Harrison in the News

Harrison College changing online education platform

Marlys Weaver-Stoesz, eTruth — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:15:00 GMT

Attorney General Zoeller promotes higher education

Brittany Tyner, WLFI — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 10:59:00 GMT

Rasmussen College Proves Bigger Isn't Always Better

Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:00:00 GMT

BHS student applies for scholarship through Facebook

Danny Careins, Hartford City News Times — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:17:00 GMT

Imagine vying in a competition for a scholarship to a college using a social media such as Facebook�.

This is exactly what Blackford County resident McCartney Walden is doing as she pursues furthering her education beyond high school.

Walden, a senior at Blackford High School, is the daughter of Richard and Deanna Wagoner, of Hartford City, and Kurt and Kathy Walden, of Martinsville. She plans to use her scholarship to pursue an A.A.S. degree in human resources at Harrison College's Muncie campus.

"I am so proud of McCartney for receiving this scholarship whether she receives the full-ride or half-ride," said Deanna Wagoner, who is the grant administrator for Blackford County Schools.

Mark Apple, Director of Public Relations for the college, noted that last fall the college began accepting applications for a full-tuition scholarship for a high school senior to pursue an associate's degree at one of the college's 12 campuses.

"Our scholarship committee has narrowed the applicants to two finalists," said Apple. "They are Walden and Cassidy Jones, a senior at F.J. Reitz High School in Evansville."

Walden and Jones are competing with one another via a contest which the college is hosting on its Facebook� page.

"For McCartney to have a fighting chance to win this scholarship, she's going to need the support of her entire community," noted Apple. "The public will decide the winner via our Facebook� page."

The contest will run through March 31.

Because this particular scholarship is being offered to high school seniors, the college wanted to engage the applicants and their friends in the process, according to Jason Konesco, president of the college.

"Knowing that high school students are active in social media, we thought that this would be a unique way of choosing the winner," said Konesco. "Both of our finalists are very deserving of the scholarship, and we will be pleased with the result regardless of the outcome."

Walden and Jones were chosen as finalists by the college's scholarship committee based on their 500-word essays about why they are career focused and success driven students, a letter of recommendation from a school or work reference and a letter of recommendation from a relative.

"The winning student will receive a full-tuition scholarship to apply toward an associate's degree, and the runner-up will receive a half-tuition scholarship toward an associate's degree," noted Apple.

Members of the public can vote for the student they believe is most deserving of the scholarship by visiting the college's Facebook� page at www.facebook.com/HarrisonCollege. After "Liking" the page, voters should click on "contests" in the panel on the left side of the page. They will then be directed to a page where they can view a video from each of the students, and vote for the student of their choice.

There is a one vote per person limit.

The winner will be announced via the college's Facebook� page on April 1.

Harrison College still churning out grads after more than a century

Seth Slabaugh, The Star Press — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 04:29:00 GMT

Harrison College Launches Interactive Virtual Campus

Kanoe Namahoe, Campus Technology — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:38:00 GMT

Harrison College Launches Interactive Virtual Campus

Kanoe Namahoe — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:57:00 GMT

2012 Forty Under 40: Jason T. Konesco

IBJ, Marc and Martha Allan — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:25:20 GMT

Clean teeth make a happy, healthy pet

WISH-TV — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Know-U offers non-traditional learning

WDTN, Holly Samuels — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:52:00 GMT

Harrison College opens branch in Fairborn

Margo Rutledge Kissell — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:19:00 GMT

Harrison Partnering With International Business School

Inside Indiana Business — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:25:00 GMT

A New Year's resolution: Become a mentor in 2012

Dennis A Trinkle — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:27:00 GMT

Harrison College Veterinary Assisting Program Receives NAVTA Accreditation

WTHR — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:34:00 GMT

Harrison scores well in national survey categories

Tribune Star — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 18:37:00 GMT

How much do college students study?

