Mount Pleasant, IA – November 10, 2021 — Iowa Wesleyan University announced a new partnership with TEL Education to help lower the barriers to higher education, particularly for underrepresented and rural high school students. On November 3, TEL Education and Iowa Wesleyan University officially signed as academic partners.
TEL Education is a non-profit curriculum and educational technology organization dedicated to providing innovative and affordable online college-level learning courses to high school students, making college more accessible to underrepresented demographics and communities. Through the partnership, TEL will provide its catalog of mastery-based, online general education course materials and work with Iowa Wesleyan administration and faculty to customize TEL content to align with the university’s specific academic and program goals. High school students can access affordable dual credit and experience Iowa Wesleyan’s commitment to student success with this expanded catalog.
Iowa Wesleyan President, Christine Plunkett, stated, “I am very excited about this partnership; it’s right up our alley in terms of working with a population of underrepresented students who lack access to education.” Dr. DeWayne Frazier, University Provost, added, “Access to education is one of the key factors in serving underrepresented groups, and one of the best ways to do this is through keeping costs affordable. TEL Education and IW have the same goals of providing access and empowering students. The partnership is built on multiple synergies of the two organizations.”
Iowa Wesleyan had previously worked closely with TEL by offering online self-paced instruction courses to their current students. Through the new partnership, Iowa Wesleyan will serve as the school of record for TEL to provide online college courses to high school students for enhanced dual enrollment opportunities. As a school of record, Iowa Wesleyan will work closely with TEL to review the curriculum and assess learning outcomes. According to TEL Executive Director Dr. Rob Reynolds, this partnership with Iowa Wesleyan is essential for TEL’s mission to make college-level learning accessible to everyone in the U.S.
“A partnership works based on a common set of goals and mission; we’re drawn to IW because we have a common mission to serve through education,” said Reynolds. “Because of that commitment, I know that our two organizations can make a big difference in Iowa and the entire Midwest.”