AACRAO held its Transfer and Technology Conference in Tucson, Arizona July 14-16 at the J.W. Marriot, where approximately 400 professionals attended and benefited from new ideas and strategies in these fields. For the benefit of all members, AACRAO is releasing a compilation of white papers with executive summaries from a number of keynote presentations from the Conferences.
Transfer: The new normal
The transfer of academic credit has been a critical feature of American higher education that's only becoming more prominent as campuses and students cope with the demographic and financial realities of the 21st century. President Obama's College Completion Agenda and the lessons learned from the recent recession have raised the visibility of transfer issues even further.
Although hampered by a lack of national data on transfer, research in the field of transfer is becoming more prevalent--thanks, in part, to Dr. Stephen J. Handel, one of the leading scholars in the field of transfer.
Dr. Handel was one of the keynote speakers at AACRAO's 2013 Transfer Conference in July, where he addressed:
- The fundamentals of the transfer partnership between community college and four“year institutions
- The increasing desire of students to transfer.
- Strategies and recommendations to enhance this vital academic conduit as envisioned by education progressives.
- The many difficulties that community college students face when transferring--such as first generation college-going students' inability to navigate the higher education system, the absence of necessary support programs, and the reluctance of four-year institutions to recruit transfer students, who represent fewer years of tuition inflow.
- Individual institutions and systems that have awakened to this student market are addressing it with recruitment and promotional efforts through structural changes in credit evaluation processes, more active articulation agreements, and special support services to facilitate the transition of transfer students to their new programs.
Download the white paper on Dr. Handel's presentation here[[[FIX]]].
AACRAO is fortunate to have Dr. Handel, recently appointed as Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Admissions for the University of California System, speaking again at the 2013 SEM Conference in Chicago November 10th, alongside Melanie Gottlieb, Director of Admissions Operations & International Campus Liaison, Webster University; and Dr. David Johnson, Vice Provost, Office of Enrollment Management, Indiana University. They will be the distinguished faculty addressing an audience for the Admissions Forum @ SEM regarding the principles, issues, foundations, trends, and future directions of Enrollment Management.
Technology: Master or servant?
To succeed, higher education institutions must also understand and use technology to develop integrated student systems and services. AACRAO's Technology Conference, held concurrently with the Transfer Conference, provides student service technology professionals with the tools to understand the next generation of information management, whether institutions use homegrown software, vendor solutions, open/community source applications, or a mix of all three.
Gwyn Richards, Dean of the Jacob School of Music, Indiana University, opened the conference by discussing Information Technology in a New Era. The Jacob School of Music is one of the premier music programs in the country due to visionary leadership and to Indiana's ability to use technology to transform how student musicians are recruited, auditioned and admitted. Selecting an incoming class at the music school requires more than a typical student information system. At Jacob, faculty have deployed an internet-based technology that facilitates remote and on campus auditions, composing skill evaluations, interviews, and follow-up. In addition, Indiana has adopted a number of new technology-enabled ventures that seek to turn music consumers into participants, deliver master classes to learners around the world, link to partner institutions in Europe and Asia, and bring more music education to underprivileged schools on a national and international level. This kind of innovation offered attendees both inspiration and practical tips for how to make technology work to meet the unique and changing needs of an institution.
The second session at AACRAO's Technology Conference was a panel discussion, led by AACRAO Executive Director Mike Reilly, which reviewed and discussed Future Trends in Higher Education. The panel included Tom Black, Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs and University Registrar, Stanford University; Paul Fain, Senior Reporter, Inside Higher Ed; and Michele Norin, Chief Information Officer, University of Arizona. There is no doubt that today's technological capabilities represent both opportunity and disruption, said Norin. All areas of the institution will feel increasing pressures to leverage technology in ways that optimize, streamline, and create better, faster ways for students to get done what they must, safely and securely. The panelists reacted to theories and questions about where trends in higher education are headed.
Download the white paper of these two sessions here[[[FIX]]].
Save the Date
AACRAO's Transfer and Technology Conference is the leading venue for examining the many facets of Transfer and Technology in higher education. Make sure you plan ahead to attend next year's Conference, which will take place July 6, 7 and 8, 2014, at the Marriot Harbor Beach in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.