Higher Education Administration Commons^™

Measuring Transparency: A Learning-Focused Assignment Rubric, Michael S. Palmer, Emily O. Gravett, Jennifer Lafleur

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

By combining recommendations for effective assignment design with principles of transparency and the value-expectancy theory of achievement motivation, we developed a rubric capable of for assessing the quality and guiding the design of assignment descriptions. This rubric defines criteria characteristic of well-designed assignments; breaks the criteria down into concrete, measurable components; and suggests what evidence for each component might look like. While the full rubric is valid for major, signature assignments, it can accommodate a diverse range. It can also provide summative, quantitative information to educational developers for research and formative, qualitative feedback to instructors for gauging the quality of …

A Minimalist Model Of New Faculty Mentoring: Why Asking For Less Gives More, Heather Lobban Viravong, Mark Schneider

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

We describe a research-based mentoring program for new full-time faculty at a small residential college, which emphasizes the empowerment of the new faculty themselves to identify and obtain the resources they need for success. In our model, the mentor takes on a role of primarily providing accountability, easing the burden on mentors, thereby making for a more sustainable program. Our mixed methods assessment of the program suggests that, paradoxically, these lessened expectations foster closer personal relationships between mentor and protégé than might have occurred if that were a programmatic expectation.

Publish & Flourish: Helping Scholars Become Better, More Prolific Writers, Tara Gray, Laura Madson, Michelle Jackson

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Some scholars want help from educational developers to become better, more prolific writers. This study examines one such program, Publish & Flourish, that holds participants accountable for writing daily and for receiving weekly feedback from peers on drafts of writing. In this mixed methods study, 95% of participants (N = 93) reported that they improved their writing by making it more organized and reader centered. Participants also reported that they increased their extrapolated average of submissions of scholarly manuscripts per year from about two to almost six. We then compared Publish & Flourish to several other studies of scholarly writing …

Transforming The Classroom At Traditionally White Institutions To Make Black Lives Matter, Frank Truitt, Chayla Haynes, Saran Stewart

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

In recent years, many college campuses across the United States witnessed a significant increase in campus activism regarding the range of experiences and conditions facing racially minoritized communities in higher education. As critical and inclusive pedagogues and scholars, we embrace the belief that a focus on making Black Lives Matter in the classrooms of traditionally White institutions (TWIs) provides educators with the best chance to improve the educational outcomes of all students. In this essay, we examine seven principles of critical and inclusive pedagogies that have the potential to make Black Lives Matter in TWI classrooms and identify several implications …

Workshopping A Workshop: Collaborative Design In Educational Development, Eleanor V. H. Vandegrift, Amy B. Mulnix, Jennifer R. Yates, S. Raj Chaudhury

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Working remotely and collaboratively, our interdisciplinary team created an educational development workshop, Thinking Skills for the 21st Century: Teaching for Transfer, in which participants not only experience, apply, and reflect on teaching across educational settings but also connect this work to principles that have been demonstrated by learning science to support the transfer of knowledge. We used backward design to develop the workshop and evidence-based pedagogies in its implementation. We facilitated the workshop at two different national meetings for distinct audiences and also as part of an on-campus faculty development program. Here, we report on the workshop development and revision, …

Seven Voices, Seven Developers, Seven One Things That Guide Our Practice, Frances Kalu, Patti Dyjur, Carol Berenson, Kimberley A. Grant, Cheryl Jeffs, Natasha Kenny, Robin Mueller

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational development philosophy statements provide a framework to communicate the values and beliefs that guide the practices and approaches of individual educational developers across various career stages. This paper presents narratives to illustrate how seven educational developers conceptualize the one thing that guides our work through the process of reflecting on the beliefs that we articulate through our educational development philosophy statements. Although each narrative illustrates our diverse backgrounds and philosophies, common themes are revealed relating to reflective practice, scholarly approaches, and facilitating change, which lead to improvements in student learning. This exploration suggests further opportunity to conduct research on …

Alcohol Policy Initiatives Of Post-Secondary Institutions In The State Of Kentucky: An Evaluation Of Best Practice Strategies To Reduce Binge Drinking, Deniece Bell

Online Theses and Dissertations

Binge drinking has become a matter of public health. The legal drinking age is 21 in the United States; however, binge drinking by underage college students is prevalent, alarming, and consequential (Malloy & Goldman, 2002). This polarizing topic has caused great concern among policy makers, legal experts, constituents and organizations alike, and as a result they have acted with a sense of urgency to implement policies and evidence-based recommendations for prevention and treatment (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Alcohol and Health, 1990).

