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CHEA ENHANCING USEFULNESS CONFERENCE IV Sharing Responsibility for Quality: Institutions, Programs and Accreditors The Madison Hotel Washington, DC June 22–23, 2000 Preliminary Program   Thursday • June 22, 2000 7:30 – 8:30 am Registration and Continental Breakfast 8:30 – 10:00 am Welcome Opening Plenary Session Who Expects What from Whom? The Quality Assurance Expectations of Public Officials, Opinion Leaders and Employers What do public officials, opinion leaders and employers expect from higher education’s quality assurance efforts? In what ways are institutions, programs and accreditors meeting these expectations? Not meeting them? How are institutions and accreditors working together to serve the public interest? What else needs to be done? 10:00 – 10:15 am Break 10:15 – 11:45 am Group Sessions Session 1 Working Together: Applying the CHEA Statement of Good Practices and Shared Responsibility The Foundation for Interior Design Education Research (FIDER) is piloting the CHEA Statement in its Spring 2000 accreditation reviews. How is the Statement being used? Is it effective? If so, in what ways? What are its limitations? What is the reaction of programs and institutions involved? Session 2 Emphasizing Outcomes in Standards and Reviews: What Is the Experience of Institutions, Programs and Accreditors? Which accreditors are emphasizing outcomes and in what ways? How do they define “outcomes” and how are outcomes used by institutions and programs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using outcomes? What advice do programs, institutions and accreditors have for others about outcomes? Session 3 Institutions and Programs Going Abroad: How Well Does U.S. Accreditation Travel? What is the extent of U.S. specialized and professional accreditation activity abroad? How many specialized accrediting organizations are active outside the United States? Where? What have U.S. specialized and professional accreditors learned from working in other countries that might be useful to U.S. accrediting activity? Session 4 Alternative Approaches to Accreditation Review: Benefit or Burden to Institutions and Programs? What is the experience of accreditors and institutions that have agreed to focused reviews—attention to a particular area of institutional or program improvement? What are the benefits and disadvantages of such reviews? In what ways might accreditors and institutions incorporate electronic technology in accreditation review? 12:00 noon – 1:30 pm Plenary Luncheon and Discussion Distance Learning and Specialized Accreditation: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You What have we learned from the NCES Distance Education at Postsecondary Education Institutions 1997-98 and the University of Illinois Faculty Seminar Teaching at an Internet Distance? What steps are accreditors and institutions taking to assure quality in distance learning? 1:30 – 3:00 pm Afternoon Group Sessions (Repeat) 3:00 – 3:15 pm Break 3:15 – 4:15 pm CHEA Recognition: A Question-and-Answer Session 6:00 – 7:00 pm CHEA Reception Friday • June 23, 2000 7:30 – 9:00 am Continental Breakfast Workshop CHEA Project on Common Data—Strategies for Use Overview of the CHEA Project on Common Data How might the CHEA principles and good practices for accreditation data collection be applied in accreditation review? What are the obligations of accreditors, institutions and programs that decide to use the CHEA principles and good practices? 9:00 – 10:00 am Morning Plenary Session What Do Presidents, Chief Academic Officers and Accreditors Really Want From Quality Review? Case studies that highlight the different roles will be distributed to all conference participants at the beginning of the session. 10:30 – 10:45 am Break 10:45 am – 12:15 pm Group Sessions Session 1 Federal Policy, Self-Regulation and Accreditation What current developments in federal regulation require the attention of accreditors and institutions? What is the status of the Distance Education Demonstration Program? Are there other federal initiatives to which we should be paying attention? Session 2 Institutional Planning and Accreditation Review: An Opportunity Not Realized? Models that work: institutional strategic planning and specialized accreditation review. How might additional cooperation among specialized and regional accreditors assist institutional planning efforts? Session 3 Accreditors, Traditional Institutions and New Providers: Working Together or Miles Apart? Who are the new providers? Whom do they serve? Do new providers and traditional institutions work together? In what ways? What responsibilities does the accrediting community have for assuring the quality of new provider offerings? How might accreditors carry out these responsibilities? Session 4 Accreditation Review and Academic Audit: A Fresh Approach or More of the Same? What is academic audit? Are institutions and programs using academic audit? In what ways? Are accreditors using academic audit? In what ways? What are the consequences of increased use of academic audit by accreditors, institutions and programs? 12:30 – 2:00 pm Afternoon Plenary Luncheon How Well Do Ranking Services Meet a Public Need for Information about the Quality of Higher Education Institutions and Programs? What are ranking services and how do they work? Who is served by ranking services? How are they served? Are ranking services filling a public information need that accreditors might tbe addressing as well? 2:00 – 3:30 pm Afternoon Group Sessions (Repeat) 3:30 – 4:00 pm Wrap Up