Kenneth Corbin, Schools.com — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:40:00 GMT

Harrison, McGraw-Hill to Offer Business Training

Inside Indiana Business — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:02:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS - Harrison College (www.harrison.edu), a private sector college with more than 6,000 students studying at 12 campuses and Online, announced today that it has formally entered a partnership with McGraw-Hill Education, a leading content, software and services-based education company, to develop customized training and professional development programs in areas such as 21st century skills, leadership training and computer technology for companies globally.

Through the partnership, McGraw-Hill Education will develop full curriculum, as well as interactive digital components and presentations, assessments and success measurement criteria. Harrison College will facilitate the training programs, providing the instructors, the online learning environment, and other services. The training can be conducted at the customer's place of business, an offsite facility, online, or a combination of the three. There is also a solution that allows the training to be viewed using smart devices.

Together, Harrison College and McGraw-Hill Education plan to offer varying levels of customization and training development, much of which will feature media-rich and interactive components. By providing curriculum and training that is more customized and more interactive, Harrison College and McGraw-Hill will foster greater engagement and success for employees and companies worldwide.

"Harrison College and McGraw-Hill will offer a business training model that is very different than any other in the market," said Dr. Dennis A. Trinkle, Harrison College provost and chief academic officer. "We will bring training to the customer, both literally and figuratively. Content will be customized based on the customer's unique business needs, and delivered in a way that they find most convenient."

"This partnership is yet another example of how McGraw-Hill Education is following through on its strategy to become the premier provider of education services and digital learning, two areas with strong underlying secular growth drivers globally," said Chris Cardona, Career Education, Readiness and Training consultant, McGraw-Hill Education. "We are very excited to be able to work with such a well-regarded and trusted career education institution as Harrison College."

Harrison College, which has two-thirds of its more than 6,000 students taking at least one class online, can leverage its Online Learning Platform to teach all or part of the training online. The college is renowned for having some of the most robust and media-rich online content in higher education. Although college credit will not be offered to those who complete coursework, some training will qualify for continuing education credits.

"We understand that area businesses not only need entry-level graduates, but viably skilled employees throughout their organizations," said Chris Hutchinson, Harrison College's Director of Program Development.

ABOUT HARRISON COLLEGE

Harrison College is a contemporary, career-focused institution of Higher Education serving more than 6,000 students throughout the United States and Internationally. Harrison College has 12 campuses in Indiana and Ohio, two culinary schools in Indiana and North Carolina, and also offers courses online at Harrison.edu. The institution grants Associates and Bachelor's degrees across five schools of study: Business, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Criminal Justice, and Veterinary Technology, as well as its culinary division, The Chef's Academy. Harrison College offers students a variety of learning environments including online, traditional classroom or a combination of both. Harrison College is accredited by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and is dedicated to excellence in higher learning. In addition, the College is currently a Candidate with The Higher Learning Commission, an affiliate of the North Central Association (HLC-NCA). Harrison College was founded in 1902 as Indiana Business College and has a rich history of preparing students for success in their chosen profession.

ABOUT MCGRAW-HILL

McGraw-Hill Education is a content, software and services-based education company that draws on its more than 100 years of educational expertise to offer solutions, which improve learning outcomes around the world. McGraw-Hill is the adaptive education technology leader with the vision for creating a highly personalized learning experience that prepares students of all ages for the world that awaits. The company has offices across North America, India, China, Europe, the Middle East and South America, and makes its learning solutions available in more than 65 languages. For additional information, visit mheducation.com.

Harrison College's first class graduates

Sarah Sole — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:52:12 GMT

Harrison College's Grove City campus hosted its first commencement ceremony for graduates at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 at the Grand Oaks Event Center, 1801 Gateway Circle.

Harrison College was established in Indiana in 1902, and opened the Grove City campus in September of 2009.

State Rep. Cheryl Grossman (R-Grove City) addressed the class of 16 graduates. The ceremony honored students from the June and September graduating classes.

