Minnesota State Colleges and Universities

ACADEMIC & STUDENT AFFAIRS NEWSLETTER

An Electronic Communication

OCTOBER 2004

http://www.academicaffairs.mnscu.edu/

WELCOME CHIEF ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS OFFICERS

Susan Tarnowski, Vice President of Educational Services, Anoka-Ramsey Community College

Joann Fredrickson, Provost and Sr. Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Bemidji State University

Ronald Erickson, Vice President of Academic & Student Affairs, Dakota County Technical College

Rich Wagner, Vice President for Learning and Academic Innovation, Hennepin Technical College

Sally Standiford, Executive Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical

Tina Royer, Dean of Academic Affairs, Mesabi Range Community and Technical College

Charles Giammona, Campus Provost, Northwest Technical College-Bemidji

Dan Goehring, Vice President for Student Affairs, Ridgewater College

Jonathan Parker, Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs, St. Cloud Technical College

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations to Gary Langer, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Innovations who has been elected President of the American Council for Virtual Education.

Congratulations to Deborah W. Proctor, e-Curriculum Director for Minnesota Online has completed her Ph.D. in Education Technology from Walden University and successfully defended her dissertation titled, Emerging Issues: Accessible Technologies and Accommodations for Postsecondary Students with Disabilities in August 2004.

Congratulations to Minnesota Online staff, Paul Wasko, Lynette Olson, Gary Langer and Deborah W. Proctor all have had articles selected for publication in the Encyclopedia of Distance Learning Teaching, Technologies, and Applications, Volume I-III edited by Patricia L. Rogers, Ph.D., this reference source provides comprehensive coverage and definitions of the most important issues, concepts, trends and technologies in IS and IT. This important new publication will be distributed worldwide among academic and professional institutions and will be instrumental in providing researchers, scholars, students and professionals? access to the latest knowledge related to information science and technology.

WCET WOW AWARD 2004

One of the four recipients of the 2004 WCET WOW AWARD is, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities for Minnesota Online?s eStudent Services. In partnership with WCET, they created a student service ?Audit tool? that assists institutions in identifying web-based student services that could be improved. It also provides strategies for improving those services.

ARTICULATION AGREEMENT WITH STOUT

A metro area task force developed a new articulation agreement with Stout State University. The agreement provides a pathway for graduates of two-year technical programs to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Management. Details can be found at www.uwstout.edu/programs/bsim/ or obtained from Wendy Dittmann, Program Director at dittmannw@uwstout.edu. The program is designed to build on a competence in a technical area and so it will accommodate students who have acquired the A.S., A.A.S. or two-year diploma in a technical field. Classes are open-entry and are currently delivered in the metro area in-person, on-line or via ITV at Dunwoody. The following colleges are partners in this agreement: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Anoka Technical College, Century College, Dakota County Technical College, Hennepin Technical College, Inver Hills Community College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Normandale Community College, Pine Technical College, St. Cloud Technical College, Saint Paul College, and South Central Technical College.

MINNESOTA ONLINE UPDATE

SELECTED TO PRESENT AT THE 2004 EDUCAUSE AND WCET CONFERENCE

Minnesota Online has been selected to present at the Educause 2004 Conference on October 19-22, 2004 and the WCET Conference on November 10-13, 2004. The e sessions are designed to provoke discussion regarding the lessons learned for advancing and facilitating the delivery of online education and services in a statewide network. Minnesota Online services as a vehicle for collaborative pooling and sharing arrangements among the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. This statewide network offers distance learning programs and centralized services.

MINNESOTA ONLINE CALL CENTER

Prospective and current students can now access "live time service" from the Minnesota Online Call Center. The Call Center Team is prepared to work with Key Contacts from campuses to assist students seeking online degree programs, courses, or related services. Information specialists and online student advisors are on duty Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 9 PM, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 3:30 PM. To access the live time services students can visit the http://www.minnesotaonline.org/ or call 1-800-456-8519.

Funding for Call Center activities is provided by the Minnesota Online Council in partnership with Minnesota State Community and Technical College, and the Minnesota Learning Coalition members (Northwest Technical College Bemidji, Northland Community and Technical College,

Alexandria Technical College, and Minnesota State Community and Technical College).

eFolio MiNNESOTA BANNER

Institutions within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System can now create their own customized eFolio Minnesota banner. To see an example, take a look at Bemidji State University's banner at http://patriciarogers3.efoliomn2.com/.

Working with the Office of the Chancellor ITS staff, the custom banner can be made available to students, faculty, and staff. There is no cost associated with this work. If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity (and we hope campuses are) then you will find instructions for how to begin at http://www.demosite.project.mnscu.edu/. Invite your campus Webmaster to take a look as well.

eFolio Minnesota continues to be well received with 1.7 million hits in the month of February with over 37,000 unique visitors. We think this new feature will be nice to add and something special to offer students, faculty, and staff. If you have general questions, please contact Paul Wasko at paul.wasko@so.mnscu.edu, or John Wygant at john.wygant@csu.mnscu.edu.

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS ? OCTOBER 2004

SECOND ANNUAL DARS/CAS CONFERENCE - Office of the Chancellor and campus staff who work on DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System) and CAS (Course Applicability System) are gathering on Wednesday and Thursday, October 13 and 14, 2004 in St. Cloud for the Second Annual MnSCU DARS/CAS User Conference. The theme for this year is "Best Practices". We hope to facilitate much networking and sharing to make sure staff have an opportunity to brainstorm and share the ways their institution has found to make or plan to make DARS and CAS critical student service tools. This year's conference is especially critical as the majority of colleges and universities have yet to meet the December 31, 2004 deadline for being in production on the CAS site.

NATIONAL TECH PREP NETWORK CONFERENCE - Minnesota has the privilege of hosting the annual National Tech Prep Network Conference, which will be October 13-16, 2004, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. If you work with high school to college/university transitions, this conference is for you. Participants will have an opportunity to:

Work with high school colleagues and partners to improve Tech Prep student academic readiness for college.
Learn what other states are doing to improve student transitions to college.
Learn how high schools are succeeding in reaching more students with rigorous academics.
Learn how Minnesota and other states are working with business to emphasize the importance of learning academic and technical skills in high school and college.
Learn how industry is involved in preparing students for rewarding careers in high-demand fields.
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities academic faculty (especially in English, math and science), technical faculty, counselors, admissions and recruiting staff, registrars and administrators will benefit from attending and/or presenting at the conference

JOINT CHIEF ACADEMIC AND STUDENT AFFAIRS AND COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY DEANS MEETING ? The meeting is scheduled for October 27-29, 2004 at Ruttgers Bay Lake Lodge.