have taken thus far to communicate our concerns and seek clarification, and look ahead at the direction for you to follow and participate in this rulemaking process. To be absolutely clear, WCET and the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN) fully support the Department in its development of rational regulations that protects students, protects Federal investments in financial aid, maintains student options, and includes key stakeholders to address feasibility of implementation for compliance.

2022 Negotiated Rulemaking: Institutional and Programmatic Eligibility Committee 

First, let’s set the stage.  The rulemaking process began with the Department of Education’s May 2021 announcement of the intent to establish negotiated rulemaking committees. The Department suggested a broad range of issues and sought public input. This current rulemaking committee was further developed in October of 2021 when the Department announced what they called the 90/10 Public hearing notice. Again, the Department sought input for rulemaking. As mentioned previously, the seven issues of the current Institutional and Programmatic Eligibility Committee were released in December 2021 along with a request for nominations for stakeholders affected and knowledgeable about the seven issues shared. The rulemaking committee met in January and met again last week.  There is one more week of rulemaking that will take place March 14-18, 2022. 

brown wooden chairs inside building
Photo by Laura Musikanski on Pexels.com

In March, the committee will vote on language developed to determine if there is consensus (100% agreement) on the issues. Issues that reach consensus will move ahead to be released soon as proposed regulations subject to public comment. Issues that do not reach consensus may then have the regulations written by the Department and released as proposed regulations subject to public comment. After review of public comments, if the Department releases the Final regulations by November 1, 2022, the regulations will become effective July 1, 2023. If the regulations are released after November 1, 2022, the regulations will become effective July 1, 2024.

Professional Licensure

The issue of Gainful Employment along with the 90/10 rule have been the most publicly addressed issues of this current rulemaking. In January, nobody expected that the week before the rulemaking was to begin, that Professional Licensure (student notifications regarding programs leading to licensure) would be tucked into a little discussed issue of Certification Procedures. Proposed changes to professional licensure requirements were added into the first  Certification Procedures Issue paper version 1. Issue papers on each of the seven issues were released by the Department to provide recommended language as the basis for rulemaking discussions. This issue of student consumer protections for programs leading to a professional license had been discussed in the 2019 rulemaking by knowledgeable subcommittee staff members to develop operable language that was then provided to the main committee that reached consensus on the language to provide regulations that are currently effective as of July 1, 2020. Since we did not know this was going to be one of the issues discussed, we did not try to nominate some individuals knowledgeable about the issue to inform the current committee.

Language Provided

The proposed language regarding professional licensure is found as an item that would be included in the Program Participation Agreement (PPA) 34 CFR 668.14. A PPA is a document that institutions submit to fully inform and express that the institution will meet required standards in order to provide Title IV Federal Financial Aid. The Department’s issue paper stated that the intention of revisions of 668.14 is to make the PPA more rigorous. New language proposes to require institutions to “ensure” that the curriculum of the institution meets state educational requirements for programs that lead to a professional license or certification. The January version proposed removal of the 34 CFR 668.43 (a)(5)(v) public notifications. No mention was made about the related 34 CFR 668.43(c) direct notifications, but it is clear from the discussions that many negotiators and Department staff see those notification as insufficient protection.

The February version of the Department Certification Procedures Issue paper V2 made some slight language revisions. The most substantive change from the first paper was that the Department brought back the 34 CFR 668.43(a)(5)(v) public notifications regarding determinations about the curriculum meeting the state educational requirements. As you may recall, institutions could notify students that their program meets educational requirements, does not meet requirements, or that there is “no determination made” for a licensed profession in a state. The option to provide the “no determination made” regarding the curriculum meeting state educational requirements was removed in this new issue paper by the Department. The only choices were to provide lists of states that the curriculum meets or list of states that do not meet state educational requirements

Committee Proceedings

In January and February, the majority of the committee members were singularly focused on a consumer protection-based notion that if an institution offers a program leading to a license or certification, that the curriculum must meet the educational requirements where a student is located. We agree that students should never be misled. However, what was missing in the conversations was the familiarity of how varied the state boards for the professions operate including offering approvals (or not), sharing educational requirements (or not), and offering various certification pathways to address varied state requirements. Conversations during the February session appeared to indicate that the committee may not be aware that professional licensure notifications are currently required by regulations that are in effect. 

