Dana Smith

Excellence in Admissions
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 03/13/2020
Excellence in Leadership
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 07/20/2020
Excellence in Campus Operations
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 01/13/2021
Excellence in Online Teaching
CHEP Status: Active
CHEP Awarded: 10/22/2021

Badge Evidence | Completed Courses (4 Hours Each)

This course "pulls back the curtain" for schools to help them better understand the principles and purposes of the ACCSC Standards of Accreditation. ACCSC101, along with the accompanying course ACCSC102, lays out the standards in line with the way schools are typically structured to better help you comprehend the important relationship between each standard and each aspect of running a compliant, accredited school. This course addresses the standards on the administrative side of your school, such as standards that relate to operations, admissions, and financial aid.
This course focuses on the ACCSC Standards of Accreditation which directly tie to the academic areas and program requirements for an accredited school. The course includes information on program development and design, educational policies and procedures, faculty, student services, and educational delivery methods.
Effective communication skills are essential in every aspect of life - especially in our work with students. This course provides a foundational understanding of all forms of communication and offers new techniques to improve admissions performance. In addition, a communication hierarchy provides participants with an advanced understanding of rapport building and connecting with today's students.
Whether your admissions personnel work exclusively by telephone or use the phone for setting a face-to-face appointment, they need a tool kit of powerful telephone techniques to be successful in working with students. This course provides best practices for both inbound and outbound calls. Admissions professionals learn how to project professionalism and a positive attitude in their telephone personality, and identify methods for conducting effective and appropriate calls.
Success in helping students begins with "connecting" in a meaningful way. These "connections" are formed through our ability to understand generational experiences and preferences in communication. Additionally, a better understanding of ourselves helps us connect with students. This course explores how to work better together through common collaborative principles and improving teamwork.
Ethical behavior in recruitment is essential to student and institutional success, and is a crucial component of a compliant institution. This course provides a framework to evaluate your current admissions interview process and offers new tools that allow for meaningful connections with today's students. An ethical enrollment process will help your students make their own best decisions and will increase the effectiveness of your admissions personnel.
Today's admissions professionals need expanded methods to adapt to where the prospective student is in the decision-making process. Whether you work with students online, face-to-face, or a little of both, adding variety will help you successfully connect with your students. In this course, you will discover ways to improve your connections with prospective students, best practices for inbound and outbound communication, how to address challenges in the moment, and methods for effective follow-up that improve your effectiveness as an admissions professional.
Questioning and listening are essential elements of communication - especially when working with students. This course provides an in-depth understanding of the purpose of skillful listening, and how this is necessary to be the most effective in your position. In addition, this course provides an in-depth understanding of the purpose and types of meaningful questions. You'll be introduced to the fundamentals of both questioning and listening, as well as new tools and techniques to help you refine your questioning and listening skills.
The purpose of this course is to improve the relationship and dynamics between the admissions representative and prospective students to ensure an educational goal is soundly met. The relationship cycle, the importance of relationships, and the process of finalizing the enrollment are discussed. The goal of this course is to help develop a better understanding of the topic and produce tangible resources to help implement plans, strategies, and ideas at your school. In addition to lecture videos, links to possible resources, and assessments, you will be able to utilize the Journal and Learning Activities.
This course is designed for either an institution's full or part time staff and faculty members. The course focuses on building and sustaining a campus-wide culture of compliance as opposed to simply providing a multitude of standards and regulations. In short, CM107 hopes to provide the information staff and faculty need to say or do the right things when interacting with both prospective and enrolled students about their education - online or face-to-face - as well as the consequences of saying or doing the wrong things whether by mistake or with intent. Components on ethics, customer service and fostering a culture of compliance in the new normal of educational delivery are also included.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA or the Buckley Amendment) is a federal law in the United States designed to provide students with access to, and the privacy of, their educational records. The law applies to students in higher education and educational institutions that receive funding under a program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. This course is designed to provide participants with a working knowledge of FERPA guidelines to ensure proper handling of educational records and other institutional requirements.
Is your campus ready for a full unannounced visit at any time? Onsite visits are becoming more frequent in recent years and unannounced visits even more so. This training is designed to aid campus leaders to be prepared, using best practices and practical tools, to host an onsite visitor at any time, including visits that are unannounced, by any organization such as state agencies, veterans' organizations, regional, national and programmatic accrediting agencies and the Department of Education.