"This is a huge milestone for Harrison College in Ohio, but it's just the beginning of what we plan to accomplish here," Pat Mozley, president of Harrison College's Grove City campus, said in a written statement. "Harrison College has graduated more than 75,000 students in our 109-year history. We want to have that kind of impact in Ohio over the next 100 years."

All 16 of the graduates earned associate degrees in one of six programs: accounting, business management, criminal justice, human resources, medical assistant and medical reimbursement technology. Nine of the graduates are from the medical assistant program.

"The medical assisting program is our most populated program," Mozley said.

Mozley attributes the popularity to the public's awareness of the high number of jobs that will be available in that sector in the future. She said Harrison College is one of the few colleges in the Columbus area that offers an associate degree in medical assisting.

The Grove City campus plans to offer bachelor's degree programs in the near future, Mozley said. The five degrees would include business management, health care management, human resources, criminal justice and accounting.

"Those complement the programs that we currently offer," she said.

This fall quarter, total enrollment at the campus is 213 students, Mozley said. Last year's fall quarter enrollment was 99 students. Of the current 213 students, 75 students or 35 percent are from Grove City. Columbus ZIP codes, which could be anywhere inside of Interstate 270, make up 48 percent or 102 students.

Galloway, Hilliard and Dublin make up 9 percent or 20 students, with the remaining 16 or 7.5 percent living south of Grove City in the areas of Lancaster, Ashville, Groveport and Circleville.

The most popular program for the campus continues to be the medical assistant program, which currently has 81 students. Criminal justice is second-largest, with 47 students enrolled. Business management follows with 31 students. Medical reimbursement technology has 25 students.

First IPS intersession had it's bright spots, but has room for improvement

Scott Elliott Indianapolis Star — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:03:17 GMT

Eduardo Tigre glared his disapproval from under a large red crown, ordering prison for any subjects violating his whimsical new law: All things must rhyme. All the time.

He makes a good king, especially for a first-time, third-grade thespian.

"I thought I could use acting to bring out my voice," Eduardo said. "And being the king, you have to have a big voice to do it."

Eduardo is a cast member in Christine Schaefer's two-week theater enrichment program at Indianapolis Public School 31. Like many of the students in the program, Eduardo normally attends School 19 and participates in choir.

Schaefer's enrichment class is the type of program Indianapolis Public Schools envisioned when it decided last year to follow a new year-round "balanced" calendar that provides two-week breaks in the fall and spring.

The breaks -- what educators call intersession -- allow children who are falling behind to catch up with remediation courses. But it's not all about remediation. Students also were offered various enrichment courses such as the theater class, which ended Friday, the last day of IPS' first two-week break.

Schaefer's theater class was a hit. IPS' first attempt at intersession? Not so much.

More than half of the district's 32,000 students signed up and were automatically enrolled in intersession courses. But attendance started off slowly -- more than 40 percent were absent -- and never really picked up.

In addition, the district's vision for a slew of "community partners" providing enrichment programs mostly flopped.

Nonprofits and companies that might have become involved said the district didn't provide them enough information or time to make a solid pitch. IPS was asking the partners to pay most of the freight, too.

But as IPS moves forward with its new calendar, the district expects the situation to improve. And there is cause for some optimism: Where programs came together, such as at School 31, they generally worked well.

At Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet High School, existing partnerships with IUPUI and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowships provided a "CSI"-themed science program. And Harrison College, which specializes in business training, gave high school students a week of computer training that ended with a professional certification.

Other partners that were able to make programs work were the Girl Scouts, the Peace Learning Center, United Way of Central Indiana and Shepherd Community Center.

When the next intersession rolls around in March, things hopefully will be different, said IPS Associate Superintendent Li-Yen Johnson.

"There was a lot of uncertainty out there this time," she said. "We need to do a better job. We'll start planning in November."

Creativity was a hallmark of the partnerships this time.

At Attucks, for example, students had to figure out which teacher was behind the kidnapping of the school mascot, a tiger.

