1. American Public University System: Building a Culture of Collaboration Dr. Gwen Hall, Associate Provost of Academic Effectiveness and Student Success, American Public University System

2. American Public University System (APUS) Who are we? Founded in 1991 Over 100,000 students 100% online Students in all time zones 100 programs at Associate, Bachelor’s, and Master’s levels Regionally Accredited

3. Why Collaborate? If collaboration is not present in the development of new ideas, it will not be present in their execution. Shared ownership = shared investment Shared investment = shared accomplishment Shared accomplishment = sense of community and pride Potential for organizational transformation APUS before collaboration: Student Services separate from Academics, disconnected strategies, inconsistent processes APUS after collaboration: Student Services and Academics combined in one department, shared strategies for student success, connected and consistent processes

4. Four Pillars of Effective Collaboration for Student Success Collaborative Inquiry Collaborative Planning Collaborative Execution Collaborative Accountability Student Success Institutional Strategy

6. Collaborative Inquiry General Principles: Start with strategic objectives. What essential questions can/should be asked in order to achieve them? Asking essential questions collaboratively creates shared foundational philosophy. Establish collaborative working teams with breadth (cross-departmental) and depth (multiple organizational levels). Include faculty as often as possible. What data do you have? What data do you need?

7. Collaborative Inquiry at APUS Internal initiatives: Classroom Observations DFWI Tracking ClearPath CIVITAS Scope: Department-level Stage: Implementation Sponsor: Gardner Institute Scope: Course-level Focus: 5 High DFWI courses Launch: 2013 Stage: Implementation/Measures of Success Sponsor: Higher Learning Commission Scope: Institution-level Focus: Data-based strategies Launch: 2014 Stage: Data collection and analysis Sponsor: Gardner Institute Scope: Institution-level Focus: First-year experience Launch: 2012 Stage: Implementation/Measures of Success Foundations of Excellence HLC Academy for Student Persistence and Completion Internal Initiatives Gateways to Completion

8. Collaborative Inquiry at APUS Broad and Deep Participation Foundations of Excellence Over 150 participants from 7 departments 20 full-time faculty All levels represented, from administrative assistants to executive vice presidents Gateways to Completion 65 participants, including advisors and admissions reps 19 full-time faculty, some in co-chair roles HLC Academy on Student Persistence and Completion 16 participants, including four full-time faculty Representatives from Academics, Institutional Research, Finance, and Enrollment Management

10. Collaborative Planning General Principles Create and prioritize recommendations for action based on wide consensus across teams Create implementation plans that evenly disburse responsibility for action across departments Consider appropriate measures of success as you develop action items. Make sure that action items are actionable and that measures of success are measurable. Receive input and approval from all team members for final implementation plan Be willing to review and revise implementation plan often to maintain relevance and currency

11. Collaborative Planning at APUS Creating and Prioritizing Recommendations Foundations of Excellence Recommendations created by FoE working team as part of self-study report FoE Summit (July 2013) High-level, cross-departmental group reviewed recommendations and offered input and suggested revisions Prioritization process included polling and considerations of ROI (“low- hanging fruit”) Gateways to Completion Institution-level recommendations created by G2C Steering Committee. Course-level recommendations created by G2C Course-Specific Committees. Prioritization process included virtual polling of G2C committee members, considerations of ROI, and cross-walking with FoE recommendations already in process

12. Excerpt from G2C Prioritization Form

13. Excerpt from FoE Implementation Plan

15. Collaborative Execution General Principles Create cross-departmental oversight teams to monitor progress on action items and resolve challenges as they appear Meet regularly to ensure effective communication among stakeholders Create a template to capture progress on action items Create mechanism for baselining and tracking measures of success

16. Collaborative Execution at APUS APUS Retention Committee Created in 2013 to oversee implementation of FoE recommendations Members include high-level participants from: Academics Student Services (now part of Academics) Enrollment Management Institutional Research Marketing Finance IT Meets quarterly to report on action item progress and measures of success Cross-walks FoE actions items with recommendations from other initiatives to resolve conflicts and redundancies

17. Sample of Retention Committee Progress Template

18. Example of Retention Committee Cross-walk

20. Collaborative Accountability General Principles Measures of success are strategically aligned, accessible to all relevant stakeholders, and regularly tracked and communicated Cross-departmental oversight team(s) meet regularly to acknowledge successes and tackle challenges creatively and cohesively Progress on important initiatives are communicated effectively to the institution at large

21. Collaborative Accountability at APUS Prioritizing Data-Sharing Development of institutional dashboards to communicate data on progress to all stakeholders Sharing of DFWI data with faculty on a regular basis to acknowledge progress and promote improvement Development of predictive analytics tool (Illume) so that all departments can work with the same data to create future persistence strategies Creating Collaborative Platforms Faculty Connect: Communication tool to keep faculty current on all institutional priorities and initiatives ClearPath: One-stop student resource center combining curricular and co- curricular support resources

22. What We’ve Learned Collaboration can be resource-heavy. Institutional support should be strong and consistent. Communication is key (and hard). Finding effective platforms to keep all members of the institution informed and invested in collaborative efforts is critical. A plan is just a plan. Effectiveness is the destination. Be willing to review and revise as often as necessary.