During this transition to Accreditation we are working to ensure that all current instructors have the same understanding of submitting the correct information to the WEA for students to be entered into the IROL.
What paperwork Do I Have To Submit?
The only piece of paperwork required to be submitted to the WEA National Office is the student roster. Contact the WEA National Office for the most up to date form.
What about the Course Information Form and the Safety Management Form?
This information is no longer submitted to the WEA National Office. To maintain compliance with the Accreditation Manual, the content of these forms must be kept on file at the Accredited Institution for all field experiences that are a part of the delivery of the WEA curriculum. This information may be requested at any time by the WEA between or during audits.
When Do I Need to Submit my Roster to the WEA?
This is ultimately up to you to decide where it fits in best for your program. Below are a few examples:
Roster Submission Example #1- Semester Outdoor Leadership Program
Submit your completed roster to the WEA at the beginning of the semester. Ensure that students know at the beginning of the semester what institutional artifacts are required for each of the competencies.
Roster Submission Example #2 - Single Field Experience
Submit your completed roster to the WEA prior to leaving for the field. Ensure that students know prior to arriving to the course what institutional artifacts are required for each of the competencies and which of those requirements will be completed on course and which ones they will be responsible for creating after the course.
Roster Submission Example #3 - Students Enrolled in a Multi-Year Program
Submit your roster at the most logical point in the students progression. For many programs this would be after at least one introductory course or field experience, perhaps after the first semester or year of the program. The earlier a roster is submitted, the sooner students can begin populating it with content.
How Do My Students Submit Their Portfolios For Review?
When you submit the roster to the WEA, the National Office will email you with a couple of questions:
Reviewers:
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What IROL Instructors will be reviewing the student portfolios? It is possible to have multiple IROL Instructors review each portfolio. It can be set up so that one or more instructor reviews the entire portfolio, or that each instructor reviews certain competencies to split up the evaluation load.
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Are there any faculty at your institution that you would like to review the portfolios? It is possible to have non-IROL reviewers, which we call 'external reviewers' evaluate all or certain competencies of the portfolio. Ultimately the certification decision is made by an IROL Instructor, but it can be nice to have multiple perspectives on a portfolio.
Submission Deadline:
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Do you want a 'hard' deadline for submitting portfolios? This means that we can set a time and date for the IROL system to automatically ''capture' student portfolios and submit them for review to the designated reviewers. This option takes the 'chase' out of getting students to submit their portfolios. OR
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Do you want a 'soft' deadline for submitting portfolios? We can establish a deadline for students to submit their portfolios. This puts the power of submitting portfolios in the hands of the students to manually go into the system and submit their portfolio (click a button). The system will not automatically submit their portfolio and will allow portfolios to be submitted after the deadline.
As the fall semester picks up and many WEA Accredited Institutions begin using the IROL for the first time, we hope to help guide you to have the most successful experience possible. Please bookmark this article for future reference and keep checking the WEA Member Access Newsletter for more resources in the future! Of course, feel free to contact the WEA National Office with any questions!
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