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Update on APSCU Litigation
From UPCEA
On February 21, 2012, a three judge panel1 of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments from the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (“APSCU”) and the U.S. Department of Education (“Department”) regarding APSCU’s challenge to several of the Department’s “program integrity” regulations including those on state authorization. APSCU was successful in having the District Court strike down Section 600.9(c) of the state authorization regulations, the regulation related to distance education, on technical grounds. The lower court found that the Department failed to provide proper notice and opportunity for public comment.2
The oral arguments focused mostly on the other two issues on appeal: the federal misrepresentation and incentive compensation regulations. There was, however, discussion about whether the Department provided sufficient notice that the state authorization regulations would be changed in the rulemaking. The Department argued that related discussions in the notice of proposed rulemaking, focused mostly on reciprocity agreements and citations to the relevant statute, were sufficient to constitute notice, while APSCU argued that they were not. APSCU also renewed its argument, rejected by the District Court, that it had standing to challenge the broader state authorization rule beyond 34 C.F.R. 600.9(c), which was the only provision vacated.
The appeals court panel is expected to issue an opinion by early summer. If the court upholds the lower court ruling, it is possible the Department may elect to re-issue the rule.
Thinking Developmentally: Designing Courses with a Progression of Learning Experiences
By Maryellen Weimer
Thinking developmentally is one of those instructional design issues that we don’t do often enough. We understand that different learning experiences are appropriate for students at different levels. We expect a higher caliber of work from seniors than from those just starting college. But how often do we purposefully design a progression of learning experiences?
Consider a course that incorporates several different small group learning experiences. We have opted to use groups because we want students engaged, interacting and learning the content collectively. In addition, we want these group experiences to teach students something about working with others—how disagreements can be handled constructively, how work can be divided equitably, how the group can influence what individual members do. Thinking developmentally means that each of these group experiences should be different. Perhaps each one focuses on a different skill or each one requires more sophisticated use of developing skills. This means the order in which they’re experienced matters. Each experience should build on what happened in the previous one.
Related articles
- 10 Principles of Effective Online Teaching: Best Practices in Distance Education (hollymccracken.wordpress.com)
- Building Rapport with Students by Sharing a Piece of Yourself (hollymccracken.wordpress.com)
Summertime of a Dean’s Career – Hitting Your Stride: Years Four to Seven
From Chapter 3, Summertime of a Dean’s Career, in the book, Seasons of a Dean’s Life: Understanding the Role and Building Leadership Capacity, by Walt Gmelch, Dee Hopkins, and Sandra Damico
Years four through seven, the summer of a dean’s career, find established deans reaping the benefits of their earlier labors. It is a time of fulfillment, the season when deans finally see their hard work nurturing the college environment, planting ideas, and cultivating collaboration, showing constructive growth and the promise of full bloom. Programmatic ideas they sowed three years ago have taken root and, in turn, are germinating other new and creative ideas. Healthy expansion and the promise of even greater program and enrollment growth in the future have become realities. Summer deans are more aware of how to do things and have become more comfortable with the deanship-and with being dean. The painful beginnings they experienced in the springtime of their deanships are, hopefully, over.
Unfortunately, the honeymoon is over as well. Many of the changes that needed to be made in the college have been or are occurring and the dean is the one held responsible – especially if the changes have been unpopular. By the fourth and fifth years, summer deans have built their leadership teams, and their colleges, overall, should finally be coming together. Those faculty and staff who were not contributing to the institution or found the dean’s leadership style distracting have, hopefully found academic homes elsewhere. Many of the early goals that summer deans shared with their faculty and staff are nearing fruition; others hold promise because the team is working together. Is the fifth year best? Does the job become easier with time? Are the deans who find themselves midstride in the deanship more effective, or do they lose momentum the longer they serve?
Continued at: http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php
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Focus on Adult Learning . . . Innovation through Inquiry 