Academic Coordinator Answers the Question: What’s the Big Deal About Christian Higher Education? PART 3

In this three-part article series, senior academic advisor Wayne Clugston provides insights on historical traditions and experiential knowledge needed to make academic innovation relevant both to past and future purposes.

Welcome to the final installment of this three-part article series in which we speak to academic coordinator and education management consultant Wayne Clugston on a variety of issues surrounding Christian higher education in the 21st Century. Let’s continue…

Question: Traditionally, online education has been delivered by part time adjunct faculty.  What are your thoughts going forward as this distribution matures regarding full-time faculty versus adjunct faculty?

Clugston:“The adjunct instructional model in online programs was introduced pragmatically, out of necessity, to offer learning in an environment essentially external to the university. Gradually, by design, there is a trend to integrate higher education online programs into the campus environment--a model likely to be widely adopted.

“With this change, full-time roles are being developed for online professors. The greatest contribution of the model so far--besides legitimizing the online modality--has been the measurable improvement in the collegiality and professional development of online instructors and academic coordinators. This pattern, in turn, stimulates shared commitment to quality and academic excellence.”

Question: How can an institution figure out what online degrees to offer that will be in demand three to seven years from now?

Clugston:“The general rule in the marketplace is that many of the jobs that are popular at the point a university student completes the four-to-six years it commonly takes to earn a bachelor's degree didn't exist when that person's higher education journey began. These rapid changes apply to new areas of expertise and knowledge concentrations rather than to entirely new degree programs,” explains higher education management consultant, Clugston.

“Tracking Department of Labor statistics provides important knowledge of changes in employment profiles and trends on a national scale. An important balancing consideration involves gathering data related to particular affinity market opportunities associated with the university. Online degree programming needs to address "localized" learning needs as well as national ones. As competition for online students increases, this focus is essential.”

Question: We hear parents reacting to the sticker shock of expensive general education at traditional Christian college and universities.  Can you offer any solutions to help maximize affordability for a family whose student desires a four-year Christian degree?

Clugston:“Private colleges and universities that find a way to offer selected General Education courses online at a reduced tuition rate are discovering that this approach attracts students. (And, of course, eases parents' financial burdens.) But, it also contributes to student retention. Such "special-rate" courses are being offered successfully online as a way to set them apart from traditional offerings and schedules. Students fit them into their total degree plan at their convenience.

“Particular groups of students benefit from them: high school students seeking advanced placement, international students wishing to accumulate some credits before coming to the United States, and students in designated special situations. Some institutions allow one or two such online courses to be taken each year by every student--as an ongoing retention incentive. In the future, residential campus enrollment in baccalaureate programs may consist of upper-level students primarily.”

Question: Can you, as an academic coordinator, cite any legitimate studies that enforce the fact that online learning might be more effective than traditional classroom experiences?

Clugston:“Many studies have shown that the effectiveness of college-level learning in an online environment is equal to or greater than in the traditional classroom environment. The most recent data collected by Eduventures, the leading research and higher education management consulting organization, show that the percentage of consumers who believe the quality of online learning is equal to the quality of classroom-based learning has steadily increased over the last decade or so: 58% percent held this view in 2000; 71% held it in 2013.”

Question: If you were president of small Christian college or university what immediate strategic changes would you make to ensure that your institution not only survives, but thrives for the next ten years.

Clugston:“The most important strategic questions I would consider are: (1) "In ten years what balance should exist between the university's on-campus, classroom-based degree programs and its online degree programs?" and (2) "To what extent should they be integrated?" These questions, then, require consideration of necessary changes.”

Contact Significant Systems

To learn more about our education management consulting firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.

Remember, our goal is simple:

• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose

Looking forward to our possible conversation!

Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com

Higher Education Management Consultant Answers the Question: What’s the Big Deal About Christian Higher Education? PART 2

Welcome to the second installment of this three-part article series in which we speak to higher education management consultant, Wayne Clugston on a variety of issues surrounding Christian higher education in the 21st Century. Let’s continue…

Question: Technology is driving the placement of all academic materials, student records, and management of faculty into the Internet "Cloud." Do you have any thoughts regarding "anytime anywhere" accessibility to all of these areas?

