UA rebranding

[Balsy]

Whatever dude……I just threw it in as an afterthought..

I'm just saying, it's been floated that perhaps going to the Z and lowering the profile of the A-Roo is part of a larger movement to Rebrand the University. That doesn't appear to be the case.

I will say that I like the updated website, it was in need of a revamp, and hopefully the Z gear will be pretty cool. Though it looks like it'll be a couple of years before we really see a lot of Z gear, because it seems more likely they'll roll it out slowly.

[ZippyRulz]

The site is an improvement and I like the sublimated tire tracks, but the Akron Zips looks really awkward. Generally it's never a good idea to use a logo as a read-through.

I like it. Of all things to criticize, that would be bottom of my list.

[a-zip]

I'm just saying, it's been floated that perhaps going to the Z and lowering the profile of the A-Roo is part of a larger movement to Rebrand the University. That doesn't appear to be the case.

I will say that I like the updated website, it was in need of a revamp, and hopefully the Z gear will be pretty cool. Though it looks like it'll be a couple of years before we really see a lot of Z gear, because it seems more likely they'll roll it out slowly.

And if you want to get picky (since you do). The thread "Eliminating the A-Roo" should be changed to "Moving to the Z". Just as TW said to you in his response ;-)

[Balsy]

And if you want to get picky (since you do). The thread "Eliminating the A-Roo" should be changed to "Moving to the Z". Just as TW said to you in his response ;-)

I am anxious to see how the encorporate the A-Roo as a secondary logo. If the helmets for football, and the new basketball floor are any indication...I'm not holding my breath.

But a-Zip, we may have our differences of opinion, but I love your Zeal for the Zips.

[Dave in Green]

Q: What is Zips Athletics trying to accomplish with this revamping? What are the benefits of revamping our brand?

A: Many schools and conferences across the country use a variation of an ‘A’ logo, with several prominent schools using a stand-alone ‘A’ logo. The primary use of the ‘Z’ logo will make Zips Athletics the only program in the country to be identifiable by the letter Z as the primary mark, building on the uniqueness of the Zips name.

Bingo. Now where did I hear that before ...

I'm with Captain Kangaroo on the use of the Z. There are a bunch of football teams in FBS alone whose schools start with the letter A. Just looking at a few, Arkansas has used a big letter A on their uniforms at times. So has Alabama. Auburn University uses an A superimposed on a U, which could be read as UA as easily as AU. Bottom line is that a big A or UA are not distinctive in college football. A big Z is. No one else in college football uses it. When you see a big Z on a college uniform, there's no question that it's the University of Akron Zips. When you have something unique, flaunt it.

[ZippyRulz]

If anyone here subscribes to The Chronicle of Higher Education, this might be interesting:

Stirring Fear and Hope, U. of Akron Mulls an Aggressive Move Online

[Dave in Green]

... BGSU's take

http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=32518

I don't really care about BGSU's take, but there's an interesting link to a Columbus Dispatch article that I don't recall seeing before:

Youngstown State, Can't State, University of Akron could consolidate some services, presidents say

[a-zip]

If anyone here subscribes to The Chronicle of Higher Education, this might be interesting:

Stirring Fear and Hope, U. of Akron Mulls an Aggressive Move Online

would love to read it. hopefully someone has a subscription

[Dave in Green]

If anyone here subscribes to The Chronicle of Higher Education, this might be interesting:

Stirring Fear and Hope, U. of Akron Mulls an Aggressive Move Online

I'm not a subscriber, but the part you can read says:

Scott Scarborough, president of the U. of Akron, is pitching a plan to raise enrollment by developing a new set of courses with a Texas-based company, Academic Partnerships. But many professors are wary.

Back when I was researching Dr. Scarborough's background, I stumbled across some information about his connection with Randy Best's Academic Partnerships that I shared in two posts in the "University of Akron president is Dr. Scarborough" thread. I urge everyone with the slightest concern about UA's future to go back and read those two posts here and here. I'll just quote below from the opening of my first post and conclusion of my second post to give you an idea of what to expect:

Homework time. History tells us that one of the things to look for with Dr. Scarborough is the introduction of UA to Academic Partnerships (aka Higher Ed Holdings), the Texas-based for-profit company on whose board of directors Dr. Scarborough once served. He was still on that board when he introduced DePaul University to Academic Partnerships. He did the same with UT after he landed in Toledo. Neither school still has a relationship with the company.

