CAP Is a Vital Organization

I hope everyone made it home from the CAP 2010 conference safe and sound.  I will blog more on the conference in a couple of days.  I want to take this opportunity to comment on the vitality of the organization and the membership.  Within this organization, there are amazing people who are dedicated to accelerated programs in design and in practice at their home institutions.  I am so pleased to be Chair for the 2010-2011 year as we move our cycle around to an Annual Meeting in the Summers.

Mark your calendars now for the 2011 Conference on August 4, 5, & 6.

Also, I am pleased to announce that CAP is financially stable.  We are moving forward with plans to become an louder voice for Accelerated Programs in the U.S. Join the chorus!  Accelerated Programs are here to stay and grow. The Commission for Accelerated Programs is here to stay and grow!!

What an Incredible Conference

Okay, I intended to blog each day.  I guess I got too busy being Association Chairwoman.  I will add entries about the events.  Let me just say now that every plenary speaker was fabulous.  For those that had to leave early, you missed a dynamite session on accreditation.  If you are an HLC institution, you really must check out the changes that HLC is making to the accreditation process.  No longer will institutions be left alone for 10 years....more to come!

Remember from my speech.  Social media is only social if you participate.  I look forward to your comments!

CAP Annual Conference

Over the next three days, professionals from institutions who have degree programs for adult students in an accelerated or intensive format will gather in Denver, Colorado, at the campus of Metro State College of Denver. We are discussing how to develop accelerated programs, faculty development programs, marketing, admissions, academic advising, and accreditation issues. Stay tuned and I will add comments each day.

How Can We Help Students Complete Degrees?

While this article may not be of interest to some in the field of accelerated programs, I think it does help with our continuing dilemma of retention.  In this article, Exploring Emotional Intelligence, Learner Autonomy, and Retention in an Accelerated Undergraduate Degree Completion Program the researchers look at why some students in a degree completion program complete all the "gap" credits (as they refer to them).  In degree completion programs, students usually have to transfer into the institution a minimum number of credits to start a degree program.  Within that degree program, a set number of courses and credit hours (usually equaling to a major in undergraduate studies) are offered.  The number of semester credits in these undergraduate degree programs range from 30 to 36.  This leaves a number of credits around 20 or more that the student still need to fulfill to graduate.  Anyone who works in academic advising or student services understands sometimes it is quite difficult to get these students to engage and complete those last credits.  I once tracked a student for a year, calling her at least once a month about the one credit hour she needed to complete a bachelor's degree.  As the Director of Student Services, I tried all sorts of motivations to try to get her to enroll in ONE credit.  I honestly think she would have never finished the bachelor's degree if I hadn't made it my mission to not allow her to give up.


Buvoltz, Powell, Solan, and Longbotham (2008) investigate emotional intelligence and learner autonomy (self-directed behaviors).  They were looking at students' ability to stay engaged with learning, to persist to completion.   Something I think all accelerated programs could learn from this study and keep in mind as they market the program as well as through the academic advising stage is this one nugget: "an adult's persistence in autonomous learning related more to the anticipation of future rewards of present learning than the choice to engage in learning activities over non-learning activities"(p 38).  Thus when we are counseling our undergraduate adult students, it might be good to keep bringing the issues of future rewards (e.g., new job opportunities, better employment possibilities, or life fulfillment) rather than talking about the important place education should take in their lives at this moment.  Just food for thought!

Community Colleges Accelerating

Well, more community colleges are looking at picking up the pace for their programs.  This is a new article just released by InsideHigherEd on July 6, 2010. Community colleges are a great place for adult students who are looking for new skills to improve employment possibilities.   We have several community colleges in the Commission for Accelerated Programs membership.  With other community colleges beginning to look at a different delivery format, the four year institutions with accelerated programs have a great opportunity to partner with them and create 2+2 degree programs.  Remember the higher the education level a person achieves, the higher their income possibilities become.

If you haven't signed up for the CAP 2010 Annual Conference, this might be a good time to learn more about the how this organization can help your institution create accelerated programs.

News Items

For all that are in the Middle States Accrediting Association if you are not in the loop with this information, you might want to follow it.  Perhaps there is something you could do from your institution to assist with the matter.

Another accreditation agency is also in the news, the Higher Learning Commission.  If you have not heard, they have recently made some changes to their accreditation process.

At the Annual Conference in July, we have a panel discussion scheduled concerning changes and processes with accreditation agencies.  These two associations will be addressed by consultant evaluators.  If you haven't signed up yet to attend, I encourage you to do so.  Go to the CAP Network Website and click on the 2010 CAP Conference brochure.  I hope to see you there!