Total Integration: Prior Learning Assessment, College and Corporate Articulation 2012 CIAC Annual...

Total Integration: Prior Learning Assessment, College and Corporate Articulation

2012 CIAC Annual Conference

Western International

University of Phoenix

April 27, 2012

ABOUT WESTERN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Today: Campuses are located in Phoenix, Chandler, and Scottsdale, Arizona and

wherever you are with our West Interactive Online campus

The West Story

Phoenix, AZ Chandler, AZ

1978

Western International University was founded in

Phoenix, AZ

1984

Accredited by The Higher Learning Commission

2002

Launched Interactive Online Program

2010

Became part of Apollo Global, a consolidated subsidiary of Apollo Group, and joined with sister schools in the United Kingdom, Chile,

and Mexico

Scottsdale, AZ

Why Students and Corporations Choose to Go West

Global Perspective

Inspiring Teachers

Online ClassesReplicate Campus

Experience

International Curriculum

Maximum Flexibility

Support ServicesSmall

Class SizePrior Learning Assessment

CORPORATE ARTICULATION

Why Implement Corporate Articulation:• To build a skilled and knowledgeable workforce

• To increase productivity and employee retention

• To grant their employees college level credit for corporate trainings and certifications

• To strengthen employee loyalties and aid in succession planning, retaining employees who are eager to improve their skills with educational development

• To add value to internal training programs by giving the reward of college credit as an extra benefit

• To help control corporation’s overhead on educational costs.

How West Partners with Corporate Organizations

• Our dedicated Corporate Education Department:– Creates and grows strategic relationships – Fosters integrity and social responsibility – Focuses on partnering with corporate organizations that change lives through education

• Through discovery meetings our Corporate Education Liaisons work in concert with the organization to identify which opportunities will benefit the partner organization the most– Opportunities may include:

• Providing services onsite• Educational attainment surveys• Community workforce development events• Workshops• Benefits fairs

Corporate Articulation Workflow

Develop list of corporate organizations who would benefit from

West’s services

Schedule discovery meeting with organization

Create original proposal based on meeting outcomes

Upon corporate approval, West creates and presents service

agreement

Service agreement tracked on SharePoint

site

All departments are alerted about the new

agreement

PLA begins the evaluation process

Accomplishments14 service agreements that reach an employee

base of 76,000 employees52 discovery meetings took place between our department and prospect organizations

The CEL department participated in 218 onsite service opportunities and 93 community

events

What We Learned

Discovery meetings are essential to creating meaningful partnerships.

• In particular, it is important to research and specifically address:

• What are the organization’s particular needs?• What benefits are most appealing?• How can we help reduce tuition costs?• How can we help apply college level learning

towards degree programs?

We needed a secure internal platform where we could store and share the partnership agreements with other

departments.

• Created a SharePoint site where we could house the agreements and send alerts to the various departments as the partnerships are approved.

PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT

• Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is:– An alternative way to evaluate college-level knowledge which students have acquired outside the

traditional college classroom– Two Services: Professional Training and Experiential Essays

• Opportunities for credit may include (and are not limited to): – Licenses– Professional certificates– American Council on Education – National College Credit Recommendation Service– And more…

What is Prior Learning Assessment?

• To recognize working adult students’ accomplishments outside of the classroom via potential credit that can be applied towards a degree

• Studies have shown that offering PLA may increase graduation rates and help with student retention

• It is a service to students that is tangible and can truly assist them

Why Implement PLA?

How PLA Was Implemented at West

Developed overarching strategy for the

department

Obtained buy in from Deans, Faculty,

Academic Affairs staff, and other decision

makers

Researched how other schools are using PLA

with their students.

Aligned West’s PLA standards with

Admissions Department policies

Met with other departments to assess how PLA would affect

them

Mapped out process and standard operating

procedures

Tested systems and procedures

Developed communication plan

and training materials

Program was released

In the first year West had 4% of their students use PLA

Pre-evaluations for potential students and current students.

Incorporated Bloom’s Taxonomy into the evaluation process. Developed robust faculty training program.

Began a series of monthly online student workshops and onsite workshops at the

companies in order to promote the program.

Accomplishments in Year One

What We Learned

Having properly educated faculty and evaluators is critical to the success of the

program.

