Email: iaa@ksu.edu             Phone: 785.532.1999               Fax: 785.532.5946

PROJECT: A National Model for Inter-Institutional Postbaccalaureate Distance Education Programs
2000-2004 U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE) Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships (LAAP) Grant

Project Abstract
Lead Institution: Kansas State University
Partners: Colorado State University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, Montana State University, North Dakota State University, Oklahoma State University, Texas Tech University, South Dakota State University, University of Nebraska.

Postbaccalaureate education represents the fastest growing and most rapidly changing sector of higher education. To be competitive in what is rapidly becoming an “anytime, anywhere” postbaccalaureate learning environment, universities must alter institutional policies and practices as well as programs.

The Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance, initiated by the Colleges of Human Sciences at the partner universities, has collaborated to support inter-institutional graduate distance education programming since 1994 and launched its first inter-institutional postbaccalaureate program in 2000. This program was the primary test bed for the development of institutional policies and practices to support inter-institutional distance education collaboration at the postbaccalaureate level.

Over 60 prominent academic leaders representing graduate faculty, academic administrators, graduate deans, chief financial officers, registrars, continuing education directors, and national higher education leaders engaged in inter-institutional and institutional teams to revamp the policy and practice environment for postbaccalaureate education, simplify inter-institutional partnership arrangements, and provide for academic and fiscal accountability. We used a consensus building, institution-wide, “bottom up” approach to developing and testing policy and practice models that are continuing to be disseminated nationally through conferences, a DVD, and www.gpidea.org and www.ksu.edu/iaa.

Among the issues that this project addressed were: systematic and supportive student access to inter-institutional postbaccalaureate distance education programs; financial equity across institutional partners in inter-institutional distance education programs; achievement of faculty buy-in through the provision of faculty resources and rewards; assurance of academic integrity and quality in inter-institutional programs; and processes that enable rapid deployment of high quality inter-institutional postbaccalaureate distance education programs.

In year one of the project we identified key policy issues for inter-institutional postbaccalaureate distance education programs, researched current practices by other alliances, and determined policy and practice priorities for the alliance. In year two, those policies and practices were developed and tested. In the final two years of the project we disseminated our model nation-wide.

The work of this project enables inter-institutional distance education postbaccalaureate programs to be governed by proven shared policies rather than by institutional exceptions and experimentation. Project participants are prepared to serve as experienced consultants to enable emerging inter-institutional postbaccalaureate distance education programs to capitalize on policies and practices that will enable them to ramp up new programs rapidly.

The contents of this web page were developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Information about FIPSE is available at http://www.ed.gov/FIPSE/. Information about the U.S. Department of Education is available at http://www.ed.gov.