Digital Commons Network^™

Vcu Peer Mentoring Program: 2017-18 Guide For Participants, Lynn Pelco, Cristina Stanciu

The Peer Mentoring Program Guide for Participants provides information for both university faculty mentees and their faculty mentors to help establish and develop a productive mentoring relationship. This Guide is the handbook for the Virginia Commonwealth University Peer Mentoring Program, which seeks to support early career faculty members, enabling them to succeed and thrive in the academy as both scholars and educators. The VCU Peer Mentoring program is part of the VCU Office of Faculty Affairs.

The Harvest Is The Best Teacher, Gayle Mallinger, Molly Kerby

Gender & Women's Studies Faculty Publications

As the national climate and attitudes toward local organic food progressed in the United States, farmers markets, school and community gardens, and campaigns to increase vegetable consumption among children and adolescents skyrocketed. Unfortunately, many communities are beginning to realize disparities exist in poverty-stricken neighborhoods in term of access to fresh produce, education, and food programs This narrative follows a community garden project over three years at the Boys & Girls Club in a semi-rural city in Kentucky. Participants prepared the garden site, planted seeds, and harvested vegetables as part of a Junior Master Gardener program in the afterschool and summer …

Communicating You Are Worth It In A Noisy Marketplace, Paul Redfern, Keri Rursch, Jamie Yates

Communications & Marketing

This paper provides guidance and specific examples of common elements needed for communicating the value proposition of liberal arts colleges to prospective students and families. In an environment where the worth of a college degree is questioned daily by the public and the mainstream media, this paper demonstrates how strategies that are distinctive, rooted in research and complementary to the institutional brand are imperative for communicating the worth of an institution. The paper suggests tactics to develop the key partnerships needed and provides metrics for how leaders can assess their value proposition initiatives.

Decision-Making, Tacit Knowledge, And Motivation In Semi-Professional Practice: Humanizing The Environment Through Anthropomorphism In Clinical Laboratory Science, Teresa Mortier

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The clinical laboratory science field requires an abundance of technical knowledge; however, the importance of implicit or tacit knowledge gained through observation and practice is often discounted in this field, even though it is a critical part of reflective thinking, critical thinking, and reflective practice. The “de-skilling” of laboratory practitioners may be a result of limited training opportunities in an overtaxed system. A deeper analysis of the decision-making skills by interviewing practicing medical laboratory scientists in this study may illuminate, for practitioners and the public sector, the complexity of the profession. This study adds to the body of knowledge in …

Different Tools For Different Tasks: Strategies For Assessing Student Learning From Civic Engagement At The Student, Program, And Institutional Levels, Lynn E. Pelco

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This presentation was given at the SCHEV Civic Engagement Education and Assessment meeting on June 9, 2017.

Service-Learning Community Partner Impact Assessment Report, Jennifer Jettner, Lynn Pelco, Katie Elliott

Division of Community Engagement Resources

In the summer of 2017, VCU’s Office of Service-Learning conducted an evaluation of the impact of service-learning on community partner organizations. This assessment aimed to collect actionable feedback from partners and to inform improvements to service-learning courses at VCU that successfully address partners’ concerns. An external researcher conducted phone interviews with a representative sample of 22 community partners. Partners were asked how a specific service-learning course impacted their organization in three areas: organizational capacity, economically, and socially. Partners were also asked about faculty interactions and the likelihood of recommending the service-learning course to other organizations like their own. This report …

The Influence Of Emotional Contagion On The Formation Of Group Affective Tone Within The Student Cohort Model, Michael J. Jensen

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The use of the cohort model within higher education has produced outcomes that have been either positive and adaptive or dysfunctional and maladaptive due to the unique identities formed by cohorts. The purpose of this study was to examine the cohort model through the lens of group level affect. The study examined whether cohorts of university students developed a group affective tone and whether or not the formation of group affective tone impacted student satisfaction with the cohort experience. The study also examined if susceptibility to emotional contagion and emotional expressivity was related to the degree of affective convergence of …

2017 First Look, Nova Southeastern University

First Look

No abstract provided.

Virginia College Access Resource Study: Region One Report, Amy Corning, Kate Daly, Jesse Senechal

MERC Publications

This research brief shares the results of a MERC study commissioned by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and supported by Virginia 529 about college access in central Virginia. The purpose of college access providers is discussed as well the current areas of need. A list of access providers in Virginia are listed at the end of the brief.

Research Brief Fiscal Year 2017, Nova Southeastern University

Research Briefs

No abstract provided.

