Digital Commons Network^™

High Impact Practices (Hips) Assessment Model: 2015-2016 Pilot Mid-Year Report, Lynn E. Pelco, Janice Baab

Division of Community Engagement Resources

A systematic institutional assessment model was developed to investigate the impact of high impact educational practices (HIPs) on undergraduate student success at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The proposed VCU HIPs Assessment Model provides a systematic framework for assessing the impact of high impact educational practices on VCU undergraduates. Recommendations for institutionalizing the VCU HIPs Assessment Model are made.

Enhancing Impact: Aligning University Engagement Efforts With Community Needs, Jennifer Early, Valerie Holton, Kevin Allison, Catherine Howard

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This presentation was delivered at the Coalition of Urban Metropolitan Universities Conference in Washington, D.C., in October 2016.

Incorporating Community Engagement Language Into Promotion And Tenure Policies: One University's Journey, Lynn E. Pelco

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This presentation was given at the 2016 Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities Conference in Washington, D.C.

Challenges For Global Learners: A Qualitative Study Of The Concerns And Difficulties Of International Students, Chetanath Gautam, Charles L. Lowery, Chance Mays, Dayan Durant

Student Publications

The authors in this study seek to inform academia about international students’ experiences and challenges while attending universities in Small Town USA. Despite their eagerness to study in the United States (U.S.), international students are faced with setbacks that many universities fail to recognize or realize. The researchers conducted in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of students using questions based on information from the literature and an initial survey. The themes that emerged from the data analysis were language, jobs/finances, transportation, assimilation, religious interactions, and identity. Findings emphasize the imperative to understand the challenges these students face as they continue …

Talking About Impact: A Handbook For Pre-Tenure Humanists And Social Scientists, Stephen Chrisomalis

Anthropology Faculty Research Publications

A handbook outlining frameworks, concepts, and strategies that pre-tenure humanists and social scientists can employ when making the case for the impact of their scholarship. In place of the suite of metrics and approaches used to evaluate research in the natural and physical sciences, engineering and medicine, more suitable ways of producing verifiable, comprehensible material for the preparation of tenure and promotion files are demonstrated.

Sayre: Undergraduate Catalog 2016-2017, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Undergraduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Empathy Activators: Strategies For Developing Empathy In Service-Learning Students, Katie Elliott, Robin Everhart, Lynn E. Pelco

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This poster presentation explores the link between service-learning and the development of student empathy. It will share the initial research results of a pilot study on student empathy, service-learning, and key ingredients for cultivating empathy. It also offers instructors concrete ideas for teaching tools that activate student empathy.

The Mooc: Rhetoric, Political Economy And The Value Of Technological Citizenship, Tanner Mirrlees, Shahid Alvi

Teaching and Learning in a Digital Context

This paper offers a critical political-economy of the promise and disappointment of the for- profit Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) in higher education. Our goal is to encourage awareness, dialogue, and reflexivity about the gap between the rhetoric and reality of the MOOC in higher education and to highlight and interrogate the persuasive and profit power interests served by “the rhetoric of the MOOC.” To this end, the first section outlines our critical approach and defines some key concepts: “the rhetoric of technology,” “the political- economy of edu-tech” and “the public sphere.” The second section highlights the MOOC’s rhetorical promises …

How The Entrepreneurial University Should Overcome Barriers To Recruiting And Retaining Early Career Researchers, Eoin Dunne

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

This paper will identify barriers to recruiting and retaining early career research talent in higher education today, and consider how to overcome these barriers. The need for a pipeline of research staff is being driven by a requirement for higher education institutes (HEIs) to commercialise their knowledge and research findings in support of socio-economic objectives, and to compensate for the ongoing reduction in state funding. Using the concept of the entrepreneurial university as a lens, this paper describes how higher education must adopt to significant forces for change, which if left unchecked, will outrun their ability to respond. To further …

Creating A New University In A Time Of Political And Economic Conservatism, Alyson King Ph.D., Shirley Van Nuland Ph.D

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) was the first new university to be established in Ontario in forty years and was created in a time of fiscal austerity by a Conservative government led by a Premier with a reputation for anti-intellectualism. In many ways, UOIT represents a new way of thinking about the nature of higher education that was prevalent at the time; in other ways, it was unable to effect a significant redesign of curriculum, administration, or structure.

