Education Commons^™

Digitization Of Academic Libraries Through Cloud Environment, Sivankalai S, Virumandi A, Sivasekaran K, Jeyanthi R, M Sharmila

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Libraries may soon be able to establish and manage their own data centres. This paradigm would allow libraries to control the apps and data stores that include sensitive and private information about their users' personal and financial information. The provisioning and management of infrastructure for a Web-based digital library present several complicated difficulties for library administrators. In this article, we address the challenges that digital libraries confront, and the efforts being made to solve those challenges. Infrastructure virtualization and cloud Environment are incredibly enticing options, but they are being challenged by the expansion of the indexed document collection, the addition …

Leadership Practices For Undocumented And Daca Students In The Heartland, Dalila A. Sajadian

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

Continuous demographic changes are shaping the future of higher education institutions and as a result, leaders in educational institutions must adapt to those changes. Community college leaders, in particular rural leaders, are in a unique position and need to constantly evolve to serve different students, including undocumented and DACA students. The US Department of Education (2015) estimates that approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from U.S. high schools every year, however, “only 5 to 10% of undocumented students pursue higher education, and far fewer successfully graduate with a degree” (US Dept. of Education, 2015, p. 3). On June 15, 2012, President …

Leadership Journeys: Reflections On Experiences And Challenges From Women In Academic Leadership, Sarah L. Smiley, Andrea G. Zakrajsek, Kathryn L. Fletcher

Journal of Women in Educational Leadership

Although the number of women holding administrative positions in higher education has risen over the past two decades, the gender gap in academic leadership in higher education institutions persists. Barriers exist to prevent women from entering these positions, including those related to workplace culture and personal considerations. This qualitative exploratory study interviewed 38 women leaders in positions ranging from Assistant Dean to President at universities in a mid-west athletic conference. It asked the following research questions: How did they enter academic leadership? What were their experiences in leadership positions? What advice would they offer to other women considering leadership positions …

Jnchc 22-2: About The Authors

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

François G. Amar • Adam Blincoe • Sarai Blincoe • Tim Christensen • Lauren Collins • Teal Darkenwald • Bhibha M. Das • Wietske De Vries • Kevin W. Dean • W. Wayne Godwin • Nicole Gomez • Amelia Hawes • Jorgia Hawthorne • Elizabeth Hodge • Michael B. Jendzurski • Birte Klusmann • Annegien Langeloo • Kristine A. Miller • Carla Janell Pattin • Erin Saldin • Gerald Weckesser • Marca V. C. Wolfensberger • Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Journal Of The National Collegiate Honors Council, Vol. 22, No. 2. Fall/Winter 2021

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Contents: Call for Papers • Editorial Policy, Deadlines, and Submission Guidelines • Dedication to Andrew J. Cognard-Black • Editor’s Introduction, Ada Long

Forum Essays on “Honors After Covid”

Honors in the Post-Pandemic World: Situation Perilous • Francois G. Amar

Business as Unusual: Honors and Post-Pandemic Gen Z • Kristine A. Miller

Honors the Hard Way • Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Honors Alumni Re-Activation through Interpersonal Engagement: Lessons Learned during COVID • Kevin W. Dean and Michael B. Jendzurski

“Building Together”: City as Text™, Intersectionality, and Urban Farming during COVID-19 • Carla Janell Pattin

From “Filled” to “Fulfilled”: Tech-Minimal …

Reading As Bearing Witness: Incorporating The Voices Of Incarcerated Youth In Honors, Lauren Collins, Amelia Hawes, Jorgia Hawthorne, Nicole Gomez, Erin Saldin

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors faculty often engage students in service-learning and community- engaged courses to help students learn curricular concepts, develop skills in responsible citizenship, and positively impact their community. Authors consider how the greatest impact honors students can have may sometimes be through bearing witness rather than through direct service or volunteering. This essay explores a case study involving a community partnership between an honors college and a local non-profit serving incarcerated youth, where the primary goal is to bring the writing and voices of young, incarcerated authors into the college classroom and give their stories a wider audience. Authors describe the …

From “Filled” To “Fulfilled”: Tech-Minimal Experiences Bolster Core Honors Values, Adam Blincoe, Sarai Blincoe

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Post-pandemic exigencies such as isolation, technology fatigue, and financial pressures can be embraced as opportunities to return to, and strengthen, core values in honors involving student agency and community. This essay considers the pedagogical benefits of receding from technology in the classroom. Drawing on recent empirical research concerning the deleterious effects of tech in the lives of students, particularly as they relate to community and agency, authors make the case for providing students with tech-minimal experiences. The essay presents several examples of tech-minimal experiences from the authors’ own teaching inside and outside of the classroom—including Tech Shabbats, communal reading, and …

