ED Negotiated Rulemaking: Suggested Principles for Addressing Issues

January 7, 2019.Reading time 25 minutes.

The U.S. Department of Education begins meetings of its negotiated rulemaking main committee and subcommittees next week. There are several issues that will have an impact on the technology-enhanced higher education community. These decision will affect your students, faculty, and your operations.In this post we suggest some principles to use in developing regulatory language around a […]

The Year in Review – What WCET Frontiers Posts Did You Read in 2018?

December 20, 2018.Reading time 9 minutes.

The top 10 (10 is crossed out and replaced with 12) WCET Frontiers Posts of 2018: 1. Interpreting What is Required for “Regular and Substantive Interaction” – originally published in 2016 2. E.U. Regulations That Are Enforceable Against U.S. Higher Education Institutions 3. Professional Licensure Notifications & Disclosures for Out-of-State Courses/Programs 4. State Authorization for Distance Ed Federal Regulation to be Implemented 07/01/2018 5. Sweeping Changes Proposed by the Department of Education 6. My online course quality rubric has a first name. It’s O-S-C-Q-R! 7. Is Your Distance Education Course Actually a Correspondence Course? –originally published in 2014 8. The Department of Education’s Plans for Overhauling Accrediting and Innovation Regulations 9. House HEA Proposes Changes for Distance Ed, CBE, and State Authorization – originally published in 2017 10. UNLV Pays a Cost for Not Notifying Students About Charges for Proctoring Services 11. Distance Education Enrollment Growth – Major Differences Persist Among Sectors 12. Federal Regulations Groundhog Day

In 2018, the idea for a “Most Popular Movie” Oscar (thankfully) came and went, we debated whether we heard “laurel” or “yanni,” and J.R. Smith looks lonely on the Cavaliers’ bench after forgetting the clock in the NBA Finals. While we did not cover any of those events in WCET’s Frontiers blog, our stories about […]

The value of micro-credentials and badging needs continual clarification

December 14, 2018.Reading time 19 minutes.

An image showcasing open badge concepts. The explanation reads: Knowledge isn't concrete; it can be gained in a wide variety of ways. Each day, valuable skills and expereince are attained by learners who get involved with activities outside of their formal classroom education. Sports teams and other extracurriculars can positively benefit a student's psyche. Unfortunately, traditional resumes and portfolio programs aren't typically formatted to shed light on the soft skills that are gained through this kind of involvement..

Welcome today to David Porter, CEO of eCampusOntario, who joins us to discuss the value of micro-credentials and badging. After an intriguing keynote presentation at an educational event, David reached out to several education colleagues who work and research in the micro-credentials and badging arena. Today he shares his observations from these discussions, and provides […]

Regional Collaboration in Promoting OER Adoption

December 12, 2018.Reading time 15 minutes.

Today WCET Frontiers is excited to showcase the recent Open Educational Resources (OER) Implementation and Policy Summit for the MHEC States. This multi-state OER meeting brought together OER advocates from across campuses, legislatures, faculty, students, and more to collaboratively learn about OER and OER expansion for their states. To give us a review of this […]

Marketable Skills + Credentialing = the Value of Signals

December 6, 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

Defintion of "signal" from oxford dictionaries: VERB Transmit information or instructions by means of a gesture, action, or sound. NOUN A gesture, action, or sound that is used to convey information or instructions, typically by prearrangement between the parties concerned.

What signals do you use to showcase your skills and expertise? Our students need a way to let future employers know about their collegiate experiences and accomplishments. Today we welcome Mike Simmons from University of North Texas to discuss their institutional solution to changing workforce and higher education needs when it comes to credentials. Thank […]

WCET18 – The Thematic Experience

November 29, 2018.Reading time 21 minutes.

Hello and welcome to my yearly WCET Annual Meeting summary and review! This year I’m changing things up a bit – instead of the usual day-by-day, play-by-play, I’d like to focus on some of the themes we noticed that filtered through many sessions and hallway conversations. If you would like to check out conference information […]

Accessibility & Procurement: What do we need to know?

November 14, 2018.Reading time 22 minutes.

quote box: Higher education needs to “bake” accessibility into our activities rather than wait to “bolt” it on after the fact.

WCET and the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) jointly offer this blog post on a topic of national interest to education communities. This post is part of the on-going collaboration on accessibility issues between WCET and OLC. Thank you to Kelly Hermann, University of Phoenix, for today’s guest post on these important issues! If you’re attending OLC Accelerate […]

Is this the Future? The Education Department’s Higher Education Ecosystem Challenge

November 9, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

quote box: Collaborations will emerge as foundations of the higher education ecosystem of the future. Sharon Leu, senior policy advisor, US Department of Education

Recently, the U.S. Department of Education announced their winners of the Department’s Higher Education Ecosystem Challenge. The challenge was to “imagine what higher education would look like in 2030.” WCET’s Dan Silverman, Assistant Director of the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN), attended the event honoring the 10 winners of this year’s challenge. Today he joins […]

The Benefits and Challenges of Course Learning Outcome Assessment in Every Course Every Term

November 7, 2018.Reading time 11 minutes.

Model of the ACT instructional design model. One the outside, analyze - teach - change in a circle surrounding "course, learning outcome, continuous improvement system"

How does your college or program handle learning outcome assessments? Today we’re thrilled to be joined by several representatives from the University of Western States, Bernadette Howlett, Denise Dallmann, Dana Sims-Barbarick, and Susan Donoff, to discuss the University’s Every Course Every Term (ECET) initiative. This continuous improvement program helps faculty collect and act on course […]

MonsterBash: Data Protection and Privacy Unmasked

October 31, 2018.Reading time 12 minutes.

a large lock and key graphic sits in front of a background made of networked lines

It is getting scary out there! What a spooky coincidence that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month! It is 2018, is your institution or organization’s data protected? How do you know the goblins, ghouls, and trolls are not already infesting your perimeter? WCET began following the issue of data protection and privacy (DPP) in […]