Milestone one

HEA 560 Milestone One Guidelines and Rubric Your specific role within a higher education institution will dictate not only your daily responsibilities, but also your unique perspectives related to the development and implementation of institutional policies, your interpretations of how state and federal policies impact student outcomes, and the relationships that you currently hold or could build with internal and external stakeholders. In your role as a higher education administrator within a specific unit or department, you may also be directly impacted by institutional, state, or federal policies established by others. Consequently, you may be tasked with following regulations according to the mandates, recommendations, or suggestions under those policies. For this milestone, the perspective from which you will write the final admission policy proposal will guide your priorities—the level of authority or reach you hold as an administrator, the partnerships that you need to consider as you develop the policy, and your ability to implement the policy within the higher education institution. Furthermore, the perspective you take for this assignment will functionally determine the types of resources at your disposal, the academic and professional communities to which you belong, your unit or department’s role in the overarching strategic plan of the institution, and your responsibility for helping the institution to achieve its mission statement each year. The four perspectives from which you will choose include the following:

 Director of Enrollment Management

 Director of Student Activities

 Faculty in the Business School

 Director of Institutional Effectiveness Each of these professional roles carries a unique set of responsibilities and considerations—and all functionally operate in units with different missions as they relate to the overarching mission of the institution. In Module Two, you will share with your peers the perspective that you have selected for your final project, the written admission policy proposal. Throughout this course, this role or perspective will frame your responses for all tasks related to the policy proposal. As you consider the perspective you selected, address the prompt requirements in your initial post and as you extend the conversations with your peers. As you consider the perspective you selected, address the following prompts in your initial post on the discussion topic:

1. Select and identify a perspective you will use to guide your development of the admission policy proposal. 2. Explain why you selected this perspective. Explain your level of familiarity with the perspective and describe the areas that you currently need guidance

in regarding writing a policy from the perspective that you have chosen. 3. Identify three professionals that are currently in positions at institutions similar to that in the final project—small, highly-selective, institutions that offer

primarily bachelor-level degrees. Describe and rank those professionals based on their familiarity with institutional, state, and federal policies related to

college students’ access and success in higher education. Include your thoughts on why you would like to learn more about their perspectives on the topics of this course and your final project.

4. Review the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) website. Explain the trends you see emerging for the field of admissions.

5. Describe two to three sources of information from the NACAC website that will be useful to you moving forward. Include the source information in your post by citing the sources within your response and discussing whether you would deem the sources credible.

As you reply to your peers, address the following requirements:

1. Provide one to two additional peer-reviewed sources that may benefit your peer when it comes to writing the final paper (e.g., a journal article or policy report). Explain how the additional sources would be useful.

2. Identify two concerns or topics that you perceive an individual working within your peer’s selected perspective may need to consider when writing a new admissions policy (e.g., a director of student activities may hold a concern that there is not enough study space on campus to accommodate influxes in enrollment).

Guidelines for Submission: Students are required to post one (1) initial post and to follow up with at least two (2) response posts for each discussion topic assignment. For your initial post (1) you must:

 Compose a post of one to two paragraphs

 Complete the initial post by Thursday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone of the module week

 Take into consideration material such as course content and other discussion topics from the current module and previous modules, when appropriate

For your response posts (2) you must:

 Reply to at least two different classmates outside of your own initial post thread

 Complete the two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone

 Demonstrate more depth and thought than simply stating “I agree” or “You are wrong”

Rubric Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Comprehension

Develops an initial post by identifying a selected perspective, explaining why the perspective was selected, describing areas in which more knowledge is needed, identifying three professionals working in similar positions, explaining trends impacting admission professionals, and including three sources of information regarding those admission trends by using rich and significant detail

Develops an initial post by selecting a perspective, describing areas in which more knowledge is needed, identifying two professionals working in similar positions, explaining trends impacting admission professionals, and including two sources of information regarding those admission trends by using appropriate detail

Develops an initial post by selecting a perspective, identifying one professional working in a similar position, explaining one trend facing admission professionals, and including one source of information

Does not develop an initial post, select a perspective, identify professionals working in similar positions, or identify trends facing admission professionals

20

Timeliness Submits initial post on time by Thursday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone

Submits initial post by Friday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone, one day late

Submits initial post by Saturday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone, two days late

Submits initial post by Sunday at 11:59 PM of your local time zone, three days late

10

Engagement Provides relevant and meaningful response posts with clarifying explanation and detail

Provides relevant response posts with some explanation and detail

Provides somewhat relevant response posts with some explanation and detail

Provides response posts that are generic with little explanation or detail

20

Critical Thinking Provides two additional peer- reviewed sources (each) that benefit two classmates, explains how the resources will benefit peers, and identifies two concerns peers would need to consider from their policy perspective

Provides one additional peer- reviewed source (each) that benefits two classmates, explains how the resources will benefit peers, and identifies one concern peers would need to consider from their policy perspective

Provides one additional peer- reviewed source that benefits one classmate, explains how the resources will benefit peers, and identifies one concern peers would need to consider from their policy perspective

Does not provide additional peer- reviewed sources, sources provided are not peer-reviewed, or explanations regarding the resources are not provided to peers

30

Writing (Mechanics)

Initial post and responses are easily understood, clear, and concise using proper citation methods where applicable with no errors in citations

Initial post and responses are easily understood using proper citation methods where applicable with few errors in citations

Initial post and responses are understandable using citation methods where applicable with a number of errors in citations

Initial post and responses are not understandable and do not use proper citation methods where applicable

20

Earned Total 100%