Comparing Quality: The Quality Assurance And Enhancement Report For England And Northern Ireland And The Ontario Quality Assurance Framework, Daniel Lang

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

This is a comparative study of two reports on the assurance of quality in higher education that appeared contemporaneously in 2008. One was the result of a joint working group of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, the Higher Education Academy, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The other was the result of a task force of the Council of Ontario Universities and the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. Both groups had the endorsement of government. Both groups began with extensive surveys of institutional opinion about existing quality assurance and enhancement regimes. Using NVivo software, documentary analysis, …

An Approach To Designing Services In A Technological University: Re-Engineering Or Seduction?, Eileen Quinn, Olivia Edge, Sharon Feeney

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

This paper is written in the context of three Irish higher education institutions negotiating a merger in order to become Ireland’s inaugural ‘Technological University’. To be designated as a technological university (TU), the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT) and Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) are first required to merge and to then transform how they approach and deliver education and the services that support it. In this study, an experimental approach to entice into existence newly designed student- related services in the TU was trialled. The design of the study comprised a series of mini-projects. …

A Collaborative Approach To Designing A M.A. In Social Research In Response To The Changing Higher Education And Social Environment In Ireland, Fiona Mcsweeney, Margaret Fingleton

System and Institutional Design and Transformation

The aim of this paper is to share the experience of and the rationale behind the development of a new post-graduate programme in social research for the purpose of generating discussion with other higher education institutions. The context in which the programme is being developed is that where change in the landscape and aims of higher education in Ireland are being driven by aims to streamline resources through merging institutions, increase research output and the research skills of students as well as ensure that higher education meets its economic and social obligations through engagement with society. In addition the social …

But Is It Transformative? Quality Assurance As Co-Learning In Graduate Education, Lorayne Robertson, Wendy Barber

Outcomes in Higher Education

This research explores quality in two online graduate courses by examining data sets gathered separately from the same cohort of students. Data include an institutional survey and student work outputs such as assignments and learning logs. Quality in higher education is critically important, but the means to establish it has reportedly been somewhat illusive in academia (Anderson, G., 2006). There are tensions evident in processes such as program review because it encourages faculty to reflect on their practice but is generally not course-specific. Program reviews also rely on external experts to match the evidence to standards. Barrow (1999) employs the …

“Dit Get Smart!” – Tailor-Made Mobile Application For The Orientation Of First Year 'Third-Level' Students In The Technological University Dublin, Nevan Bermingham, Mary O'Rawe, Trevor Boland, Mark Prendergast

Books / Book chapters

There is evidence to show that higher education is changing to accommodate the higher ownership rates of mobile devices among students, and that this technology plays an increasingly important part in their lives (Kobus, Rietveld & Van Ommeren, 2013). These technology-savvy students depend on its usage to feel connected to the world around them (Oblinger, Oblinger, & Lippincott, 2005). Other research has suggested that mobile technologies can provide support to students when transitioning to t'hird-level' education by making it easy for them to engage on their own terms with the resources they need to help with the transition (Fotheringham & …

Minority Librarians In Higher Education, Kelli Johnson Edd

Librarian Research

This investigation of minority librarian experiences in higher education examines perceptions of supports and barriers encountered in becoming and being professional librarians. Present and future library leaders will be able to use the information gathered in this study to address the issue of the lack of librarians of color in higher education.

La Responsabilidad Social, Un Componente Esencial De La Formación En Un Programa De Química Ambiental, Liliana Caycedo Lozano, Diana Marcela Trujillo Suárez, Sara Soledad Garcia

Teacher Education

The complexity of the current environmental situation in Colombia requires professionals integrally trained with the guidelines of transformation aimed at overcoming the effects of traditional methodological paradigms of teaching and learning. The professional should have a conceptual understanding of nature as a system of systems, which include human beings. The future of the planet needs not to focus only on "good practices", such required education is to consider the interconnection of all systems of the environment; as well as a plan that includes a vision that harmonizes the balance between all the natural elements through an interdisciplinary approach to transform …

Developing A Global Health Assessment Collaboration: Ancillary Report, Daniel Edwards, Jacob Pearce, David Wilkinson

Higher education research

This document reports on a project designed to develop an assessment collaboration between medical schools in both Australia and the United Kingdom. The project was funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT), utilising surplus funding from a broader assessment collaboration project – the Australian Medical Assessment Collaboration (OLT ID12-2482). The Global Health Assessment Collaboration (GHAC) involved five universities in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK). It developed an assessment framework and item specifications, undertook assessment item drafting workshops, built in a process of review and resulted in the development of a focused suite of assessment items. This report …

National Research On The Postgraduate Student Experience : Case Presentation: Volume 1: First Year Postgraduate Student Experience, Gary Hamlin, Shelley Kinash, Linda Crane, Amy Bannatyne, Madelaine-Marie Judd, Ashley Stark, Bill Eckersley, Helen Partridge, Ken Udas

Higher education research

This is volume one of a set of case studies that explore the postgraduate student experience. The theme of this case study is first year postgraduate student experience and is based on experiences derived from student engagement breakfasts, interviews, and focus groups with 366 people across the stakeholder groups of postgraduate students, educators, and university executives from 26 institutions. The case studies constitute part of the output from the project, Engaging postgraduate students and supporting higher education to enhance the 21st century student experience.