• Quickly implemented a robust training program for faculty evaluators.

• Added the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to add rigor and consistency to the evaluations.

There are specific reporting needs that should be addressed in order to validate

PLA services.

• Via a SharePoint site, we have created a workflow and ticket system to track all requests and processes.

• This has given us the ability to track the number of files processed, pre-evaluations, phone calls, credits awarded, grad team submissions, and turnaround time

• This validates the use of PLA, which counselors or Grad Teams are using it, and any trends we notice.

Training is essential for those staff members charged with promoting the

program.

• Implemented training for frontline counselors so that they are able to intelligently educate students on the PLA service.

• Deployed a series of monthly workshops that our counselors can refer their students to in order to get pre-qualified and learn more about the service.

QUESTIONS?

College ArticulationPrior Learning AssessmentCorporate Articulation

19

Maximizing Learning to Support Credential Attainment in a Diverse Market

Suzanne Toniny and Felicia NepomucenoWorkforce SolutionsUniversity of Phoenix

© 2012 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Associate of Arts Seamless Transfer

www.phoenix.edu/communitycollege

Associate of Arts Seamless Transfer: Effective for new students applying to University of Phoenix on or after 09/01/2011, students who have earned an Associate of Arts degree from a regionally accredited community college will be able to transfer their AA in its entirety for a block credit transfer, instead of assessing the credits on a course by course basis. This policy is applicable towards programs with our standard 54 credit General Education block.


http://www.phoenix.edu/communitycollege

UOPX College Articulation: Occupational Education Student Service

• Transfer Pathways exist for Applied Science students or other Associate Degree types that are traditionally considered terminal –meaning not leading to further post-secondary studies to complete baccalaureate degrees

• Credit maximized through Transfer Programs with higher interdisciplinary and elective credit requirements such as the Bachelor of Science in Management or Bachelor of Science in Psychology

• Acceptance of courses that may have vocational/professional content providing they are taught, offered, and applicable at the Associate’s Degree (Freshman) Level from the Previous Institution

For more information about our on-time completion rates, the median loan debt incurred by students who complete a program and other important information, please visit our web site at phoenix.edu/programs/gainful-employment.html


UOPX College Articulation: Bucket System

• Instead of requiring a specific course-to-course match for general education and elective transfer credits, student fulfill the majority of these credit requirements in content areas or “buckets” per the degree requirements.

• Benefits of a bucketing system include:o Allows for more flexibility in the acceptance of previous activity in

transfero Creates a transfer pathway that accommodates more degree build

designs and philosophies from multiple institution typeso Doesn’t restrict students to one set of lower division general

education curriculum requirements


Apollo Group

Please assure that all programs this refers to use the "bucket" format. CP

UOPX College Articulation: Going Beyond a 2+2 With Course Waivers

• The University defines a waiver as the substitution of a UOPX required course with a course of the same level listed on an official transcript from another institution.

• Students may fulfill required course of study units with coursework completed at a community college when requirements are met.

• Students requesting course waivers must:– Make formal written requests to the central Office of Admissions &

Evaluation– Utilize the Request for Course Waiver Form citing the courses they

request to be waived, the courses to be transferred into the required course of study, and the university where the courses were completed

– Provide an official catalog course description and an official transcript


Course Waivers Sample on Transfer Pathway Document

Community College Center of Excellence

Vision To build a world class, globally competitive workforce through community college partnerships

Mission

1. To increase nationwide baccalaureate attainment by providing access through University of Phoenix and community college alliances

2. To form Transfer Pathways supporting community college completion and University enrollment

3. To create market-based Advisory Teams uniting business, academic, and diversity leaders for performance-based outcomes

4. To provide resources allowing students to make informed workforce and education decisions through workforce CLEAR pathway events

5. To integrate diversity and community college partners to improve student retention through student support


UOPX Community College Center of Excellence Alliance Benefits

• Tuition reduction* for University of Phoenix transfer students who complete an associate’s degree at an alliance community college

• Tuition reduction* for employees of alliance member colleges who enter into Bachelor’s level and above University of Phoenix program

• Student Transfer Trends and Outcomes Reporting to measure student success and transfer credit trends

• Transfer Pathways created in focus areas that clearly outline how courses from an associate’s degrees apply to baccalaureate programs at University of Phoenix

• Transfer Pathways are shared with business and diversity leaders through our UOPX P3 Initiative so more students become aware of Transfer Pathways

• Offers the students of alliance community colleges a Prior Learning Assessment fee waiver*

• Bridges the gap between workforce non-credit training and associate’s and Bachelor's degree attainment

*Where available© 2012 University of Phoenix, Inc. All rights reserved.

