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Comprehensive Learner Record/Learning and Employment Record

Building A Learning and Employment Record

AACRAO is a long-standing leader in the advancement of innovation in learner records.  Since 2015 AACRAO has supported the development of over 50 CLR/LER projects across the U.S.  AACRAO is working to promote awareness and advance knowledge around the Learner Employment Record (LER), a system that contains verifiable information about a person’s achievements spanning an inclusive range of contexts to include the CLR, the higher education component of the LER, in order to provide credentials that represent the skills and competencies achieved by the student during their academic career.  These learner records seek to capture, record, and communicate learning when and where it happens in a student’s higher education experience in ways that traditional transcripts are not usually able to accomplish. This includes learning outcomes from courses, programs, degrees, and experiences students have outside the classroom that helps develop their career-ready skills and abilities.

AACRAO Consulting will work with you and your team to provide recommendations for academic record practices that protect the integrity and validity of these expressions of learner achievement, supporting the principles of interoperability and student-centered records.  

While institutions should have various stakeholders engaged in CLR/LER exploration, implementation, and management, AACRAO strongly believes the Registrar must play a vital and necessary role to assure the expansion of the learner record and that its expressions beyond the institution are valid, have integrity, and represent the learner.  Additionally, as stewards of learning data, the Registrar defines and operationalizes the processes and practices to ensure compliance with Federal, State, institutional and academic policies while also providing the means and scale through which the curriculum is taught, recorded, and expressed on behalf of the learner for those outside the institution.

AACRAO CLR consulting services are learner-focused.  We believe the main reason to develop and deliver a comprehensive learner record is to demonstrate the learning outcomes of your students.  

The AACRAO process

Your CLR/LER planning and implementation process begins with a careful assessment of multiple areas, first focusing on the needs of the learners you serve - from delivery of student services, to use of staff resources, to workflow processes, to how you leverage technology.

Together, we’ll consider new CLR/LER strategies and processes, allowing you to:

  • Build frameworks and communication plans related to the CLR/LER

  • Measure, capture, and assess learning data

  • Analyze and understand data needs, inputs, sources and connections

  • Facilitate collaboration and stakeholder involvement

  • Identify goals and measure your success in reaching them

  • Enhance the use of technology to drive efficiencies and improve service

  • Work with curricular and co-curricular stakeholders to identify and record learning where and when it happens

  • Assist in evaluating current curricular and co-curricular landscape 

  • Determine areas, practices, and policies for the development of additional alternate credentials 

  • Evaluate the many components of a successful CLR/LER project

Contact AACRAO Consulting today to schedule your CLR Planning and Implementation and learn how we can help you.

Related Resources

University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD)

Location: Duluth, MN

Objective:

A medium-sized regional university, UMD serves 11,040 students with access to more than 93 degree programs. In fall 2012, with an anticipated drop in freshman enrollments, UMD wanted to prepare for this challenge by assessing its admissions and recruitment practices. After sending out a Request for Proposal, UMD chose to engage AACRAO Consulting with the goal of identifying and capturing opportunities for converting more freshman applicants into enrolled students and sustaining a larger freshman class.

Challenge:

After conducting secret shopping, UMD identified a number of gaps in its recruitment processes for driving yield. The university’s existing recruitment and admissions practices had not been updated in many years, and were due for an extensive overhaul. AACRAO Consulting was brought in to examine and evaluate UMD’s current recruitment approach and offer recommendations for evolving its practices to better reflect shifting student demographics and needs, and promote higher yield.

Solution:

AACRAO Consulting completed an in-depth on-site review that involved interviewing members of the recruitment and admissions teams and combing through years of admissions data and trends. Throughout the extensive information-gathering process, AACRAO Consultants met regularly with leadership to update them on progress.

Based on their findings, AACRAO Consultants developed guidance to be put in place in time for the next incoming freshman class. This included a comprehensive communications plan that detailed when and how UMD would communicate with prospective and admitted students. AACRAO Consultants also worked closely with the university’s marketing firm to hone UMD’s recruitment and yield messaging used in a variety of prospective student communications. To automate and streamline student communications, AACRAO Consulting additionally assisted UMD in CRM implementation.

AACRAO Consulting also met with UMD’s financial aid department, and helped the university more clearly separate financial aid yield counseling and admissions functions. This allowed admissions staff to better focus their time and efforts on recruitment and yield, while ensuring quicker and more accurate access to financial aid information for applicants. While identifying short-term improvements, AACRAO Consulting mapped out long-term recommendations for a more strategic approach to UMD’s enrollment management moving forward.

Results:

AACRAO Consulting helped rebuild UMD’s recruitment and admissions practices from the ground-up. Two years after the initial implementation, UMD invited AACRAO Consulting to return and assess the university’s success in applying the recommendations. The results were clear.

Soon after implementing the recommendations, UMD welcomed the largest group of potential students to tour its campus to date. The university also saw the number of applicants and admitted freshman increase and, more importantly, stabilize. Between fall 2012 and fall 2018, UMD’s freshman applicants grew from 6,763 to 9,204. In the same time period, the number of admitted students grew from 5,254 to 6,843 and the number of enrolled freshmen grew from 1,881 to 2,221. The university continues to see sustainable growth for incoming freshman classes.

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Testimonials

One of the big plusses of working with AACRAO Consulting is that their people have extensive experience in the field. They are seasoned professionals who have been in my shoes, and know how to work with culture and change in the real-world operation of an institution. They also understand the need for recommendations to be actionable. I appreciated their ability to dissect the situation, get right to the meat of the issue, and prioritize implementation. Their insight and guidance proved invaluable in helping us manage change. I couldn’t have asked for more empathic and professional consultants.

—Luisa Havens Gerardo, PhD, Vice Provost, Enrollment Management, Virginia Tech University

Contact an AACRAO Consultant today with questions.

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