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Comprehensive Learner Record/Learning and Employment Record

Building A Learning and Employment Record

AACRAO is a long-standing leader in the advancement of innovation in learner records.  Since 2015 AACRAO has supported the development of over 50 CLR/LER projects across the U.S.  AACRAO is working to promote awareness and advance knowledge around the Learner Employment Record (LER), a system that contains verifiable information about a person’s achievements spanning an inclusive range of contexts to include the CLR, the higher education component of the LER, in order to provide credentials that represent the skills and competencies achieved by the student during their academic career.  These learner records seek to capture, record, and communicate learning when and where it happens in a student’s higher education experience in ways that traditional transcripts are not usually able to accomplish. This includes learning outcomes from courses, programs, degrees, and experiences students have outside the classroom that helps develop their career-ready skills and abilities.

AACRAO Consulting will work with you and your team to provide recommendations for academic record practices that protect the integrity and validity of these expressions of learner achievement, supporting the principles of interoperability and student-centered records.  

While institutions should have various stakeholders engaged in CLR/LER exploration, implementation, and management, AACRAO strongly believes the Registrar must play a vital and necessary role to assure the expansion of the learner record and that its expressions beyond the institution are valid, have integrity, and represent the learner.  Additionally, as stewards of learning data, the Registrar defines and operationalizes the processes and practices to ensure compliance with Federal, State, institutional and academic policies while also providing the means and scale through which the curriculum is taught, recorded, and expressed on behalf of the learner for those outside the institution.

AACRAO CLR consulting services are learner-focused.  We believe the main reason to develop and deliver a comprehensive learner record is to demonstrate the learning outcomes of your students.  

The AACRAO process

Your CLR/LER planning and implementation process begins with a careful assessment of multiple areas, first focusing on the needs of the learners you serve - from delivery of student services, to use of staff resources, to workflow processes, to how you leverage technology.

Together, we’ll consider new CLR/LER strategies and processes, allowing you to:

  • Build frameworks and communication plans related to the CLR/LER

  • Measure, capture, and assess learning data

  • Analyze and understand data needs, inputs, sources and connections

  • Facilitate collaboration and stakeholder involvement

  • Identify goals and measure your success in reaching them

  • Enhance the use of technology to drive efficiencies and improve service

  • Work with curricular and co-curricular stakeholders to identify and record learning where and when it happens

  • Assist in evaluating current curricular and co-curricular landscape 

  • Determine areas, practices, and policies for the development of additional alternate credentials 

  • Evaluate the many components of a successful CLR/LER project

Contact AACRAO Consulting today to schedule your CLR Planning and Implementation and learn how we can help you.

Related Resources

Virginia Tech

Location: Blacksburg, VA

Objective:

With multiple campus locations across the state, Virginia Tech is a leading comprehensive, land-grant institution offering 110 bachelor’s degree programs through nine colleges. In 2017, a new vice-provost for enrollment management identified salient issues within the admissions operation and wanted a neutral, outside expert to help assess and document the current state of the operation as well as provide a path for moving forward to address any needed changes. AACRAO Consulting was called in to assist Virginia Tech in this endeavor.

Challenge:

Up to this point, the admissions department at Virginia Tech had been operating in an isolated fashion, cut off not only from other critical functions of the university but also from itself. Staff within admissions were attempting to do their jobs with a lack of information and clarity, minimal access to concrete data to measure their effectiveness, inefficient processes, and outdated technology.

The new leadership knew that addressing these challenges would require a fresh perspective from an outside, neutral source with first-hand knowledge in admissions best practices. The university was also looking for an expert who could work quickly to assess the situation and provide actionable recommendations that would generate immediate results. That expert was AACRAO Consulting.

Solution:

AACRAO Consultants conducted two on-site visits at Virginia Tech, during which they completed a full operational review of the admissions department. This included carefully evaluating documents, data, staff roles and structure, communications, technologies, processes and practices. During their on-site visits, AACRAO Consultants spoke with members of the admissions team to understand their perspectives on the challenges they faced as well as identify the sources of communication and process breakdowns.

Taking their findings into account, AACRAO Consulting developed and presented a report with detailed recommendations that ranged from basic improvements to more substantial institutional changes. The report also called out best practices, particularly for adopting and transitioning to more current technology to better support the admissions team in their work. AACRAO Consulting additionally addressed more sensitive issues around university culture and how culture, intentional or unconsciously, can impact an institution’s ability to reach a more diverse student population.

Results:

Virginia Tech implemented 100 percent of AACRAO Consulting’s recommendations, including the adoption of an updated CRM platform. Now the university leads the state in using the latest admissions technology to streamline student communications, track and leverage admissions data, and improve recruitment and yield efforts. The admissions team has also been able to unify a number of processes, eliminating redundancies and driving efficiencies.

The improvements they’ve implemented have helped close major gaps in the university’s admissions processes and expedite response rates for prospective and admitted students. Virginia Tech followed up their initial engagement with a second AACRAO Consulting collaboration to develop the university’s holistic admissions approach.

In 2019, Virginia Tech succeeded in putting all the recommended changes in place, and is now experiencing significant growth. In 2018, the university processed 32,000 applications — a record number. In 2019, they set out to achieve a 400-student increase over 2018 numbers for freshmen enrollments, and a 240-student increase for transfer students. In fact, the university exceeded its enrollment goal by nearly 1,000 students.

Thanks to the changes Virginia Tech implemented around diversity and culture in the admissions office and to the transformational changes to the admissions process, the university also saw a 27 percent increase in African-American students; a 49 percent increase in Hispanic and Latinx students; a 48 percent increase in first-generation students; a 60 percent increase in international students; and a 100 percent increase in veteran students. Newly admitted students now represent 49 different states and 64 countries, 34 of which are new to Virginia Tech.

 

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Testimonials

One of the big plusses of working with AACRAO Consulting is that their people have extensive experience in the field. They are seasoned professionals who have been in my shoes, and know how to work with culture and change in the real-world operation of an institution. They also understand the need for recommendations to be actionable. I appreciated their ability to dissect the situation, get right to the meat of the issue, and prioritize implementation. Their insight and guidance proved invaluable in helping us manage change. I couldn’t have asked for more empathic and professional consultants.

—Luisa Havens Gerardo, PhD, Vice Provost, Enrollment Management, Virginia Tech University

Contact an AACRAO Consultant today with questions.

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