ABED 16 th Congress Pre-Conference Mini Course Serving the Adult Transfer Student

Overview  Adult Degree Completion  Excelsior College  Aggregation  Assessment  Advising  Challenges

Adult Degree Completion  National priority  Barriers  Need for new thinking  Alternative methods

Obama Challange Lead the world in % of adults with Bachelors degree by 2025 (increase from current 40% to 60%)

Impact of Failure  Inadequate workforce  Movement of jobs  Declining economy  Reduced standard of living

Barriers  Time  Cost  Opportunity  Lack of infrastructure  Failure to see need

New Thinking  Extended education  Night/weekend programs  Correspondence courses  Use of technology

Alternatives  Online learning  New degree formats  Assessment of prior learning  Mass customization

Excelsior College  Influence of OU  “Sister” of three others  Self-supporting

History  Founded = 1971 by State of New York  Focus = Adult Learners  Philosophy = “What you know is more important than where or how learned”  Mission = Provide opportunity to those historically underserved by traditional higher education

Profile  Private, non-profit  30,00 students +/-  Largest nursing program in U.S.  Largest nuclear engineering in U.S.  30% minority  25-30% active military  Offer Associate, Bachelors, and Masters degrees

Exercise #1 “The Needs of Brazil?”

Methods  Aggregation  Assessment  Advising  Instruction

Aggregation  Combining multiple forms of learning Prior instruction Military/corporate training Exam results Professional experience (portfolio)

Assessment  Applicability of prior experience to specific degree requirements  Prior learning via examinations  Capstone

Advising  Match degree to student needs and to background (from assessment)  Determine areas of further study  Provide knowledge of how to complete  Guide through completion process

The Process Transcripts Exams Aggregate Military/CorpTraining Consolidated Transcript CHOOSE DEGREE PATH ABC Compare to Degree Requirements

Assessment Degree Requirement Consolidated Transcript Path to Completion Credit By ExamExternal InstitutionInternal Course Work Capstone Graduation ADVISING

Exercise #2 Value of Excelsior Model in Brazil?

Challenges  Acceptance by traditional higher education  Awareness by prospective student  Perceived complexity  Too few “laboratories”

Questions