Our Concerns

We have four major concerns: 

First, the proposed language requiring the institutions to “ensure “that their programs meet state educational requirements in each state to serve students is an untenable requirement that does not recognize the great variety of ways in which state agencies require approvals or even provide guidance on pre-licensure educational requirements. The term “ensure” is a high bar that is not an operable one for all states for all professions. The institution will need assurance from state licensing boards in order to meet a legal standard of ensuring that the curriculum meets state educational requirements. This creates a great liability risk for institutions. As noted, states and professions vary such that there is not necessarily a specific approval process for each institution’s professional program in each state. During a public comment period in January, we asked the negotiators for clarification regarding the practical application of the term “ensure” to better understand the parameters and expectations of the term. Additionally, we asked the negotiators to seek input of professional boards to understand the processes and the implementation capability of such a regulation.

Second, related to our first concern, we anticipate a heavy burden on state licensing boards as they will be the entity that must provide the assurance to the institution to address this new legally binding requirement. For the institution’s ability to “ensure” that the curriculum meets state educational requirements, we see no other path than relying on the ability of the state board in each state for each professional program to provide an approval to document that the curriculum meets state educational requirements. The institutions will need the state boards’ direction for these approvals and ties with the state board to obtain any state board changes to licensure requirements. 

Third, the proposed language eliminates choices for military and other affected students who are not permanently located where they participate in an educational program. Additionally, the language does not offer consideration for the student who may not wish to be licensed in the state where they are located while participating in the program. Reasons could include military affiliated students who will not remain in that state and the student who chooses the institution for its strong education and training in the profession but does not intend to remain in the state. The student may wish to complete their education and then determine where workforce needs exist. There is no flexibility in considering these students and the language eliminates the ability for student choice.

Fourth, we are concerned that an uninformed rulemaking committee will create regulations that are ambiguous, flawed, and will provide added protection for some students while causing unintended harm to others. Neither the proposed language nor the conversation by the negotiators make it clear whether the proposed language is to address only distance education, as was the focus of final regulations released in 2016, or address all modalities as is the focus of the currently effective regulations that replaced the 2016 regulations. Additionally, no understanding of state licensing board processes has been considered or discussed by the committee. It is equally astonishing that they did not fully discuss the parameters of the currently effective professional licensure notification regulations that the Department re-entered into the second version of the Certifications Procedures Issue paper. 

State Authorization Reciprocity

The week before the February committee meetings, several negotiators supplied proposed versions of various issue papers. Two negotiator issue papers, Issue Paper 6: Certification Procedures – Proposed Language memo from Carolyn Fast, et al. and Issue Paper 6: Certification Procedures – Proposed Language memo from Barmak Nassirian both proposed similar versions regarding the expectations of a state authorization reciprocity agreement, but housed within PPA related regulation 668.14. The Department did not include this sub regulatory language in Department Certification Procedures Issue paper V2 even though two negotiator-based proposals included new language.

Language Provided

The proposed language revisits contentious discussions that occurred late in the 2019 Negotiated Rulemaking about the definition of a state authorization reciprocity agreement that is found in 34 CFR 600.2. The proposed language in both issue papers suggests that an institution must: “comply with all state consumer protection laws, including both generally-applicable state laws and those specific to educational institutions, except for state requirements for obtaining state authorization that are inapplicable pursuant to a state authorization reciprocity agreement.” 

