Board of Regents
Study of the UW System in the 21st Century
FULL TEXT OF FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS: STUDY OF THE UW SYSTEM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Preserving and Enhancing Access to Quality
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Distance
learning technology is essential for expanding the
capacity of the UW System's instructional resources.
New technology can extend the reach of UW programs
and enhance the efficiency of existing instructional
resources. The Board of Regents should assure that
the 1997-99 biennial budget recommendations to the
Governor and the Legislature set forth a specific
funding approach to further develop the necessary
technology. Funds will be required for networking
infrastructure, investment in up-to-date equipment
and software, development of new instructional technology
and providing training opportunities for faculty members.
UW System Administration should prepare a recommendation for the Board's consideration on the investment required, the appropriate funding mechanisms necessary to advance these efforts, and an implementation schedule that outlines how the technology will be used to expand capacity within a specified time frame, including necessary student/faculty interaction and consideration of the student's total needs.
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Tuition
recommendations sent to the Governor and Legislature
should reflect incentives and/or disincentives for
reducing attempted credits to graduation. In addition,
it is recommended that flexibility be added to the
UW System's tuition structure to create incentives
for students to successfully complete the requirements
for a four-year graduation contract. These changes
can only be successful through adequate advising and
course availability. A pilot program allowing three-year,
four-year, or five-year contract options should be
established with selected institutions by Fall 1997,
with systemwide implementation the following year.
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The
Board of Regents through UW System Administration
should work with 1) high schools to encourage attendance
at UW Centers during the school year; and 2) UW System
institutions to make students aware of the availability
of summer school opportunities at all UW System institutions,
especially those close to the location of their summer
employment or home.
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The
Board of Regents through UW System Administration
should work with high schools to consider expansion
of available college credits earned while students
are still in high school.
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The
Board of Regents should affirm a policy that when
faced with a choice between maintaining the Board's
predetermined measures of educational effectiveness
within budgetary constraints or providing access to
its programs and resources, the University of Wisconsin
System must choose to maintain educational effectiveness.
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The
missions of University of Wisconsin System institutions
will be continuously redesigned during the decade
ahead to meet evolving student and state needs. Therefore,
UW System institutions should be encouraged to create
"3+4" programs to allow high school students
who demonstrate appropriate competencies to enter
the university after their junior year. UW Center-Richland
shall be designated as an Integrated Learning Community
with the flexibility to develop partnership programs
that enhance student access to educational opportunities,
including a "3+2" program allowing high
school students who demonstrate appropriate competencies
to enter the university after their junior year. This
will enable students to accelerate their high school
education and to reduce the cost of their college
education. In addition, a four-year institution should
be encouraged to pilot a "3+4" program.
Closer collaboration between the university and K-12
schools is also encouraged toward the aim of creating
a seamless web of educational opportunity for high
school students, including a "4+3" option.
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The
University of Wisconsin System will establish a goal
to use instructional and distance education technologies
to develop an enhanced student-centered learning environment
and remove time and place as barriers to learning,
both on and off campus.
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The
University of Wisconsin System should concentrate
its efforts to expand the use of instructional and
distance education technologies on the following four
basic policies:
- Respond to Student Needs. The University of Wisconsin System will have a coordinated systemwide plan that effectively utilizes appropriate technologies to provide high quality learning opportunities and services to students to meet their lifelong learning needs.
- Facilitate, Review, and Recognize Faculty Contributions. The University of Wisconsin System will facilitate faculty use of instructional and distance education technologies in their teaching and will review and recognize their contributions to an enhanced student-centered learning environment.
- Foster Internal and External Collaboration. The University of Wisconsin System will use instructional and distance education technologies to increase the cooperation and collaboration among University of Wisconsin System institutions and with appropriate other institutions such as other universities, K-12 schools, technical colleges, public libraries, businesses, and communities in developing appropriate programs and distance education delivery systems.
- Develop Instructional Technology Resources. The University of Wisconsin System will provide training, support and, at a minimum, access to University-based hardware and software necessary for students, faculty and staff to effectively use technologies in their teaching and learning.
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The
University of Wisconsin System will undertake the
following actions to expand the use of instructional
and distance education technologies to support the
development of an enhanced student-centered learning
environment and remove time and place as barriers
to learning, both on and off campus:
- The University of Wisconsin System will assess the needs of on- and off-campus students and establish a plan to address student needs, in priority order.
- The Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of Wisconsin System Administration, will be given the authority and responsibility to implement the Systemwide Strategic Plan for Instructional Technology and Distance Education.
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University
of Wisconsin System institutions will be directed
to:
- a. Provide that faculty effort expended in developing instructional technologies for the classroom and for distance education is recognized in promotion, merit, and tenure decisions (e.g. equivalent to publications, teaching innovation, etc.)
