Education Commons^™

Engagement Requires The Institution Too: A Case Study Of A California Community College Using Assessment Data To Improve Student Success Practices, Duane Brooks

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While the collection of assessment data by educational institutions is important, these activities are not sufficient to create an institution that is fully “engaged” with not only the data, but also in using data to improve decision making and student success practices within the institution. The institution must be ready to use the data for action and improvement. Understanding the process that transforms data into institutionalized knowledge is an important component of what institutional engagement looks like. This qualitative single case study explored the scope and nature of institutional engagement in the case of one California community college by examining …

Enrollment Management And Intercollegiate Athletics: A Study Of Women’S Beach Volleyball, Valerie Clem-Brown

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With college costs increasing annually and the number of high school students dropping in many areas of the country, enrollment management professionals must seek out creative strategies to appeal to a broader population of out-of-state students. This study assessed the impact of the three common faces of a holistic enrollment management plan: structural management, planning, and leadership, on the recruitment of out-of-state student-athletes to play NCAA Division I beach volleyball. Alternative explanations were explored to determine how an institution was successful in recruiting out-of-state beach volleyball student-athletes when the three common faces of a holistic enrollment management plan were not …

Student And Faculty Engagement And Support In A Pandemic, Ericka Hackman

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

It’s been seven long months since our world was turned upside down with the onslaught of COVID-19. We all remember clearly the chaos of March 2020 transforming our in-person, on-campus instruction to remote models; frantically securing technology for students, faculty, and staff to work remotely and standing up phone and videoconference operations for all of our support and administrative services. Our campus faculty and staff worked incredibly hard to pivot teaching and learning to support students’ successful completion of the Spring 2020 semester. I think many of us thought it was a pipedream to get to Commencement and actually graduate …

Tributes To Rick Edwards Upon His Retirement, Robert F. Diffendal Jr., Michael Farrell, Michael David Forsberg, Maurice Godfrey, John J. Janovy Jr., Katie Nieland, Linda Pratt, Rebecca S Wingo, David J. Wishart, George E. Wolf, Peter Longo, John R. Wunder

Robert F. Diffendal, Jr., Publications

I understand that you will be retiring from UNL in August. I wanted to express my sadness that you will be leaving the Center for Great Plains Studies, but am glad that you will now be able to perhaps enjoy life even more without having to do the administrative tasks that go with being the director of any organization. (RFD)

Impostor Phenomenon In Educational Developers: Consequences And Coping Strategies, Kristin J. Rudenga, Emily O. Gravett

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

A recent survey of educational developers revealed that nearly all respondents (96%) had experienced impostor phenomenon (IP) in their professional lives. Here, we use survey data to investigate the consequences of and coping strategies for IP among educational developers. We describe the repercussions of IP for the personal and professional lives of educational developers (including stress, lowered self-esteem, not speaking up, and diminished career trajectories), the ways in which they cope with IP, and the unique ways that they may be positioned to leverage their own experience with IP to work more effectively with instructors.

The Experiences Of Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Members Of Color With Racism In The Classroom, Ryan Rideau, Claire K. Robbins

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Using critical race theory, this qualitative study examined the ways non-tenure-track faculty members of Color (NTFOCs) experienced racism in their classroom environments. The sample consisted of 24 NTFOCs who worked at 4-year historically White colleges and universities. Findings revealed that NTFOCs experienced racism in their classrooms in three ways: negative evaluations, different treatment than White colleagues, and feeling unsafe in the classroom. While these findings are consistent with the experiences of tenure-track and tenured faculty members of Color, the implications for NTFOCs, particularly in terms of their employment, are stark. The article concludes with recommendations for how educational developers can …

“Am I Really Good Enough?”: Black And Latinx Experiences With Faculty Development, Sylk Santiago-Sotto

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study focuses on the experiences of Black and Latinx faculty in academic medicine in relation to their educational and faculty development. Narratives by participants reflect on their career path and refer to faculty development programs as valuable but also as dominant group-centric, counter to their cultural backgrounds and the underrepresented faculty experience. Findings reveal the need for faculty development to be spaces for affirmation, validation, and accountability and suggest the need for tailored programs. Furthermore, implications on the research and practice of faculty affairs within higher education and academic medicine are outlined.

