In This Issue:

• More Nurses Enrolling In Southeastern Online Degree Program
• NSU Helps Adult Learners through Prior Learning Assessment
• ULM Poised for Marketing Push

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More Nurses Enrolling In Southeastern Online Degree Program

HAMMOND – Nearly 50 students are enrolled in Southeastern Louisiana University’s new online degree program designed to help registered nurses who have completed associate degree or diploma programs earn their Bachelor of Science degree. Most have not set foot on campus this semester, taking anywhere from one to four accelerated courses at Southeastern that are offered totally online. Some are taking upper level nursing courses, while a number are enrolled in general education courses – such as biology, chemistry, arts and social studies – that are needed to complete requirements for a four-year degree. The program is part of special statewide adult learning initiative known as CALL – the “Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana.” Sponsored by the Louisiana Board of Regents, the project targets individuals who have some college credit but have never earned a baccalaureate degree. Last semester -- the first time the program was offered, -- seven students already enrolled at the university were able to transition into the new program and graduate. “CALL has enabled us to expand the offerings and geographical reach of our strong nursing program, already one of the largest and most respected in the state,” said John L. Crain, interim president. “It’s an important workforce development initiative, helping to address the pressing need for highly skilled nurses in our region.” In Louisiana, more than 21,000 licensed registered nurses lack a bachelor’s degree. They are graduates of two-year associate degree programs or hospital-based diploma programs. “The online RN to BS degree programs are becoming increasingly popular,” said Donnie Booth, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “More people are turning to Web-based programs to continue their formal education as well as fulfilling continuing education requirements.” The participants in Southeastern’s program mostly come from nearby north shore and river parishes communities with some students from north Louisiana and Mississippi. “Most of these men and women are working on a full or part-time basis, and it’s difficult for them to return to college to earn their four-year degree,” Booth said. “This program allows them to do the work on their own time and at their own pace, while being assured that they are part of a rigorous and fully-accredited program.” The Southeastern nursing program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, and its new online program has been fully evaluated by the Southern Regional Education Board. The program has been cited by the Louisiana Nurses Foundation as the best in the state three times in the last seven years. Booth serves on the Louisiana Health Works Commission, a state body created by to address issues and find solutions related to the shortage of healthcare professionals in the state. She said a bachelor’s degree is an important step for nursing or other healthcare professionals looking to advance in their particular fields. Jean Urick, Southeastern’s CALL coordinator, said that all applicants for the program are individually assessed to determine which courses they need to take in order to earn a bachelors degree. “The online courses are offered in accelerated four and eight-week formats,” Urick explained. “This allows the nursing students to complete a number of courses within a traditional semester’s timeframe, accelerating their progress toward the degree.” For more information on the program, call Urick at 985-549-5288, by e-mail at yurick [at] selu [dot] edu, or via the Web site at www.selu.edu/CALL. The statewide CALL program is a consortium of six Louisiana public colleges and universities. In addition to Southeastern, the following institutions also offer online degree programs: Bossier Parish Community College, Northwestern State University, LSU at Eunice, McNeese State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Degrees are offered in the fields of business administration, computer information systems, criminal justice, general studies and health studies. Information on those programs is available at www.yourcallla.org/.

For more information on CALL, go to http://www.yourcallla.org.

NSU Helps Adult Learners through Prior Learning Assessment

NATCHITOCHES – What you already know can help you earn a college degree. Adult learners can apply work experience, training, volunteer experiences and personal life to gain college credit and earn a degree more rapidly at Northwestern. NSU can utilize a Prior Learning Assessment to determine if past experiences can qualify adult learners for college credit that can be used in the Center for All Louisiana Learners program or any of Northwestern’s 17 online degree programs. “A Prior Learning Assessment helps find out what a student already knows and what they need to learn through coursework,” said Katy Hall, PLA advocate at Northwestern. “The assessment can be a big confidence builder for adult learners because it lets them know they can do college level work. Depending on their experience, the Prior Learning Assessment can also significantly reduce the time needed to graduate.” Students who wish to undergo a Prior Learning Assessment must take a three-hour course in which they learn to gather their personal information and submit a portfolio for evaluation. Northwestern has made Prior Learning Assessments available for the past 18 months with the start of the CALL Program. Just over two-thirds of students who submitted portfolios have received credit. “We’re fortunate to have 50 faculty members at Northwestern professionally prepared to assess Prior Learning of adult students who are returning to school to earn their degree,” said Hedy Pinkerton, director of Electronic and Continuing Education at Northwestern. “Thanks to the support and involvement of our senior administration, we have faculty in virtually every department who can determine if a submission meets the equivalent of college level learning. This is a tremendous asset and demonstrates Northwestern’s commitment to supporting adult learners, many of whom have tremendous experience which translates into college credit.” Twenty Northwestern faculty recently underwent PLA training at a workshop led by Dr. Jerry Hickerson, director of Interdisciplinary Studies and professor of English at Winston Salem State University. According to Pinkerton, workshop participation helped faculty members gain the skill to evaluate portfolio submissions from adult learners who hope to gain college credit for experiential learning based upon their work history or life skills. A major portion of the workshop was spent discussing the procedures for what determines college level learning and who should be able to be granted college credit for what they know. The participants learned the concept is similar to a challenge exam or CLEP test but the knowledge is conveyed in a narrative format in an online electronic portfolio. Credit is treated the same as transfer credit from another university.

For more information on CALL, go to http://www.yourcallla.org.

ULM Poised for Marketing Push

MONROE – The University of Louisiana at Monroe is aligning its marketing strategy with that of the Center for Adult Learning in Louisiana to boost interest in online learning degrees. ULM recently launched a Google Adwords campaign to promote its health studies degree, according to Michael Echols, associate vice president of communications and marketing. Echols estimated that the campaign has already produced well over 100,000 “impressions” – a positive indication of the number of times an ad is displayed on Google or on sites or products in the Google Network. “Impressions are important because they tell us how many times an ad pops up, regardless of whether a person clicks on it or not,” said Echols. “These ad pop ups cultivate potential students.” Echols said a link to the ULM health studies program has had hundreds of direct hits, and there have been thousands of hits to ULM’s Gateway to OnLine Learning (GOLD) degrees web site. A review of ULM students with associate degrees related to health studies yielded approximately 500 potential CALL students, according to Rhonda Jones, director of continuing education at ULM. These students will be contacted through massive mailings of push cards and brochures, said Jones. In addition, ULM officials have met with health care administrators to target members of professional organizations with an additional three to four thousand brochure mailings detailing the health studies program. Echols said ULM also produced a local public service announcement to generate interest in the program, which already aired hundreds of times on area stations. CALL commercials have also been airing regionally, he said.

For more information on CALL, go to http://www.yourcallla.org.