In today's digital labor market, a strong online presence is a necessity. As the world's largest online professional network, LinkedIn is a critical platform for anyone serious about building their professional online presence and advancing their career. However, many learners may not know how to make the most of this powerful tool, and as a career professional, it's your job to help them succeed. This course will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to teach your learners how to create a standout LinkedIn profile, expand their professional network, and tap into valuable resources that can help them stay ahead in their field. *The course contains multiple done-for-you tools and resources for download and use with learners.
This course provides methodologies and examples to help instructors increase content retention and application by students in need of support. The course starts by covering the skills needed by instructors to be clear communicators. We then discuss ways instructors can become effective in monitoring students and using student groups as learning tools. The course concludes by covering techniques and strategies to instruct diverse learners, including learners with disabilities.
Outstanding teachers serve their students by guiding them through their coursework and motivating them to complete program requirements. Instructors at educational institutions are often faced with high stress resulting from heavy teaching loads and limited time. When teachers cannot manage their own time and stress, they cannot fully serve the needs of their students. This course will show instructors how to manage time and stress in their lives and teach some of these skills to their students.
This course provides an introduction to the concept and philosophy of active learning, and describes a variety of methods to help instructors "activ-ate" their class. The course includes active learning examples that utilize both critical and analytical thinking skills. We also identify the risks that may discourage instructors from using active learning strategies and offer suggestions for managing them. A three-step method is suggested for developing an active lesson, and a comprehensive model is offered as a guide for creative active learning strategies.
This course begins by identifying the two most significant issues that influence the motivation of adult students: security and autonomy. The course explains how increasing students' sense of security can enhance their motivation during instruction, questioning, activities, and evaluations. This is followed by a discussion of how motivation can be improved by enhancing students' sense of autonomy when making assignments, selecting instructional methods, implementing classroom procedures, and developing and planning evaluations. The course concludes by comparing and contrasting extrinsic and intrinsic motivators and by suggesting a variety of "miscellaneous motivators" for instructors to consider.
This course compares and contrasts four styles of classroom management. The course includes "virtual visits" to animated classrooms where participants observe four instructors who exhibit different management styles. The style that is preferred by most students is identified and described, and suggestions are offered on how instructors can modify their personal style to increase their effectiveness. A four-step model for developing successful classroom management strategies is presented and is followed by a discussion of a practical, behavioral approach to classroom management. Characteristics that foster good discipline in the educational institution and in the classroom are listed and explained, and tips are offered that can improve both institution-wide and classroom discipline. Finally, a number of scenarios involving common discipline problems are described.
Crisis management begins with creating and implementing a plan of action that can be executed efficiently and quickly. As an educator, it will be important to recognize signs of crisis in yourself, fellow coworkers, and even students on campus. If you are an administrator, it not only takes a keen eye to recognize signs of crisis in yourself, but this also applies to recognizing crisis in others around you. In this course, you will explore the various aspects of a crisis, how to identify individuals in crisis, and how to appropriately respond to those individuals to improve the overall situation.
This introductory course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to create successful online courses, whether for faculty-supported distance education delivery or as a supplement to classroom instruction. You will learn to design and develop online courses that have structural integrity and navigational simplicity with a focus on student-centered learning and intellectual interaction. The course covers various learning activities that are supported in an e-learning environment and describes the typical components of an online course. We will provide you with the media strategies and course design methodologies that will allow you to develop online courses in an effective and efficient manner.
Your degree of success as an online instructor relies heavily on several factors, among which are your level of preparedness before the date on which the course is launched; your ability to make a smooth transition into the roles and responsibilities associated with teaching in an online environment; and the effectiveness and efficiency with which you manage learners, instructional transactions embedded in the course as well as the learning environment. In this course, you will learn how to project your authority and presence into the e-learning environment, build a relationship with each learner, promote and nurture learner participation, provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner, minimize attrition, manage communications, manage unacceptable behavior and resolve disagreements.