Honors In The Post-Pandemic World: Situation Perilous, François G. Amar

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The COVID pandemic has exacerbated structural, demographic, and financial challenges faced by American higher education institutions and their honors programs and colleges. Likewise, the Black Lives Matter movement has made plain the inequities in the higher education sector. The new “normal” post-COVID will challenge honors practitioners to address these inequities in a landscape of even greater competition for even scarcer resources. Doubling down on the core values of honors, such as diversity, community, student agency, and inclusive excellence, will help programs define and articulate their worth in this new environment. This essay presents ways in which the communicative and collaborative …

“Building Together”: City As Text™, Intersectionality, And Urban Farming During Covid-19, Carla Janell Pattin

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay considers various challenges to honors educational practice in a post-pandemic context and against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter. The City as Text™ course, Multicultural Toledo, cultivates student knowledge about intersectionality in light of public health and social justice emergencies in the United States. The author describes course content, curricular objectives, and teaching strategies toward helping students understand the dynamic interplay (intersection and interaction) of ableism, sexism, elitism, homophobia, and racism relative to the accession and acquisition of land. The course espouses a post-pandemic vision: an intersectional lens that fosters knowledge about power relationships and diverse lived experiences …

Editor’S Introduction: Jnchc 22:2, Ada Long

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The contributors to the Forum and also the authors of major research essays responded to the following Call for Papers,:

The next issue of JNCHC (deadline: September 1, 2021) invites research essays on any topic of interest to the honors community. The issue will also include a Forum focused on the theme “Honors after COVID,” in which we invite honors educators to look beyond the urgencies of the moment and imagine the pandemic’s impact on the future of honors in higher education. We invite essays of roughly 1000–2000 words that consider this theme in a practical and/or theoretical context. ... …

Honors The Hard Way, Betsy Greenleaf Yarrison

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The conventional structure of most honors colleges made it difficult to deliver curricula and programming during the global health pandemic. Traditional modalities for content delivery and community building did not always adapt well to online environments. By requiring that honors students come to campus, programs have been offering a brick-and-mortar education to prepare their students for a virtual workplace. Instead of clinging to what has now become obsolete or cost prohibitive, honors practitioners must think creatively about what honors education in virtual reality might look like. The author suggests a reallocation of resources from physical to virtual spaces and argues …

Dedication: Andrew J. Cognard-Black

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Among many other contributions to the NCHC, Andrew has served on the Board of Directors (2018–2021), the Publications Board (2017–present), the Conference Planning Committee on at least four occasions, the Finance Committee, the Research Committee, and the Editorial Board of JNCHC. Andrew J. Cognard-Black is already recognized as a Lifetime Fellow of the NCHC, and we are pleased to add to his accolades by dedicating this issue to him along with gratitude for his exceptional contributions to the scholarship and vigor of honors education.

Honors Alumni Re-Activation Through Interpersonal Engagement: Lessons Learned During Covid, Kevin W. Dean, Michael B. Jendzurski

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

The 2020–2021 academic year presented many challenges to honors educators, including their ability to support honors education as a community of opportunity in virtual learning environments. This study considers how remote learning platforms emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic illuminated previously underutilized resources, such as alumni. Authors describe programming that emphasizes opportunities for interpersonal engagement between students and alumni and maximizes potential for relationship building and communal longevity. Intersections for alumni/student virtual connection in classrooms are identified, as are co-curricular events and recruitment initiatives for prospective students. To assess impact, a survey instrument was designed according to a conceptual model of …

Building Community Online In Honors Education During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Annegien Langeloo, Wietske De Vries, Birte Klusmann, Marca Wolfensberger

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Face-to-face contact in higher education was greatly reduced during the global health pandemic. This study examines how honors educators experienced community building with both students and colleagues during the period of emergency remote teaching. A questionnaire was developed to assess both the quality and importance of contact with students and colleagues as experienced by teachers, as well as changes therein due to the pandemic. Thirty-seven honors educators from various disciplines at a single institution participated in the study. Quantitative analysis indicates that teachers found the contact with both their students and colleagues to be of good quality overall and that …

Business As Unusual: Honors And Post-Pandemic Gen Z, Kristine Miller

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Honors is unusual not because it is elitist or exclusionary but because it responds directly, thoughtfully, and creatively to the needs and concerns of each new cohort of students. The present generation of college students expects their institutions to deliver clear value, rich diversity, and positive career outcomes; and these changes demand a better business model in higher education. This essay suggests that, too often, institutions confuse a better business model with cutting costs, a confusion that both threatens honors education and undercuts institutional integrity. A better and more sustainable approach is to define, articulate, and deliver the value of …

Human-Centered Design As A Basis For A Transformative Curriculum, Bhibha M. Das, Tim Christensen, Elizabeth Hodge, Teal Darkenwald, W. Wayne Godwin, Gerald Weckesser

