Short Term Objectives
Our short-term goal is to develop a sustainable business model whereby we can hire approximately 8-12 full time staff and expand our service offerings. Initially, the services Rockcliffe will be focused on is professional development and research. In addition to development of the back-end infrastructure necessary to support these services, Rockcliffe will also be focusing on becoming accredited with various standard development organizations and certification bodies in increasing order of complexity as our business expands.
The first step in that process is accreditation.
Immediate Goal: ANSI/IACET 1-2013 certification
For organizations involved with professional and academic education, there are multiple organizations accredited by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). In addition, there are also certification standards published by international standard development organizations under ANSI, ISO, and CEN. Certification in a specific standard should not be confused with academic accreditation. The two work together to establish quality standards for education, management, and best practices.
The International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) is the standards development organization accredited by ANSI to manage the ANSI/IACET 1-2013 certification standard. As the official standard for continuing education and training (CE/T) in the United States, IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are recognized by a wide range of organizations, including professional associations, regulatory boards, corporations and universities.
IACET CEUs are transferable; however, it is up to each organization to choose whether or not it will accept the CEUs. For a current listing of which organisations are known to accept CEUs, you can reference the IACET CEU Directory and/or contact those organizations directly for more information about CEUs and any restrictions or limitations on transferability.
ANSI/IACET 1-2013 certification is an ideal stepping stone for Rockcliffe, as it will help us develop the necessary quality controls to extend into other certification and accreditation standards as we grow.
In order to apply, the cost of the IACET application package is $450 USD. At the time of submission, applicants are also required to submit a non-refundable application fee of $3,250 USD. This fee covers administrative costs, expenses related to the site visit and honoraria. After AP accreditation, an organization pays yearly accreditation fees of $835 USD.
Immediate Goal: Infrastructure Development
Prior to this, we have a lot of additional work to do, including major upgrades to our infrastructure to support the sustainable management of student records, transcripts, privacy, and information security. Open access systems are a great starting point and they have served Rockcliffe well up to this point.
Immediate Goal: Independent Verification
Rockcliffe is also vetting our learning model as part of an instructional development IRB sanctioned research project with the University of Texas Pan-American. The research focuses on the efficacy of developing a fully online outcomes-based professional development and continuing education program giving special consideration to practices and theories that are appropriate to adult learners. Approved by the University of Texas Pan-American IRB in November 2014, the research study is expected to conclude late 2015 or early 2016.
Funding Requirements
Rockcliffe is looking to raise the needed seed capital to continue our expansion plans through a combination of unique pay-to-play interactive learning games, crowdsourcing, and voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs). Our initial requirements are to raise $10,000 to complete the projects noted above in 2015. Our longer range goal, however, is to raise an additional $2 million which will be spent on job creation, infrastructure improvements, privacy enhancement, software development (including mobile apps), marketing, educational programs, and research. It is our intention to be fully sustainable by 2020.