UMKC Online Honored with SANsational Award

While state authorization can be confusing to those in charge of institutional compliance, it is doubly confusing to current and potential students. To make this aspect of college life less confusing for students, UMKC Online designed its state authorization page to be user-friendly—for anyone who lands on the page.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City was awarded the SANsational Award for Institutional Authorization—Notifications and disclosures for institutional state authorizations and compliance status. Each year, WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) and the WCET State Authorization Network (SAN) award deserving recipients a SANsational Award to recognize outstanding efforts by SAN members institutions and organizations in developing a high-quality, comprehensive solution to a challenging state authorization issue, according to a press release. “Works recognized by the SANsational Awards present solutions that meet the needs of regulators, the institution and, most especially, students. These efforts serve as models which can be adapted or replicated by others.”

The one-stop-shop features a clickable map where students can select their home state to see which online degree programs are available. Each listed program is linked to its designated home page featuring more information on the individual program as well contact information should they have questions. Additionally, students may view consumer protection information as well as the NC-SARA status for their home state. If there are stipulations for residents of a certain state, such as Colorado, there is a statement indicating the student or potential student must contact the online advisor for that particular degree program. In order to ensure accuracy on the back-end, there is a behind-the-scenes website for the online degree program coordinators: Confluence. Here, the coordinators can find more information on the various stipulations, updated information including what states and territories UMKC is authorized to provide distance education, any news in the field of state authorization, and various charts requested by the various Schools, including advertising and recruiting information.

The Ohio State University was awarded two SANsational Awards: Location—How do you identify where your students are located? and Licensure Programs—Notifications and disclosures for processional licensure program status in each state.