Participating institutions

All of Indiana’s public colleges and universities as well as several private universities participate in the Indiana College Network, including:

• Ball State University
• Indiana Tech (Indiana Institute of Technology)
• Indiana State University
• Indiana University (all campuses)
• Indiana Wesleyan University
• Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (all campuses)
• Purdue University (all campuses)
• Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College
• Taylor University Center for Lifelong Learning
• University of Indianapolis
• University of Saint Francis
• University of Southern Indiana
• Vincennes University (all campuses)

Most campuses offer some technology-based courses; others participate by facilitating enrollment of their students in classes offered by other campuses.

Governance

Oversight of ICN is provided by the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education, the primary IHETS leadership committee dedicated to collaboration in using technology for teaching and learning and in planning for statewide access to education via technology. In the past, an array of committees focused particular attention on policy and collaboration issues around learner services, faculty services, copyright issues, library services, market development, and program development. An active network of campus coordinators and learning center coordinators provides for problem-solving, resource identification, and best-practice exchange in the day-to-day work of helping learners identify and pursue distance learning opportunities.

Mission and vision

The Indiana College Network is a learner-centered electronic-learning collaboration that provides partner institutions with innovative means to meet lifelong learning needs of Indiana citizens.

ICN's vision is to provide comprehensive access to the complete spectrum of distributed programs (credit and noncredit) and services from Indiana educational institutions. ICN is the preeminent starting point for learners to locate, access, and succeed in formal learning opportunities via technology. Working collaboratively through ICN, institutions and partners have worked to improve Indiana’s participation rates in postsecondary education and lifelong learning, and to meet their own institutional goals, through cooperative marketing, assessment, learner support, faculty and staff development, program development, technology applications, and advocacy. As a result of its documented breadth, leadership, and innovation, ICN is an engine for economic, workforce, and community development.

Important policies

A cornerstone policy for the ICN is the Home Institution Model, designed to facilitate inter-institutional registration for learners without jeopardizing their financial-aid status and with assurance of course transfer applicability. The model identifies roles and responsibilities for Home Institutions (the campus at which the learner is pursuing a degree or other program) and Originating Institutions (the campus offering a particular class at a distance).

A second fundamental policy for ICN is the Learning Center Model, which outlines service expectations and roles for ICN’s participating institutions and for local learning centers which support their students. The Learning Center model envisions four categories of centers—based at campuses, in other community facilities, in workplaces, and at for-profit businesses—to provide for a broad range of support services tailored to local needs and opportunities.

Finally, though not an operational policy, when the IPSE was instituted in 1992, the working group first established a set of policy principles on which all members could agree and to serve as the basis for future policy development. Those principles provide a snapshot of the comprehensive vision that continues to inform ICN development.