Committee Proceedings

Because neither Certification Procedures Issue paper version 1  nor Department Certification Procedures Issue paper V2 included that proposed language, the language was not raised by the Department for consideration. One of the negotiators raised the new issue in her remarks on the subsection, but there was no further discussion nor acknowledgement of the proposed language. On the final day of rulemaking for the February rulemaking week, it was emphasized by the Department that the rulemaking is for the purposes of discussing issues presented in the Department’s proposals. It is possible that the Department could include this proposed language in the Issue paper V3 in advance of the final week of rulemaking in March.

Our Concerns

We have four major concerns:

First, we are concerned that the purpose and effect of this proposed language is to change the definition of a state authorization reciprocity agreement which is part of Federal regulations that came from consensus in 2019 and effective July 1, 2020. The definition of a state authorization reciprocity agreement provides that a state may enforce its own general purpose state laws and regulations outside of the state authorization of distance education. The member states to the agreement, which they joined voluntarily, provide uniform requirements for state oversight of distance education. 

Second, we greatly worry that, to dismantle the uniformity by allowing states with wildly varied requirements to enforce all state consumer protection laws that include those specific to educational institutions, would essentially negate or (at best) severely limit reciprocity. Uneven oversight of institutions would occur causing inconsistent consumer protection for students in various states. 

Third, regardless of whether the institution participates in a state authorization reciprocity agreement, the institution remains subject to other state regulations that are “generally applicable” to any business, such as misrepresentation, fraud, registration with the Secretary of State’s office as a business, and adherence to state Department of Labor rules for those completing internships in some states.

Fourth, to allow for piecemeal consumer protection would eliminate consistent oversight of distance education in all member states and territories. Prior to the development of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA), which is the well-known type of reciprocity agreement, there was no oversight of institutions serving distance education to students in more than 20 states. This includes California in regard to out-of-state public and private non-profit institutions. Today, 49 states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands chose to be SARA members states to provide oversight to protect students from more than 2,300 participating institutions nationwide. The institutions are subject to uniform requirements that are overseen by the state where the institution is domiciled. Removal of this uniformity oversight structure would cause a return to a more confusing and inequitable administration of consumer protection for students.

Steps that WCET and the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN) have taken

After 10 seconds of initial shock, we took the following steps:

  1. In January, after receiving the  Certification Procedures Issue paper version 1, we reached out to our WCET and SAN members to inform them of the professional licensure proposed language and asked for their input to express their concerns and how the proposed change to “ensuring” that the curriculum meets state educational requirements would affect them.
  2. Upon receipt of many thoughtful responses from members, we developed a summary of the responses based on the themes we found among their concerns. We placed a cover letter on the summary and sent it out to members and other key stakeholders to inform them of the situation.
  3. To collaborate with the negotiators, we developed a proposal of an alternative path to address stronger consumer protection while maintaining a reasonable structure that addressed the variation of how state professional boards operate and shared that with several negotiators.
  4. With the assistance of our colleagues at SHEEO and WICHE, we participated in a thoughtful discussion with two negotiators, Barmak Nassarian and Carolyn Fast, to share our several years of experience working with this professional licensure issue and to determine if we could find common ground to lend our support. We felt cautiously optimistic that we could come closer together. From that call, we learned that some negotiators may believe that the focus is just distance education while others want to address all modalities. Additionally, upon raising the cross reference with 668.43(c) that had been absent from these discussions, we were told by these negotiators that they would review the language to confirm and create uniformity on the direction of modality and type of student that is at the center of the protections of the proposed language. We are still optimistic that discussions with these negotiators can bear fruit in providing added protections, while addressing the current varied status of state licensing agencies.
  5. To address the issues raised by negotiators about revisiting the definition of a state authorization reciprocity agreement, colleagues from WICHE, SREB, MHEC, NEBHE, WCET and WCET State Authorization Network came together to provide a cosigned letter to the Department to address concerns, misconceptions, and future pathways to provide additional consumer protection within the policies of SARA.

Congressional Action to Exclude Online Education from Pell Expansion

Meanwhile, Congress is considering legislation to expand student Pell Grant eligibility for select short-term programs. Previously, grant eligibility had been limited to degree and some certificate programs. The purpose of the expansion is to provide more access to low-income students to programs that will quickly provide them with employable skills.

