This is a continuation from my blog about what every institution should consider to ensure that an adult education program fits with an institution’s past, present and future goals.

Previously I highlighted that an Adult Education Program must have:

1. Institutional Mission-Driven Objectives
2. Integrated Market Research, Branding, Promotion
3. Streamlined Organization & Systems
4. Distinctive, Relevant and Affordable Programs
5. Feeder Partnerships and Relationships
6. Student-Centered Delivery Modalities

Continuing down our Adult Education Truths path, here are three more key areas to consider:

7.     Reliable Technology Solutions

Because of today’s integrated educational culture, institutions of higher education must be able to support their students both in and outside the classroom. Today’s adult learners have sophisticated needs, high standards and require even greater levels of reliable technology, access and support than ever before. When considering technology for adult learners, institutions must consider the following:

• Are the institution’s adult education program technology solutions sophisticated in nature and well positioned to support the integrated curricular and operational needs of students, faculty and staff?  
• Does the institution’s instructional technology area have the holistic capacity and infrastructure to support robust and evolving technology solutions?

8.     Rigorous Curriculum Oversight

What does the curriculum look like at your institution? Meeting the needs of adult learners face-to-face and online is increasingly becoming more popular and your institution must have a curriculum to match, with the right people to foster it’s ongoing evolution, rigor and outcomes.

• Do the full-time faculty own the adult education curriculum at the institution?
• How is the adult education curriculum designed?
• Through what means and how often is the adult education curriculum evaluated?
• Who conducts these evaluations?
• How is the adult education undergraduate curriculum linked to the institution’s traditional undergraduate curriculum?
• How are curricular changes proposed and implemented, and by whom?

9.     Uncompromising Access & Convenience

Similar to technology, adult learners seek flexibility in their education. While most are working full time, they want to be able to access their classes, assignments and classmates online, in-person, through their mobile devices and more. Your institutions must be committed to meeting their many and varied needs, while constantly peeking behind the curtain to see what’s not only best practice, but next practice.

• What is the experience of adult education students in terms of their routine access to advising, faculty, curricular information, and other key student services throughout their academic experience?
• How are office and facility schedules designed to serve the unique needs of adult education students?

This is a continuation from my blog

Previously I highlighted that an Adult Education Program must be Mission Driven; have Integrated Market Research, Branding and Promotion; and have Streamlined Organization & Systems. Continuing in this vein, there are a few more key areas to consider:

4. Distinctive, Relevant, Affordable Programs 

Your institution’s Adult Education Program’s mission must focus on creating and maintaining a program of distinction that is affordable and relevant for today’s learners and employers.  To ensure you’re meeting this objective you need to ask the following questions of your institution’s program:

• How do your institution’s program offerings compare with current market needs?
• What are the program distinctives and to what extent can members of the College or University articulate these distinctives?
• How do current pricing/aid strategies position the College or University programs relative to regional competitors and other relevant options?
• How is the College or University measuring, both internally and externally, whether or not its adult education programs are producing the kinds of outcomes that are desirable to students, faculty, employers, and accrediting agencies?

5. Feeder Partnerships and Relationships

To have a truly successful program you need to find best-fit students from a multitude of sources.  Ask yourself:

• How has the College or University leveraged partnerships with feeder colleges, companies and other organizations to increase awareness and enrollment in its adult education degree programs?
• What is the relationship with the traditional undergraduate programs at the College or University in terms of a productive pipeline for graduate students in particular?
• How are alumni of the adult education programs engaged in the relationship development process?
• Where does the institutional responsibility for building and sustaining effective internal and external partnerships reside?

6. Student-Centered Delivery Modalities

Demands on adult students are significant.  They seek out programs that focus on outcomes and provide convenience in achieving them.  It is important to consider the following questions to be certain your program is student-centered:

• Are program delivery options flexible and uniquely student-centered?
• Are adult education programs delivered in a traditional classroom setting?
• Does the College or University offer adult education degree programs that are fully online?
• Does the College or University offer an adult education degree programs in a hybrid (online and on ground) modality?
• What kind of student satisfaction research is done on a regular basis and how have those results been integrated into ongoing student-centered program delivery?

While all these factors are important, several more need to be considered to be certain your institution’s adult education program thrives.

• Support from a dedicated leadership and campus community is essential.
• Annual reinvestments in adult education staff and technology are critical.
• Optional delivery methods, both online and on ground, are critical for adult learners as they tend to balance home and family-life among careers.
• Curriculum must be rigorous and driven by the institution and its faculty.

White House Official, Private College Presidents to Address Higher Education Affordability at Jan. 31 NAICU Annual Meeting Session
Source: NAICU

A week after President Barack Obama warned colleges and universities in his State of the Union address that they were “on notice” to keep tuition increases in check or risk losing federal money, senior White House education adviser Zakiya Smith and three private college presidents will address higher education affordability on Tuesday, Jan. 31, at a panel session titled “College Affordability: Issues and Solutions.”

Big Data’s Arrival
Source: Inside Higher Ed

An ambitious research project is proving the payoffs of predictive analytics in higher ed, and early findings overturn conventional wisdom about student success.

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For more information, email Will directly. We welcome Will to our team!

You can visit the exhibit at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, Norwegian-American Lutheran Colleges: Institutions of higher education shaped by religious and ethnic identity. The exhibit is available through April 7, 2012.

‘U.S. News’ Sizes Up Online-Degree Programs, Without Specifying Which Is No. 1
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education

U.S. News & World Report has published its first-ever guide to online degree programs—but distance-education leaders looking to trumpet their high rankings may find it more difficult to brag about how they placed than do their colleagues at residential institutions.

Pulling for Better E-Textbook Prices
Source: Inside Higher Ed

Universities have started banding together to negotiate favorable contracts with software vendors. With new effort, a group of them aims to exercise similar leverage with publishers on behalf of students.

University Presidents Return to the Classroom
Source: Washington Post

More college and university presidents are teaching classes at their institutions, leading courses that range in topics from constitutional law to freshman orientation to “real-world” life lessons.

With NSF Support, Research Moves Into Science Labs of 2-Year Colleges
Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education

A $3.35-million grant from the National Science foundation will enable Mr. Hewlett’s project team to run workshops for 16 community colleges nationwide. The grant will pay for their supplies, equipment, faculty and curriculum development, and stipends for student research assistants. The goal is to give students of biology in community colleges the chance to do research on open-ended, real-world questions with no predetermined answers – and experience all the rewards and frustrations that come with that work.

This phase involves the construction of two additional residence halls similar to the ones we designed two years ago. Building 3 has approximately 86 beds in two, four and five person apartments with minimal public space. Building 4 is comprised of 12 person suites and houses 100 students. There will also be a new community building attached to building 4 that will contain a new fitness center, residence life offices, student organization offices and other student lounge spaces.

As you can see, building 3 is starting to rise up from the site and building 4 will be following next month. The community building will start in a few months as well. For more information, contact Phil Bolender, Project Architect.

The University currently enrolls around 400 students, but can grow immensely in this new location. Below are some pictures from our team’s recent construction site visit to  new academic center in West Point, GA. The project is on schedule and moving ahead at full speed for an anticipated May completion. For more information on this project, email Phil Bolender, Project Captain at Performa Higher Education.