NGLC Breakthrough Models Incubator

In a 2012 grant competition, the Next Generation Learning Challenges initiative managed by EDUCAUSE funded ten Breakthrough Models for College Completion – entirely new or substantially transformed higher education degree programs. Institutional and organizational innovators designed these next-generation online and blended programs to produce breakthroughs in completion rates and time to completion of high-quality associate’s or bachelor’s degrees at affordable costs, particularly for underserved populations. In fall 2013, all ten programs will launch with their first groups of students.

Over the course of 2013, a select group of institutions that share a commitment to making significant transformations of this kind will join together to form the inaugural cohorts of NGLC’s Breakthrough Models Incubator (BMI). The Incubator will build on the Breakthrough Models concept, with the goal of accelerating the development and implementation of breakthrough models. Participating institutions will share the goal of radically improving both operational productivity and student outcomes.

The inaugural cohort of seven institutions named in April, 2013:

• Austin Peay State University
• Ball State University
• Charter Oak State College
• SUNY-Empire State College
• Harper College
• Montgomery County Community College
• University of Maryland University College

A second cohort of eight to twelve institutions will open for application later this year; watch this site for details and deadlines.

The Incubator will provide up to $150,000 and a range of supports to help each participating institution plan and launch its own pathway to fundamental, technology-enabled change. In addition, by demonstrating what is possible through their designs and implementation, Incubator institutions will catalyze broader efforts to improve the quality, completion, and affordability of college. The result, both for the Incubator institutions and for the field, will be significantly improved student access to and completion of high-quality, affordable degree programs, which in turn will improve the effectiveness of American higher education.

Process and Timeline

• Each institution will receive an initial $50,000 to defray travel and other costs during the education, design, and planning period.
• The Incubator will proceed as single cohorts with the understanding that some Incubator support and activities will focus on subsets of institutions sharing particular attributes, needs, or aspects of breakthrough design.
• Pre-kickoff events will occur via webinars and other online formats to help familiarize newly formed teams with existing breakthrough models.
• Institutional teams will attend one face-to-face design workshop to occur over 2.5 days to launch their planning process. Each team will include the president, provost, chief financial officer, chief information officer, and a representative of the faculty (e.g., faculty senate chair). A trustee may be included on the team, along with two other staff members.
• Following the planning workshop, assistance will continue in various forms:
  • Expert coaching to individual institutions on both learning and business models; expert consulting on the development of business plans. Guidance provided to participating institutions will include perspectives from NGLC’s current “breakthrough” grantees – ten institutions designing new education and financial models.
  • On-going topical activities for the entire cohort via video or online workshops. Institutional teams may be expanded for these events. For example, workshops and/or discussion groups may be provided on competencies, accreditation, business models, tuition policies, learning analytics, student-centered design, service blueprinting, virtual communities, and/or challenges relating specifically to two-year or four-year institutions.
  • Assistance to subsets of participating institutions facing similar challenges or working on similar design strategies.
  • NGLC-identified and/or -developed tools and strategies for breakthrough models.
  • Shared online work space.
• At the end of the education, design, and planning period, each institution will be required to submit a business plan for fundamental change. Plans that meet baseline (TBA) benchmarks for proposed institutional change will receive funding of $100,000 to help launch implementation of the plan. Funding is dependent upon an institutional commitment to assess and share results.
• NGLC and partners will collect and analyze data to monitor institutional progress and synthesize lessons-learned, sharing with participating institutions for mutual benefit. The results and syntheses will be freely available.
• At project end, institutional representatives will be invited to a convening to share lessons learned and suggest improvements to the program.