This course will provide you with the knowledge and skills to author, teach, assess, and revise successful online courses. You will learn to develop a course framework with consistent modules. Constructing an online community and a dynamic syllabus are important in helping you communicate with students. You will also learn how to develop an assessment plan including self- and peer-assessment as you progress through the course. No online course is complete without a comprehensive revision cycle. This course will walk you through the process of "closing the loop" to create a complete revision and improvement plan for your online course. We will provide you with ideas for student-centered learning, with activities and intellectual interactions using a variety of technology tools.
This course will provide you with information to help you effectively communicate with students and encourage communication among students in an online environment. You will learn the importance of facilitating instructor-to-student (I2S), student-to-instructor (S2I), and student-to-student (S2S) communication. Technology tools play a vital role in the communication process and several are discussed in this course. In addition, discussion is also provided to help you further understand how to manage and measure communication in an online course and help students communicate effectively.
This course outlines the main characteristics of "dynamic" course design for blended instruction and highlights effective teaching methods that facilitate the learning process. Participants in this course will have an opportunity to customize the design principles and methods presented to suit their individual professional context.
This course will provide you with the basic foundations of assistive technology and its use in the online learning environment. As a greater number of students with disabilities are entering online education, this course will prepare online faculty to meet their unique needs. You will learn about the obligations and legal responsibilities under U.S. federal law. In addition you will explore ways of assisting students with disabilities to succeed in the online learning environment. We will help you identify the appropriate tools, introduce you to universal design, and provide strategies that can make your online course accessible to those with disabilities. Online accessibility is beneficial to all of your learners!
This course will provide you with a basic overview of the background and history of the popular instructional method called active learning. This method differs from traditional educational methods such as the lecture model. Active learning has a definite place in education especially in the online learning environments. It is used to support teaching outcomes like critical thinking skills, interpersonal skills and knowledge acquisition that all instructors wish for their students. However, active learning it calls for a change of attitude on the part of students and the instructor in order to be successful. But the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages as it can make students enthusiastic about learning. Learn about this brave new world of teaching and learning for the next generation.
This course will provide you with a basic overview of designing and implementing asynchronous, self-directed online courses effectively. It will review the differences between synchronous and asynchronous online courses. Traditional components of face-to-face courses such as readings, written assignments, and discussions work well in the asynchronous online class environment, but what happens to laboratory assignments and applications? Can they fit into the online course model? Courses which need a lab component, especially the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) courses, may seem impossible to complete in the online environment. Practical examples of effective online lab situations will be provided in this module. This will assist in promoting student engagement and increasing the student's learning potential.
This course provides a blueprint for running an effective financial aid office in an educational institution. You will learn to optimize the performance of your financial aid office with a minimum of waste, expense, and unnecessary effort. The course covers the cornerstones of an efficient financial aid office: timeliness, accuracy and customer service. You will also be advised of pitfalls to avoid in the realm of Title IV compliance. You will learn the key points to building an effective business office processing procedure. Reports and notifications required by the Department of Education are also explained. In addition, you will be given pointers on preparation for the annual Student Financial Aid (SFA) compliance audit and alerted to the most common triggers for Department of Education Program Reviews.
This course offers proven-successful techniques that ultimately prevent student loan delinquencies and defaults. Because there is not one miracle that reduces the chance of student loan defaults, this compilation of ideas and practices collectively greatly reduces those risks by giving ownership of the loan responsibilities to the students who benefit from them. By integrating effective borrower education and interaction from the day your students walk through your front door, your students will embrace the state of mind needed to give them lifetime accountability for their Federal Student Loans obligations.
This course is designed for the financial aid representative who is familiar with the financial aid process, and the campus manager seeking to learn more. The course provides a detailed review of the FAFSA to ISIR/SAR application process, concentrating especially on the technical aspects of the process beyond timeliness and accuracy. The importance of documenting verification and clearing comment codes will be explored, in addition to your role in using professional judgment.
With a seemingly endless stream of new laws and regulations, institutions have become burdened with ensuring they are compliant, while continuing to give great customer service to their students and families and all while achieving larger institutional goals. The role of the Financial Aid Office in compliance cannot be underestimated, but the Director of Financial Aid cannot ensure compliance in a vacuum. This course is designed to examine the fundamentals of law and regulation, and of the enforcement process. More importantly, this course provides tools for School Directors, Chief Financial Officers, Enrollment Managers, and Financial Aid staff to develop and build compliant practices that don't interfere with effective operations, customer service or institutional goals.
