How to Survive a Distance Education Accreditation Review March 1, 2011

College of Southern Nevada Our presenter Terry Norris Director of eLearning College of Southern Nevada

Agenda Understand the importance of the accreditation process. Prepare for the accreditation process. Prepare the report. Leverage the report to improve your distance ed. program.

Agenda (Cont.) Use accreditation process to Advocate for your distance ed. program Address concerns about your distance ed. program. Communicate the value of your distance ed. program.

Understanding the Importance of the Accreditation Process

Importance of Accreditation Always extremely important for institutions of higher education. With growth of online courses in higher education, distance ed. plays a crucial role in the mission of institutions.

Importance of Accreditation Distance ed. programs are becoming an integral part of the accreditation process. How does federal legislation relate to accreditation?

Preparing for the Accreditation Process

Prepare for Accreditation Review Where do I find accrediting standards? Become very familiar with distance ed. accrediting standards. Review previous accreditation report.

Prepare for Accreditation Review Become an active member in the internal accreditation process. Reach out to other institutions in your region for input. Take an active role in developing your institution’s response related to DE.

Prepare for Accreditation Review Study your previous and current report. Be prepared to say “I am not sure and will have to check.”

Prepare for Accreditation Review Don’t say you are doing something that you are not. Remember: there will be time to address issues.

Case Study #1 In preparation for preparing for the Accreditation Review you locate the previous report. While reviewing the previous report you find that the section on Distance Education was very vague.

Case Study #1 (cont.) Nothing about Distance Education from the previous report was data driven. After reviewing the previous report you feel overwhelmed because you are not sure how to build on the previous report and address the current guidelines.

Polling Question #1 What is the appropriate response? You decide to go ahead and use the previous report as your beginning point. You start from scratch and ignore the previous report. You reach out to colleagues to see if they recently went through the process and use their report as a template.

Leverage the Accreditation Report to Improve your Distance Education Program

Improve your DE Program through the Accreditation Process Look at deficiencies as building blocks for the future. Seek to provide same services to distance ed. students as on-campus students.

Accreditation Process Helps Define the Value of your DE Program Use the accreditation process to: Be a smarter advocate for your Distance Ed program. Address anxieties and concerns from different constituencies. Communicate the value of your program.

Case Study #2 During the Accreditation Team visit, you are asked student services. available to support your DE students. You are not sure how extensive the available student services are.

Case Study #2 (cont.) You tell the Accreditation Team member that you will get the information and follow up before they leave. After talking with the appropriate individual in Student Affairs you find that the college is lacking in the student services available to support DE students.

Polling Question #2 What is the appropriate response? You tell them that there is sufficient services available to support DE students. You tell them about the deficiencies and present a plan you developed to improve the services. You tell them that there are deficiencies but that the college is already working on improving the services. You get someone from Student Affairs to answer their questions about student services for DE students.

Use the Accreditation Process to be an Advocate for your DE Program

Use the Reports to be an Advocate for your DE Program Share positive points with as many campus & community groups as possible. Use identified deficiencies as a tool to request more resources.

Case Study #3 At the conclusion of the review process you find that there are many positives about what you are doing to support DE students and faculty. You also find that there are some things you should be doing but are not doing.

Case Study #3 (cont.) After the Accreditation Review and Report is completed you meet with your supervisor, the Vice President of Academic Affairs. He wants your input on how we should move forward with the findings of the Review.

Polling Question #3 What is your appropriate response? You tell him that we should only communicate the positives and keep quiet about the deficiencies. You tell him that we should communicate the positives and develop a plan to improve the deficiencies. You tell him that if you had more personnel working in your area there would be no deficiencies.

Use the Accreditation Process to Address Concerns about your Distance Ed. Program

Use the Process to Address Concerns about DE Program We all hear the same concerns. Quality of the courses is not the equivalent of on-campus courses. Student retention & success rates are not the equivalent as on-campus courses.

Use the Process to Address Concerns about DE Program You cannot teach that course online. Use the process and the results of the process to address concerns.

Utilize the Accreditation Process to Communicate the Value of your DE Program

Communicate the Value of your DE Program Use results of the process to tell campus & community groups how your DE Program is valuable to the institution. Focus on the positives.

Communicate the Value of your DE Program Ask to be added to agendas to talk about DE program’s value. Do not be shy!

Questions?

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