Blueprint Strategy Document
KEY ACTION:
Expand and Deepen a Strong Two-way Partnership with ITCC
The relationship between IU and ITCC and particularly the IU regional campuses
and ITCC has become increasingly important, and the expectation for the future is
that this relationship will need to be even stronger in the coming years. Creating a
deliberate plan of action for guiding this relationship will ensure that students will
enter a culture of transferability where the process of moving from a two-year
program to a four-year program becomes open and transparent and less daunting
and intimidating.
In addition, the economic trends of the state, which reflect those of the nation,
indicate a need for a more educated workforce. Whereas in the past ITCC may have
been viewed as a competitor, a stronger partnership with ITCC in an effort to
increase the degree attainment for students will improve the economic future for
the state’s citizens.
With this in mind, it must also be acknowledged that the recommendations below
may apply to different regions of the state in different ways. Administering these
recommendations equivalently across the regional campuses may not be feasible or
even desirable. The demographics of the population from region to region, the
proximity of IU regional campuses to local ITCC campuses, and individualized
relationships that have already been nurtured with local ITCC campuses from region
to region all need to be taken into consideration as the recommendations are
discussed. Still, these recommendations did emerge from intercampus discussions
and most should be applicable across campuses.
Movement forward on these recommendations will be based on carefully answering
the following questions:
1) What are the deliverables? What can be applied consistently across the
regional campuses and what can, or needs to, be presented as best
practices?
2) What two-year/four-year partnership models exist that we might learn
from?
3) In what ways and at what level is ITCC brought into the conversation?
4) What are the metrics that will be adopted specifically to measure the
success of these initiatives?
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There are 10 recommendations under this key action. Some actions are specific to
partnership with ITCC. Some actions under this item could be generalized to
transfer students from other institutions.
ERC II.10 Foster creation of partnerships with ITCC to increase student transfer
to regional campuses, as well as facilitating other arrangements as applicable
locally
1.3.1 Coordinate and facilitate IU and Ivy Tech faculty conversations to assess
student needs and align expectations
Possible Action Items:
•
•
Foster deeper cross-institutional connections between staff, faculty, and
academic advisors. Build and strengthen relationships between personnel at
each institution.
Build on the experience of the past year of the IU Composition Directors to
develop a curriculum mapping and tuning process internally among the
regional campuses that could then be the basis for conversation and
coordination with ITCC faculty about assessing student needs and aligning
expectations. The Complete College America grant provides funding for
curriculum mapping software purchases by the regional campuses.
Encourage the adoption of one package for all campuses to facilitate crosscampus mapping and tuning.
1.3.3 Collaborate in efforts to share resources and data with Ivy Tech faculty to
promote seamless academic transfer.
Possible Action Item:
•
•
Gather and share data between institutions on student characteristics,
transfer, and achievement. Bring together staff working with ITCC transfer
programs to develop a plan to increase student transfer. Work with regional
campus IR staff to share data with ITCC officials about transfer students and
their successes. Create a tracking mechanism to allow ITCC to see an
overview across the state.
Leverage existing institutional resources. Where possible, access to athletic
facilities, libraries, computer labs, etc. could be aligned in an effort toward an
enhanced student experience.
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1.3.4 Extend cooperation with Ivy Tech to initiate process to identify repetitive
articulation agreements and combine them.
Possible Action Item:
•
Inventory existing Ivy Tech articulation agreements on each regional campus
and provide recommendations for reducing repetition by developing
agreements that can be approved across multiple campuses. Make the
established ITCC regional campus agreements available on the University
Academic Planning and Policy website.
Progress: A committee has begun work on this.
1.3.6 Review transfer student admission standards using an ALC approved
template to create consistency across regional campuses
Possible Action Items:
•
Inventory transfer student admissions practices across all schools at all
regional campuses. Report outcomes in a template to the ALC so that
regional academic leaders can begin a discussion about creating consistency
across regional campuses.
1.3.7 Present articulations for courses and degrees to the ALC for approval,
oversight, coordination and implementation across the regional campuses
The ALC already reviews all new degree proposals; however, because campuses are
required to have an articulation agreement in place with ITCC by the ICHE when
presenting a new degree for approval, the possibility exists for new redundant
agreements to be signed BEFORE a new degree proposal would reach the ALC.
Possible Action Item:
•
Develop a CARMIN-like process for Ivy Tech articulation agreements to
enable an approval process for new/changed agreements across multiple
campuses at the same time.
1.3.9 Coordinate/facilitate regular meetings of all IU transfer specialists to
ensure consistency of policies/practices.
Progress: A meeting of this group was coordinated in spring 2011
prior to the Blueprint rollout. The group expressed a desire to meet at
least once a year.
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2.1.2 Appoint "Transfer Specialists" on each campus to serve as ombudspersons
for potential transfer students at on/off-campus recruiting events.
Additional Information:
There are already individuals designated on every regional campus who serve the
needs of transfer students. Four of the five regional campuses have specific
initiatives targeted at ITCC students: Pathways—IU East; REACH – IU Northwest;
LINK – IU Kokomo; Partners Program – IU Southeast. The latter three programs
focus on students who must begin at ITCC for remedial coursework.
At IUK and IUE, most transfer students originate at ITCC; at IUN, IUSE, and IUSB,
these students are coming from the Indiana four-year sector and from out-of-state.
Possible Action Items:
•
•
•
•
Identify the transfer specialists on each campus and ensure they are
designated as such on campus websites.
Bring members together for regular facilitated monthly or semester
meetings. Invite specialist to in-person meetings in Indianapolis and have
Polycom available for those who can not or prefer not to travel. These
meetings can be used to discuss issues of transfer with ITCC and generate
potential policies and practices.
Create a collegiate culture at all levels. The value of higher education needs
to be better communicated and ingrained in the surrounding community.
The connection between baccalaureate degree attainment and improved
employment options and outcomes needs to be made explicit and shared at
the high-school level as well as within community college.
Offer specialized support for transfer students. Help ITCC students think
earlier about the advantages of a baccalaureate path. Possible options
include a transfer student orientation day event, design and implementation
of a peer-mentoring strategy, and establishing an ITCC alumni support
network for students once they have transferred to IUE.
Progress: There are specific personnel on the campuses who are in
charge of transfer credit. Some have other duties as well while others
are dedicated positions to transfer.
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3.4.3 Use best practices, such as those from the CAEL, to create effective and
meaningful ways for students who have earned some college credits to obtain
college credit for life experience
Possible Action Item:
•
Establish a “Transfer Learning Community” of one Academic Affairs and one
Student Services representative from each regional campus to research best
practices for transfer and for obtaining college credit for life experience.
Committee members would be encouraged to explore national standards
such as those of CAEL.
3.4.6 Research and implement best practices for facilitating seamless transfer
from two-year to four-year institutions.
Committee(s):
Committees that are already working on some of these issues should be left to
continue their work; however, they need to be connected to this coordinating
Blueprint effort. In an effort to work efficiently, Chancellor Nasser Paydar,
Executive Vice Chancellor Larry Richards, and Assistant Vice President TJ Rivard
will act as the working group on these initiatives. Representatives from each IU
regional campus will serve on a committee that would act as an advisory board to
the working group.
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