Quality in Online Education: What’s Rigor Got to Do with It? September 26, 2017 | Fort Worth, Texas

Deb Adair, QM Executive Director, Moderator Kay Shattuck, QM Director of Research, Group Discussion Facilitator

Panel 1 Paul Gaston, Senior Fellow, Lumina Foundation, and Trustees Professor, Provost's Office, Kent State University Ashley Hazelwood, Student, University of North Texas Andria Schwegler, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology & Counseling, Texas A&M University - Central Texas Gregory von Lehmen, Special Assistant to the President, Cybersecurity, University of Maryland-University College

Panel 2 Kara Gwaltney, Director, Credit, American Council on Education Lisa Mahoney, Director, National College Credit Recommendation Service Leah Matthews, Executive Director and CEO, Distance Education Accrediting Commission Mary-Celeste Slusser, Director of Academic Assessment, LearningCounts

Schedule QM Connect Conference and Zoom webcast with chat: Twitter chat: #AcademicRigor Stakeholder Panel - faculty member, student, administrator, and foundation rep Group Discussion Activity – facilitated by panelists and Kay Shattuck Expert Panel - accreditation, assessment, and credit evaluation experts Q&A

Why Discuss Rigor? Why Now? Alternative or innovative providers are a growing sector of post-secondary education composed of companies and organizations that offer structured learning experiences or proficiency examinations untethered from the traditional college and university setting. In general, these providers offer certificates, badges, certifications and/or credit recommendations for the successful completion of courses, modules, or time-limited programs. They are fairly recent entrants to the field of non-collegiate educational offerings, joining the ranks of large corporations, the military, municipalities (e.g. fire and police training), and other workplace-based programs in providing what many now consider college-level learning outside of the traditional classroom setting. (From Proposal Draft for Comment CQAL: Collaborative for Quality in Alternative Learning, A Strada Education Network Grant Project, Led by the Presidents’ Forum at Excelsior College and the Distance Education Accrediting Commission, Written by Tina Goodyear, March 2017)

Panel 1 Paul Gaston, Senior Fellow, Lumina Foundation, and Trustees Professor, Provost's Office, Kent State University Ashley Hazelwood, Student, University of North Texas Andria Schwegler, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology & Counseling, Texas A&M University - Central Texas Gregory von Lehmen, Special Assistant to the President, Cybersecurity, University of Maryland-University College What does rigor mean to you and at your institution or organization? What is it and what is it not? Andria & Greg: How is it used in determining things like transfer credit or substitutions for prerequisites? What does it mean to students at your institution? How do you/your institution evaluate whether or not a learning experience is rigorous? As larger numbers of students begin to come to academic institutions with alternative learning* experiences (and by this we mean structured learning experiences untethered from a traditional college or university setting), what kinds of challenges do you foresee in evaluating the quality of that experience? Ashley: What’s your definition of Rigor? Do students talk about or consider the relative rigor of a course? It what ways do you think it matters to students? What kind of decisions would the perceived presence or absence of rigor help you make? Paul: why would a foundation have an interest in rigor? What is it’s stake? What IS at stake?

What Is Academic Rigor? What is academic rigor (and what is it not)? Panel Questions: What does rigor mean to you and at your institution or organization? What is it and what is it not? Andria & Greg: How is it used in determining things like transfer credit or substitutions for prerequisites? What does it mean to students at your institution? How do you/your institution evaluate whether or not a learning experience is rigorous? As larger numbers of students begin to come to academic institutions with alternative learning* experiences (and by this we mean structured learning experiences untethered from a traditional college or university setting), what kinds of challenges do you foresee in evaluating the quality of that experience? Ashley: What’s your definition of Rigor? Do students talk about or consider the relative rigor of a course? It what ways do you think it matters to students? What kind of decisions would the perceived presence or absence of rigor help you make? Paul: why would a foundation have an interest in rigor? What is it’s stake? What IS at stake?

Group Discussion What does the term academic rigor mean? Who determines what is academically rigorous, and how do they do so? Does rigor matter in the evaluation for college credit of prior learning and/or learning that occurs outside of the academic institution? Does your definition of academic rigor apply in this case? Is academic rigor an obstacle to the implementation of new ideas? Report Back on Did your table share a common understanding of academic rigor? What was it? How does your institution identify and evaluate evidence of academic rigor internally and for awarding credit for prior learning? Where is rigor important and where is it an obstacle to new ideas?

Panel 2 Kara Gwaltney, Director, Credit, American Council on Education Lisa Mahoney, Director, National College Credit Recommendation Service Leah Matthews, Executive Director and CEO, Distance Education Accrediting Commission Mary-Celeste Slusser, Director of Academic Assessment, LearningCounts Share with us the kind of work you are engaged in and the role academic rigor plays in it? What is the role of academic rigor in alternative learning* initiatives, such as MOOCs and boot camps? What does quality look like in alternative learning initiatives and how is it measured? Does the current movement towards outcomes assessment make the evaluation of rigor irrelevant? How might academic education and alternative learning productively integrate to provide meaningful and rigorous learning pathways that provide a quality education and an academic credential?

What Is Academic Rigor? What is academic rigor (and what is it not)? Panel Questions: What is the role of academic rigor in alternative learning* initiatives, such as MOOCs and boot camps? What does quality look like in alternative learning initiatives and how is it measured? Does the current movement towards outcomes assessment make the evaluation of rigor irrelevant? How might academic education and alternative learning productively integrate to provide meaningful and rigorous learning pathways that provide a quality education and an academic credential?

Q&A

Keep the discussion going at #AcademicRigor Thank you!