On February 11, Inside Higher Ed published a good summary of the intent and highlighted our biggest issue, which is the exclusion of fully distance programs from these grants. The following wording can be found in the middle column on page H953 of the Congressional Record, that an eligible program:

‘‘(XI) is not offered exclusively through distance education or a correspondence course, except as determined by the Secretary to be necessary, on a temporary basis…”

Call to Action

The issue is currently in conference committee, which means that they are working toward resolution of language that differs in the House and Senate versions. If you agree or disagree with this exclusion, you should contact your Congressional Representative and/or Senators soon. This may be especially effective if they are a member of the House Education and Labor Committee or the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.

Looking Ahead

The next and final week of rulemaking will occur March 14 -18, 2022. If you wish to live stream the proceedings, you must register in advance on the Department’s Rulemaking Website. The registration link will likely be offered soon. To review the materials provided to the negotiators including the various notices and policy papers, you will want to review that webpage. Eventually, this webpage will house the links to the recordings of the previous sessions. Also note that there is a public comment period for the last 30 minutes of each rulemaking day. To join the queue and provide a three- minute public comment, you must register at  negreghearing@ed.gov by noon ET of the day you wish to make a comment. You may wish to note that the spots have filled quickly for each day.

Watch for more information in the coming weeks. As we learn more, we may be suggesting additional calls for action either through the Frontiers blog or, for members, on the WCETDiscuss and SAN Network lists.

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Practice

New Online Adjunct Faculty Survey Results Released from WCET, OLC, and Every Learner Everywhere

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date February 17, 2022
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Thank you to today’s author, Van Davis, who shares key findings from a new collaborative report from OLC, WCET, and Every Learner Everywhere about understanding the important role that adjunct instructors play in online education. The blog also shares six recommendations for serving online adjuncts.

Understanding the role that adjunct instructors play in online teaching and learning is critical as the amount of online education continues to rise. According to the U.S. Department of Education, distance education enrollment in fall 2018 reached approximately 6.9 million students, roughly 35 percent of the 19.6 million students enrolled that term (NCES, 2021).

Despite the sizeable number of adjunct instructors, there were almost 44,000 fewer adjuncts in 2019-20 compared to the 2012-13 academic year. It is also worth noting that the growth rate of adjuncts between 2012-13 and 2019-20 declined by almost six percent while the growth rate of full-time faculty rose by just over five percent. With adjuncts being such a significant population of instructors, it is imperative for institutions to understand the practices surrounding the use of online adjunct faculty.

List with text: Recommendations for better serving online adjunct faculty: 1. Create sustained, structured connections. 2. Offer training beyond business hours. 3. Incentivize professional development. 4. Tailor training to meet their challenges. 5. Recognize exemplary adjunct faculty.

In 2015, The Learning House (now part of Wiley University Services) and the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) conducted a survey of 202 deans, directors, and provosts familiar with the online practices at their respective two- and four-year higher education institutions. The resulting report, Recruiting, Orienting, and Supporting Online Adjunct Faculty: A Survey of Practices, examined online adjunct hiring practices, expectations, policies, and support.

With the monumental shift from face-to-face to remote education brought about by the COVID 19 pandemic in spring 2020 and the renewed attention on student access and equity, it seemed time for an updated analysis of the state of online adjunct faculty. WCET and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC), with support from Every Learner Everywhere, conducted a new survey of 119 administrators in the summer of 2021 to better understand the practices that affect online adjunct faculty, equity, access, and quality.[1] Following the survey, in-depth follow-up interviews were conducted with 12 institutions including six institutions that did not originally participate in the study and six survey participants. Where possible, we sought to identify successful practices that can be applied across a variety of institutions.

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The 2022 report, Online Adjunct Faculty: A Survey of Institutional Policies and Practices, explores the policies and procedures that institutions use to support online adjunct faculty. We believe that this data and the resulting recommendations should inform and guide institutions in developing promising practices in orienting, supporting, and evaluating online adjunct faculty. It is worth noting that, although the data is representative of the responding institutions, it may not be representative of all of higher education.