Academic Partnerships is the brainchild of Texas multi-millionare Randy Best, a big financial supporter of George W. Bush who made millions of dollars in profit from deals he got through the Bush administration related to the No Child Left Behind program. Having made all those millions on grade school programs, Best decided to go after higher education money with Academic Partnerships. ...

... If Dr. Scarborough admires the quaiity of the work of Randy Best's operation, there's a good chance that he will either try to develop a relationship between UA and Best's company or try to institute some of that philosophy. Anyone who works for or attends or has any interest in UA owes it to themselves to become more familiar with the company and philosophy that the new UA President so admires.

[zip-O-matic]

I don't really care about BGSU's take, but there's an interesting link to a Columbus Dispatch article that I don't recall seeing before:

Youngstown State, Can't State, University of Akron could consolidate some services, presidents say

I read through the BGSU thread, and it was mostly childish gibberish as if the whole thing were being driven by athletics and particularly cries of "OSU wants to take away our football teams." Nothing remotely insightful or intelligent.

[Dave in Green]

Cleveland.com reported back in 2011 that Cuyahoga Community College, like the University of Toledo, dropped plans to partner with Academic Partnerships over concerns of diluting academic quality and damaging the institutions' reputations:

Tri-C suspends plan for online course following faculty opposition

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cuyahoga Community College, under fire from faculty, has suspended a plan to partner with a private firm in offering the college's online accounting degree.

In exchange for recruiting blocks of students from corporations throughout the country, the marketing firm would keep 70 percent of tuition paid by out-of-county residents.

College officials say the program, which was to start this month with 30 students, is aimed at generating more money by reaching a broader market of adult students.

But full-time faculty members, who belatedly learned of the agreement signed in May with Dallas-based Academic Partnerships, have questions about whether the college is straying from its primary mission and whether academic quality would be affected. ...

... In 2009, the University of Toledo's faculty derailed a proposal by Higher Ed Holdings, now known as Academic Partnerships, in which the company offered to develop online master's degrees in curriculum instruction and educational administration to be marketed to teachers. It also would have provided "coaches" to present the material and evaluate the students.

"We did not think it represented our mission and our values, so we said no," said Leigh Chiarelott, chair of the department of curriculum and instruction at the university. ...

[Dave in Green]

I'm really surprised to see that jupitertoo, our resident UA faculty member on this forum who never fails to remind us how superior Ohio University is to UA, hasn't had anything to say about Academic Partnerships. It turns out that OU beat UA to the punch and signed a deal with Academic Partnerships way back in 2008. I would have expected jupitertoo to jump in here and tell us how partnering with Academic Partnerships was yet another area in which OU is superior to UA.

I can't really find out a lot about how well the deal is going as I haven't been able to find much recent news about it or even if the deal is still in place. But the original deal was with the OU School of Nursing, and it was supposed to run through the year 2028. So if jupitertoo or anyone else has any information on how OU benefited from the deal and whether it's ongoing, that would be helpful in evaluating what we might expect to happen at UA.

For those who might be interested, a copy of OU's contract with Academic Partnerships is available online. It's part of a 2012 story in The Texas Observer entitled Randy Best Is Going to Save Texas’ Public Universities, Or Get Rich Trying. At the end of the story is a world map with markings for all the sites of Academic Partnership's deals at the time the article was written (map link here). On each of the map's site marks you can click on it for specific information about each deal. Clicking on the OU site brings up the Academic Partnership contract (contract link here).

Also I just discovered that you can now read The Chronicle of Higher Education story on UA that ZippyRulz linked to by going through Google search's cache feature. It turns out that the UA deal is also going to be for the School of Nursing ("he hopes to generate income by ballooning a popular undergraduate nursing program from a few dozen students to a few thousand"), so that would be similar to OU's deal and make the OU contract worth reading for those interested in fine details. It's a long story that can't be reproduced here without copyright violation. I've now copied and saved a text file for myself in case the cache gets shut down. Anyone else without a subscription who's interested should grab it fast (Google cache link here).