Leveraging The Power Of Course Redesign For Student Success, Rebecca Campbell, Benjamin B. Blankenship

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Colleges and universities have a commitment to improve the student experience, increase persistence, and provide paths to degree completion. Course redesign, focused on student success, is a promising strategy for realizing that commitment. This article examines some of the particulars when course redesign is explicitly linked to student success. These particulars include the types of redesign outcomes, why courses should be the locus of student success initiatives, identifying which courses to redesign, and the characteristics and scope of impact of redesigned courses. The article concludes with suggestions for next steps for student success course redesign.

Development Of A Faculty Appreciation Of Pedagogy Scale, Carol A. Hurney, Jordan D. Troisi, Lori H. Leaman

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Evidencing the value of programs and services challenges educational developers to measure a range of outcomes. While direct measures of faculty use of effective teaching behaviors and student learning are desirable, these methods are time consuming and resource intensive. We provide a scale that is easy to deploy and can be adapted to different programs. Our psychometrically sound scale measures one facet of faculty learning about teaching—appreciation of pedagogy. The scale measures awareness, knowledge integration, emotions, beliefs, and self-reported behaviors related to the appreciation of pedagogy. We also examine scale correlates, including teaching identity, confidence, and control.

Students Helping Students Provide Valuable Feedback On Course Evaluations, Adriana Signorini, Mariana Abuan, Gautam Panakkal, Sandy Dorantes

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The purpose of the student evaluations of teaching (SET) are to help instructors enhance the teaching and learning experience in their courses; however, student feedback can often be more unconstructive than useful because students are usually requested to evaluate instruction with little or no formal training. As a result, SET become missed opportunities for students to effectively communicate their learning needs and for instructors to collect actionable information about how the course is perceived. This project aims to improve the quality of student responses to the open-ended questions that instructors receive by partnering with undergraduates in demonstrating to their peers …

Tell Me More About Alex: Helping Instructors Uncover And Mitigate Their Implicit Biases, Cait S. Kirby, Heather N. Fedesco

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

All instructors bring a set of unconscious or implicit biases to the classroom. These biases can negatively impact the way they interact with students, thus affecting important student outcomes (for example, grades, sense of belonging). Facilitators leading programming on inclusive teaching may struggle to identify strategies they should include in sessions to help unearth and address these biases in others. We have created an activity that can be tailored to fit a variety of teaching contexts and audiences and that helps unveil implicit biases while potentially mitigating some challenges associated with participant responses to such conversations.

A Mandatory Faculty Diversity Workshop: Does It Work?, Heather Dwyer, Joya Smith

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article explores the effectiveness of a mandatory training workshop for faculty. Our center for teaching and learning (CTL) was charged with designing and implementing a diversity training workshop for all full-time faculty. The workshop included an introduction to diversity and inclusion, analysis of microaggressions, discussion of inclusive teaching strategies, and practice responding to difficult situations using realistic classroom scenarios. Data were collected on participants’ familiarity and comfort level with diversity and inclusion concepts and situations via identical pre- and post-assessment. A year later, a follow-up survey was administered, which included the original assessment. Assessment and survey responses indicated positive …

Teaching Certificate Redesign: Making A Flexible Program For Future Faculty, Kate Z. Williams, Lauren E. Margulieux, G. David Lawrence

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Higher education teaching certificate programs can improve graduate students’ and postdoctoral scholars’ teaching while preparing them for their future roles as faculty, providing a multi-tiered benefit to universities’ teaching goals. This article documents the decision points and initial success of a redesign of one such teaching certificate program.” As part of the redesign process, 10 universities’ programs were reviewed and used as a benchmark. The programs’ learning objectives and assessments, along with their connections to the literature, are discussed in detail. A new flexible pathway through the certificate program emerged, tapping into courses, workshops, and online resources for content delivery, …

The Role Of Undergraduate Student Affairs Coursework In Aspiring Student Affairs Professionals’ Career Development, Matthew J. Nelson