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This pilot study describes a nascent first-year honors colloquia series using human-centered design (HCD). An interdisciplinary team of instructors redesigned the course with the intention of engaging the whole student in transformative learning and creating a curriculum that addresses problems and opportunities focused on the needs, contexts, emotions, and behaviors of all students, faculty, administrators, and community involved in the series. Authors describe the HCD process, observing the challenges faced by faculty in realizing its design principles, and student (n = 98) reflections on a two-part prototype involving innovation and entrepreneurship emphasizing “wicked” problems and resolutions. Students were asked to …

Supporting Faculty As Writers And Teachers: An Integrative Approach To Educational Development, Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Monique Dufour

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In this article, we explore how supporting faculty writers can also help them to become more effective teachers of writing in their disciplines. Based on over ten years of facilitating and studying faculty at our writing retreats, we demonstrate how understanding and improving their own writing experiences can spark insight into their students as writers. Furthermore, we suggest that helping faculty make this “turn to teaching” exemplifies the potential for an integrative model of educational development, one that leverages connections across faculty roles and responsibilities.

Place-Based Educational Development: What Center For Teaching And Learning Spaces Look Like (And Why That Matters), Laura Cruz, Karen Huxtable-Jester, Brian Smentkowski, Martin Springborg

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This study seeks to explore the physical spaces centers for teaching and learning (CTLs) occupy; with an emphasis on gaining a better picture of what CTL spaces look like; where they are located; how they developed: and what these spaces represent. We gathered visual, empirical, and qualitative data to take the first steps towards developing a shared vision of not only of our physical spaces, but also as a jumping off point for further analysis of the CTL as a meaningful place.

What Really Matters For Instructors Implementing Equitable And Inclusive Teaching Approaches, Tracie Marcella Addy, Philip M. Reeves, Derek Dube, Khadijah A. Mitchell

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Supporting instructor implementation of equitable and inclusive teaching approaches is a critical area of focus in educational development. However, there is limited empirical evidence on factors that either support or hinder instructors’ implementation of inclusive teaching. The results of this national survey study reveal several predictors of instructors’ utilization of inclusive teaching approaches and reported obstacles faced. For this sample, knowledge of inclusive teaching was a statistically significant predictor of implementation, as was being from a non-STEM discipline. Responses highlighted promising approaches, several of which can inform the efforts of educational developers.

Longitudinal Impact Of Faculty Participation In A Course Design Institute (Cdi): Faculty Motivation And Perception Of Expectancy, Value, And Cost, Cara Meixner, Melissa Altman, Megan Good, Elizabeth Ben Ward

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Course design institutes (CDIs), which systematically guide faculty through the (re)design of courses, often transpire in an intensive residency or learning community format. Little is known, to date, of the long-term impact of such initiatives, particularly in the context of faculty motivation. This longitudinal study explores changes in faculty attitudes toward teaching, offering insight into the multifaceted gains and limiting factors influencing motivation as conceptualized by the expectancy-value-cost model (Barron and Hulleman, 2015). Findings reveal that CDI engagement bolsters the value placed on teaching, but arrives at a noteworthy cost to faculty. Implications for CTLs and instructional faculty are explored.

Where Are The Students In Efforts For Inclusive Excellence? Two Approaches To Positioning Students As Critical Partners For Inclusive Pedagogical Practices, Alison Cook-Sather, Tracie Marcella Addy, Anna Devault, Nicole Livitskiy

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Most educational development for inclusive excellence does not draw directly on the experiences and perspectives of students. This article presents two different approaches to positioning undergraduate students as critical partners in developing inclusive pedagogical practices. Co-authored by the directors of and student partners who participated in each approach, the article defines inclusive excellence and inclusive teaching and provides selected examples of partnership work that strives for equity and inclusion. It then describes our different approaches, discusses potential benefits of launching student-faculty partnership work through these approaches, and offers recommendations for developing pedagogical partnership efforts for inclusive excellence at other institutions.

Preparing The Next Generation Of Institutional Leaders: Strategic Supports For Mid-Career Faculty, Vicki Baker, Caroline Manning

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Calls for leadership development and associated supports for faculty members are growing in prominence in higher education. Yet, traditional leadership development efforts in higher education fail to account for both individual and institutional needs as critical to fostering a leadership pipeline with multiple entry points. This manuscript offers succession management and onboarding as important and necessary steps to facilitating a more deliberate, strategic approach to supporting the next generation of institutional leaders – mid-career faculty members.

