Having a role model to live up to does wonders for self-improvement. The Northwest Arkansas Community College is revamping itself to reach the standards of its 24 benchmark institutions spread across 11 states. As a result, it plans to increase the number of online courses to raise its current offering of 2 percent to the 6 percent offered by the benchmark institutions.

The Northwest Arkansas Community College is part of the National Community College Benchmark Project, a consortium of 113 colleges. The institution’s executive vice president for student learning, Clarence Ates, said that he planned to retain the services of an instructional designer to help staff members in designing the new online courses.