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative, single case study explored the influence of an undergraduate introductory student affairs course (SA 101) on the career development of aspiring student affairs professionals. Using Lent et al.’s (1994) social cognitive career theory, the study was guided by the following questions: (1) How did SA 101 contribute to the career development of students interested in a career in student affairs? (2) In what ways did this course assist students in the development of self-efficacy in relation to their interest in pursuing a career in student affairs? (3) To what degree did students in SA 101 describe positive outcome …

An Assessment Of Demographic Factors As Predictors Of Career Commitment Of Librarians In Universities In Southern Nigeria., Mercy Arodovwe Igere Mrs

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Unwillingness and negative attitude of librarians was observed as a factor that hinders users from accessing information resources in most developing country libraries. This negative attitude could be associated with the demographic factors of the librarians hence this study investigated demographic factors as predictors of career commitment of librarians in South-South universities, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study and three hypotheses were formulated at 0.05 level of significance using simple regression analysis. The research questions and hypotheses were analysed using inferential statistics such as simple regression analysis. The population comprised 197 librarians in universities of South-South, Nigeria. Questionnaire was …

Students On The Spectrum, Kristin Mallory, Dana Burnside

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

changed many aspects of our lives this year. Things we’ve taken for granted in the past are now different, and we’re being forced to become comfortable with ways of doing things that are unfamiliar, and often initially uncomfortable. Last week, I had an issue with my Verizon bill and had to call customer service. I understood that because of COVID-19, customer service representatives were working from home, and wait times would be considerably longer. The wait was long. It was almost an hour long, whereas in the past connecting to a representative might have taken 10 minutes. I felt impatient; …

University Of Nebraska Board Of Regents Student Code Of Conduct, Effective August 14, 2020, University Of Nebraska

Policies, Acts, and Materials: University of Nebraska Board of Regents

Students at the University of Nebraska are members of an academic community in which academic integrity and responsible conduct are essential for the community to function. To ensure that students know what is expected of them, the University has adopted the Standards of Academic Integrity and Responsible Conduct (“Standards”).

G.R.A.C.E. Under Pressure, Kimberly Lowry

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

As we welcome faculty, staff and students back to campus and implement the first weeks of classes and activities, we do so while facing one of the greatest challenges higher education has ever seen. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely disrupted nearly every aspect of how we teach, how we serve students and how students attend college. In just five short months, we have re-examined and adjusted all that we had relied upon in our professional and personal lives. And yet, we will come together, continue adjusting, and focus on how best to ensure we take care of one another while …

Honors In Practice (Theory): A Bourdieusian Perspective On The Professionalization Of Honors, K. Patrick Fazioli

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Patricia J . Smith’s essay on the professionalization of honors advances several original and provocative arguments that deserve serious consideration. Although Smith makes a plausible case that honors has fulfilled at least three of Theodore Caplow’s four stages of professionalization, a closer reading of this text reveals that the developments identified by Smith fail to satisfy the basic functions that each stage serves on the path toward professionalism. This essay argues that honors has little incentive to become a distinct profession because much of its highly skilled workforce enjoys the protection of occupational closure as college faculty and administrators. The …

Swan Song, Joan Digby

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Patricia J . Smith’s argument for professionalism based on Caplow’s outdated model is inappropriate for honors administration. The steps outlined are misleading, and the use of the perennially controversial Basic Characteristics as a prescription for professionalizing honors is historically inaccurate and has no place in framing the future of honors education, which needs to remain individual and idiosyncratic to institutions. Professionalization would move honors toward a business model that is antithetical to the spirit of honors.

A Different Kind Of Agitation, Jayda Coons

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Responding to Patricia J . Smith’s essay on the appropriateness of professionalizing honors education, the author argues that discussions of specialization and standardization across honors programs should be suspended until academia has sufficiently dealt with the endemic problem of undercompensated contingent labor. The author further suggests that, rather than invite increased administrative procedures, faculty and staff exercise the characteristics most often ascribed to honors education—flexibility, creativity, community-based problem-solving, interdisciplinarity, and collaboration—to reimagine current professional practices in honors and advocate more forcefully for fair, dignified labor.

The Body Of Honors: Certification As An Expression Of Disciplinary Power, Richard Badenhausen

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Using Michel Foucault’s writing on discipline and training, the author suggests that processes like certification ultimately serve as covert normalizing activities that run counter to the spirit and practice of honors education. The author argues for an open, fluid, generative approach to honors program review.