Seventh-grader Isley Maglalong had a suspect by the third day: teacher Kara Griffin. Others focused on teacher Eric Sprague after they noticed a ransom note was written in his handwriting. But Maglalong thought it was more suspicious that Griffin wasn't in class on the day the kidnapping occurred.

"She's been quiet," Maglalong said. "It's always the quiet ones who do it."

Clues were tested with forensic science techniques. For example, students used physics to determine where the suspect was standing when a window was broken and computers to crack the ransom note, which was written in binary code.

The course was designed by Woodrow Wilson Fellows -- teachers in training, including Griffin and Sprague -- who worked with Attucks science teacher Lon Amstutz (who turned out to be the tiger-napper) to craft the class for 25 students.

"It's a great opportunity," Sprague said, "for everyone to learn that science is not just textbooks and lectures."

At Harrison College, Attucks senior Aaron Gant sought to make the most of another opportunity: CompTIA Strata certification, a first step to more advanced credentials.

Harrison College is perhaps the best example of what IPS hoped for in a partner. It provided instructors, some classroom space and other materials. And at the end of the program, the 21 students walked away with a useful credential.

Gant knows what he wants to do with computers. It's called "augmented reality." He first learned about it online and started watching all the YouTube tutorials he could find to learn more.

Augmented reality, he explained, uses a camera and computer to allow a virtual object to be manipulated in the real world.

Gant imagines classroom applications. Wouldn't it be easier, he asked, for a science class to learn about cells if students had a three-dimensional computer model cell they could turn and flip over?

"I'm trying to teach myself the C++ programming language," he said. "Then I can do it on a (personal computer)."

Kids also learned new skills in Schaefer's theater program.

"One of my goals," she said, "is to get the kids to think of themselves differently."

Schaefer, a former IPS teacher who is now directing at the Crazy Lake Acting Company in Greenfield, heard about intersession through a friend. She crafted a proposal that included academic activities, such as having the children keep daily journals, along with learning to act.

After Friday's final performance before parents, teachers and their classmates, Eduardo said he had gained what he hoped for from the intersession.

In the role of King Roderick, he was confident, commanding and, most of all, loud.

"If you're going to do anything in front of people, you have to learn not to have stage fright," he said. "You really have to face the audience."

Harrison College Name Associate Provost

Inside Indiana Business — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:46:00 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS - Harrison College (harrison.edu), a private sector college with more than 6,000 students studying at 12 campuses and Online, announced today that it has hired Shelley Hunter to serve as Associate Provost for Student Services.

In her new role, Shelley will provide strategic vision, leadership and direction for the college's student affairs, career services, and alumni services groups.

Shelley comes to Harrison College from the Indiana University Foundation, where she spent more than seven years as Special Giving Programs Director and Liaison to the IUPUI Chancellor. In that role, she served as the liaison between the IUPUI Chancellor and the IU Foundation office, directed the IUPUI faculty/staff annual giving campaign, and managed special projects associated with the IUPUI IMPACT Capital Campaign.�

Prior to joining the foundation, Shelley worked at Bank One as Assistant Vice President, Community Relations Manager for Indiana, responsible for Bank One's (now Chase) philanthropic activities in the state. She began her career at Indiana Sports Corporation and served in several capacities there, including Vice President of Youth Sports Initiatives, Director of the Youthlinks Golf Tournament, and administrator of the grants programs for ISC.

Shelley brings her passion for leadership and for serving her community to Harrison College. As a volunteer, Shelley is helping Indianapolis prepare for Super Bowl XLVI by serving on the Host Committee as Chair, Community Programs. Additionally, she serves as Vice-Chairman of the Board, College Mentors for Kids, and as a member of the Human Services Committee at the United Way of Central Indiana. Shelley is also a mentor for the Norman Brown Diversity and Leadership Program at IUPUI. Shelley is a past board member for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana and the Police Athletic League and led the volunteer committee for the 2002 World Basketball Championships. Shelley was a member of the Stanley K. Lacy Leadership Association, Class XXIII.

