Coordinators

h_i_model

The Home Institution Model

Indiana College Network Home Institution Model Revised 2007

Note: Approved by the IHETS Board of Directors in October 2007 and supersedes any former Home Institution Model agreement.

Introduction
Since its inception in 1992, the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE) contributed significantly to the planning and delivery of distance education opportunities throughout Indiana. This success has been due in large part to the considerable strengths among the member institutions. At least as important has been the willingness of the member institutions to work together for the common good of all learners. Faculty, instructional support staff, and academic administrators have expanded their thinking and collaborated with colleagues across the state in program development and delivery at ever-increasing levels of instructional quality. Working especially through the Indiana College Network (ICN), student services professionals have worked tirelessly with the understanding that student support services are vital if distance education students are to have the same high-quality educational experiences and levels of support as our campus-based students. As each institution has expanded its own technology-based services, ICN has thus been able to grow in its role as an interinstitutional information and enrollment services clearinghouse.

Home Institution
A fundamental principle that provides the foundation for the concept of the Indiana College Network is that each distance education student will have a designated home institution. By definition, the home institution is the institution that records enrollment; records course grades and grants credit; provides financial aid services; issues billing and collects (its own) tuition and fees; certifies enrollment; and provides other student services. In short, the home institution is the institution of record for the student. It is the institution at which the student has applied and has been accepted, whether degree or non-degree status.

Originating Institution
The originating institution provides the instructional origination (via technology) and management for a course. The instructor/professor for such a course is responsible for the content and statewide delivery of the course and will deliver the course to all students enrolled through ICN regardless of home institution. This includes assuring that all students have access to library and other academic support required for a particular course as well as assigning grades and notifying home institutions promptly of apparent withdrawals or last dates of attendance. Thus, the originating institution provides the statewide instruction for a given course on behalf of all the ICN participating institutions which elect to enroll students in that course.

Centralized Information and Enrollment Support
The IPSE recognized early the need to develop the capacity to deliver to distance education students those academic and student support services that will be necessary to student success, as noted above. Most of these services will be provided directly by either the home or originating institution; some may be delivered through local learning centers. The centralized services performed by ICN staff, such as providing general information about distance learning and ICN, information regarding the establishment of a home institution, course schedules, etc., are intended to complement the information and services to be delivered directly from the home institutions to assist students with course enrollments. The ICN staff will not act in the role of academic advisors, nor will they provide financial aid services beyond basic, general information. ICN will provide a single point of contact for students who may be making their first contacts with higher education and distance learning. Beyond that, the ICN staff will offer any help students may request that will facilitate course enrollments and that are consistent with member institution policies and procedures. In short, the staff of ICN will be in a position to act on behalf of, but not in place of, any participating member institution in ways agreeable to both.

Beyond the enrollment service functions noted above, ICN staff will provide overview information about higher and distance education, an informational database of courses and programs, voice and email services for response to inquiries from prospective students as well as institutional staff, and an enrollment database. This enrollment database will be maintained for purposes of providing aggregate data on enrollments through ICN and will in no way replace the official student records to be maintained by the respective home institutions.

Note: Additional information is available as follows: