Resources

Report

Online by Design: How Accessibility is Fundamental to Learner-Centered Design

July 23, 2024

The second piece in CHEPP’s Online by Design series outlines how critical accessibility is to learner-centered design. It focuses on the importance and opportunity of disability inclusion in higher education and elevates what some higher education institutions and practitioners are doing to meet the essential needs of students with disabilities. The paper also presents a set of key elements to accessible design and provides policy recommendations to institutions and at the federal level to advance accessibility and inclusion across higher education systems.

Issue Brief

Unpacking Workforce Partnerships: Improving Structures for Learners

July 9, 2024

Higher education workforce partnerships can reduce the costs of completing a degree or credential and expand economic opportunity for learners. They also bring value to regional economic initiatives, employers, and institutions alike. This brief examines the landscape of these partnerships by providing a typology and discussing how they operate, as well as initial recommendations for policymakers and practitioners regarding how they can be structured using the lens of learner-centered design.

Report

The Costs of Today’s College Credit Transfer System for Learners and the Mindsets and Practices That Reduce Them

May 15, 2024

Transfer and credit for prior learning (CPL) offer great potential to reduce costs and improve equitable access to the many benefits of a college degree. This paper looks at the issue of the cost of credit transfer three different ways. First, it identifies the barriers related to lost credits and the transfer of credit process, then translates those barriers and their impact into the costs learners incur. Second, it presents three case studies where institutions are creating learner friendly transfer processes, including an examination of transfer data at SNHU. Finally, the paper shares the stories of three transfer students to illustrate their priorities, their challenges, and what they found most impactful in supporting them to reengage in higher education and complete their degree.

Letter

Public Comment Letter Regarding National Apprenticeship System Enhancements

March 18, 2024

CHEPP, the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN), and the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) submitted the following public comment letter to the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration Request for Information (RFI) on National Apprenticeship System Enhancements. The letter opposes the proposed elimination of the Competency-Based approach to Apprenticeship on-the-job training requirements. The letter shares how this change will negatively impact ongoing growth of apprenticeships into more sectors, particularly in occupations not traditionally served by apprenticeships, including education. It also explains how prioritizing time instead of mastery of skills or content impedes the ability for training programs to act nimbly and limits the ability to rapidly update programs that must respond to changing workforce needs.