Clugston: “Increasingly, we are encountering university leaders who recognize this paradigm shift. Mobility and immediate access to data continue to spiral as personal values in contemporary culture. It's important for university leaders to respond, to create technological access to learning opportunities that are not time and place bound. Such steps diminish the distinctions between on-campus (internal) and external learning opportunities,” says education management consultant, Clugston.

“In the near future, cloud-based learning support services will be the preferred model--providing single-location access to all data relevant to a learning program, resources for collaboration, capabilities for digital portfolio development, and opportunities for immediate learning engagement.”

Question: How much does a college degree contribute to a student's life-long well being?

Clugston: “The lifetime earning differential between those who have a bachelor's degree and those who don't is widely known, and significant. At the same time, the developmental contribution of the bachelor's degree experience is rarely fully measurable on graduation day. But, the broad knowledge perspective, critical thinking abilities, and communication skills gained in a bachelor's degree program become strong influencers over time. They constitute an informing vision that enables individuals to change, to grow, and to continue to learn on a life-long basis.”

Question: We talk about Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 interactivity in online courses and textbooks. What advantage is there for an institution to invest in a Level 3 interactivity?

Clugston: “Technologically driven interactivity needs to be carefully designed in the online classroom at every level. Level 1 and Level 2 technologies tend to be effective in identifying concepts and in reinforcing memory and knowledge. Level 3 interactions are more comprehensive--designed to stimulate and measure higher level cognitive and affective behavior.
“Questions such as the following should be considered by higher education management consultants to ensure optimal use of technological widgets at every level:

• How does the interactivity contribute to learning?
• Can its effectiveness be measured?
• Does the interactivity allow exploration of theories or concepts that are central to the course?
• Does manipulation of the technology stimulate creative or critical thinking related to course outcomes?”

Question: What have been some of the objections you have heard from traditional faculty when you as an education management consultant have been involved in helping an institution launch online degrees?

Clugston:“Individuals who recognize that the post-traditional learning environment is a reality tend to have concerns, rather than objections. However, their primary concern is usually not about being displaced; it's about being unprepared to move into an online instructional modality. Common issues relate to:

(1) Developing course materials in a non-semester format, and
(2) Adopting facilitative methodology to replace their familiar lecture-based methodology, as a means of motivating and supporting student inquiry.

“When faculty members with classroom teaching experience are orientated to the principles of learner-centered inquiry and shown how students' data-driven, step-by-step progress in relation to course learning outcomes can be monitored and measured, their openness to the online instructional environment usually changes in positive ways.”

Question: What tips would you as a higher education management consultant give leadership regarding ongoing management of online faculty whether full time or adjunct?

Clugston:“A mentoring model has many advantages. All of us who teach at a university level reflect characteristics of professors we've known in our undergraduate and undergraduate classroom experiences. In the same way, an experienced, effective online mentor and higher education management consultant can be an inspiration to a colleague who is teaching online for the first time. Online methodologies are still in their infancy. It is important, therefore, to arrange Faculty Forums where successes and failures are discussed and online pedagogy is fine-tuned in a collaborative community of professional practitioners.
Stay Tuned for Part 3

To read more of higher education management consultant Wayne Clugston’s thoughts, stay tuned for the final installment of this three-part article series, coming next week.
Contact Significant Systems

To learn more about our education management consulting firmSignificant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.
Remember, our goal is simple:

• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose

Looking forward to our possible conversation!
Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com

Education Management Consultant Answers the Question: What’s the Big Deal About Christian Higher Education? PART 1

In this three-part article series, senior academic advisor Wayne Clugston provides insights on historical traditions and experiential knowledge needed to make academic innovation relevant both to past and future purposes.

 Wayne Clugston is a higher education management consultant and a pioneer in developing and delivering curriculum designed for adult learners. After 18 years of administrative responsibilities on traditional Christian college campuses, including leadership as an academic dean, he formed an educational services company that developed an “Organizational Management” degree-completion curriculum and successfully licensed it to more than 60 accredited colleges and universities located in 23 different states. Many of these clients were faith-based institutions that were poised to address working adults’ educational needs: ready to embrace change.

An entrepreneur, Clugston is co-founder of Bridgepoint Education, Inc., now a public company which owns two regionally accredited universities serving more than 75,000 students, many completing undergraduate and graduate degree programs online.

