PLA Workgroup Meeting January 20, 2015

Transcription

1 PLA Workgroup Meeting January 20, 2015 Attendees: Craig Rickett, Jane Sherman, Caroline Knight-Wallace, Anne White, Marty Heilstedt, Sharon Buck, Pam LeMay, Jennifer Johnston, Brian Lee. Amy, Sherman, John Neace, Andy Brucia, JoAnn Baria, Amy Hatfield, Jamilyn Penn, Joyce Hammer, Jim West 1. The Workgroup reviewed the 2014 Workgroup Report to the Legislature and a summary of the report developed by WSAC. Summary data was discussed. 2. The workgroup discussed preparations for accepting policies to meet the requirements of 5969, including discussions that are occurring on campuses. How do we help campuses implement the requirements of this new legislation for awarding credit for military experience? a. Campuses are looking at procedures and policies together and some are focusing on procedures (e.g. EWU). b. Colleges are looking at their current practices and perceived disagreements related to what 5969 is asking for. c. Most colleges evaluate military transcripts when they arrive, but veterans don t always want credit at that time - they want to bank the credits. d. WSAC discussed how financially it affects veterans who repeat courses they should have received credit for the must repay the payments from VA when audited. e. Campuses are not just coming up with a policy and putting on the website. Campuses need to communicate with the veterans. f. It would be good to develop a sample communication plan for campuses for Vets. g. There are faculty who refused to review credits. The question sometimes becomes, what should we reject instead of what will we will accept. h. IDEA: build a committee to review MOS one time and then it is recorded so it does not need to be reevaluated every time. The data base is available. A committee if formed. The program director appoints faculty members. Nursing faculty for nursing courses. Some MOS will apply to other programs, but that would be the only time it is looked at again. Take credit recommendations off the JST. 3. Tommy Simpson from DOH provided a copy of his full transcript and JST for informative purposes for the entire committee. He described the process and suggested that policies being developed to meet the requirements of 5969 need to also include process. DISCUSSION a. JST has no decimal grades, only S, but colleges have limits on the number of S grades accepted towards degree. How are colleges handling this? For example, D grades not accepted now. b. IDEA: The CTC system had a workgroup that developed the common numbering system for classes. Could the database development process for commonly numbered courses be applies to the development of a system-wide database of military and other equivalencies (CLEP) that match the Washington 45? i. The Articulation and Transfer Council (ATC) takes care of requests like this within the CTC system. It would be the same process used for developing equivalencies for AP and IB.

2 ii. The Workforce Education Council (WEC) has a process for doing this with professional technical courses. iii. We need to get everyone on the same page with this (including various statewide, industry-specific committees. This is not happening now. iv. This would give institutions consistent processes, model processes, and then let institutions accept or reject the courses. v. Each institution will evaluate and ask, do you accept this course? This is why we don t.. vi. CTC representatives need to go to their IC members. Capture clarity. Align current work with initiatives coming down from IC. Recommend that IC work on this. 4. Amy Sherman, Associate Vice President for Innovation and Policy at CAEL, presented. Joanne Baria, Workforce VP at Pierce College, assisted. Amy Sherman, asherman@cael.org, a. CAEL doesn t just do PLA. All adult learners are important. We do advising, train faculty assessors, look at career and education pieces too. b. ALFI Adult Learning Focused Institutions. These are policies and procedures that for schools to serve adult learners. Faculty and staff do a self-assessment and students do one as well. It helps with strategic planning by the institution to address the needs of returning adult students. It is a membership organization, and will be presented in Baltimore. c. Got into the veterans piece 5 years ago. They were coming home and we owed it to them to provide better service nationally. There is not a lot of good data on veterans. i. Veteran completion rate 1 million records 51% who sought a degree completed between This is better than other nontraditional students. d. Look at the Million record project. Cate, C.A. (2014). Million Records Project: Research from Student Veterans of America. Student Veterans of America, Washington, DC e. The Most Nontraditional of Nontraditional Students i. More likely to be: 1. First-generation college students 2. Married 3. Have at least one dependent 4. Unique military experiences ii. Strategies for success 1. Offer clear navigation for Veteran. Clear direction. 2. Promote best practices on the ground 3. Recognize military learning 4. Link learning to work f. Strategy for Success #1 Offer clear navigation for Veteran Investing In Veterans: The Need for Career and Education Advising i. Advising brief is on the CAEL website. ii. Information overload we look at online information, but it could be too much information for the veteran (e.g. telling them to go to google to find information). iii. Timing is important for the veteran advising currently happens after they are enrolled and it needs to happen before. iv. Especially needed at three transition points: 1. Separation from the military 2. Post-military transition 3. Enrollment in postsecondary institutions v. Examples of advising models for each transition point