This course will help participants to interpret the many rules and regulations that are required by educational institutions offering Title IV funding. It will aid in preparing management and faculty in recognizing that compliance is the responsibility of the entire institution and is not just the job of the Financial Aid Office. Course content will also aid the individual in building a "culture of compliance" which will encourage teamwork and secure the cooperation of others on campus.
This course explores the critical differences between management and leadership. Participants will be introduced to definitions and myths about each area as well as how management and leadership must coexist for an organization to operate effectively. Participants will explore their own management/leadership tendencies.
Not everyone is suited for, or desires, a leadership position. One of the first steps to being an effective leader is to understand the desire to lead in the first place. Participants will explore their motivation to lead and develop a deeper understanding of their leader style(s).
Beyond understanding the role of the leader, the ultimate effectiveness and impact of a leader takes into consideration the followers and the situation, too. This course defines leadership impact and explores the Interactional Framework for Leadership.
The higher education industry provides a wealth of opportunities and challenges for those seeking leadership positions. In this course, participants will gain a deeper understanding of the higher education sector and themselves. The importance of higher education institutions will be explored along with developing a personal leadership legacy.
Get ready to add a number of skills to your toolkit as you develop as a leader! This course focuses on increased self-awareness in communication styles and learning; developing deeper understanding through empathic listening; and motivating through innovation.
This course provides you with a framework to put your self-discovery and learning into a workable plan to further develop your leadership skills. A step-by-step process is offered to help you create a meaningful Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDP) complete with the development of SMART Goals and advice from some of today's leaders in the higher education sector.
This course provides a synopsis of the essential tasks of leadership setting direction, aligning people, and motivating others. You will learn how to recognize the skills and characteristics of effective leaders, create an inspiring vision, and energize people to support and work toward your goals.
In this course, you will learn how to establish a team with the right mix of skills and personalities and create a culture that promotes collaborative work. The course covers steps to leading an effective team and includes innovative, easy-to-implement self-evaluation tools.
Skillful writing helps you accomplish your business objectives and extends your influence as a manager. In this course, you will learn to create clearer, more effective written communications. The course includes specific guidelines for preparing memos, letters, emails, and other common business documents.
This course provides sound advice on preparing and delivering presentations that command attention, persuade, and inspire. It includes rehearsal techniques as well as tips for creating and using more effective visuals. The course also addresses the importance of understanding your objectives and your audience to create a presentation with impact.
To do their job - accomplishing work through others - managers must develop and use persuasion skills rather than simply issue orders. Formal authority no longer gets managers as far as it used to. This course will help you master the art and science behind successful persuasion so you can begin changing others' attitudes, beliefs, or behavior to create win-win solutions.
If you are an owner or executive of an educational institution, you want to get the most value out of your marketing dollars. For this reason, publicity should be a part of your daily marketing strategy. In this course, you will learn over 100 strategies to build a great image for your institution, reach the people most likely to enroll, and open new markets. We'll show you how easy and inexpensive it is to get your institution's information placed in local newspapers, in the homes of your best leads, and on the desks of your future employers. This course is a must if you want to reduce your high-priced advertising costs and increase enrollments.
This course shows you how to hire high-quality instructors and orient them to your institution. The skills also apply to hiring staff. It's easy to hire someone to do a job. But it can be difficult to hire the right person. You want instructors who are top notch. They represent your institution and interact with the most people at your campus and particularly your students. This course starts with how to determine exactly what type of people you need as your instructors. Then it shows you how to recruit and hire them. Once hired, you'll learn how to introduce them to the working environment at your institution. By the time you finish this course, you'll be recruiting, hiring, and orienting quality instructors. You'll see results in improved enrollments, student achievement, retention, and completion.
Building a program to ensure a smooth "hand off" from Admissions to Faculty is a critical component of student retention. Applicants often develop a strong bond with their admissions representative that ends (from the institution's standpoint) once they begin classes. This online course provides practical ideas on designing an orientation program, first-week-of-class and other retention activities that connect the student with faculty, the college and each other that will help you retain and graduate more students.