Shelley received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from DePauw University (Greencastle, IN). She has completed certification programs in Nonprofit Management from the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), and in Fundraising Management from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Shelley will complete her Executive Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies from The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in May 2012.

Harrison College offers 38 programs in five schools of study (Business, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Criminal Justice, and Veterinary Technology) and through its culinary division, The Chef's Academy. Harrison College alumni are eligible for lifetime employment assistance from the college.

About Harrison College

Harrison College is a contemporary, career-focused institution of Higher Education serving more than 6,000 students throughout the United States and Internationally. Harrison College has 12 campuses in Indiana and Ohio, two culinary schools in Indiana and North Carolina, and also offers courses online at Harrison.edu. The institution grants Associates and Bachelor's degrees across five schools of study: Business, Health Sciences, Information Technology, Criminal Justice, and Veterinary Technology, as well as its culinary division, The Chef's Academy. Harrison College offers students a variety of learning environments including online, traditional classroom or a combination of both. Harrison College is accredited by the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) and is dedicated to excellence in higher learning. In addition, the College is currently a Candidate with The Higher Learning Commission, an affiliate of the North Central Association (HLC-NCA). Harrison College was founded in 1902 as Indiana Business College and has a rich history of preparing students for success in their chosen profession.

Harrison College

Harrison Ushers in online education revolution

Fort Wayne Journal Gazette — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 14:53:45 GMT

While recent headlines have criticized the for-profit sector of higher education, an objective examination reveals they are in many ways more responsive than nonprofit sector institutions to the needs of today's students.

Factors driving growth in the for-profit sector include student preferences for accessibility and convenience via online offerings, as well as the ability for direct, immediate application of educational content to their workplace environments.

As people seek to improve their education, skills and training in this tough job market, statistics show that for-profit sector students experience greater annual salary increases than the national average for all workers.

Other statistics show the number of online educational program offerings has doubled over the past two years.

Mainstream higher education has driven few innovations in the way online students are taught.

The current model mimics traditional on-campus education, with students paying tuition to study in professor-led classes that meet at specific times and last from eight to 11 weeks. The problem is that this current model has not translated well for online students.

At Harrison College, we have found that 87 percent of our on-campus students in one quarter return for the next quarter.

But among our online students, the retention rate is only 80 percent. Recent research among community colleges corroborates these results. No matter where students attend college, their online experience is essentially similar. Schools provide text-driven websites, with few or no graphics, and limited interaction with faculty and fellow students.

Yet higher education has the technology and the tools to build innovative online environments that will revolutionize online education. Now is the time for online education to come into its own.

We are leading the way at Harrison College with a new academic venture called "KnowU," where online students will learn in an interactive, graphic-rich environment that allows them to connect with one another in a social network setting that includes the ability to import their personal Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

KnowU uses sophisticated analytical engines to suggest resources based on the students' academic, personal and career needs, such as locating internships or alerting an adviser.

It also connects students to full 24/7 support, based on their preferences and situations. Online students at Harrison College's KnowU will benefit from a stronger sense of belonging to a community as a result of these services.

Such upgrades are essential because a third of the students starting at Harrison College this fall will take all of their classes online, and two-thirds of our current students are taking at least one class online. These figures reflect what is happening nationally, with online academic programs surging everywhere.

The appeal of online programs comes not just from technology's increased presence in our society but also the changing needs of the student population. Adults are finding they regularly need new training to stay current in the workforce, especially with changing technologies and new knowledge in their fields. Many have families and maintain jobs while they continue their education.

The traditional nonprofit residential university oriented toward 18- to 22-year-olds and clocked credit hours often cannot satisfy the needs of, say, a military veteran with a family and day job who wants to beef up his or her technical skill set via online educational courses that can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

Because the for-profit sector of higher education tends to be more nimble and entrepreneurial, it can more readily respond to the needs of such a nontraditional student.