In his role as senior academic advisor and education management consultant, he provides insights on historical traditions and experiential knowledge needed to make academic innovation relevant both to past and future purposes. Clugston earned a BA degree in English from Roberts Wesleyan College and an EdD in Educational Leadership from Seattle University.

Question: Tell me the attributes of the best Christian professor in your memory?

Clugston:“I was most influenced by Christian professors who were scholarly co-journeyers, models of Christian grace who facilitated intellectual inquiry and the pursuit of truth—women and men who didn’t tolerate easy answers.”

Question: You have worked with hundreds of Christian college and university presidents, provosts, and faculty. Tell me the attributes that you have seen in a president that you admire.

Clugston: “The most effective presidents are individuals who have passionate vision, tenacious focus, and wisdom to creatively blend strengths of their colleagues, insights from providential perspectives, and constituent participation to build an interdependent community.”

Question: How do you integrate an institution’s cosmology of faith into textbooks and courses?

Clugston:“In most instructional situations in the Christian university, you accomplish it best by creating an open environment intentionally designed to stimulate incisive discussion and personal discovery within the framework and tenets of the Christian faith. Henri Nouwen's observation is worth considering:

"Teaching, from the point of view of a Christian spirituality, means the commitment to provide the fearless space where questions can be responded to, not by prefabricated answers, but by an articulate encouragement to enter into them seriously and personally."”

Question:How can a Christian college or university make sure that its online adjunct faculty represent the institution in the same manner as a full-time faculty member might for the traditional campus student experience?

Clugston:“Using the same hiring criteria for full-time, on-campus faculty and for adjuncts is the soundest approach: it creates continuity in institutional purpose and collegiality in relationships—factors which support a governance structure that effectively includes representation by both full-time and adjunct faculty,” says higher education management consultant, Wayne Clugston.

Question: We hear so much about retention or persistence. We hear that Christian colleges and universities have a higher graduation rate than other regionally accredited institutions. What tips can you give the leadership of a Christian college or university with respect to improving its overall graduation rate?

Clugston:“It’s all about community building and creating meaningful relationships—things that many Christian universities do well. In the online environment particularly, supportive one-on-one communication with students is essential. These personal contacts by student services advisors need to be strategically and frequently made in the days and weeks immediately following enrollment. Online instructors should be specifically trained to be “encouragers” who are always attentive to opportunities to respond holistically to student needs.”

Stay Tuned for Part 2

To read more of higher education management consultant Wayne Clugston’s thoughts, stay tuned for the second installment of this three-part article series, coming next week.

Contact Significant Systems

To learn more about our education management consulting firm Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.

Remember, our goal is simple:

•    Provide Broader Access

•    Lower Tuition and Fees

•    Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates

•    Facilitate Education with a Purpose

Looking forward to our possible conversation!

Dr. Michael K. Clifford

Chairman

760.801.5021(My personal cell)

mkc@mclifford.com

Marketing Strategies for Higher Education: Fasten Your Seatbelts for the Mobile Revolution!

This fall's College Freshman is the first, born-digital generation. Are you equipped to help shape them?

About ten years ago, I was telling Dr. Michael Clifford about all of the training and education we were delivering to corporations over mobile and handheld devices. I said: “One day students will learn, and perhaps complete entire degrees, via mobile devices.” After the laughter died down, he said he would seriously discuss this futuristic point.

Fast forward to ten years later, and we are in the midst of that mobile revolution.

After the launch of the groundbreaking iPhone, Android OS, tablets, and other seriously usable mobile innovations we have a global society of seven billion mobile devices, covering 80-90% of the world’s population (if you count those of us who have two or more devices) and a culture that conducts over 50% of its online social interactions through mobile devices (Zuckerberg, 2011).

Couple that with the average college-aged mobile device user checking their device 115 times a day (Roster, 2013) and you have the makings of a revolution. Not to mention the fact that the cost of delivering knowledge, health information, and accredited education online and through mobile devices has come down substantially. Do your marketing strategies for higher education take all of this into account?

In fact, one of the highlights of my 2012 was getting a call from Michael stating that he had become a true believer based on conversations with Apple, publishers, and schools across the globe that indicated that the vision we set out on as higher education consultants over ten years ago was finally starting to gain traction in the marketplace of ideas as well as produce actionable, tangible offerings.