Community-Based Learning: A Primer, Zeinab Bedri, Ruairí De Fréin, Geraldine Dowling

Practitioner Research Projects

Employers are increasingly demanding graduates with industry-ready communication, decision-making, problem-solving, leadership, emotional intelligence and social ethics skills. Community-based learning (CBL) has been identified as a pedagogical approach which has tremendous potential to produce graduates with these attributes; its prominent role in the future of Ireland's third level landscape is outlined in the Irish National Strategy for Higher Education (Hunt, 2011). However, for many early-career lecturers, distilling the insights from the teaching and learning literature, and then producing a well-designed CBL module, can be an intimidating task. What is missing is a primer which presents the core ideas of CBL in …

Blended Learning - What Practitioners Can Learn From Moocs, Aine Whelan, Aimee Byrne, Keith Colton, Patrick Crean, Conor Mcgarrigle

Practitioner Research Projects

The rapid increase in the use of information technologies in third level education is changing the way courses are provided. Online multimedia have helped reduce the difficulties teachers face with a diversity of student profiles and a large number of students in a classroom. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) present an extreme with regard to student groups in relation to size and diversity and, therefore, many techniques and methods of overcoming the difficulties that this can present have been developed. Much of these methods can apply to online courses generally and to blended teaching environments. This study identifies four key …

What Do Employers Really Want? Helping Vocational Learners Crack The Code, Kate Perkins

Vocational, adult and professional education research

In the majority of vocational qualifications, assessment of competence incorporates a structured work placement (SWP). Increasingly, host employers are using these placements as part of recruitment strategies, particularly for entry level roles. In effect, the placement is becoming the new ‘interview’, and the new interview is morphing into an extended audition where a learner’s non-technical, ‘employability’ skills may play a critical role. But do learners know what their host employers are really looking for, and to what extent are their training programs helping them to develop and demonstrate the skills that are most likely to influence an employer’s recruitment decisions? …

Nsu Translational Research And Economic Development Fy 2017 Annual Report, Nova Southeastern University

Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Why Service-Learning?, Audrey Trussell, Katie Elliott

Division of Community Engagement Resources

Data from VCU's "High Impact Practices (HIPS) Assessment Model: 2015-16 Pilot Mid-Year Report" offers three compelling reasons for why service-learning matters for student success.

2015-2016 Service-Learning Impact Measure Report, Samantha Poelstra

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The VCU Service-Learning Office distributes the Service-Learning Impact Measure (SLIM) at the end of every semester to evaluate the impact of service-learning classes on student learning. Results are used to guide professional development opportunities, as well as to further improve the quality of and recruit additional tenure-line faculty members to teach designated service-learning classes.

International Service-Learning: Rethinking The Role Of Emotions, Marianne A. Larsen

Education Publications

Existing research on international service-learning (ISL) only implicitly alludes to emotions or considers emotions as a limited vehicle through which the more important work of learning occurs. This study set out to shift this focus on emotions to show how emotions are an integral part of the overall ISL experience. The aim was to understand how an ISL internship was an emotional experience for the student participants through the lens of noncognitive process theory of emotions. This was a qualitative case study of the experiences of 10 university students who engaged in an ISL internship in East Africa. Data collection …

Career Paths, Barriers, And Professional Experiences: A Comparison Study Of Physical Therapy Program Directors In The United States, Tamara Nancy Gravano

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The entry-level degree for physical therapists today is a professional doctoral degree. It is similar to a medical degree program where the expected outcome of its graduates is clinical practice, and there is no formal training in academic teaching or administration. The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership characteristics, styles, and behaviors of accredited Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program directors (PD) and to gain a better understanding of their preparation and path to program leadership. The survey instrument was sent electronically to all program directors of accredited DPT programs in the United States (N=233) and the …

2017 Nsu Fact Book, Nova Southeastern University

NSU Fact Book

This 25th edition of the Nova Southeastern University Fact Book reflects an expanding body of data and information that provides perspective on the university’s character, growth, and accomplishments.

The 2017 Fact Book includes narrative, numeric, and graphic representation of the university, including history, characteristics, and development of the institution. Data are presented in both tabular and graphic formats to provide pertinent detail, and general trends are highlighted.

Outcomes-Based Career Preparation Programs For Contemporary Student-Athletes, Kristina Navarro, Heather Mccormick

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Framed from a constructivist approach, this manuscript draws from Savickas’ (2005) Theory of Career Construction to assess programmatic development and mastery of learning outcomes in preparation for life after higher education. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, findings outline recommendations for campusbased practitioner programming informed from the voices of NCAA Division I football student-athletes.

Everything Passes, Everything Changes: Unionization And Collective Bargaining In Higher Education, William A. Herbert, Jacob Apkarian

Publications and Research

This article begins with a brief history of unionization and collective bargaining in higher education. It then presents data concerning the recent growth in newly certified collective bargaining representatives at private and public-sector institutions of higher education, particularly among non-tenure track faculty. The data is analyzed in the context of legal decisions concerning employee status and unit composition under applicable federal and state laws. Lastly, the article presents data concerning strike activities on campuses between January 2013 and May 31, 2017.