Rather than bemoan the proliferation of new, emerging educational models, or unnecessarily criticize them, we as a society should embrace the idea of higher education as an open system with enough richness and variety to meet the educational needs of any and all students.

Higher education today is a dynamic competitive environment, and many students will be drawn to the promise and rich reward of virtual educational experiences such as those now offered by Harrison College. I invite the public and my peers in the field of higher education to come take a look at the future of education at�knowu.harrison.edu.

Harrison College Lafayette Commencement Coverage

Nicole Hardison — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 16:38:00 GMT

Congressman Todd Rokita (R-IN) addresses graduates from Harrison College's Lafayette campus on Oct. 8, 2011.

Watch the Short Version

Watch the Full Speech

Building a 'sense of community online'

Dani Palmer - The Herald Bulletin — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:03:36 GMT

ANDERSON, Ind. - Harrison College wants to lead the way in online class taking with a new web interface developed by the school.

The interface, which took a little over a year and more than $1 million to develop, recently launched a microsite to allow students to get a feel for what's to come, said Mark Apple, associate director of public relations,

The "authentic" site will be available to a test group of about 200 students in January.

Steve Brunner, learning solutions architect who helped develop the new site, said it will help form "a sense of community online" since many students describe it as a "very cold environment."

With Harrison's new interface, features will be integrated with social sites, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, making the interface feel more familiar to students.

Arlene Haase, campus dean, said the interface will be a great tool for students.

"For students who are on campus, it's very easy to connect because they see each other face-to-face," she said. "This will give students who are totally online the opportunity to connect with each other and to really build that sense of community."

No matter where students attend college, Apple said the online experience is essentially the same because many schools use Blackboard or a similar site that is text driven with little to no graphics, and limited interaction with faculty and fellow students.

"We believe we can improve educational outcomes, we can improve retention rates and we can improve graduation rates if we improve the online experience," Apple said.

Currently, he said their on-campus retention rate is 87 percent, but their online student retention rate is at 80 percent.

"The number of programs being offered online has doubled in the last two years alone," Apple said. "So clearly, it's becoming a more popular choice for more Americans."

Abby Shore, 26, a business administration major at Anderson's Harrison College who takes the majority of her classes online, said the new web interface seems to be a good idea.

"Right now, I love the flexibility (of the current website)," she said.

With a job, husband and two kids, it's hard to work around her schedule. The downside to online courses, though, is the lack of interaction with fellow students, especially since she's only on campus once a week.

She said email is currently the main form of communication along with the occasional discussion board.

Because she and so many other students often use Facebook, she said the integration of social websites into Harrison's new interface is "really cool."

"It's not that I don't want the social aspect," she said. "I just don't have the time to be away from my family."

An analytic learning management system, Brunner said, is one of the tools that makes Knowu what is it.

It will make recommendations to the student based on what's known about them such as how many credits they have, their major, groups they're in, how well they're doing in classes and more.

And based on the information, it could do things such as suggest groups they may want to join, provide resources they may want to check out and even recognize preferred learning styles,

"A lot of students haven't really pin pointed how they learn best..." Shores said. "If it really helps them figure out how they learn best, I think it'll be great."

Students will be able to list sports, music and other activities they are into and help get connected to students with similar interests, Brunner said.

Apple said the system will even help veterans or students in the same location connect.

The "path to success" aspect of the site will help students succeed by providing them with individualized advice in four areas: learning, career, life skills and onboarding, which will get them started in college by letting them know what forms they need to complete, like financial aid documents and pre-assesments, Brunner said.

Students will have access to their email on the site along with three tabs: learning, community and support.

Brunner said support won't be just technical support, but also financial and academic support.

The learning tab will be a resource center with academic articles and the ability to engage with librarians while the community tab will provide the chance to interact with other students, Brunner said.

"It comes down to the notion of Knowu as the application being wise, being smart and trying to learn from you and get better over time," he said.

