Put your desire to be on the cutting edge of online learning into action. Chamberlain College of Nursing did! Chamberlain recently completed two Program Reviews — Teaching Support and Learner Support — to support their quality assurance goals and demonstrate their commitment to “meet the needs of adult learners, who expect clarity and precision in their online learning environment.”
Chamberlain’s journey to Program Certification began with the institution’s desire to “demonstrate exemplary practices in supporting both teaching and learning” for their RN-BSN Online Option. Since the program was mature and had several years of available data, they chose to pursue Program Certification — a decision that they felt would benefit their learners.
“Program reviews help to ensure that students have access to essential academic resources and services to support their success in the online world. They also show students that continual quality improvement and integration of their feedback is valued at Chamberlain.” — Anne Marie Hodges, Manager, Web Development
It is the value that Chamberlain places on students that really drove their decision to pursue Program Reviews. Leadership felt that the reviews strongly aligned with Chamberlain’s commitment to student success and its focus on personalized attention that they call Chamberlain Care®.
So what did Chamberlain gain from the process? First, the process reinforced the need for the continual collection of data and the analysis of that data to determine best practices for online course delivery and support. Second, it provided Chamberlain with the opportunity to recognize their Student Services team, who provide support to their students. Third, and, perhaps, most importantly, the review process allowed their team to see how they impact the student experience.
Interested in following in Chamberlain's footsteps? Anne Marie has some advice:
“Planning and time are essential, as well as financial and leadership support, for a successful review. Bringing all stakeholders to the table at the onset of preparation for the review can also help support a successful review.”
As Jill Price, Dean, RN-BSN Program Option explains, though, the time and effort are worth it.
“Program Certification provides a deliberate and laser-focused evaluation of the policies, processes, resources and support services for students. It is essential to be on the cutting edge of [online] education.”
Getting started is easy. To prepare for a Program Review follow these three steps:
- Complete the Preparing for Program Reviews workshop to get a detailed understanding of what is involved in a Program Review.
- Work with colleagues and senior administrators to create a plan for Program Certification. Use the Annotated Program Criteria and the Program Readiness Checklist to guide you.
- Determine any gaps in evidence for meeting the Annotated Program Criteria and review the Program Certification Candidacy Progress Chart to determine if that is the best path to Program Certification.
Put your desire to be on the cutting edge of online learning into action. Learn more about Program Reviews. Then contact QM’s Director, Quality Assurance, Melissa Poole, with questions or to begin the review process today.