#Iteachmsu: Centering An Educator Learning Community (Elc), Erik Skogsberg, Makena Neal, Melissa Mcdaniels, Madeline Shellgren, Patricia Stewart

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Many scholars recommend preparing faculty for educator roles. Faculty Learning Communities, The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), and teaching centers represent common preparatory approaches. But faculty and teaching assistants report time, disciplinary disconnects, and lack of incentives as ongoing barriers. Inspired by K-12’s professional learning networks and “hashtag activism,” the authors’ university launched #iteachmsu. #iteachmsu combines practices of social networking with a digital and in-person teaching “commons.” Through #iteachmsu, the authors hope to further shift campus cultures in the age of COVID-19, centering teaching and learning as a valuable and ongoing focus for an educator learning community (ELC).

Cultivating An Institutional Culture That Values Teaching: Developing A Repository Of Effective Practices, Lindsay Shaw, Jill Grose, Erika Kustra, Lori Goff, Donna Ellis, Paola Borin

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational researchers developed an online repository of effective practices contributing to or enhancing the teaching culture at multiple higher education institutions as part of a larger project exploring institutional teaching culture. The repository was designed to be a companion document to the Institutional Teaching Culture Perception Surveys (ITCPS), a resource for administrators, educational developers, and Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL) striving to cultivate institutional cultures that support the development of teaching and learning. This paper outlines the methods for developing this repository, summarizes findings, identifies some of the practices included and highlights areas for future development.

Access To Online Academic Databases To Improve The Quality Of Academic Research Among Postgraduate Students Of Education In Nigerian Universities, Baptista C. Chigbu

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study was designed to determine the access to and utilization of online databases by postgraduate students of the faculties of education of the six foremost universities in Nigeria. The study sought to ascertain the online databases accessed by the most of the students, factors influencing regularity of access and constraints to access regular access to the databases. A total of 365 postgraduate students were randomly drawn from the six universities by proportional allocation for the study. Questionnaire was used to obtain relevant data which were analyzed using multiple responses and binary logistic regression. The most accessed online databases were …

My Ncia Journey, And Why It Matters, Jody Tomanek

Instructional Leadership Abstracts

Have you ever had that moment in life where you know it is time to move on from something, yet it is so hard to officially break away? I am having that moment right now as a member of the NCIA board. This Instructional Leadership Abstract will be different from others, but in keeping with the mission of NCIA, contains information to support you as a community college instructional administrator.

NCIA has been a part of my professional life for the last 20 years. I first became familiar with NCIA when I was an administrative assistant working for a VP …

Real-Life Conundrums In The Struggle For Institutional Transformation, Julia Mcquillan, Nestor Hernandez

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Intersecting systems of inequality (i.e., gender and race/ethnicity) are remarkably resistant to change. Many universities, however, seek National Science Foundation Institutional Transformation awards to change processes, procedures, and cultures to make science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments more inclusive. In this article we describe a case study with observations for eight years of before (2000–2007), five during (2008–2013), and seven after (2014–2020) intensive efforts to increase women through reducing barriers and increasing access to women. Finally, we reflect on flawed assumptions built into the proposal, the slow and uneven change in the proportion of women over time, the strengths …

“I Always Felt Like I Belonged:” A Case Study On A First-Generation Focused Student Success Program And Sense Of Belonging, Stephanie Zobac

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

This qualitative case study explored if and how a first-generation focused student success program fostered sense of belonging amongst first-generation college students. Utilizing the theoretical framework of sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2012), the following research questions guided this study: (1) How do first-generation students experience a first-generation focused student success program? (2) How do first-generation students experience sense of belonging when participating in a first-generation student success program, if at all? (3) How can institutional policies and practices, in the form of a first-generation student success program support the sense of belonging of first-generation students, if at all? Participants included …

Yātrā: A Phenomenology Of Acculturation And Sojourner Experience Of Indian International Students In The U.S., Pankaj Amrut Desai

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

This dissertation study utilized Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to understand the acculturation and sojourner experience of undergraduate Indian international students in the U.S. Midwest. Focusing exclusively on the lived experience of these students, this study engaged Berry’s Fourfold Model of Acculturation (Berry, 1992, 1994) and the ABC Model of Acculturation as presented by Ward et al., (2001) to amplify the voices of three participants to bring forth the meaning they attach to their experiences. This study made use of the concept of Yātrā to signify the multidimensional journey that these international students undertake while migrating from their heritage culture in …

Bordering On Normal: Dissolving Honors Boundaries, Lucy Morrison

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

First-year students faced unprecedented challenges while transitioning from high school to university in fall 2020. The coronavirus crisis, economic downturn, social unrest, and a rapid and massive shift to remote learning altered their world in fundamental ways. This essay describes the response of one honors program toward providing extra- and co-curricular opportunities for student engagement with contemporary issues affecting the local community. While keeping the events of the world in view, the author demonstrates a virtual building of campus community. Pedagogical tools, such as service learning, complement a technological infrastructure for supporting colloquial inquiry and confronting social inequity, and they …