[ZippyRulz]

Excellent digging, DIG...thanks

[Dave in Green]

So now we know from this Chronicle of Higher Education story that a contract with Texas-based Academic Partnerships is already being negotiated. Dr. Scarborough tried to make this happen at the University of Toledo and UT decided they could provide this service from internal resources rather than sending millions of dollars off to Texas. Exactly what expertise did UT have that allowed them to do this that UA lacks? Beyond that, why does Dr. Scarborough try to cut deals with Texas mega-millionaire Randy Best every place he goes?

We know that Dr. Scarborough was once on the board of directors of one of Best's many companies. We know that Dr. Scarborough worked within the University of Texas System, which has heavy ties with Best. We know that at DePaul Dr. Scarborough was responsible for the sale of DePaul's Barat College to Best, who let all the staff go, sold all the properties and kept only one thing -- a valid accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, which is key to acquiring the government aid that often pays for students’ college degrees. We know what Dr. Scarborough tried to do with Best at UT and now we know what he's trying to do at UA. What's the pattern here?

One article about Randy Best had the following quote:

"Those people who have been with him through successful business ventures would put him somewhere between God and the Beatles," says Patrick Riccards, a former spokesman for senators Robert Byrd and Bill Bradley, who recently worked as Best's marketer. "His support is truly that cult of personality. Randy Best can inspire people to slay dragons with a butter knife."

Is it the cult of personality that motivates Dr. Scarborough to be an evangelist for Best's companies wherever he goes or do Best's companies truly provide best-in-class services at the right price? It doesn't take much research to discover that opinions are highly mixed. It makes an interesting read when it's happening elsewhere. But now it's happening at the University of Akron, and that's too close to home to be classified as mere entertainment.

The UA Board of Trustees has a big responsibility here. Are they going to rubber stamp Dr. Scarborough's deal with Randy Best or are they going to perform their responsibility of due diligence on approving contracts? Will they benchmark the performance of UT's internal solution against OU's 20-year contract with Academic Partnerships to see how they compare? Will they check in with Wright State to see if things have improved over their abysmal start with Academic Partnerships?

As an Ohio citizen and taxpayer, I know that I don't want a chunk of my taxpayer money going to some mega-millionaire in Texas if there's a better solution right here in Ohio. Overall we are talking about millions of dollars every year going from Akron, Ohio, to a corporate account in Texas based on ... exactly what?

[Dave in Green]

One of the supposed benefits of the online courses provided to universities by Academic Partnerships and similar for-profit providers is reduced costs for students. But a September investigative report by The Dallas Morning News revealed just the opposite in the University of Texas System, as documented in the story's headline and lead paragraphs:

Most college classes cost more online than on campus

AUSTIN — State leaders have hailed online education as the elixir for mushrooming college costs, but online courses have proven to be more expensive for most students than traditional classrooms in Texas, an analysis by The Dallas Morning News shows.

Tuition for online classes can be more than 20 percent higher than regular classes at some universities, once extra fees or additional costs per credit hour are included, according to the News analysis. ...

... University officials say the higher tuition rates for online courses are the result of expensive infrastructure and the costs for designing the courses, which often involve partnerships or contracts with outside online education providers. ...

There are a lot of fine details in the story, so it's worth a read in full. But the newspaper was stonewalled when trying to get details of the university contracts with providers, and it's fair to ask if the same thing would happen at UA:

... The University of Texas System is working with at least 17 companies that provide online education services. The Dallas Morning News sought copies of the contracts for the UT system and three other institutions under the state’s open records law, but the majority of the requests were appealed to the attorney general’s office, citing proprietary issues.

UTA and Lamar University in Beaumont work with Academic Partnerships, a for-profit venture created by Dallas entrepreneur Randy Best.

The most recent contract was referred to the attorney general’s office for approval, but a 2011 review by The News of university contracts with the company found that Academic Partnerships received as much as 80 percent of student tuition in online classes provided at the public institutions. ...

[Dave in Green]

More Online Classes, Less Research

Could that be a future newspaper headline about UA? It was used in the Dallas Observer about another university with an oblique connection to UA. The full headline was: The Proposed Future of UNT-Dallas: More Online Classes, Less Research. The connection to UA is that one of the people leading the charge in the University of North Texas System was previously Dr. Scarborough's most vocal ally in pushing the plan for the University of Toledo to cut a deal with Higher Ed Holdings (aka Academic Partnerships). At UT, Provost Rosemary Haggett angered faculty by blaming them in a widely circulated e-mail for lack of cooperation that killed the Academic Partnerships deal, which faculty angrily denied, as all documented in this Inside Higher Ed story.

