A-HEC: What would academicians find most interesting and unique about the American Public University System?

FM: I think the fact that we try to operate in a total team environment. In traditional academic environments, faculty are kind of separated from everything else. We try and operate as a team where our technology folks, our student advisors, our administrators and our faculty all help out in the classroom. I’ll give you a good example. We have a basic ‘Is college for me?’ course like many colleges offer. In the beginning of that course, the librarian comes into the class and introduces the students to what’s available. The next week, two student advisors take part in the discussion. There’s more stuff going on where these teachers are interacting with other folks within our organization to make the student experience richer.

A-HEC: What can traditional academia learn from you?

FM: I come from the world of tenure and strong faculty councils, and in that world, it was sometimes hard to do accreditation. Faculty sometimes resist this and there is an importance placed on the power of the faculty. In the online world, because things are sort of flat and much less hierarchical, there is more of an interest in answering the question: are the students being served? Is communication going both ways? Is this class well taught? I find that in the world I’m in now, it’s kind of refreshing for me to see that we can talk about how effectively we’re teaching all across the board. In many universities, there may be a powerful department that can resist accreditation. In the world I’m in now, it’s more fun to talk about things from the students’ point of view.

To learn more about the American Public University System, visit: www.apus.edu.

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Copyright 2006 Alliance for Higher Education Competitiveness.