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

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

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

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

5. 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:

6. Distance Education Enrollments
Fall 2016, what % of all U.S. higher ed students:
Enrolled exclusively at a distance? % 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.
  % Growth
All Students 20,237,911 20,209, %
Exclusive DE 2,287,168 2,974, %
Some DE 2,694,715 3,325, %
At least one DE 4,981,883 6,300, %
No DE 15,256,028 13,909, %
Department of Education data:

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

8. Federal Regulations: Higher Education Act

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

10. Federal Regulations Higher Education Act

11. Federal Regulations Higher Education Act

12. Federal Regulations: Negotiated Rulemaking

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Brief Primer on Policy and Regulations Federal: Negotiated Rulemaking
Comment!
Comment!!
Comment!!!
Volume counts

17. Federal Regulations: Regular and Substantive Interaction

18. 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.”

19. 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 

20. 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:

21. Federal (and State) Regulations: State Authorization

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

23. 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.

24. What’s Happening in States?: Student Affordability

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

26. 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?

27. What’s Happening in the States? Student Affordability
Change Magazine, Volume 50, 2018, Issue 1:

28. What’s Happening in States?: Creating New Options

29. What’s Happening in the States? Creating New Options

30. And What About Accreditation? Institutional Review Criteria

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. And What About Accreditation? Innovation and Quality Assurance

34. 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

35. 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.

36. Beyond the Shifting Sands…

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