About Significant Systems and our Marketing Strategies for Mobile Higher Education

SignificantTechnologies, a subsidiary of www.significantsystems.org, is a perfect example, selling licensable courses that are low cost, mobile accessible, iTunes U and iBook integrated, and recommended by credit for the ACE, making it easy to transfer between 1800+ schools. As higher education consultants, we don’t just want to bring these to the market though: we want to bring them to your school.

The ability to integrate these courses and online educational resources, like iBooks and iTunes U content, into the existing accredited and personalized system allows for a far greater impact than just another set of online courses delivered on small devices. Our marketing strategies for higher education aim to combine both high tech and high touch and this means supporting the personalized learning experience traditional institutions provide to ensure student success.

While many aspects of MOOCs and other recent learning innovations show great promise, what good is the technology if hundreds of thousands of students start courses but low completion rates lead to less student success and ultimately interferes with the degree, job, and life purpose someone is called to? Isn’t that what we’re really about as educators and innovators?

Your Own Digital Publishing Company?

Our higher education consulting firm is now scheduling appoints for our private one-on-one webinar presenting how a regionally accredited institution can create or enhance their digital publishing company. Our marketing strategies for higher education now include over 100 super high quality textbooks, which can be fully branded and customized by faculty.

These books will lower the cost for the student by 2/3rds while creating income for faculty. Most importantly, these books can be inculcated with the cosmology of the institution. And these can be available under the institution’s brand on Apple’s iTunes and iBooks for instant broadband distribution in 155 countries globally.

We’d love to get your thoughts. Please let us know if we can schedule webinar for your institution to demonstrate our fresh digital learning assets for your institution.

Contact Significant Systems

To learn more about Dr. Michael Clifford and Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us.

Remember, our goal is simple:

• Provide Broader Access
• Lower Tuition and Fees
• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates
• Facilitate Education with a Purpose

Looking forward to our possible conversation!

Dr. Michael K. Clifford
Chairman
760.801.5021(My personal cell)
mkc@mclifford.com

Higher Education Consulting Firm: Calling All Leaders

Every institution should have clearly defined Mission-Goals they would like to accomplish in the next ten years.

In our discussion with Christian colleges and universities over the last 15 years, we have found most Presidents can’t even think about one or two of their most passionate Mission-Goals because they are forced to deal with the "crisis at hand," or they have settled into the short-term planning cycles of one to two years.

None of this is evil. But our Bible clearly states that, "The people perish without a vision." Good leadership states, "Vision perishes without the people." 

Some Mission-Goals we have heard from Presidents and academic coordinators are:

• Help more students receive a Christ-centered education

• Retire debt

• Lower Tuition and fees

• Broader Access

• Less Student Debt

• Purposeful Graduates Career Preparedness

• Build or improve buildings

• Scholarships

• Faculty Sabbaticals or Research

• Support Internships or Missionaries

• International Outreach

• Increase institutional salaries

• Create/Publish original Academic content

What are some of the major areas that contribute to a higher educational organization’s stagnation?

• Lack of a "Culture of Innovation"

• Slow or outdated Processes

• Negative Nellies

• Regulatory Issues

• Lack of Institutional Buy-In

• No Vision for the Use of the Cash Surplus

• Faculty resistance

• Balanced Budget

• Debt Ratios

• Uninterested Board of Trustees

• Unreasonable Expectations

• Lack of Mission-Goals Alignment

Once a leader or academic coordinator can collaboratively focus their entire organization on a few key elements, we have seen passionate synergism accelerate the all-important metrics of an institution.

Leadership

Here at our higher education consulting firm, we have found that the keys to achieve the funding to fulfill the stated Mission-Goals include:

Higher Education Management Key # 1: Relentlessly analyze, optimize, and execute re negotiations on every single line item expense for the entire institution. Our experience has shown us that institutions can create 10-30% "found-funds" through this disciplined process.

Higher Education Management Key # 2: Outsourcing to experts with funding online operations. Aligning economic and mission objectives with key outsource partners that have the expertise and upfront funding to propel online operations is the fastest pathway for an institution to create surplus funding to achieve Mission-Goals.

Higher Education Management Key # 3: Motivating all stakeholders to come together in a highly focused strategy of execution via "prayer and action" to achieve the Mission-Goals. Leadership requires getting everybody on the same page. Once every stakeholder can clearly articulate not only the Mission-Goals, but where they individually are in the collective timeline of success, the passionate synergism accelerates the goals.