The purpose of this study was to examine the current alcohol policy initiatives among four …

Supportive Measures: A Grounded Theory Analysis Of The Needs And Aspirations Of First-Generation College Students Enrolled In The Federally-Funded Trio Student Support Services (Sss) Program At A Community College In Rural Kentucky, Michelle R. Carter

Online Theses and Dissertations

For more than forty-nine years (since 1968) the federally-funded TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs have served disadvantaged students across the United States of America by providing wrap-around services to further the progress of their enrollment in postsecondary educational opportunities. The SSS program aims to assist students with disabilities, and who identify as low-income and first-generation (LIFG) college students, towards the successful completion of certification in a technical program and an undergraduate level degree from either a two or four-year college or university.

This study evaluated the needs and aspirations of [ten] first-generation college students at the point-of-entry of enrollment …

Finding Aid To The Collection Of Louise Helen Coburn Materials, Louise Helen Coburn, Colby College Special Collections

Finding Aids

Louise Helen Coburn was born in Skowhegan, Maine on September 1, 1856, daughter of Stephen Coburn and Helen Sophia Miller. Coburn was Colby's second female graduate (after Mary Low Carver) in 1877, and graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. She also later received an honorary Litt. D. degree from Colby in 1914. Coburn's family was deeply tied to Colby College. Her father Stephen graduated in 1839, and the Coburn family was critical to Colby's early development as benefactors. Coburn was a co-founder, along with Mary Low Carver and others, of the Sigma Kappa Sorority. Coburn also later attended the Harvard …

2017-18 Strategic Plan Progress Report, University Of Northern Iowa

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

A report detailing the progress on the strategic goals within the University of Northern Iowa's strategic plan.

Chief Student Affairs Officers: Transforming Pathways To The Presidency, Quincy Martin Iii

Journal of Research on the College President

This qualitative study examined a sample of former chief student affairs officers (n=12) who successfully attained a presidency at a four-year institution of higher education. Data was collected primarily through semi-structured interviews and supplemented by the curricula vitae of the participants. Through data analysis, three themes emerged: (1) institutional type and fit, (2) academic profile, and (3) fundraising. Findings from this study indicated the majority of participants were employed at small to medium-size institutions of higher education with preference given to small, private colleges and universities. Faculty skepticism was the most noted obstacle participants encountered. Accordingly, participants advised presidential aspirants …

Complete Issue, Volume 37, Issue 1

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 37, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Fostering Organizational Integrity Through Departmental Program Reviews, James T. Petre, David S. Heineman, Angela G. La Valley

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Conducting a departmental program review can be a stressful and arduous process. At the same time, the final report can provide valuable insights. The challenges and benefits of program reviews have been well noted by scholars. We seek to add to this conversation by arguing that program reviews can prove beneficial by fostering and maintaining organizational integrity. In our essay, we review relevant literature on program reviews, provide an explanation of organizational integrity, present a narrative of our program review process, and explain how this process fostered organizational integrity.

