Teaching, learning, and research are not standalone activities in a vacuum. They bridge across thousands of touch points online and in person. The need for connectivity has never been more. Is it time your institution becomes ConnectED?
Data systems reflect information management practices such as how learning activities are logged and kept private behind the academic curtain. The learner record is a compilation curated and secured by Registrars linked to the learning events orchestrated by the institution. The transcript represents a summarized version of the Learner Record.
A learner’s activities are used to evaluate completion requirements, reply to external requests for the academic record, or project the unmet requirements needed for completion (with or without recognition). Without the link to the curated learning events, it is very difficult to comprehend and utilize the transcript’s data. Most rely on levels of familiarity, which can be very challenging as the diversity of learners expands beyond the core.
As learners and learning continues to span institutions and other sources of learning, the economic pressure to address secure storage and access of learning activities has seen a dramatic increase. Calls for blockchain, transcript exchange, e-portfolio, shared learning achievement stores, and comprehensive learner records maintained outside of the institution continue to ramp up. Some are piloting projects, but most are waiting it out while they continue to absorb the cost to maintain the status quo.
Limited access to learning activities across institutions, means each institution must bear the costs to match-up, enter, evaluate, and finalize the learner’s prior learning activities when they anticipate enrolling. Without data access, copies are requested – which in itself introduces security concerns, authenticity, and re-entry of data to afford evaluation and assessment. This taxes everyone in the eco-system by adding delays and unknowns and stimulating further mistakes in course planning due in part to lack of access to the learning activities in the first place. On top of that, the learning activities copied are static, and will have to be requested again when further progress unfolds as a learner may complete the learning activities at one institution while considering the enrollment in another.
People can claim many things and easily misrepresent accomplishments because it is so time consuming and difficult to verify from the authoritative party without authoritative and secure access. Surveying HR recruiters, more than 80% report they don’t check the academic transcript.
Many institutions pipe transcripts through the mail or send PDF versions, through a request and reply method that is fraught with failures. Most transcripts sent across the US are PDF, limiting the ability to consume structured data described. Thus, institutions rekey raising the probability of coding errors found later downstream.
The 80/20 rule applies to most circumstances. Consider 80% of learners are enrolling from known, regional sister institutions and 20% come from unfamiliar ones. Most institutions have their top ten “feeders.” Imagine having a trusted data access connection like an ATM that can enable secure processing of 80% of your learners’ learning activities quickly and seamlessly. This would free the resources to better serve the other 20%.
Software-as-a-service is a powerful method to employ that reduces the technical complexity and support needed from your IT experts. Employ our S3 connectors for your Student Information System using our web service technology linked to your vendor’s published API’s. AcademyOne has performed all the heavy lifting to afford the tracking of information “gets” and “puts” satisfying FERPA. Students must opt-in for permission and use of their data in the enrollment evaluation that would result from an application.
Imagine the cost savings your institution will see when you reduce the workload to sort, match, enter, and process learner transcripts. Trust the electronic connection of learner academic records, print down a copy to archive, and digitally rely on the certified connection.