In 2010 the Career Education Scholarship Fund (ESF) hosted its inaugural CESF Charity Golf Tournament to raise much needed scholarship funding for the students that attend any of CEC’s 90 campuses. SmarterServices is proud to be a sponsor at the upcoming 2011 CESF Charity Golf Tournament.

EVENT INFORMATION: This year’s event will be held on Monday, August 29, 2011 at the Twin Orchard Country Club in Long Grove, IL. Our event goals are to double both the number of sponsors and funds raised for student scholarships.

THE PURPOSE OF THE EVENT: • Raise awareness of the Career Education Scholarship Fund (CESF) • Raise much needed funding for the scholarship fund

WHAT IS THE CAREER EDUCATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND? • Nonprofit 501(c)(3) fund • Dedicated to providing need and merit based scholarships • To deserving students attending one of the institutions under the CEC umbrella • Awarded more than $6 million in scholarships • To more than 5,500 deserving students If you would like additional information on the Career Education Scholarship Fund please visit www.cesfund.org.

Career Education Scholarship Fund Charity Golf Tournament

The recent 2010 Distance Education Survey Results released by Instructional Technology Council (ITC) lists the top 10 greatest challenges for elearning program administrators.  SmarterServices' tools lined up perfectly with the first three. 

1. Support staff needed for training and technical assistance - SmarterFaculty
2. Adequate assessment of distance education classes - SmarterSurveys
3. Adequate student services for distance education students - SmarterMeasure

It is very exciting as a company to be positioned on the edge of distance learning needs!  Our goal is to provide robust, yet cost effective solutions, to distance learning challenges.  We want to help you understand your data and make it useable.  So far we are right on track!

SmarterServices Matches Trends in Distance Learning

What contributed to increasing elearning enrollments in 2010?

• 39% - typical growth for distance education classes
• 37% - downturn in the economy
• 12% - new enrollment inititative
• 7% - other
• 5% - unknown

(Source: ITC's 2010 Distance Learning Survey Results)

eLearning Trivia - Did You Know?

Released in May 2011, from the Instructional Technology Council, the 2010 Distance Education Survey Results: Trends in eLearning: Tracking the Impact of eLearning at Community Colleges, offers seven issues of relevant regulatory and legislative activity that are currently impacting the trends in distance learning.

1. State Authorization for Institutions Offering Distance Education to Out-of-State Students
2. Increased Scrutiny of For-Profit higher Education Institutions
3. Broadband Techology Opportunities Program (BTOP)
4. Failure to Enact the American Graduation Initiative
5. Passage of the TAA Community College and Career Training Grants Program
6. The Department of Education's National Education Technology Plan
7. The 2008 Higher Education Opportunites Act (HEOA)

Learn more by reading the full report.

2010 ELearning Trends - Instructional Technology Council

The recent hot button concerning Title IV student financial aid funding and distance learning is causing higher education institutions to sit up and take note.  The regulation states "If an institution is offering postsecondary education through distance or correspondence education to students in a state in which it is not physically located, the institution must meet any State requirements for it to be legally offering postsecondary distance or correspondence education in that State.  We are further providing that an institution must be able to document upon request by the Department that it has the applicable State approval." - Oct. 29, 2010 Amendments to the Higher Education Act Program Integrity Issues, State Authorization, Section § 600.9. 

Riddled with controversy, the regulation effective July 1, 2014, is requiring schools to obtain state approval from every state in which an institution has out-of-state distance learning students who receive federally-funded financial aid.  Some suggest this may cause schools to withhold education to some out-of-state online learners to avoid having to deal with these issues.

A time-consuming and expensive endeavor, heads are spinning as schools begin to acknowledge the magnitude of the requirement.  For smaller community colleges that serve a tri-state area it may be less time-consuming but many times those schools have limited personnel and resources to complete tasks associated with new regulations.  Next in line are the larger universities that may serve distance students spanning many states and in some cases other countries. This will require a lot of leg work and continued follow up as new students from other states are added.

As this news hit the fan a few months ago, I was in San Antonio, TX at the TxDLA conference.  I had a chat with a distance learning administrator (who shall remain anonymous) from a local community college who was absolutely outraged about the new regulation!  She spoke with passion, disgust, and anger about how the "powers that be", as she put it, sat in their chairs in the sky and dreamt up regulations that seem impossible to abide by.  I remember walking away and thinking...the hot button has been turned on!

The new regulation was originally reported (although possibly a rumor) to be in effect as of July 1, 2011.  However, it was then announced to be in effect as of July 1, 2014, giving schools time to wrap their head around the requirements and get it done.

State Authorizations Tied to Distance Education Funding