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Data-Driven Decision Making

Dare To Share

5/1/2007

By Linda L Briggs

Importantly, the consortium has an oversight committee that serves as its governing board and policymaking body. Each college assigns individual representatives, with the chief academic officer usually the ranking member for each college. Distance learning coordinators from various member schools, as well as one or more of the consortium’s five staff members, also attend oversight meetings.

You put all seven Iowa Community Colleges in a room and there’s give and take such as, ‘What we can do to this course?,’ It’s phenomenal to watch them interact without competing. — Rhonda McElroy, ICCOC

The group’s main objective in forming, according to ICCOC Director Steve Rheinschmidt, was to offer online degrees in an across-the-state, coordinated effort. Toward that end, the Iowa consortium shares an eLearning management platform from eCollege. Yet, because of the success it has had since its formation, the consortium also has begun to share other software and services (one example: online tutoring software from Smarthinking).

Convincing the Board

Determined to get a consortium effort off the ground or join an existing group? Heed these words of wisdom.

THE CHALLENGE OF FORMING a consortium in higher education is considerable, according to Edwin Welch, president of the University of Charleston (WV). “There are dramatic impediments to schools doing this,” he observes, adding, “I’ve heard presidents say, ‘I’m not going to impose that on my people; they want their own shop.’Well, that decision is costing those schools hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.” When discussing the issue with private college presidents across the country,Welch discovered that the hesitation often comes down to dollars and cents, and qualms about sharing systems and data. To counter the apprehension, he suggests emphasizing cost savings first. “Presidents get motivated by saving dollars,” he points out. “They’re trying to balance the budget, particularly in small schools where they don’t have a lot of money.”

Second, he advises, highlight the richness of resources available through sharing software, and point to the experience and advice of other small institutions facing many of the exact same challenges and opportunities.

Third, he adds, “Debunk the myth about security and sharing, and the concerns about losing control or allowing another school to take advantage of you.”

What if you can’t get other regional institutions interested?

One reason that Nichols College, located in Massachusetts, is the only New England school in the



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