A major initiative under this priority has been to seek AACSB International accreditation for our business programs. This is critical to our participation in the collaborative online BSBA, as we are the only IU campus without this accreditation. The online degree-completion BSBA has been our largest online offering and therefore gaining this accreditation is vital to our financial health. We are on track with this pursuit, and applied for initial business accreditation for our undergraduate degree programs in October 2020. Our Self-Evaluation Report will be submitted by November 2021 in preparation for the anticipated review visit in March 2022.
Other accomplishments regarding high quality teaching and learning include the five-year initial accreditation for the Master of Science in Nursing from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) in 2014. Nursing faculty at IU East have become leaders in the use of technology such as simulation and virtual reality. In addition, the undergraduate nursing program implemented a new concept-based curriculum in 2018. The faculty have enthusiastically adopted flipped classroom instruction and are using interactive and multi-modal methods in the didactic classroom. The NCLEX-RN pass rates improved significantly to 85.92% in 2018.
The 2014-19 Strategic Plan has coincided with the maturing of the IU Online initiative, and it has been a goal to ensure that we are a major player and partner with IU Online in a way that benefits our students and our campus. We have been able to capitalize on several opportunities in this arena, and partner with the Office of Online Education (OOE) to provide key services to all online students (not just IU East students) in the areas of writing and math tutoring, coaching and Supplemental Instruction, and graduate admissions. Our campus receives significant revenue to support these partnerships.
Quality is important for all courses and programs, no matter the mode of delivery, but as IU moves to more collaborative online programs, the quality of online offerings has become more visible. IU adopted the Quality Matters (QM) rubric, and strives to design online courses that meet or exceed QM standards. At the beginning of the Strategic Plan timeframe, IU East did not participate in QM, but as of Fall 2020, we have fully engaged, with the following results as of October 2020:
- 96% of full-time faculty have “Applying the QM Rubric” certification
- 9 faculty are certified QM reviewers
- 13 courses are QM certified
- 6 courses are currently under internal review
For face-to-face teaching, the development of the collaborative classroom in Springwood Hall is a key accomplishment. The room was designed with faculty input, and is now being used creatively by both business and nursing faculty for innovative interactive learning.