Brunner said student affair specialists and faculty will be able assist students online via chat, messages and phone; something they'd one day like to make available 24/7.

Because Shores' schedule doesn't allow her to start homework until late in the day, the prospect of eventual 24/7 assistance sounds appeasing, she said. When she has any questions about her assignments, she typically emails the instructor, and because she does things late in the day, she often doesn't get a reply until the next morning.

Harrison encourages the public to check out the micro site at knowu.harrison.edu

Apple said the school plans to use student reaction to make enhancements, and anticipates by spring of next year, all online students will be able to use it. By next summer, he said those not taking online classes should have access, as well.

"It establishes Harrison College as an innovator in the online space knowing that more and more students are going to seek out online options," Apple said. "It sets us apart from everybody else that is out there."

Contact Dani Palmer: 640-4847, dani.palmer@heraldbulletin.com.

Business Women Connect Radio - Julie Marks

Business Women Connect — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:42:00 GMT

Julie Marks' interview on leadership.

Harrison College to launch a new virtual learning world

Chrissy Alspaugh - The Republic — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:06:00 GMT

After her first semester at Harrison College in Columbus, 25-year-old Mika Leiendecker became the poster child for successful online learning.

Working on school usually after midnight - after her 1�-year-old son fell asleep and her fianc� left for work - she finished the first term with straight A's.

"Taking everything online went well, really smooth," Leiendecker said. "The only thing is that it doesn't have that personal touch. It doesn't have that 'I'm in college' feel because you're not around other students or even your teachers."

Harrison College, which hangs its hat on delivering student-centered education, is turning that all around.

This Friday, the 6,100-student private college will begin rolling out a new graphics-rich online learning environment that aims to revolutionize online education. The new interface, so far a $1 million investment called KnowU, blends traditional online learning with a virtual college support system and a social media hub. The holistic approach comes at a time when nearly a third of post-secondary students across the U.S. are taking at least one class online, according to the Sloan Consortium, a national nonprofit working to increase access to and improve the quality of online education.

"We're taking all kinds of different technologies that already exist and just injecting them into this one place to hopefully disseminate the college feel to a broader group of students," said Jason Stele, director of business information systems for Harrison College.

KnowU is comprised of three components through which students will weave seamlessly in and out: learning, community and support.

The learning section will look and work much like the college's current text-based course management system. In the support area, students will be able to access information on topics including financial aid, view a "word cloud" with the hottest topics being discussed by students and ask questions anytime day or night through live chat with college staff.

The community section includes a new social media network just for the college but also will allow users to import Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts into a single dashboard.

Students will create individualized profiles with photos and information about themselves. The site will allow users to create groups to discuss everything from homework to day care.

As students progress through their education, sophisticated analytical engines will suggest resources including time management and resume writing based on the students' academic, personal and career needs, Stele said. Professors also will be alerted if data suggests that students' attendance or study habits are causing them to struggle.

"The idea of being able to connect with other people at your college will definitely make it feel less like you're alone," Leiendecker said. "I think the fact that the big universities don't even have something like this shows how much Harrison College pays attention to its students."

The college hopes the site improves the success of online learners and increases graduation rates, according to Mark Apple, the college's director of public relations. Currently, 87 percent of students who take classes at one of the college's campuses in one quarter return for the next. But among those who take classes only online, the retention rate is 80 percent.

And with the number of online classes doubling in the last two years nationwide, online is the direction of education, Apple said.

A test group of about 100 students will begin using KnowU in January, and the college plans to roll out new features for more students over two to three years.

Angela Shafer, director of Harrison College's Columbus campus, recently watched a demonstration of the site and said she thinks the new interface will dramatically improve the educational experience for online learners.

"I love it. We've heard from so many students that the personal connection is the one thing they feel like they lose with Harrison College when they take classes online," she said. "This really will bridge that gap."

ALTON STRUPP | THE REPUBLIC Harrison College student Mika Leiendecker checks her online profile in the Harrison College computer lab.