Using Google Applications As Part Of Cloud Computing To Improve Knowledge And Teaching Skills Of Faculty Members At The University Of Bisha, Bisha, Saudi Arabia, Bandar Abdullah Alshihri

Wayne State University Dissertations

Dissertation Abstract

By

Bandar A. Alshihri

March, 2017

Advisor: Dr. James L. Moseley

Major: Learning Design and Technology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Cloud computing is a recent computing paradigm that has been integrated into the educational system. It provides numerous opportunities for delivering a variety of computing services in a way that has not been experienced before. The Google Company is among the top business companies that afford their cloud services by launching a number of business and educational Apps. Google runs these Apps for free to be used for educational purposes, which saves a huge amount of expense for …

Quality Assurance Self-Assessment: A Catalyst At Aga Khan University, Tashmin Khamis, Khairunnisa Dhamani

Faculty of Health Sciences, East Africa

This article describes the establishment of the Aga Khan University’s Network of Quality Assurance and Improvement in promoting the principles of quality in its programmes. As an international university, the experiences and lessons learned have the potential to inform quality assurance and improvement in similar contexts. The authors reflect on past attempts to improve the quality of educational offerings, which were primarily traditional quality assurance audits. With the advent of the Inter-University Council for East Africa self-assessment process, the next generation of quality assurance and improvement was launched for the Aga Khan University programmes. They found the self-assessment process effective …

Chief Student Affairs Officers’ Perceptions Of Institutional Crisis Management, Preparedness, And Response, Heather Studenberg

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined chief student affairs officers’ perceptions of institutional crisis management, preparedness, and response. A goal of this study was to uncover findings that can benefit crisis management protocols or best practices regarding crisis management team training, plan communications, and emergency management personnel on campus, as well as, learn if size of enrollment impacts crisis preparedness and response. Research questions assessed if a significant relationship exists between preparedness in responding to crisis with the number of training topics covered with a crisis management team, the number of modes used to communicate the crisis management plan, size of enrollment and …

A Measurement Of Campus Presence: The Cognitive Link Between Campus Engagement And Positive Outcomes In College Students, Daniel M. Kleiman

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Prior research has shown that positive psychological states and attitudes are known outcomes in students who are engaged on their college campus. Although many studies prove this to be evident, literature lacks examination between these two variables. The purpose of the current study was to find a cognitive link between student engagement and the measured outcomes of self-esteem, college self-efficacy, college affiliation, and levels of optimism/pessimism. The study proposed that there is a process of developing an internal sense of presence on campus, which occurs in those students that are actively engaged in activities outside of the classroom. Individual personality …

Strategies For Enhancing The Mature Student Experience In Higher Education, John O'Carroll, Cathy Ennis, Keith Loscher, Deirdre Ryan, Niall Dixon

Practitioner Research Projects

A principle of the Irish Education system is its endorsement of equity of access to higher education for all Irish citizens. This principle has been enacted through successive government policies including the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019 (HEA, 2015). The aim of this policy is to “ensure that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population” (p.8). Data from this plan shows that participation in higher education by the adult population has increased and that there is a potential for increasing …

Privacy, Poverty, And Big Data: A Matrix Of Vulnerabilities For Poor Americans, Mary Madden, Michele E. Gilman, Karen Levy, Alice Marwick

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines the matrix of vulnerabilities that low-income people face as a result of the collection and aggregation of big data and the application of predictive analytics. On one hand, big data systems could reverse growing economic inequality by expanding access to opportunities for low-income people. On the other hand, big data could widen economic gaps by making it possible to prey on low-income people or to exclude them from opportunities due to biases entrenched in algorithmic decision-making tools. New kinds of “networked privacy” harms, in which users are simultaneously held liable for their own behavior and the actions …

Pedagogy, Partnership, And Practice: Challenges And Opportunities Through Service-Learning, Matthew Aaron Pajunen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Service-learning has been prominently featured as a best or high impact practice for education. Yet throughout its existence, this pedagogy has been troubled with questions regarding its effectiveness, controversy in its impact on communities, and even confusion surrounding what its definition is. Within the Anthropology Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato, the impact of service-learning has often been uncertain, with exemplary stories coming out as much as negative ones. This mixed success of service-learning's application throughout the years motivated Dr. Susan Schalge to commission a student research project in 2012 to interview service-learning stakeholders to obtain a more certain grasp …

Course Dispute Policy, Butler University

Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

Time In Committee Policy, Butler University

Policy Documents

No abstract provided.