Key findings

Our key findings include:

  1. Common policies are still lacking. In comparison to 2015, more institutions are developing email response and time to grade policies, however, large numbers of schools still lack these policies. This also holds true for written policies on online office hours.
  2. Mandatory training and instructional design support is decreasing. In a number of cases, institutions require less mandatory training prior to teaching online than in 2015. This is especially the case for online orientation to student services and online technologies as well as training on effective teaching methods.
  3. Culturally relevant pedagogical training may not be required but is still prevalent. While not quite 17 percent of respondents indicated that training on digital learning, diversity, equity, and inclusion was required of online adjunct faculty prior to teaching, over a third of respondents indicated that all of their online adjunct faculty had access to training on culturally relevant pedagogical practices.
  4. The pandemic did not significantly change professional development requirements for faculty. Over 54 percent of respondents indicated that the pandemic has not changed the amount of professional development that is required of online adjunct faculty.
  5. The most effective online pedagogical practices are often those that were identified as the most challenging to implement. Some of the same practices associated with the most effective online adjunct faculty are also identified as some of the most challenging practices to implement. Many of these practices also correspond with evidence-based teaching practices that are known to be particularly beneficial to students.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the survey and information gathered from interviews with over a dozen higher education administrators and leaders, we have developed several recommendations of good practices for the engagement and support of online adjunct faculty. We understand that each institution has its own unique situations and, therefore, these recommendations may not be applicable for all institutions. Nevertheless, we hope these recommendations will help institutions better support and utilize online adjunct faculty.

Our recommendations include:

⦁ Create sustained, structured connections with online adjunct faculty. Create one-on-one or small group mentoring programs to provide continuous support to online adjunct faculty. A program that offers a combination of regularly-scheduled meetings, as-needed interactions, and feedback from experienced faculty provides robust opportunities for connection and development for online adjunct faculty.
⦁ Offer training options that extend beyond traditional business hours. Offer training options that fit with adjunct faculty schedules. Offering asynchronous faculty training options and synchronous or on-campus training on evenings and weekends can make it more likely that adjuncts will be available to attend.
⦁ Incentivize professional development options for online adjunct faculty. Compensate adjunct faculty for their time and incentivize attendance by offering compensation for professional development offerings.
⦁ Tailor training content to meet top online adjunct faculty challenges. Gather data to understand top faculty challenges at your institution and tailor training content to meet their needs. According to this study, top challenges and topics for training include:

– Collaborative learning,
– Creating connections between students,
– Facilitating group discussion,
– Active learning strategies,
– Creating an inclusive classroom, and
– Culturally-relevant teaching.

⦁ Provide recognition for exemplary online adjunct faculty who use effective practices. Acknowledge the successes of online adjunct faculty who are using effective practices to connect with students. Formal means of recognition can include awards or the opportunity to be featured on the program’s website. Informal means of recognition might include a personal thank you email, message, or phone call.
⦁ Create well-designed policies that guide instructors in determining when and how to respond to students. Despite evidence that students benefit from timely and consistent communication and feedback from their instructors, many institutions still lack policies regarding timely interactions with students. Such policies can help ensure that faculty are creating supportive and meaningful learning environments for all students.

In Conclusion

Although the use of online adjunct faculty appears to be decreasing at many institutions, they remain a critical component of the faculty population. For the most part, institutions provide online adjunct faculty with many of the same professional development opportunities that they provide their full-time faculty. However, in many cases, institutions lack clearly articulated written policies on critical areas such as holding office hours, providing online discussion prompts, responding to student discussion posts, promptly responding to student emails, and providing timely feedback and grades for assignments. It is unclear if face-to-face and full-time faculty also lack such written guidelines or if the guidelines are only lacking for online adjunct faculty.