We believe from experience that achieving an institution's Mission-Goals is attainable if all three of these keys are deliberately embraced.

Our nonprofit higher education consulting firm carefully selected five partners who love Jesus, cannot be hired for a paycheck or even consulting fees, share a mutual passion to enhance Christian education, have world-leading track records in their very specific deep domain expertise, and are collectively focused on coming alongside a President of a Christian college or university to move you from surviving to thriving. For us, this is a ministry within the business world. 

We are a team. It is our passion. 

Here is what we look for in a partner school before we consider investing:

• Mission Alignment (passion)

• Geographic Location

• Underserved Market

• Niche Programs

• Plans for Growth

• Strong Affinity Channels

• University Reputation

• Academic Quality/Integrity

• Culture of Innovation

• Institutional Integrity

Our higher education marketing consultants were recently in a meeting with one of the world's largest faith-based charities. I was completely caught off guard and then remarkably blessed after the meeting when I realized the Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Operating Officer, and President of the organization could articulate their Mission-Goals by finishing each other's sentences as though one person was speaking. However, the most remarkable revelation for me was they were speaking in terms of 10 years, 50 years, 100 years and 150 years. 

It reminded me of an admonition I learned from my spiritual mentor, Dr. Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ International (Cru) in which he taught us, "Live as if Christ is returning in a moment, but plan as if He will return in 100 years." Many times in my life, ministry, and/or business I have forgotten this very sage advice. 

Academic coordinators and education leaders, beware of industry experts who tell you, "You cannot plan beyond three years." This may be wise advice if it means a Ten-Year Strategy to achieve your Mission-Goals must include monthly and yearly "recalibrations" based on achieving certain metrics. But do not lose sight of the Big Vision. 

Before we close together, one special comment regarding a President's role within an institution. Over the last 30 years I have had the pleasure of serving many leaders, especially in Christendom. 

Playing a small role, I have served Oral Roberts during his growth of Oral Roberts University, Pat Robertson as he built Regents University, Dr. Bill Bright at the launch of Kings College in New York City, Father Michael Scanlon when he became President of Steubenville University, and Dr. Jerry Falwell before Liberty University had online programs. 

Yes, I served, consulted, encouraged, prayed, and volunteered; but most importantly, I learned by observing. What I learned is that these leaders all had similar character traits. They were:

• Humble

• Gentle

• But Powerful in their communication of their mission and brand.

SignificantSystems.org is a higher education consulting firm dedicated to providing the needed funding and expertise to enhance Christian Higher Education. We come alongside the institutional leadership to understand the top two Mission-Goals to be achieved in ten years. Then we collaboratively serve together to create a strategic plan for success. We are not consultants; we are co-laborers in the harvest.

Our Approach is Deliberate:

• Discovery: Data collection

• Diagnose Complex Problems: Build Detailed Financial Models

• Design Mission-Goals Solutions: Ten Year Strategy

• Deliver the Mission-Goals: Execute, Evaluate & Optimize

Once we understand your Ten Year Strategy, we provide the Money, Management, and Marketing to super-charge the plan. We do all of this with no upfront funding or risk from the institution. 

In closing, Christian higher education will be facing both incredible challenges and opportunity simultaneously in the next decade. We encourage Presidents and their leadership teams to dream and dream big. Do not become discouraged, nor sweat the small stuff. Keep your eye on finishing the race. Together we can achieve far more than we can imagine if indeed we dream big.

We'd love to get your thoughts, so please don’t hesitate to Contact Us – we can even schedule a webinar for your institution. This will help us understand if our providing Money, Management & Marketing for your institution can super-charge your Mission-Goals.

Contact Significant Systems

To learn more about Dr. Michael Clifford and Significant Systems, check out our website. If you have any interest in pursuing our new model of education for your institution, Contact Us. 

Remember, our goal is simple: 

• Provide Broader Access

• Lower Tuition and Fees

• Leave your Institution with Less Debt and More Graduates

• Facilitate Education with a Purpose

Looking forward to our possible conversation!

Dr. Michael K. Clifford

Chairman

760.801.5021(My personal cell)

mkc@mclifford.com