Informing Adult Learners with Data:

the Transparency by Design model

Cali Morrison, Manager, Major Grants, WCET

& Project Director, Transparency by Design

CAEL - Nov. ,10 2011 – Chicago, IL

Learners"Traditional""Non-Traditional"

College Choices for Adults• Seeks to

• assist adult learners in becoming informed consumers of distance higher education and

• promote greater transparency and accountability among regionally-accredited institutions of higher education serving adult learners at a distance.

• Is powered by • the Transparency by Design initiative, a consortium of

regionally-accredited, adult-serving, distance education institutions leading change in higher education transparency and accountability.

College Choices for Adults

• To reach these goals the College Choices for Adults website contains:– Institutional level data including demographics, student

satisfaction, student engagement, core learning achievement and alumni satisfaction data

– Program-level data including learning outcomes, measures and results of recent students performance on learning outcomes

– Support information for adults looking to return to school regarding the processes, procedures, technology and skills necessary to succeed

College Choices for Adults

• Key Differentiator: Program- Level Learning Outcomes, Assessments and Recent Results of those Assessments.• Every program published on College Choices for Adults

MUST provide this data or it will not be published.• These data are not standardized. Institutions still maintain

the autonomy of determining their own program-level learning outcomes, assessments and how to report the results. WCET provides a quality assurance review – looking for measures of learning rather than or in addition to satisfaction ratings.

College Choices for Adults

• Key Differentiator: Third-party Quality Assurance review by the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies

Photo by Linus_art http://www.flickr.com/photos/linus_art/5080100891/

Learner ProgressInstitutions have the opportunity to report at the degree level or for those who are not able to report at the degree level, they may report at the institution-wide level.

Learner Retention data is a one-year retention rate that includes part-time and transfer-in students.

Charter Oak State College

Franklin University

Learner Progress

• Completion data follow the guidelines of the IPEDS GRS for cohort development but expand the definition of the students who should be counted to include part-time and transfer-in students (non-first-time, full-time students). • Completion data is reported at 150% and 200% of ‘normal time’ (as defined by the IPEDS GRS).• Institutions who can report at the degree level but for those who are unable, they may report at the institution-wide level.

Charter Oak State College Franklin University

New Data Item: Learner Progress

• Launched in August 2011– Learner Progress is an improved measure of

retention and completion that accounts for a greater number of adult students by including transfer-in and part-time students.

– The purpose of reporting Learner Progress data is, with the expanded cohort, it should be more reflective of the experience of adult learners who tend to be part-time and come to an institution with previously earned credits.

Case Study - Partner Institution: Charter Oak State College

• Helped Charter Oak become more transparent with their data

• Helped Charter Oak look at how they define data elements

• Helped Charter Oak think about how they talk about the college

• Provided Charter Oak with data for internal decision making and for accreditation

Charter Oak State College

60%65%70%75%80%85%90%95%

100%

Charter Oak and TbD Colleges' NSSE Comparison

AverageCharter Oak State College

Charter Oak State College

Partner Institution:Franklin University

• Philosophical change to embrace comparison to others

• Now use measures they had not used before• To clarify definitions of students, online,

terms, etc.• To present data targeted to external

audiences

Questions?

Contact Information• Cali Morrison, Project Director, WCET:

– cmorrison@wiche.edu 303.541.0234• Ed Klonoski, Executive Committee Chair,

Transparency by Design & President, Charter Oak State College:– eklonoski@charteroak.edu 860.832.3875

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