Apollo Group

Please see added asterisks and note

College Articulation: UOPX Community College Center of Excellence

27

Manufacturing ClientDegreed, diverse future leaders exhibiting both technical & managerial skills

University – Master’s Degree

Master of Business Administration/Global Management

University – Bachelor’s Degree

Bachelor of Science in Management/Manufacturing

Community College System – Associate’s Degree

Associate of Applied Science Degree/Welding | Mechanical Engineering | Logistics Management

Community College System - Certificate

Applied Science Manufacturing Certificate | Logistics Management I Basic Electronics

EMPLOYEE AQUISITIONEMPLOYEE RETRAINING




Connecting Pathways with the Workforce Manufacturing Example


University of Phoenix Corporate Articulation and Prior Learning AssessmentAligning Workforce Expertise with Academic Excellence


Suzanne ToninyUniversity of PhoenixArticulation Specialist

Corporate Articulation


Corporate Articulation is the formal evaluation of internal trainings offered at a corporation or training organization. The purpose of the agreement is to define the

amount of credit for which corporate training is eligible when submitted to the Prior Learning Assessment Center (PLA).

Credit Recommendation Guides

A Credit Recommendation Guide is a tool outlining internal training that has been reviewed for possible college level credit.

• Details the training courses that have been pre-evaluated and may be applied for college credit

• Outlines General Education/Interdisciplinary equivalency and the amount or credits recommended

• Eases the PLA submission process


Credit Recommendation Guide


Transferable Training

Transferable Training Contains Academic Theory

Examples of Transferable Topics May Include:

• Management / Leadership• Health Care / Nursing / EMT• Human Resources• Information Technology / Programming• Finance / Securities / Accounting• Real Estate / Insurance

Defining Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)


PLA is the evaluation of learning obtained in a non-traditional format for the transfer of credit towards a credential.

Examples may include:

• Corporate Professional Development

• Professional Training

• Coursework that did not transfer• accredited or unaccredited institutions, continuing education

• Experience-based Learning

Two Main Types of Prior Learning Assessment

• Professional Training Portfolio (PTP): Includes formal training such as licenses, certificates, professional development, continuing education, etc.;• Includes submissions from pre-evaluated training resources

• Corporate articulation (CRG) • Apollo QuickList

• Experiential Learning Essay (ELE): Essay written about life experiences that taught principles discussed in an approved essay topic (students do not earn credit for the experience, but the learning obtained through the experience.)


Experiential Learning Essay (ELE)

An essay that demonstrates learning and knowledge obtained through personal and professional experiences. (students do not earn credit for the experience, but the learning obtained through the experience.)

• 1, 2, and 3 Credit Essays• Kolb’s Learning Model• Reviewed by faculty

PLA Credit Potential

Maximum Credit Earning Potential*

Category Bachelor’s Degree Associate’s Degree

Professional Training Portfolio

30 15

Experiential Learning Essay

30 15

National Testing Programs+

30 30

Total 60 30


*Some additional restrictions may apply by State of residence or Program selection.+ NTPs do not require a UOPX Prior Learning Assessment evaluation and may go through the standard evaluation process in the Office of Admission and Evaluation

Credits awarded and applied to student program

Posting and Quality Assurance

PTP Evaluation ELE Evaluation

• Essay submissions sent to Faculty Evaluator • Evaluation results emailed to student

• Student academic record reviewed for credit deficiency• Evaluation results emailed to student

PLA Evaluation Process: Professional Training Portfolio & Experiential Learning

Essay


Student submits online application, submission payment is verified, student receives email from PLA

Submission of any Missing Documentation

Student is given 20 days to submit missing or additional documentation to complete evaluation

Application is placed in PLA workflow until assigned to a Portfolio Evaluator

Application Enters PLA Workflow

Student Submits Application

Questions

Total Integration: Prior Learning Assessment, College and Corporate Articulation 2012 CIAC Annual...

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