David Cordle, provost, speaks at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting in the Preston Family Room about academic partnerships. The university is considering partnering with the company to assist faculty in online courses and to raise enrollment and revenue.
Faculty Senate debated the possibility of partnering with Academic Partnerships, an online management program that will assist faculty with online courses, during their meeting Tuesday.
“A key factor in this is enrollment and revenue,” said David Cordle, provost. “It is potentially an opportunity to see significant increases in both.”
The university intends for the program to be used for Master’s classes. When a professor is teaching an online course and the university adds another online section, Academic Partnerships will assign a ‘coach’ to assist the professor with grading, commenting, answering questions and leading assignments.
Academic Partnerships promises sustainable enrollment growth and optimal online student experiences, according to their website.
According to Cordle, the current proposal is for ten years and the university will pay the company 50% of the tuition revenue for each student enrolled in a course with an Academic Partnerships coach.
Cordle hopes that by working with Academic Partnerships, Emporia State’s Master’s programs will be able to expand their reach and gain more students.
Rob Catlett, president of Faculty Senate, director for the Center of Economic Education and assistant professor of mathematics and economics, brought up concerns regarding the amount of money that the program will cost the university.
“We’re going to be talking about hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars, and we could hire some really talented people for that same amount of money,” Catlett said.
Faculty Senate has until the end of the semester to decide whether or not to partner with the company, according to Cordle.