“Field” Research: Letting Corporate Communication Professionals’ Stories Inform Curriculum Development, Mary Stairs Vaughn, Jimmy Davis, Jeremy Fyke, Nathan Webb

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

We interviewed 25 corporate communication professionals to learn the competencies they see as necessary for entering and succeeding in their field. We then used what we learned to inform course-level and program-level changes to our corporate communication major. Our results detail: (1) the range of tactical, strategic, and dispositional competencies the interviewees identified as necessary for a career in corporate communication, (2) three categories of strategies for transitioning into the field, and (3) the subsequent curricular and course-level changes that resulted from our interviews. Our study concludes that students need broad training for a wide-ranging and rapidly-changing field, and they …

Editor's Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 37, Issue 1 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Building Bridges On Local Soil: Locality And Community-Engaged Research And Pedagogy, Craig T. Maier

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Over a decade ago, Oster-Aaland, Sellnow, Nelson, and Pearson (2004), following up an earlier survey published in JACA (Sellnow and Oster, 1999), found that communityengaged research and pedagogy had become an established part of the communication curriculum. As a special issue of Peer Review has suggested (Carey, 2017), interest in service learning has only grown, and the increasing emphasis on civic engagement and community development has clear implications for the communication discipline. Courses and projects that address pressing or emerging social problems not only raise students’ ethical awareness but also allow students to build research and professional skills that build …

Building Bridges Between Communication Studies And Community: A Praxis-Approach, Jill K. Burk

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

In an effort to demonstrate the field’s usefulness and essentiality to our world, communication studies’ praxis orientation needs to be clearly pursued and publicized. Implementing service-learning into the communication studies classroom could achieve this goal. Through extending the scholarship of Britt (2012) and Pollack (1999), this article proposes that communication educators ground and articulate their service-learning pedagogy from three different paradigmatic lenses; the experiential paradigm, the social change paradigm, and the citizenship paradigm. Moreover, communication administrators ought to understand the different paradigmatic foundations, which drive service-learning enactment, in an effort to not privilege one perspective over another. The service-learning literature …

Accepting The Challenge: A Case Study In Pedagogical Inquiry, Sarah C. Worley

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Higher education has been criticized for not fulfilling its democratic purpose—that is, to prepare students for citizenship, not just careers. Longo and Gibson (2016) argue that “as access to higher education has increased, many colleges and universities ironically have become more detached from their public missions,” leading to the increasing separation between learning and social purpose (p. 61). Many schools and departments have already begun the hard work of reevaluation and critical reflection in response to such criticism and are helping to reinvent American higher education (Hartley & Hollander, 2005). Three such examples are communication programs featured as case studies …

Administering Community-Engaged Pedagogies: Toward An Anticipatory Approach To Problems, Todd Kelshaw

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Community-engaged pedagogies are optimism-borne. But problems inevitably arise, and administrators/practitioners might react in ways that hamper projects’ potentials. This essay addresses the nature of problems to be expected during community-engaged work; the need for an “anticipatory” administrative approach; and how a communication-centric orientation affords particular capacities. Notably, communication-disciplinary community engagement administrators are particularly poised to manage problems in anticipatory ways.

Appreciative Inquiry In An Urban Context: Service Learning Amidst The Opioid Crisis, Craig T. Maier

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

Britt’s (2012) service-learning framework situates community engaged learning activities in three broad categories: the practice of doing, which emphasizes skill building in relation to real-world problems; the practice of becoming, which sensitizes students to a broader range of social and civic responsibilities; and the practice of engaging in social change, which translates skill development and awareness into concrete action. This essay describes a successful service learning project focusing on opioid addiction in a mid-Atlantic city that combines all three. After describing the project’s background and implementation, it suggests practices and lessons that could inform similar efforts.

Editor’S Note, Janie M. H. Fritz

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the Editor’s Note to Volume 37, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

Complete Issue, Volume 37, Issue 2

Journal of the Association for Communication Administration

This is the complete issue for Volume 37, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Association for Communication Administration.

A Profile Of Policy Discussions Regarding Gender-Inclusive Housing Amongst Four-Year Public Institutions In The Midwest: A Qualitative Approach, Alexis Hill

Masters Theses

This study utilized a qualitative approach to analyze gender-inclusive policies amongst four-year public institutions in the Midwest. This study focused primarily on residence life administrators, who are responsible for the creation and implementation of such policies on their campuses. 40 institutions completed a survey inquiring about their policies or practices, and four institutions were interviewed as a follow-up. Several themes emerged from the study, which included: 1) even if an institution did not have a policy, they more than likely have a practice; 2) change in trends are inevitable and professionals must be willing to change with them; and 3) …

How Federal Work-Study Affects The College Student Experience, Cole William Kallio-Crotteau

Masters Theses

By creating a quantitative assessment and using one on one interviews, participants were asked to describe their collegiate experience as it has changed and evolved while enrolled in the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program. To achieve the greatest amount of data, four participants were individually interviewed who currently held FWS-funded positions and determined the affects the program had on their time at the Midwestern institution. All participants perceived college experiences were impacted in some way positively, citing multiple examples of growth and development throughout their time involved.