Owning Honors: Outcomes For A Student Leadership Culture, Adam Watkins

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The author provides an overview of a peer mentorship program within an honors curriculum and an assessment of its leadership culture. This culture is based on the values of servant leadership and an inclusive community of learners, and it is promoted through an orientation, training, and robust extracurricular component. The author explores the efficacy of leadership culture, considering its influence on peer mentors’ identification with the honors community and its influence on their learning outcomes.

The Professionalization Of Honors Education, Patricia Joanne Smith

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors education in America has undergone a process that sociologist Theodore Caplow describes as professionalization. Caplow identifies four stages whereby a developing profession transitions to a professional association: organizing membership, changing the name of occupation from its previous status, developing a code of ethics, and after a period of political agitation, beginning a process by which to enforce occupational barriers. Each of these defined stages present new challenges to honors educators. This paper examines honors education in the context of specialization, considering both the origins and growth of honors education in the last century and contemporary discourse relating to certification …

The Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council: A Bibliometric Study, Emily Walshe

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This paper analyzes summative content and citation patterns in the Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council (ISSN 1559-0151), a peer-reviewed, scholarly publication related to honors education, during its first 20 volumes of existence from 2000 to 2019. The bibliometric study consists of two parts: an analysis of articles and analysis of citations. Quantitative and qualitative measures are used to examine article types, authorship patterns, cited references, and coverage of core subjects. Results indicate 522 articles with an annual output average of 26 .1. Annual input averages 37 .4 authors, featuring 492 unique authors who represent 248 unique institutions and …

A Requiem For Certification, A Song Of Honors, Jeffrey Portnoy

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay rejects any notion of professionalization in honors programs and colleges as well as any plan for the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) that is connected to implementing a process of certification or accreditation. The author offers historical details about the machinations of a small group of powerful NCHC officers who tried to turn the organization into an accrediting or certifying body and how they were successfully blocked by grassroots opposition from the membership and by a large group of NCHC past presidents who recognized the ill will and divisiveness that would result. The author discusses the damage that …

Editor’S Introduction, Ada Long

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The topic of this issue’s Forum, “The Professionalization of Honors,” has a history in the National Collegiate Honors Council that probably goes back to its origins and that has evoked turbulent controversy within the past three or four decades. In the mid-1990s, the proposal to establish a document titled “The Basic Characteristics of a Fully Developed Honors Program” arose from a perceived vagueness about the meaning of “honors education .” Proponents of the document claimed that they were simply trying to create clarity out of chaos in defining the profession of honors while opponents feared the prospect of standardization. Heated …

The Current Status, Perceptions, And Impact Of Honors Program Review, Rebecca Rook

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

While the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) supports routine, systematic program review, research suggests that only about half of honors programs engage in some form of assessment. This study examines the current state of honors program evaluation by gauging honors administrators’ perceptions of program review and assessing the impact of the NCHC’s review process on those programs that have employed it. A census of all NCHC honors directors was taken using questionnaires. Fifteen percent (n = 121) completed the census, with results suggesting substantial increases (87–91%) in program assessment from 2011 and a majority of respondents (87%) describing the review …

Honors, Professionalism, And Teaching And Learning: A Response To Certification, John Zubizarreta

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay responds to an argument for certification based on a particular sociological theory of professionalization. The case for certification rests on the supposition that honors has evolved from a nascent educational movement focused on distinct teaching and learning approaches for high-ability students to one that is now ready to professionalize in ways that require more specialization, organizational oversight, systematic evaluation, and exclusive credentialing through certification. The author suggests that honors is already a full-fledged professional endeavor, recognizing that the core emphasis on teaching and learning in honors is a genuinely professional endeavor when performed authentically in the experimental, creative, …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 34, Summer/Fall 2020, New England Faculty Development Consortium

NEFDC Exchange

Contents

President's message, Marc Ebenfield

Bridging media: Shared referents to connect the unfamiliar to the familiar

Using flash activities to stimulate positive student engagement and promote critical thinking skills

Implementing a mid-semester assessment process (map) in your course: Using reflection to help reduce faculty and student anxiety

NEFDC Board members