It wasn't long after this that Haggett left UT for a new job offer at UNT in Dallas to serve as Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Student Success. Oddly enough her new office happened to be located less than a half mile away from the Dallas corporate headquarters of Randy Best's many companies, including Academic Partnerships. She must have felt right at home at UNT, which was also in the process of angering its faculty as documented in this Dallas Observer story entitled The UNT-Dallas Faculty Really, Really Doesn't Trust the School's Leaders.

The New University Model mentioned in the above story, which has similarities to some of Dr. Scarborough's announced plans for UA, was developed by Bain & Company in a pro bono partnership with UNT, which created a new Office of Innovation/Strategy to implement Bain's plan and named Haggett to head the new department. UNT faculty wasn't buying into the Bain/UNT plan any more than UT faculty bought into the Scarborough/Haggett plan, according to the Dallas Observer story entitled Faculty Panel Pans Bain's Vision For UNT-Dallas. The Dallas Observer story referenced in the first paragraph says the plan calls for a heavy emphasis on online courses, less research and degree programs that "won't be determined by some Socratic ideal of education but by what job opportunities are available in the Dallas area."

We already know about Dr. Scarborough's plans to hook up UA with Academic Partnerships for the online part. But what about research? UA is recognized as a research university. What happens if research is reduced at a research university? Are there any signs of that happening at UA?

[LZIp]

Great digging Dave.You've provided a ton of good information.I've finally had time to do some reading.

This to me shows that Scarby (thats what I'm referring to him as for now on) cares more about bringing in revenue than quality of education, which is not surprising based on his past and all of the moves he has made thus far at UA. Lets face it, companies aren't beating down doors looking to hire U of Phoenix grads. I personally think a happy medium should be found, though I admittedly don't have an idea how that would be done.

I read an article on Forbes regarding Academic Partnerships, and it stated they get 50% of the tuition from their program. I think I saw above that some partnerships have been higher. I haven't looked into contracts at all, but I'm assuming there is an upfront cost as well. Seems insane, but for the most part its only "costing" you when students are participating in the program. In other words, theoretically you are still coming out ahead because you are bringing in revenue you otherwise wouldn't have. However, there would students switching from the traditional program to the online program, so you would also be increasing costs you otherwise wouldn't have. The low estimate of 50% cost means you are going to need close to twice as much, probably more, enrollment in programs as a breakeven point compared to the traditional way. Not to mention the opportunity cost of losing students who would prefer to get a real college experience over an online one, which I'm assuming is still largely preferred. The biggest question (and something I'm curious to know) is what is UA going to do to attract students? Why would I choose to take a UA online program when I can do it at a higher regarded University?

The partnership is sure to piss a lot of people off, as we know from the Toledo deal. People are also going to lose their jobs. I'm sure it could be done internally at a lower cost which would make for a better profit margin. I think there is a place for online classes in the year of 2015, but I think it needs to be done in moderation and with much due diligence to reduce the hit on the quality of education as much as possible. More than enough data should be available for UA to know if they are making the right decision. Is the increase in enrollment worth the cost, drop in quality, lost jobs, and bad PR? Scarby has all he needs to make an informed decision. I hope he is making it based on his best judgement and not some ulterior motive(s). Most likely an independence issue for sure, but based on his past with the company and him pushing it wherever he goes, I wonder if he has a stake in ownership?

[K92]

[Dave in Green]

... I read an article on Forbes regarding Academic Partnerships, and it stated they get 50% of the tuition from their program. I think I saw above that some partnerships have been higher. ...

... The partnership is sure to piss a lot of people off, as we know from the Toledo deal. People are also going to lose their jobs. I'm sure it could be done internally at a lower cost which would make for a better profit margin. ...

On your first point above, the individual percentages I've seen referenced have all been above 50%. The OU contract, signed in 2008, was for 80%. I've also seen 70% referenced. The rate appears to be negotiable and some may be lower than that. On your second point, a lot of the pushback against Academic Partnerships deals has come from concerned faculty at most universities. One thing you can say about Randy Best is that he's no dummy. He's a very clever businessman as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of dollars his businesses are raking in. His latest move as documented in Inside Higher Ed is so clever it will bring tears to your eyes:

A Piece of the Online Pie

April 21, 2015

By Carl Straumsheim

The online “enabler” company Academic Partnerships plans to share tuition revenue with faculty members at partnering universities as the company prepares a major update of its online education platform.

