Local/Regional/Global:
Building Regional Transactions to Build Global Transformations
Bob Haak, Hiram College, Vicki McGillin, Otterbein University/AICUO, Nick Santilli, Notre Dame College
Association of American Colleges & Universities, January 24, 2015
Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio
Antioch University Midwest
Ashland University
Aultman College of Nursing & Health
Sciences
Baldwin Wallace University
Bluffton University
Capital University
Case Western Reserve University
Cedarville University
Cleveland Institute of Art
Columbus College of Art & Design
University of Dayton
Defiance College
Denison University
The University of Findlay
Franciscan University of Steubenville
Franklin University
Good Samaritan College of Nursing and
Health Sciences
Heidelberg University
Hiram College
John Carroll University
Oberlin College
Ohio Christian University
Ohio Dominican University
Kenyon College
Kettering College
Lake Erie College
Lourdes University
Malone University
Marietta College
Mercy College of Ohio
Mount Carmel College of Nursing
Mount St. Joseph University
University of Mount Union
Mount Vernon Nazarene University
Muskingum University
University of Northwestern Ohio
Notre Dame College
Ohio Northern University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Otterbein University
University of Rio Grande
Tiffin University
Union Institute & University
United Theological Seminary
Urbana University
Ursuline College
Walsh University
Wilmington College
Wittenberg University
College of Wooster
Xavier University
Collaboration & Academic Culture (McGillin, 2014)
Pain
Identity
Trust
Vision
AICUO Academic Collaboration Update
The four primary proposals approved for action by the Board of AICUO and the CAO Steering Committee have been moving
forward this fall. In addition, the one remaining Working Group on MOOC Assessment has completed work on their pilot
instrument and is moving forward in the pilot phase. This is a quick update on the progress of these and other academic
collaborations.
Course Sharing
The Online Course Sharing and Language Consortium groups met collaboratively for a successful retreat in October at
Franklin University to: identify common and individual goals; highlight the campus constituencies that would need to be
included as we move forward, and; map out common elements for a Memorandum of Understanding that could be used
between and among all schools involved. The MOU Working Group, convened by Mary Kochlefl of Xavier University,
worked through a draft agreement and are in the final stages of refining that draft. This will be shared with all. They are
currently seeking input from the Chief Academic Officer Steering Committee on course fees.
Common goals for course sharing identified: helping fill holes in campus curricula, promoting collaboration as an
institutional value, emphasizing the individual learner and addressing time to degree problems caused by seat availability.
Some schools may serve as “Providers” of courses, others as “Consumers,” some may serve both roles while still others may
Collaborate together on development /offering of courses.
ONLINE COURSE SHARING PILOT: Thirteen institutions are working together to develop guidelines for the Online Course
Sharing Pilot. A “pilot-pilot” is being developed between Xavier University and Aultman College of Nursing and Health
Sciences to test this with some online language courses as early as this summer.
Next steps included: Establish a calendar; develop a common agenda/set of questions to survey all participating campuses;
convene registrars to work through details; convene it representatives to work through details; convene financial aid
representatives to address those concerns; and determine needs across campuses and issues to resolve
LANGUAGE CONSORTIUM PILOT: Twelve institutions are collaborating on a range on language sharing initiatives. They met
as part of the October retreat. Steven Stahl, Provost at Baldwin Wallace, is serving as Convener of this group. They are in
the process of developing three models: upper level instruction in less popular traditional languages (i.e., French and
German), upper level instruction in less traditional languages (Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Portuguese), and, in Spanish, for
upper level instruction and introductory and intermediate instruction. Some agreements may involve the online
collaboration while others would look at synchronous models of instruction. They are also going to explore piloting with 12 schools.
It was a matter of some interest to note that Governor Kasich has just signed Senate Bill 69, which instructs the Chancellor
to establish a Course Sharing Network across non-profits, Ohio economic development groups, colleges, universities and
adult career centers. No funding was appropriated in the bill. The Association will continue to monitor this.
Collaborative Professional Development
The Portal and Programming groups met together for a retreat in early November, also at Franklin University, to frame
elements for a common mission/vision, to identify the constituents we would serve with such an initiative, and to identify
outcomes for both an online and structured programming delivery of professional development across the state. In small
groups, institutional representatives shared their campus SWOT analyses concerning collaboration around professional
development and common elements were identified.
