Arkansas Research and Educational Optical Network (ARE-ON) News

5-18-2009: SREB Electronic Campus State Partners Meeting

On May 6-7, 2009, Mike Abbiatti and I attended the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Electronic Campus State Partners Meeting in Atlanta, GA as representatives of ARE-ON and the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.

Attending the SREB meeting provided invaluable information that will assist the University of Arkansas as it moves forward with participation in the Electronic Campus.

Presentations of adult learning programs were given by Al Lind of Kentucky, Houston Davis of Oklahoma, and Luke Dowden of Louisiana. Mr. Lind spoke about Kentucky’s Double the Numbers program. Mr. Davis talked with us about Oklahoma’s On-line College. Mr. Dowden presented information on Louisiana’s Center of Adult Learning in Louisiana (CALL) program.

The goal of Kentucky’s Double the Number program is to raise the state’s standard of living to the national average by 2020. In order to accomplish this, Kentucky must double the number of college graduates living in Kentucky. “Since 2000, we have increased the annual number of degrees and credentials 62 percent. And this has contributed to a remarkable increase—22 percent—in our per capita income.”

Unfortunately, Kentucky is still not improving fast enough to meet the goal. At the state’s current rate, it will take 154 years to reach the 2020 goal.

The state of Oklahoma has created an On-Line College. Seven of the state’s higher education institutions participate. The goal of this program is degree completion. From 2002 to the present, Oklahoma has seen an increase of 27% in number of degrees earned. In addition to 4 year degrees Oklahoma is reviewing the option of providing associate degrees through e-learning.

The most important group to reach is individuals with some college, but without a degree. Most universities concentrate on the 18-20 year old student. If this focus continues, enrollment projections will not be met. There simply aren’t enough constituents in that demographic. The projections for the 18-20 year old population are flat.

Louisiana created the CALL program as a master plan for public postsecondary education. The first goal is to “Increase the Educational Attainment of the State’s Population.” CALL began as a regional effort with two institutions participating. The program has expanded to cover every area of the state with four additional institutions taking part.

A few of the critical components include expanding the learning opportunities for adults and providing an opportunity for citizens to complete their degrees. Four core strategies were identified. These include: market research, program and service development, adult learning campaigns, and sharing results/informing policy.

All of the presentations from the presenters at the meeting can be found on SREB’s web-site.

The representatives I met from the 16 member states are a great resource. While the University of Arkansas has been concentrating on the Electronic Campus, the SREB offers more than the Electronic Campus. This organization provides numerous resources for students and teachers.

Information for every level of educator can be found at TheTeacherCenter.org. If you are considering a career as a teacher, teacher’s aide, administrator, counselor, school nurse, school library media specialist, looking to improve your teaching skills, or to gain/maintain professional certification, you can find on-line courses and programs, testing information and services, professional development, etc. at www.sreb.org.

As the University of Arkansas continues with the process of submitting courses to the electronic campus, there are things we need to keep in mind. One item for discussion is our potential market. This may include students presently enrolled in school, students who have some college, nurses, administrators, etc. Which group should we focus on? Many of the conversations on the UA campus have centered on degree completion. Regardless of what we decide our target is, most of our students are likely to be local.

During the implementation of the electronic campus, we need to address a number of questions. A few of the questions are as follows:

1. Does the university have a convenient on-line application process?

2. Will new class sections be created for students who enroll via the SREB web-site?

3. Is there a cap on class size?

4. Will we reserve seats for students presently in a program?

5. Will we reserve a certain number of seats for students who enroll via the SREB web-site?

6. Will financial aid be available?

Some of these questions have been answered. However, I am sure many more questions will come to mind as we continue the process.

It was noted by Joan Lord of SREB that dollars appropriated by SREB states for education has fallen from 66% to 56% while the dollars provided by tuition rates has increased from 34% to 44%. This has created a severe financial burden on students attending college. In order to continue to grow enrollment, whether on campus or at a distance, this is an issue that must be addressed. The electronic campus offers help in this area by allowing students living in one state to take classes from an institution in a different state at in-state tuition rates.

As the needs of students and the economy have changed, public institutions have been slow to response to the changing environment. This has resulted in public colleges and universities losing market share to the for-profit institutions.

Participating in the Electronic Campus is not the sole answer for serving the adult learner and/or increasing university enrollments or adults with degrees. It is simply one part of what should be a multi-faceted approach. Whichever approach a state decides on needs to be supported by a marketing campaign. People can’t use the programs if they do not know have knowledge of them.

Back to News