- b. Recognize that time spent and documented in development of instructional and distance education technologies applications and in training to use these technologies should be treated as any other part of faculty and staff workload
- c. Develop a process to insure that faculty effectiveness in improving teaching and learning through the use of instructional and distance education technologies is incorporated into performance review and promotion and tenure evaluations.
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The
University of Wisconsin System will encourage
the marketing of its intellectual property.
- a. The delivery of programs beyond the borders of the state will be encouraged when the out-of-state delivery, in turn, makes access to the program more affordable for Wisconsin citizens and when this delivery may leverage funds.
- b. Adjustment of non-resident tuition will be allowed and facilitated when documentation of projected out-of-state enrollments shows that out-of-state delivery makes the program more viable and affordable to Wisconsin citizens.
- c. A non-stock, non-profit organization will be created to support technology-based instructional and distance education innovation.
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The
University of Wisconsin System will establish
incentives specifically designed to encourage
the start-up of collaborative certificate or degree
program initiatives that use instructional and
distance education technologies.
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Policies
dealing with a myriad of issues such as transfer
of credit, out-of-state delivery, workload, assignment
of student credit hours, assessment of segregated
fees, common course numbering, common calendar,
core and degree requirements, uniform provision
of student information (e.g., catalogues), etc.
will be reviewed, clarified, or changed to remove
barriers and encourage the use of technologies.
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The
University of Wisconsin System will establish
and manage a fund to implement the four basic
policies. An annual fund of $25 million will be
generated from one or all of the following sources:
- a. Request new state funding
- b. Base reallocation at the institutions
- c. Extramural funds (e.g. gifts, partnerships, grants, entrepreneurial activities, etc.)
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To
evaluate the progress made to enhance a student-centered
learning environment and remove time and place as
barriers to learning on and off campus:
- The University of Wisconsin System will define learning needs by clientele group.
- The University of Wisconsin System will regularly assess student satisfaction and other measures of academic quality related to the use of instructional and distance education technologies.
- The University of Wisconsin System will assess formal working agreements and pilot projects to explore collaborative strategies.
- The University of Wisconsin System will regularly assess and report on student, faculty, and staff access to hardware and software necessary to use instructional and distance education technologies.
- The University of Wisconsin System will regularly provide to the Board of Regents information on how instructional and distance education technology utilization has been incorporated into performance reviews, promotion, merit, and tenure reviews and decisions.
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In
its endeavor to expand the use of instructional and
distance education technologies, the University of
Wisconsin System be guided by the following principles:
- All instructional and distance education technology is student-centered; i.e., it is programmatically driven, it is intended to enhance learning and increase access, it accommodates different learning styles and circumstances, and it enables innovative interaction between faculty and students.
- Faculty are key to successful utilization of instructional and distance education technologies.
- Increased attention must be given to using instructional and distance education technologies to meet the lifelong learning needs of Wisconsin citizens.
- Interinstitutional collaboration is a means to effectively utilize instructional and distance education technologies to enhance learning and increase access.
- The need for standards, compatibility and collaboration is balanced with recognition of the diverse missions, priorities and local traditions of the University of Wisconsin System institutions.
- All campuses must have appropriate infrastructure hardware and software to participate in comprehensive and coordinated use of instructional and distance education technologies.
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The
Board of Regents will develop a modest Distance Education
Incentive Fund (DEIF), to be created from new dollars,
for the purposes of : (1) acknowledging and rewarding
current distance education activities, (2) encouraging
development of new distance education activities,
and (3) fostering collaboration using distance education
technologies. As distance education activities and
collaborative efforts grow, there will be a need to
increase the size of the Distance Education Incentive
Fund.
Keeping College Affordable
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The
following Board of Regents Tuition Policies are affirmed:
- Tuition increases should be moderate and predictable consistent with maintaining educational quality.
- GPR financial aid and graduate assistant support should increase at a rate no less than that of tuition and also reflect increases in the number of aid eligible students.
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The
Board of Regents should assign responsibility and
reward success for UW institutions that successfully
increase grants obtained from private sources for
financial aid purposes.
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The
state should provide funding increases for Wisconsin
Higher Education Grants (WHEG) that are commensurate
with the increased student budget needs of students
attending a UW System institution.
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The
Board of Regents should consider adding tuition sensitivity
to the WHEG formula.
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The
Board of Regents should request that System Administration,
working with all UW System institutions, create materials,
especially in any interactive electronic format, that
will encourage parents to begin saving for college
early, help them project the cost of attending UW
System institutions and inform them about student
aid programs.
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In
order to increase revenue, institutions should be
encouraged to recruit additional nonresident students
but not at the expense of access to resident students,
and the Board of Regents should examine system policies
that discourage recruitment of nonresident students.
- The Board of Regents must be prepared to advocate that the state continue to provide funding to cover increases in staff costs. Forcing students to pay the costs through increased tuition will damage Wisconsin's tradition of affordability. Choosing not to pay competitive salaries in a competitive market will damage the System's effectiveness in delivering quality instruction, research and public service.