Online education plays an increasingly critical role in the academic life of many institutions, perhaps even more now than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. As institutions strive to provide students with a variety of high-quality educational experiences, they should carefully consider their relationship with online adjunct faculty, paying particular attention to the ways in which they can support this critical faculty population.

[1] 42.68% of respondents came from two-year public institutions that primarily offer associate degrees, 26.51% from four-year public institutions that primarily offer baccalaureate and/or graduate degrees, 28.05% from private, nonprofits, and 1.22% from private, for-profits. The largest number of institutions, 26.51%, came from mid-sized institutions with 1,001 to 3,000 FTE enrollments.

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Practice

Re-imagining Student Support: the Rise of the Basic Needs Coordinator

Post author By WCET Frontiers
Post date February 10, 2022
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Today on WCET Frontiers, author David Helene talks about the role of basic needs coordinators and how the emergence of the position at higher education institutions supports students throughout their learning journey. Thank you David for highlighting ways basic needs coordinators can connect students with critical support and services.

How should higher education leaders define “access”? For being one of the most frequently used terms in the field, “access” may also be among the least well-defined. In some cases, “access” is used to refer to college admissions protocols; in others, it’s about the technological capacity (e.g., broadband internet availability) that can enable students to engage in learning. However, for many students, conversations about access begin at a more fundamental level, driven by the issue of basic needs insecurity.

What is Basic Needs Security?

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As a growing number of institutions have come to appreciate, basic needs insecurity refers to the challenges many students face in their daily lives outside of academics — which have a profound impact on their persistence and degree completion. Edquity’s own research suggests that most students experience a mix of different challenges, including access to and affordability of housing, food, and transportation. While these issues are reported at both two and four-year institutions, community colleges often have larger populations of low-income students who are most likely to struggle with meeting their basic needs. In fact, research conducted on basic needs insecurity reveals that students without regular access to food are 43% less likely to graduate.

Of course, the longstanding challenge of basic needs insecurity has become both more complex and more urgent in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased funding for cash assistance programs has helped to alleviate financial strain on students, but this funding alone is not enough to address the problem in its entirety.

Fortunately, policymakers and institutional leaders are beginning to recognize the importance of basic needs support as not just a stopgap measure, but a strategic priority. In an effort to better serve students both now and into the future, some schools have hired “basic needs coordinators,” or even established entire basic needs centers. In recent months, the ranks of basic needs coordinators have increased thanks to state-level support: both California and Oregon have passed legislation to mandate the presence of basic needs coordinators on campuses in their states.

What do Basic Needs Coordinators Do?

What do basic needs coordinators do, and how does their work fit into the broader mission of their institutions? The role of the basic needs coordinator looks slightly different at every institution; however, many work under the student services or student engagement umbrella. In this position, and in a student services role, basic needs coordinators connect students with programs and resources and help them navigate state and federal benefits programs. Basic needs coordinators also raise awareness of campus programs to combat basic needs insecurity at their institution. They can also provide support for students needing mental health services. In fact, the bill passed in California identifies mental health as a key area where basic needs coordinators can help students secure the services and resources they need.

What Comes Next?

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Perhaps most importantly, the rise of the basic needs coordinator is an indication that basic needs insecurity is no longer a fringe issue for institutional leaders and higher education policymakers. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this shift: while Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice estimates that more than half of students have experienced basic needs insecurity, far fewer institutions have robust infrastructure in place to provide the support that those students need. That’s one reason that some studies have found cash assistance programs to have minimal effect while others have led to substantial increases in completion rates. With the right structure in place, basic needs supports can go that much further as a tool to boost retention and completion.

As support for policies to address basic needs continues to increase in the months and years to come, we will continue to learn more about how these new roles and approaches can best help students navigate the path to and through college. Until then, we encourage more institutional leaders to join the chorus of advocates calling for new policies to tackle basic needs insecurity. Then, when those policies exist, we’ll be even better positioned to have the higher-level conversations about “access” in higher education that can lay the foundation for all students to succeed.

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