The revenue-sharing model is part of Academic Partnerships 3.0, the updated online education platform the company announced today. The platform supports asynchronous content, which online students can consume on their own time, but it will be updated this fall to support what CEO Randy Best described as blended learning in a fully online setting that is made available to an international audience. ...

... The model proposed by Academic Partnerships throws another party -- faculty members -- into the mix. Since the introduction of synchronous content means faculty members will likely spend more time on the courses they teach online, the company is giving them a cut of the tuition revenue.

Initially, faculty members who choose to host live online sessions can earn up to 3 percent of the tuition revenue, which Best said he expects will cost the company “several million dollars annually" in forgone revenue. The money will come out of the company’s share, he said -- not the university’s. ...

That's right, Randy Best aims to gain the support of faculty the old-fashioned way -- cold hard cash in the form of rebates, kickbacks or however they refer to them in the higher education enabler business world. It does make you wonder if cash may not have quietly been used to create other converts in the past.

[Balsy]

I personally think a happy medium should be found, though I admittedly don't have an idea how that would be done.

...

I'm sure it could be done internally at a lower cost which would make for a better profit margin. I think there is a place for online classes in the year of 2015, but I think it needs to be done in moderation and with much due diligence to reduce the hit on the quality of education as much as possible. More than enough data should be available for UA to know if they are making the right decision. Is the increase in enrollment worth the cost, drop in quality, lost jobs, and bad PR?

Bingo. Very good post LZip.

Now I'll profess my bias, I'm very against online classes (anecdotally of course) because of my personaly experience with them. In my college career I have taken a few online classes, classes with online components (etc) and they were crap. Note: they weren't from Akron. I've also seen decent classes with large online components that were made by the departments themselves internally, and were pretty good (again not Akron). A few of the field courses I took (field ecology, 2 different field geology courses) they had online components for the regular "content", quizes, tests and other assignments. Our in person time was labwork, field work, discussions and colloquims. So it is possible and I wonder if Scarborough is getting a lot of pushback because the departments didn't get the opportunity to try making their own online courses.

Dave has inspired me a to do a little digging into the education research journals, and give context to anyone who'd like it.

[Akronzips8]

Is SS holding the que cards beside the camera?

[Dave in Green]

... I wonder if Scarborough is getting a lot of pushback because the departments didn't get the opportunity to try making their own online courses. ...

I previously suggested that the cost and effectiveness of doing a deal with an "enabler" like Academic Partnerships be compared with doing it more in-house. Two nearby Ohio schools that are obvious candidates for benchmarking would be OU (using Academic Partnerships) and UT (in-house). However, that might be a little awkward for Dr. Scarborough as he was pushing Academic Partnerships at UT when they decided to do it in-house instead.

Just looking at one small element, Academic Partnerships supplies "coaches" as part of its package, so UA would be paying for their services as part of the total cost. These coaches essentially perform the same duties as graduate assistants. I don't know how much grad assistants are paid. But since they're typically in the process of completing their post-graduate education, any funding UA grad assistants might lose from being replaced by Academic Partnerships coaches could represent an economic hardship. Does it make sense to send this money off to Texas when grad assistants right here in Akron can perform the work as well or better and can use that money to help pay for their UA degree work?

[Dr Z]

Karen Farkas of Northeast Ohio Media Group gives a mention to ZipsNation.

Switching From "A" to "Z"

Adopting a new logo has been discussed for months with athletes, coaches and other university constituents, said George Van Horne, associate athletics director."Moving to the 'Z' logo separates us from those other schools and makes us more recognizable," he said. Reaction to the new identity is mixed on zipsnation.org, a blog for UA fans.

[jupitertoo]

http://grumpyabe.blogspot.com/2015/07/do-ua-leadership-trustees-hear-drumbeat.html

[Hilltopper]

http://grumpyabe.blogspot.com/2015/07/do-ua-leadership-tr

ustees-hear-drumbeat.html

I would suggest he might want to read this;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Moved_My_Cheese%3F