Prospective online students across the country can now easily determine which UMKC Online courses are available to them in the state where they live. The user-friendly design recently earned a national award from multi-state organizations that oversee interstate approvals of online college courses.
The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) and the State Authorization Network (SAN) recognized two universities, including the University of Missouri-Kansas City, with a SANsational Award for its UMKC Online state-authorization website.
The awards recognize outstanding efforts by SAN member institutions and organizations in developing a high-quality, comprehensive solution to a challenging state authorization issue. Works recognized by the SANsational Awards present solutions that meet the needs of regulators, the institution and, especially, students. These efforts serve as models, which can be adapted or replicated by others.
“We are very pleased and honored to accept the SANsational Award,” said Brandie Elliott, state-authorization coordinator for UMKC Online. “Our goal was to make the State Authorization website a one-stop shop for current and prospective students alike in order to make the process as easy as possible for everyone involved.”
The 2017 SANsational Award winners are categorized into three areas: identifying where students are located, notifications/disclosures for institutional state authorizations and compliance status, and notifications/disclosures for professional licensure program status in each state.
Here’s why UMKC was a winner in the notifications/disclosures in the institutional state authorizations and compliance status category: while state authorization can be confusing to those in charge of institutional compliance, it is doubly confusing to current and potential students. UMKC Online designed its state-authorization page to be user-friendly for both students and UMKC employees. With the clickable map, students can easily identify which online degree programs are available in their state of residence. Additionally, by clicking on their state, students may view Consumer Protection Information for that particular state. Each state’s State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) status is indicated in the drop-down menu. If there are stipulations for residents of a certain state, there is a statement indicating that the student needs to contact the online advisor for more information. In each state’s drop-down menu, the programs listed are linked to the official program website, where they can learn more about the program as well as who to contact for more information.
In order to ensure accuracy, the online degree department coordinators are contacted each spring and fall semester to ensure there have been no changes to their curriculum and that the program is still offered online. All of this information is documented on a behind-the-scenes website, Confluence. On this wiki, the department coordinators will find updated information including the states and territories in which UMKC is authorized, a map of SARA states, any news in the field of state authorization and a chart listing any stipulations for each state, including advertising and recruiting information. This will better assist them when answering questions from prospective students.
Ohio State University was the other winner for the other two categories.