U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) now requires institutions that offer distance education in a state in which it is not physically located or in which it is otherwise subject to state jurisdiction as determined by the state, to obtain approval for their online programs in each state. The requirements as to which activities require authorization, the application processes, and the costs to comply vary greatly from state-to-state. Also, state authorization is not a one-shot process. It is a process that needs to be revised regularly owing to ever-changing requirements and varying renewal timelines of each State Authorization Agency (SAA).
Institutions have to not only obtain and maintain state authorization for their programs but also, in the absence of any organized electronic solution, have to deal with the following problems:
1. Tracking approval and renewal status of authorization for various online programs in various states.
2. Keeping track of all communication and documents exchanged with these agencies for the approval and/or renewal process.
3. Maintaining a database of faculty profiles and student experience associated with their online programs.
4. Keeping track of all financial expenses incurred in the authorization process.
5. Generating and providing reports to university administration.
6. Keeping their online education or distance learning websites up-to-date.
E-Learning Compliance by Brainvire
To assist an institution in the management of their state authorization process, Brainvire presents an app called E-Learning Compliance (ELC) in Mentis. The Application will assist an institution in the following broad areas:
1. Track authorization processes and current status of authorization for each State Authorization Agency.
2. Maintain a database of online programs, faculty, students and other related data as needed.
3. Collect information from university staff, students and faculty via user-friendly online forms.
4. Manage all documentation and communication exchanged with state authorization agencies.
5. Generate predefined reports in a dashboard-style format with multiple drill-down levels.
6. Generate Todo’s and Updates to help university staff stay updated with the authorization process.
With E-Learning Compliance App, you can,
1. Access ready to use and comprehensive database of state entities and licensure boards covering over 35 different professions.
2. Record and track all business, employment, advertisement, instruction and recruitment activities by the program.
3. Slice and dice your student enrollment data with direct integration with your Student Information System.
4. Gather analytical information and derive insights from a number of prebuilt analytical reports.
5. On clicking a particular authorization status, you can view the programs for particular authorization status for the particular state.
6. A repository of all your program related information that can also be maintained by program coordinators.
7. Save time with auto-reminders, to-dos and automatic website publishing.
A repository of all your program related information that can also be maintained by program coordinators.