MISSION/VISION : Under the leadership of Laura Van Wormer (Professor of Physics at Hiram College), six members worked
with the elements generated at the retreat to craft a mission for collaborative professional development, unanimously
approved by all participants. The Mission Statement is:
The AICUO Collaborative Professional Development Initiative (CPDI) advocates for professional development at
and among member institutions. In doing so, CPDI seeks to promote, coordinate, and leverage resources for all
who teach. CPDI defines professional development as any individual or collaborative activity designed to foster and
encourage the vitality of educators in the classroom, in research, and in their educational environments. Our goals
are to optimize student learning and support a dynamic academic community of lifelong learners among the
independent colleges and universities of Ohio.
To promote the exchange of ideas across institutions about best practices in teaching (in its array of modalities),
disciplinary and pedagogical scholarship, mentoring, leadership, and advising programs, CPDI will encourage the
collaborative development of activities such as:
• Collaborative lectures, performances, workshops, or seminars;
• Funded invitations to speakers of special competence to campus;
• A portal to exchange professional development resources;
• Fundraising to further the collective goals of CPDI;
• Development of best practices for institutional approaches to professional development among member
institutions.
CPDI promotes collaborative professional activities that are reflective, engaging, creative, and informed by both
pedagogical and disciplinary knowledge but do not replace individual institutions’ initiatives.
FUNDING COLLABORATION: With the Mission Statement to guide their work, a small working group, convened by Lisa
Henderson, Assistant Provost at Baldwin Wallace University, has begun to meet to identify potential regional and national
foundations and other funding sources that will support collaborative professional development initiatives and to map out
strategies for pursuing such funds. They are researching a preliminary list of foundations and consulting with their
respective Advancement Offices on strategies and contacts.
PORTAL TEAM: Jim Bodle, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at
Mount St. Joseph University, is serving as Convener for the 11-institution strong Portal Pilot Team. Creating a professional
development sharing portal for AICUO institutions remained a priority, serving both faculty and faculty developers. They
agreed to explore, webinars, online courses, asset maps, best practices and links. They will begin by developing a survey for
faculty developers to determine what would be most valuable for their faculty.
STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING TEAM: Eleven institutions will also convene under the leadership of Howard Walters,
Professor of Education at Ashland University. This group will be working on an integrated set of professional development
initiatives, from half-day boot camps, to “baginars (brown bag video-conferenced webinars)” learning communities, online
short courses and potential endorsements of professional development for faculty. They will convene in January.
Other Academic Collaborations
MOOC ASSESSMENT: The MOOC Assessment Task Force continued to refine an instrument that would enable institutions
to assess both the institutional goal attainments and student learning outcomes achieved through offering Massive Open
Online Courses. Several institutions, including Ohio Northern and Case Western Reserve are currently piloting this.
ENGINEERING & THE LIBERAL ARTS: We have held two meetings of a statewide affinity group of Directors/Deans of
engineering, dual degree engineering and engineering/physics programs to identify common interests among the growing
numbers of Ohio institutions offering engineering with a strong basis in arts and sciences curriculum.
OH/WV/Western PA HIGHER EDUCATION RECRUITMENT CONSORTIUM: The challenges around hiring faculty and
professionals who are part of a dual career couple was a common concern across the Chief Academic Officers of AICUO. The
Association assisted Case Western Reserve and the Ohio State University in recruiting institutional members for a recruiting
consortium that would serve Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. This consortium launched late last spring as the
largest new HERC launch in the national consortium’s history. Visit the web page at: http://www.hercjobs.org/oh-westernpa-wv/ .
OHPKAL: Given the prioritization of STEM for the state of Ohio, the Association helped to establish a public/private
partnership, Ohio Project Kaleidoscope (OH-PKAL). Affiliated with the National PKAL organization, a part of the Association
of American Colleges and Universities, OH-PKAL will hold their first conference on post-secondary STEM pedagogy this
coming May. More can be found at the website: https://www.aacu.org/pkal/regional/ohio .