Cooperative Alliance Update

Cooperative Alliance UpdateJeremy Zweiacker

Coordinator – Innovation, Research and Quality

Pic courtesy Susanne Nilsson via Flickr

Current Cooperative Alliances Programs

CONTINUE as in the Past!

Cooperative Alliance Workshop

Changes in the “Criteria for Accreditation, Assumed Practices, and Obligations of Affiliation”

Assessments

This committee has met twice and hosted a Prior Learning Assessment workshop in April 2014 with a focus on the nationally recognized credentials CareerTech includes in its programs. Work continues to create a statewide inventory for all institutions to use to award the same credit for the assessments. Institutions will NOT need to create their own, but provide faculty to assist in the statewide project. The next meeting will be in August or September.

Contracts

This committee has met three times and created a draft of the HLC Substantive Change form that will reflect the elements of a contract (CAP agreement) between the college and technology center for an Associate in Applied Science degree program. The next step is developing the contract template from the HLC required information and the details included in CAP documents in place. A draft will be distributed by the end of July.

Credit Hour

This committee has met two times; a subcommittee has met twice to develop a rubric to present to the full committee. Once approved by the full committee, the rubric will be made available to each institution and technology center to use in contract development. It will also be foundational for the technical crosswalk.

Technical Crosswalk

This committee has met once. Its work will develop out of the work of the Contracts and Credit Hour groups, so will resume meetings once this work is further down the road.

Technical Crosswalk

Certain allied health care programs require licensure to enter practice. To sit for these licensure exams/registries, either college transcripted work or a full degree is required. In addition, the specialty accreditation bodies require the program be offered by a degree-granting institution. These issues and impacts to existing programs are under review. These subgroups (rad tech, radiology, and PT/OT) met June 3 & 24.

Technical Crosswalk

The Council on Instruction (COI) committee is tasked with review of the State Regents’ policy for cooperative agreements. This group has met three times since April and will meet again in late August.

Current Cooperative Alliances Programs

CONTINUE as in the Past!

Although we are looking at future changes, all things continue as they have for Cooperative Alliance students in Fall 2014. Current CAP students should see NO CHANGES for them as they enter Fall 2014, other than advisement that there will be changes for Fall 2015 in how they earn college credit.

We (OSRHE/ODCTE) are proceeding at a diligent, but thoughtful pace. HLC required that the state, as well as each institution provide a timeline of activities.

The State Regents transmitted the statewide timeline in April. Institutions are now submitting timelines to HLC.

Implementation Timeline

Spring & Summer 2014 - Reviewing all CAPs for productivity, viability, and industry demand for a degree in the technical area.

December 2014 - Determinations of best path forward with remaining CAPs (PLA or contract).

Planning and policy work to achieve statewide PLA and contracts.Spring 2015 - Communication of Fall 2015 plans for how student

can earn college credit for CAPs sent out in for students and parents

Fall 2015 - Implementation for ALL changes for ALL CAPs at ALL institutions

Questions and AnswersPic courtesy photosteve101 via Flickr

Q: We are hearing different stories all over the state concerning cooperative alliances. Who has the correct information?

A: Current information sources are the Regents (Debbie Blanke or Debra Stuart) or CareerTech (Chad Wilson). Call or email. Please ask so that we can clarify and validate.

Q: How do we enroll students? What do we tell them? A: Be very clear that there are NO CHANGES in process for Fall

2014/Spring 2015. NEW students must be advised that we are in transition. If a student starts a program, and that program is later scheduled for deletion, then the student will be included in the “teach out” plan or advised to a different program. Advise students that the programs may change in how credit is awarded, and/or how much credit is granted. Students will be given the opportunity to: 1) finish the credit in the manner they began the program; 2) move to the new process (whether PLA or contract); or 3) move to a different CAP.

Q: In the case of PLA, the institution can’t charge a fee based on credit hours, correct?

A: Institutions make it very clear that they do not “sell” academic credit. In general, the institution can charge a fee for the assessment; the assessment or its review may vary in cost dependent on the time and expertise required for the review process. Also note that, in the case of a portfolio, the student may pay for a review even if no credit is awarded based on that review. The statewide PLA inventory under development should minimize the review costs.

Q: Concerning the 15 hour residency requirement, if a student completes 15 hours at one college, then at-tends a technology center, and finally goes on to a different college and only needs 6 hours to graduate from there, do they still have to meet the 15 hour residency requirement at the second college?

A: 15 hours of the associate’s degree must be earned at the college that will award the degree. PLA does NOT count as resident credit; con-tract credit does. If a student changes colleges, the student would still have to complete 15 hours in residence at that next college for the degree to be awarded from that college.

Q: How much PLA can be applied to degree requirements?

A: Up to 75% of the degree requirements may come from PLA. Stu-dents must complete a minimum of 12 hours earned at the college be-fore the PLA is transcripted.

Q: PLA = Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory or Pass-No Pass or Pass-Fail on the transcript; Contract= grade on the transcript. How do these grading notations impact the competitiveness of students trying to enter, for example, OU Health Sciences Center (OUHSC)?

A: With information gathered so far from OUHSC, we are not aware of students being disadvantaged by receiving “satisfactory” or “pass” grades.

Q: Will there be a policy on how long students can “bank” their PLA credit?

A: No. After the student completes 12 hours at the college, then the PLA credit can be transcripted. If the assessing body stipulates a timeframe of validity for a certification, this may impact the credit that can be awarded.

Q: How can the college demonstrate oversight when all technical courses are taught at the technology center ?

A: The college MUST feel confident in its oversight of the program when presenting it to HLC. We are clarifying with HLC on their operational definition of “oversight.”

Q: What are HLC’s faculty requirements for colleges or contractual arrangements with colleges?

A: Faculty expertise is generally one degree level higher than what the faculty member is currently teaching, or extensive documented experience that the institution feels it can justify as appropriate expertise for an HLC review.

Q. If a new student is admitted in Fall 2014 and does NOT finish the degree by May 2015, what will the college do?

A. The college may: 1) teach out the student under the requirement at admission; AND 2) offer the student the option to transition to the current process for that CAP (PLA or contract); AND 3) offer the student the option to transition to a different CAP.

Pic courtesy Ethan Lofton via Flickr

Cooperative Alliance Contacts

Dr. Debbie Blanke [email protected]

Dr. Debra [email protected]

Mr. Chad Wilson [email protected]

Presentation derived from July 31, 2014 CAP Newsletter