National Research On The Postgraduate Student Experience : Case Presentation : Volume 2 : Postgraduate Student Diversity, Bill Eckersley, Linda Crane, Shelley Kinash, Amy Bannatyne, Gary Hamlin, Helen Partridge, Sarah Richardson, Harry Rolf, Ken Udas

Higher education research

This is volume two of a set of three case studies that explore the postgraduate student experience. The theme of this case study is postgraduate student diversity and is based on experiences derived from student engagement breakfasts, interviews, and focus groups with 366 people across the stakeholder groups of postgraduate students, educators, and university executives from 26 institutions. The case studies constitute part of the output from the project, Engaging postgraduate students and supporting higher education to enhance the 21st century student experience.

Winter 2016 Notes From The Stacks, Central Washington University

Notes from the Stacks: CWU's Library Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Rethinking The Concept Of “Information Literacy”: A German Perspective, Rares G. Piloiu

Library Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to the original and diverse approaches to the concept of information literacy in the German academic world. Unlike the American notion of information literacy, whose pedagogy, methodology and conceptualization follow guidelines set forth by powerful professional organisations such as ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) and ALA (American Library Association), the German notion of information literacy is still negotiated on an interdisciplinary market of ideas ranging from communication science to didactics and from cultural anthropology to epistemology. An awareness of this international perspective on information literacy is timely, given the …

A Systematic Review Of Quality Of Student Experience In Higher Education, A Tan, B Muskat, A Zehrer

Business Papers and Journal Articles

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthesize major streams of research on quality of student experience in higher education, in order to present an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach: A systematic review of high quality journals published during the period 2000 to 2014 in the areas of quality of student experience and higher education was performed.

Findings: Findings highlight current research trends on the quality of student experience in higher education. Results show five prevailing research streams: 1) exploration of learning experience; 2) exploration of student experience; 3) gender differences in assessment of higher education experience; …

Singapore Management University Report To Stakeholders 2015 - 2016, Singapore Management University

Report to Stakeholders

As we enter the third year of our journey towards SMU Vision 2025, we need to build on the momentum that has been generated by the dedication and spirit of collaboration that has developed in the SMU community. SMU continues to transform the future of education with ground-breaking innovations in our undergraduate curriculum. At the same time, our postgraduate, professional and executive development offerings continue to expand in number and receive greater global recognition and prestigious accolades.

Identifying, Developing And Grading ‘Soft Skills’ In Higher Education: A Technological Approach, Adrian O'Connor, Jeffrey Buckley, Naill Seery, Martha Cleveland-Innes

Outcomes in Higher Education

Identifying, developing and grading soft skills, i.e., transversal cross-curricular competencies, in higher education requires the recognition of key qualities, the capacity to discriminate between these qualities and a mechanism to validly and reliability grade soft skill acquisition. This research proposes a technological infrastructure that acknowledges the importance of self-assessment, peer observation and teacher evaluation when adjudicating on subjective and often personal data. The proposal has the capacity to balance, weight and triangulate the objective and subjective evidence of soft skill acquisition ensuring the validity and reliability of the resultant accreditation. Accreditation of soft skills was in the form of digital …

Graduate Programs Course Catalog 2016-2017

Bryant University Graduate School Course Catalog

No abstract provided.

The Myth Of The Saving Power Of Education: A Practical Theology Approach, Hannah Kristine Adams Ingram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

U.S. political discourse about education posits a salvific function for success in formal schooling, specifically the ability to "save" marginalized groups from poverty by lifting them into middle- class success. The link between education and salvation is grounded in the historic relationship between Christianity and the establishment of public education in the United States. Initially, churches invested in schooling to form a Christian society. Today, the public institutions of education operationalize the ideology of meritocracy and promise individual success in the economic realm. Discourse analysis of political speeches and charter school programs demonstrates that education primarily offers its salvation to …

Libraries And Hispanic Students: A Study, Kellian Clink

Library Services Publications

Purpose -This study describes Hispanic students’ use of the academic library and their perceptions of factors that impact their use and satisfaction with it.

Design/Methodology -Using the literature as a springboard, a survey was created and modified to understand Hispanic students’ perceptions of the academic library. The participants were recruited by the University’s Institutional Research team, which could reach out to students who self-identified as Hispanic.

Findings - Generally speaking, Hispanic students are comfortable in this particular academic library, and felt that librarians and staff were available and kind. They are less comfortable asking for research help, largely …

Volume 19, No. 1 (January 2016), Office Of Alumni Relations, Bryant University

Bryant University Alumni Bulletin (2004-)

No abstract provided.

So You Walk The Walk, But Do You Talk The Talk?: Crafting And Enhancing Communications To Support Community Engagement In Higher Education, Audrey Trussell

Division of Community Engagement Resources

With community engagement rapidly gaining prominence in higher education, more faculty and administrators are being tasked with communicating about community engagement activities. Communications must be developed to support the institution’s mission while remaining true to principles of mutually-beneficial partnerships. This session explored best practices for developing and implementing a university communications strategy for community engagement. This presentation was given at the Gulf South Summit in Savannah, Georgia on April 14, 2016.