Hi everyone!

I hope you're all doing well on these cool, grey days! 

Last week, I attended the WCET Annual Conference, including the one-day SAN preconference. It was great to spend time with the small group of individuals who do this work at other colleges and universities, hear about what they're doing, and discuss upcoming issues and concerns. 

I presented on a panel with Phil Hill from MindWires and Carolyn Fast from The Century Foundation, where we discussed the changing OPM (Online Program Management) market, the regulatory landscape, and what the future may hold. Phil has a fantastic series of blog posts and a graphic that compares the OPM landscape to the Mad Max franchise—definitely worth a read. You can check out his most recent post on the topic here. 

In summary, it was a great session with insightful discussions between the three of us, followed by excellent questions and audience interactions. Unfortunately, we didn’t use or create slides to share. I did however manage to use "shiny and chrome" once in a response trying to stay on theme with Phil’s Mad Max analogy. 

I also participated in another panel with Marianne Boeke, Acting President of NC-SARA, Heather DeLange from CDHE, and Dierdre Coulter from WICHE, discussing compliance management for out-of-state activities. Preparing for this session made me reflect on how we manage and report on out-of-state placements and activities. I'm guessing your process, like mine, involves multiple contacts, touchpoints, a few spreadsheets from different departments and programs, and plenty of emails. 

Tracking experiential learning opportunities for our students is challenging, and many of us in state authorization are focusing on it this year. As we explore these processes, we're realizing that we shouldn't limit our tracking to just out-of-state activities. While we are required to report out-of-state placements, what about those students who stay within the state for placements? Do we know where they're going and why? This presents an opportunity to collaborate with other areas on campus, learn more about their processes, and potentially develop a more comprehensive system for tracking off-campus opportunities. This could benefit various departments and units, like Career Services, and help with future planning and strategy development for student educational experiences. 

I was excited to learn that the College of Education and OIT at Boulder are already working on a system to collect all this information. We recently had the opportunity to review some of what they’re developing, and now we're preparing to introduce the concept to other units on campus to gauge interest. If this gains widespread support, Boulder will absolutely share the tool with other campuses. In the meantime, how are you tracking out-of-state activities? Who else uses this data, and for what purposes? Is this an easy task? LOL, no, definitely not! There's a reason many of us are just now addressing it. 

I also got my reminder from Boulder that it's nearly time for the catalog review process to begin. Every year, the wonderful folks in the Registrar’s Office let me join in to ensure that state authorization and professional licensure details are well-documented, the text isn't misleading, and our relationships with accreditors are clearly articulated. This kind of "compliance management" should be part of our annual review processes. Who manages this on your campus, and how do you ensure the language remains accurate and up to date in publications that students access? 

Lastly—don't forget that SARA renewal season is approaching! Renewal alerts will be sent out sometime between 11/25 and 12/2, and everything will be due shortly after Christmas. It might be a good idea to get a head start on gathering documents and information now. I also suggest getting on your Provost’s calendar for a quick walkthrough of what they'll be signing so you can submit everything to the SPE before the holiday break. My November update will include reminders about each section and the information we’ll need for our renewal application.