The Shifting Sands in Federal, State, & Accreditation Policies OLC Collaborate New York City, NY August 7, 2018

WCET is the leader in the practice, policy, & advocacy of technology-enhanced learning in higher education

Russ Poulin Director, Policy & Analysis WCET rpoulin@wiche.edu

Who’s In the Audience? – Roles Faculty Instructional designers Higher ed administrator Corporate representatives Government or lawmakers Accreditation staff Other?

Distance Education Enrollments Fall 2016, what % of all U.S. higher ed students: Enrolled exclusively at a distance? Of those enrolled exclusively at a distance, enrolled in a for-profit institution? Department of Education data: http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/highered.html

Distance Education Enrollments Fall 2016, what % of all U.S. higher ed students: Enrolled exclusively at a distance? 14.9% 2,974,836 students Of those enrolled exclusively at a distance, enrolled in a for-profit institution? – 23.5% Enrolled distance & face-to-face? – 16.7%. Total of 31.6% taking at least one DE course.   2012 2016 % Growth All Students 20,237,911 20,209,781 -0.1% Exclusive DE 2,287,168 2,974,836 30.1% Some DE 2,694,715 3,325,743 23.4% At least one DE 4,981,883 6,300,579 26.5% No DE 15,256,028 13,909,202 -8.8% Department of Education data: http://onlinelearningsurvey.com/highered.html

Today’s Discussion Federal Regulations What’s Happening in States? And What About Accreditation?

Federal Regulations: Higher Education Act

Federal Regulations Higher Education Act Enacted 1965 “Reauthorized” periodically Not since 1998

Federal Regulations Higher Education Act

Federal Regulations Higher Education Act

Federal Regulations: Negotiated Rulemaking

Federal Regulations Negotiated Rulemaking Release: July 31 Clarifying regs Committee of affected parties Need to reach “consensus”

Federal Regulations Negotiated Rulemaking Issues in this NegReg: Core functions of accreditation, State authorization, Definition: “regular & substantive interaction”, Definition of the term “credit hour”, The relationship between length of program and entry-level requirements for the recognized profession, Underlined items are of particular interest to our community

Federal Regulations Negotiated Rulemaking Institution partnering with another institution or organization to provide part of a program, Responsibilities regarding teach-out processes, Barriers to innovation or student completion, graduation, employment…., Program requirements regarding TEACH grant, Competency Based Education, and Faith-based entities participating in Title IV. Underlined items are of particular interest to our community

Brief Primer on Policy and Regulations Federal: Negotiated Rulemaking Comment! Comment!! Comment!!! Volume counts https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/31/2018-15929/negotiated-rulemaking-committee-public-hearings

Federal Regulations: Regular and Substantive Interaction

Federal Regulations Regular and Substantive Interaction “We (OIG) did not assess whether the school’s model was improving educational quality or expanding access to higher education. We are not withdrawing our findings or the corresponding recommendations.” https://wcetfrontiers.org/2012/04/20/correspondence-definition/ https://wcetfrontiers.org/2017/09/22/wgu-interaction/

Federal Regulations Regular and Substantive Interaction “Distance education means education that uses one or more of the technologies listed in paragraphs (1) through (4) of this definition to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor, either synchronously or asynchronously…” ECFR: Title 34, §600.2  http://bit.ly/2DyoMzI

Federal Regulations Regular and Substantive Interaction Interaction must be: Initiated by the instructor. “Regular” and (probably) somewhat frequent. “Substantive” – of an academic nature. With an instructor that meets accrediting agency standards. From a WCET Frontiers analysis by Russ Poulin, WCET and Van Davis, Blackboard: https://wcetfrontiers.org/2016/09/30/interpreting-regular-and-substantive-interaction/

Federal (and State) Regulations: State Authorization

Federal (and State) Regulations State Authorization is something you should check if you are crossing a state line to perform ANY activity.

Federal (and State) Regulations State Authorization The SAN Federal Regulation Pledge I (state your name) will remind anyone who cares to listen that state laws and regulations predate any federal regulations and remain in force in the absence of federal regulations.

What’s Happening in States?: Student Affordability

What’s Happening in the States? Student Affordability Let’s start with a question about money…

What’s Happening in the States? Student Affordability Does it cost institutions: more, the same, or less to develop, offer, support, and maintain distance education courses?

What’s Happening in the States? Student Affordability Change Magazine, Volume 50, 2018, Issue 1: https://wcet.wiche.edu/initiatives/research/price-cost-distance-ed

What’s Happening in States?: Creating New Options

What’s Happening in the States? Creating New Options

And What About Accreditation? Institutional Review Criteria

And What About Accreditation? Institutional Review Criteria (1) The agency's accreditation standards effectively address the quality of the institution or program in the following areas: (i) Success with respect to student achievement in relation to the institution's mission… (ii) Curricula. (iii) Faculty. (iv) Facilities, equipment, and supplies. (v) Fiscal and administrative capacity as appropriate to the specified scale of operations. (1) The agency's accreditation standards effectively address the quality of the institution or program in the following areas: (i) Success with respect to student achievement in relation to the institution's mission, which may include different standards for different institutions or programs, as established by the institution, including, as appropriate, consideration of State licensing examinations, course completion, and job placement rates. (ii) Curricula. (iii) Faculty. (iv) Facilities, equipment, and supplies. (v) Fiscal and administrative capacity as appropriate to the specified scale of operations. (vi) Student support services. (vii) Recruiting and admissions practices, academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading, and advertising. (viii) Measures of program length and the objectives of the degrees or credentials offered. (ix) Record of student complaints received by, or available to, the agency. (x) Record of compliance with the institution's program responsibilities under Title IV of the Act, based on the most recent student loan default rate data provided by the Secretary, the results of financial or compliance audits, program reviews, and any other information that the Secretary may provide to the agency; and Title 34, §602.16   Accreditation and preaccreditation standards. https://bit.ly/2n2P3ja

And What About Accreditation? Institutional Review Criteria (vi) Student support services. (vii) Recruiting and admissions practices, academic calendars, catalogs, publications, grading, and advertising. (viii) Measures of program length and the objectives of the degrees or credentials offered. (ix) Record of student complaints received by, or available to, the agency. (x) Record of compliance with the institution’s program responsibilities under Title IV of the Act…” Title 34, §602.16   Accreditation and preaccreditation standards. https://bit.ly/2n2P3ja

And What About Accreditation? Innovation and Quality Assurance

And What About Accreditation? Innovation and Quality Assurance New Approaches to Judging Quality in Higher Education. Tafaya Ransom, Erin Knepler, and Claudia Zapata-Gietl. Council of Higher Education Accreditation. 2018.

And What About Accreditation? Innovation and Quality Assurance “Institutions, however, do not always know what their accreditor will allow them to do when they seek to innovate—or what resources they may have to expend to convince an accreditor that an innovation should be permissible. The seeming randomness casts a pall over innovation across the sector.” Innovation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Michael Horn & Alana Dunagan. Christensen Institute. June 2018.

Beyond the Shifting Sands…

Questions. Russ Poulin Director, Policy & Analysis WCET rpoulin@wiche Questions?? Russ Poulin Director, Policy & Analysis WCET rpoulin@wiche.edu