Development And Implementation Of A Program For Students With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities At One Four-Year Institution: A Case Study, Katelyn Reinke

Masters Theses

Using a qualitative case study approach, the development of a program for students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities at a four-year institution was researched. Interviews and existing documents were used to understand how the program started and how it has changed to meet the needs of its students, giving meaning to the programs current curriculum and practices. Participants gave insight into the development and implementation of the program, the role they play in the program, and insight on aspects they believe to be important when starting a new program. The research found that when starting a program the people and …

Effect Of Augmented Reality On Anxiety In Prelicensure Nursing Students, Sarah Ball

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prelicensure nursing students experience high anxiety as they enter the clinical setting, which can have a negative impact on learning care performance and critical thinking. Nursing faculty are faced with the challenges of limited time for clinical experiences, meeting the needs of learners who are technologically astute, and engaging students in the clinical environment to meet learning outcomes. The purpose of this pretest posttest quasi-experimental study, guided by the discovery learning theory, was to determine the effect of augmented reality (AR) 360 photosphere on prelicensure nursing students' level of anxiety as they entered a new clinical environment as compared to …

Effect Of Eustress, Flow, And Test Anxiety On Physical Therapy Psychomotor Practical Examinations, Todd Joseph Bourgeois

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students at the graduate level undergo higher levels of stress compared to their peers, and this stress is known to affect academic performance. Most of the research is focused on the negative aspect of stress. Positive psychology aspects, such as eustress and flow, are related to success in some activities; however, it is unknown whether these correlate with academic performance. Several stress-related theories-Yerkes-Dodson curve, cybernetics, conservation of resources, and choking under pressure-guided this quantitative study of the effects of eustress, flow, and cognitive test anxiety (CTA) on a psychomotor practical examination for physical therapy students. A sample of 192 physical …

Thematic Narrative Of Lgbt Faculty Members' Professional Identity And Activism, Kathy Luanne Williamson Gall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over the past 20 years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have made progress in attaining the same basic civil rights as heterosexual individuals. As in other civil rights movements, the college campus has played an important role. The LGBT community participates in academic and campus life, and numerous colleges are developing and supporting an inclusive, safe, and respectful culture. However, bias and prejudice continue to occur. While researchers have studied the repercussions of prejudice, discrimination, and low evaluation scores for LGBT faculty, little research has been done to explore professional identity and activism in LGBT faculty at traditional …

Admissions Criteria And First-Year Completion Rates In An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Allison Divine

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students in associate degree nursing (ADN) programs in the United States experience high attrition rates in the first year. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between preadmission factors and first-year ADN program completion rates at one college in the south central United States. Constructivist theory provided the framework for the study. Archival data for 228 students from one ADN program were analyzed using binary logistic regression. Results indicated a statistically significant association between prerequisite grade point average (GPA) and first-year program completion. An increase in the number of incoming students ages 25 years and …

A Program Evaluation Of Performing Arts Instruction Used To Improve Soft Skills, Robert Lawrence Edwards

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Evidence derived from the 2012 and 2015 College Senior Surveys (CSS) noted showed that college seniors, at a historically Black university, graduated with little to average soft skills. Soft skills, such as personal characteristics and relations with others, are needed for students to succeed in postgraduate careers. The purpose of this study was to assess the level to which performing arts instruction (PAI) courses developed college-level students' soft skills. Kolb's experiential learning theory, which defines the learning process as knowledge and skills developed through experiences, and Stufflebeam's evaluation model, which uses context, input, process, and product, were used to guide …