Participating in the College Consortium – Part 1

In this post, I am continuing my series of topics on the College Consortium.  Click here to read my previous post about the conference presentation I gave at NISOD about the College Consortium.  Or, click on the Academic Technology category on the right (or on the bottom, for mobile) to see all posts about the College Consortium.

College Consortium

The College Consortium is an online platform that facilitates information sharing between colleges so students from one college can take online courses at another college.  College Consortium courses are similar to traditional transfer courses, but there are many important differences that provide additional benefits to students and colleges.

With Consortium courses, students are able to use their financial aid, count the course towards their GPA, and count the course towards their full-time course load.  Meanwhile, colleges are able to count enrollment in Consortium courses towards their enrollment numbers, and they are able to charge a course fee.  Additionally, the Consortium offers a variety of courses at many different start times, and this allows colleges to accommodate students with scheduling challenges.

Colleges can participate in the Consortium as “Enrolling Institutions” and/or as “Teaching Institutions.”  As Enrolling Institutions, colleges allow their students to enroll in online Consortium courses.  As Teaching Institutions, colleges enroll students from other schools into their online courses.  The information below provides some suggestions for participating in the Consortium.

Participating as an Enrolling Institution

Enrolling Institutions allow their students to take online courses at another school.  These courses are articulated and transcribed as your school’s courses, and your school may charge a course fee.  Here are several things to consider if your school participates as an Enrolling Institution:

• Who “sees” Consortium courses?  The Consortium website requires a username/password to access.  This access can be granted to all students/staff, or it can be limited to administrators only.  Some schools set up a Consortium site for all students and students can request to enroll by themselves.  In contrast, schools can maintain a more private Consortium site that is limited to administrators; in this case, advisors and enrollment staff can search for courses and enroll students as necessary.
• Full or Restricted list of courses?  No matter who sees the list of Consortium courses, colleges can decide to show all available courses, or they can restrict the view to approved courses only.  If your school shows all courses, it will need to have a course approval process (see next item) to respond to student requests.  If it decides on a restricted view, it will need a process for identifying courses it wishes to show (see next item).
• Proactive or Responsive course approval?  In order for Consortium courses to count equally as courses at your school, your school will need to have a process for articulating Consortium courses with your school’s courses.  The school can be proactive in this process by identifying and articulating Consortium courses ahead of time and then making only these courses available on the Consortium site (see next item for course articulation).  Or, the school can take a responsive approach and wait to articulate the course until after a student has requested to enroll.
• Specific/Equal or General articulation?  Course articulation means that the Consortium course is compared to a course at your school.  By doing this, the Consortium course can be approved (“articulated”) for equal credit to one or more of your school’s courses.  For example, Biology 2102 from University of Illinois offered through the Consortium can count as Biology 200 at your school.  (In this case, taking the Biology 2102 is just like taking the Biology 200 course.)  Or, the Consortium course can be approved for general credit but not for equal credit with a course at your school.  For example, the Biology course may count as a Science or General Education course, but it cannot count as a substitute for your school’s Biology 200.  (This happens when there is a difference in course content.)  Or, the Consortium course may not receive any credit at your school.
• Who articulates courses?  Generally, the school should follow established processes for course articulation.  Courses are usually articulated by one or more of the following:  the Advising Office, the Registrar’s Office, an academic dean, a department chair, or a faculty member who teaches that course.
• Approve partner schools, not only courses.  It’s a good idea for your school to review the quality of partner schools as well.  In some cases, a Consortium course may be similar to a course at your school, but the partner school may lack regional accreditation, may lack program-specific accreditation, or may lack other quality indicators that are important for your school.  In this case, it’s best to seek Consortium courses at schools that have similar or better academic standards.  (I will provide more information about how to evaluate schools for academic quality on the College Consortium in a future post.)
• One course/school or many courses/schools?  Once your school identifies one or more courses at a partner school, it will need to decide if it will limit enrollment to that one course and school, or if it will allow enrollment at other courses and schools.  For example, will your school allow one student to take the Biology 200 course at the University of Illinois and another at the University of Indiana, or will both students be required to take the same course at the same institution?  Additionally, will your school have “preferred” or “first choice” courses and schools, or can students/advisors select different schools at different semesters?
• When to use Consortium courses?  Your school will need a policy (or at least a consistent practice) for when students are allowed to take a course through the Consortium.  If a class is being offered at your school, will a student be allowed to request the same course through the Consortium?
• Transcripting and Billing.  Your school will need to create a course grade and a course fee for the Consortium course.  What will be the technical process for doing this on the Student Management System (such as Banner)?  Will your school need to create an equivalent course shell in your school’s Learning Management System (such as Canvas or Blackboard)?  What will be the course fee – will your school charge its regular course fee, or will it charge only the amount charged by the partner school?
• Other Record Keeping.  Your school will need to keep track of course articulations, approved schools, student requests and approvals, people who approved courses, previously denied requests and articulations, enrollment, billing, etc.  Can your school’s Student Management System store this information, or will you need to use spreadsheets/documents/folders on your internal network, Google Drive, or Office 365?

These are a few topics to consider when joining College Consortium as an Enrolling Institution.  In a future post, I will provide similar information about joining College Consortium as a Teaching Institution.  I will also provide additional strategies for ensuring the quality of Consortium courses and partner schools, and for maximizing your use of the Consortium platform.

Feel free to post a comment or question below, or to contact me privately via the “Contact” link above for more information.  I am also available for advanced strategic development consultations.

Lirim Neziroski, Ph.D., MBA is an academic leader and an assessment and technology expert at a liberal arts university in the Chicago area. Contact Lirim directly for additional resources and speaking, consulting, and writing opportunities.