3 1. Separation Transitions GPS, SOCHE (Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education), 2. Transition Complete the Degree, MyMilitary GPS LifePlan 3. Enrollment University of Maryland University College (UMUC) vi. Veterans like a checklist. g. Strategy for Success #2 - Promote Best Practices i. Affinity Groups: IL and CO 1. Sharing best practices 2. Troubleshooting issues and challenges 3. Providing professional development 4. Identifying joint advocacy opportunities ii. Inventory veteran programs and services in higher education iii. Conduct regional trainings iv. Increase awareness and buy in v. Facilitate strategic planning h. Strategy for Success #3 - Recognize Military Learning i. Innovations in Military PLA - Illinois 1. LPNs-From 1600 Hours to 250 Hours (42 credit hours to 6 credit hours) 2. Participating Colleges: College of DuPage, Illinois Central College, Joliet Junior College 3. EMTs-From 1350 Hours to 675 Hours (35 credit hours to 15 credit hours) 4. Participating Colleges: Illinois Central College, Joliet Junior College, Southwestern Illinois College 5. POs-Internship Waivers; TBA in 2015 ii. Promoting Transparency - Illinois 1. Transferology: Online tool that shows student veterans how their prior military experience counts toward degree requirements at different educational institutions in Illinois. Transferology MOS is now waiving fees for folks to put in military credits. 2. Online portal utilizes both ACE Guide and Military Curriculum a. Utilizes ACE recommendations toward general degree requirements b. Utilizes DOD-provided military curriculum toward specific degree requirements c. Over 200 military articulations and growing. iii. Innovations in Military PLA Texas 1. College Credit for Heroes a. Administered by the TX Workforce Commission b Phase 1: Seven partner colleges with emphasis on allied health programs c Phase 2: Six additional colleges d. Texas Inter-College Council on Veterans (Lone Star College System) e. Online Military Credit Evaluation with transcript service (Central TX College) f. Since 2011, streamlined curricula in: i. Nursing, other health careers ii. Information Technology iii. Advanced Manufacturing iv. Engineering

4 v. Oil Field Technology g. 76 curricula accelerated for Veterans h. Acceleration curricula can award up to 59% of total credits i. Presentation by Apurva Naik, College Credit for Heroes, November 13, 2014 iv. Innovations in Military PLA Minnesota 1. MNSCU Crosswalk 2. MyMilitary GPS LifePlan (crosswalks) i. Strategy for Success #4 Link Learning to Work i. Commercial Club of Chicago ii. Veterans Healthcare Career Pathways iii. Rally.6 is a one- stopshop for veterans in Lakewood. MOU and unbiased representatives. VETCORPS is on the campus. iv. Is there a way of getting a consortium in Washington? Several colleges are invited to JBLM. Have a rally point. v. Linking commercial groups with this. Chambers, Rotary, etc. vi. Veterans want to know there is a job at the end. vii. Thinking more like an ecosystem. If you don t connect schools, employers, etc. 5. Further discussion on options to assist Veterans in Washington a. Camo to commerce get them employed immediately. Focus of funding is on this part, not college. b. We have lots of emphasis on apprenticeship pathways. c. Sometimes there is not a dedicated veteran s advisor on the campuses, but as indicated, this could be a good thing. Veterans want a veteran to advise them. But it could be better to train regular advisors too. Another idea, work with faculty who are veterans who do some advising. d. Promote Best Practices. CAEL is doing a lot in this. Veteran services coordinators on campuses can do this. They put together networks, starting with student services coordinators, worked with them to find out issues, and did some cross training. Illinois has done this. e. Inventory best practices. Conduct inventory on all campuses in Washington. f. Conduct regional training g. Increase awareness and buy-in h. Facilitate strategic planning. i. Created a pledge of excellence. 23 college presidents nationally have signed this through CAEL. j. Does Washington collect data on veterans? Investigate this since many campuses don t do this internally. k. Faculty training can make a difference. Faculty can be the early warning system. Illinois developed a train the trainer model. 50 colleges and universities have been trained. 6. Other Discussion Points a. Do we know of students who are bumping up against the 25% NWCCU limit for prior experiential learning? Get a few examples where the student has bumped up against the 25% rule. b. Industry certification. If all could come up with this and share with Jim. Connie through Western Governors. Joyce could provide industry certifications.

5 c. Course Challenge Exams at CAEL- let faculty decide the model of doing this. It was only faculty identified by CAEL initially. Now any school can sign on as part of the network. Faculty can get trained. Local faculty have right of first refusal. Faculty are paid by Learning Counts for overloads. If you are the provider college, the course is on your transcript. It is evolving.