Tools and Tips for Submitting
Responses Electronically
best practices to efficiently prepare
your institution's responses
Why the change?
Standardized responses are easier to review
• Volunteers from the industry review these
responses and other documentation.
• Having all responses in the same format helps
reviewers evaluate more easily, and therefore,
more thoroughly.
Basic Requirements
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Save as a PDF
Send in on CD or Thumb Drive
PDF is saved as optimized for Web and Email
File size must be under 50MB
Submit a single PDF
These instructions are available on the ABHES
web site at http://www.abhes.org/forms
Example Response
Response Sections
• Cover Letter
• Issue One
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Issue Two
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Cite the accreditation standard violated
Copy explanation from evaluation report
Response narrative
Exhibit to support response
Cite the accreditation standard violated
Copy explanation from evaluation report
Response narrative
Exhibit to support response
Repeat Format for additional issues
Cover Letter
• The cover letter must identify the document
as the response to the Visitation Report or
Commission Action letter.
• Must reference the specific date of the
Visitation Report or Commission Action letter.
Example Cover Letter
Issue Responses
For each issue:
• Cite the accreditation standard violated (ex. V.A.5. A program has
an active advisory board of in-field specialists…)
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Copy Explanation from Evaluation report (ex. The Distance
Education representative attending the Advisory Board is a school
employee. The institution…)
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A detailed narrative explanation of the violation with a description
of any institutional changes made to correct the area of
noncompliance.
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Identified exhibits (e.g., Exhibit 1 - McCarthy_resume) to support
the narrative explanation using electronic bookmarks placed within
the document.
Example Response
File Name Requirement
• File name is ID followed by School Acronym
followed by -Resp- ending with the date
• ID-School Acronym-Resp-Date of response
• Date is in mm-dd-yy format
• No spaces – use underscores ( _ ) if needed
• Keep school acronym short
• Ex. I-005-01-BMM-Resp-09-10-11.pdf
Tools to Use
Word 2007, 2010 or 2011 (Mac)
• Save as PDF
• Create bookmarks
Adobe Acrobat or PDF Creator (Windows)
Preview (Mac)
• Create bookmarks
Scanning in Exhibits
• Scan as jpg
• Save as optimized for web or email to reduce
file size. Make sure document is legible.
• Add to Word document as picture. Arrange so
the exhibit displays after the corresponding
response.
• If you do not have a dedicated scanner but do
have a smart phone, use scanner apps like
Genius Scan or CamScanner
Inserting Exhibits
• Create a new page for each exhibit
• Do not renumber Exhibits for each section
• Copy and Paste text from other documents or
insert scanned exhibits as pictures
• Put the Exhibit name at the top of the page –
ex. Exhibit 1 – Board Meeting Agenda Feb 7
2012
Adding Scanned Exhibits to Word
Creating Bookmarks in Word
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Select Insert from the Word ribbon/menu
Select the exhibit page title
Select Bookmark from the Insert ribbon
Name Bookmark – use the exhibit name.
Bookmark names must begin with a letter and
cannot contain spaces or dashes.
Creating Bookmarks in Word
Creating Bookmarks in Word
Creating Hyperlinks in Word
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Insert bookmarks first
Select the text you want to hyperlink
Select Insert from the Word ribbon/menu
Select Hyperlink from the Insert ribbon
When the Hyperlink window pops up, select
Place in This Document from the left side
• In the “Select a place in this document:” box,
select the bookmark you want the text to
point to
Creating Hyperlinks in Word
Creating Hyperlinks in Word
Saving as a PDF in Word
• After creating bookmarks, select Save As, then
Save as type: PDF
• Make sure the file name follows the
recommendations - Ex. I-005-01-BMM-Resp09-10-11.pdf
• Next to “Optimize for:” select the Minimum
size (publishing online) option
• Select Options and click on “Create
bookmarks using:” and “Word bookmarks”
Saving as a PDF in Word
Sending Your Response In
• Copy the PDF file onto a thumb drive/memory
stick or CD.
• Mail the thumb drive or CD to:
ABHES
7777 Leesburg Pike, Suite 314N
Falls Church, VA 22043