Last December, the Hispanic Educational Telecommunications System (HETS) selected four out of six proposals, that were reviewed in the last round of competition, as part of the Online Learning Collaboration Initiatives that the Consortium is funding for its member institutions.
HETS and its’ Evaluation Committee, constituted by renowned leaders and experts from different organizations and institutions of higher education, determined that the following proposed projects will be granted altogether more than eighty thousand dollars in LAAP funds as seed money for the program’s development phase. The new online offerings will be in Bilingual Journalism, Cross-Cultural Health Care, and Security Management, in addition to a student support service called Hispanic Online Learning Access. Most of the proposed online offerings will be bilingual, and vary from continuing education certificates and programs to associate and bachelor degrees.
These areas of future program development have been identified as fields of great demand and need for the Hispanic population in the U.S. The Cross-Cultural Health Care program, for example, has been designed with a focus on developing cultural awareness, sensitivity and competence in nursing professionals. The Bilingual Journalism addresses the current need for bilingual journalists. The Security Management program responds to the existent governmental, corporate, and personal concerns about security in contemporary society. And finally, the Hispanic Online Learning Access program proposes the development of learning tools to help non-native English speakers succeed in higher education.
The HETS Online Learning Collaboration Initiatives receive fnancial support from the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships grant from FIPSE, of the U.S. Department of Education. Kansas State University Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GPIDEA), and its’ Co-Director and Project Coordinator, Dr. Sue Maes and Ms. Dawn Anderson, respectively have provided other valuable consulting and guidance support. Last September, Kansas State University received a FIPSE grant for the next three years to continue guiding HETS in this collaboration process.
“HETS is experiencing one of its most ambitious challenges in having for the first time colleges and universities, in the Unites States including Puerto Rico, collaborating together to expand their online offerings. This project will give the Consortium a leading role in promoting inter-institutional alliances, and will allow HETS member institutions to work together to develop new programs, minors, certificates and services. What a single institution could not do by itself, could be accomplished through collaborative groups from various higher education institutions”, expressed Nitza Hernández, HETS Executive Director.
Institutions participating in these initiatives include California State University at Bakersfield, California State University at Dominguez Hills, Miami Dade College, Hostos Community College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Lehman College, Queensborough Community College, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, University of the Sacred Heart, University of Texas at Brownsville, and University of Texas Pan American.