Angie Myer

Nancy, Absolutely, Nancy! Thank you for making sure that admissions and pre-screening is an important part of this discussion. I think one of the biggest challenges for schools today (whether for-profit or non-profit) is reconciling enrollment goals with completion/placement goals. I just saw a wonderful course that will be coming available that discusses this issue in terms of school-wide practices and how to have admissions and career services (for larger schools) working together toward common goals. I believe there are great discussions taking place in the Lounge that get specific on what works and what doesn't. Thank you for participating.… >>>

Nancy, Uh oh, sorry to give you more work, Nancy! :) I think you were wise to turn down the partnership offers; it can get messy. And in fact, COMTA's Standard 10.3 includes language that the school must offer all the courses themselves and not rely on other institutions to teach part, general education, for example. (Of course this gets difficult when trying to get enough students to justify offering an English class, for example.) I wonder what allowances we have if there is an actual partnership agreement. We would have to check with Kate or the Commission on that… >>>

Nancy, Your post highlights many essential factors when considering distance learning. Hybrid courses can be a great inclusion into a program. However, you're right; if it's not going to be a large part of the program or have enough significant benefits for enough people, it is a gigantic cost and bureaucratic project to assume. We don't want to scare anyone away, but the cost-benefit analysis must be carefully considered because the USDE (and consequently the accrediting agencies) are looking at these formats more closely to ensure they are done well if they are done at all. If anyone is considering… >>>

Laura, Yes, any time synchronous (real-time) activities can be used, increases the interactivity and learning. However, that's always the hard part, isn't it? People take distance education classes because they need the freedom and flexibility to do it whenever they want. I have found that many of the participants in this class do the entire class over the weekend, which makes it difficult for me to engage. :) However, there are other means even if real-time activities can't be used. The use of Twitter, Facebook and even video can all help students feel more connected. There are already a lot… >>>

Hi Nancy, You mention many important avenues for ongoing feedback solicitation. I think the Exit Interview in particular is key to establishing strong ongoing graduate/alumni communication. I also like how schools are using social media these days to keep in contact. Again, I would like to suggest the idea of Survey Monkey (or the like) for online surveys, as many people find that recipients are more likely to quickly complete it via email (and its sent automatically). The feature I also like is that it will also analyze the data for you; what a time saver! These can then be… >>>