Higher Education Commons^™

Exploring Shifting Moments Of Remediation: An Analysis Of Policies Of Developmental Education Policies In The City University Of New York, Charles Jordan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For decades the City University of New York has served as a model for public higher education in the United States. Since 1969, CUNY has attempted to construct policies that support the postsecondary ambitions of New York’s underrepresented students. The era of Open Admissions that ushered in the 1970s remains one of the greatest social experiments in the history of higher education, permitting access to the university to all local high school graduates. Through fiscal erosion and shifts in legislative policy, the open admissions period devolved into a period of stagnation and low standards over the next thirty years. By …

A Democratic Conundrum: A Study Of Online Student Performance At Community Colleges, Lavita Mcmath Turner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Online education at community colleges has the potential to further democratize education by expanding access through the availability of anytime/anywhere courses for people who might be unable to attend college otherwise. However, the literature reveals the existence of performance gaps between online and face-to-face courses at community colleges, ones that can have negative consequences on the upward mobility of its diverse student population. This study investigates such a trend at one urban university. The study shows complexities in the relationship between online learning at community colleges through a mixed methods study of online performance at a community college. The findings …

Africa Has A Need For Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the oldest words in the English language is bigotry. Although it has an obscure origin, everybody knows its meaning: intolerance toward the opinions, lifestyles, or identities of people who are different from the person expressing those opinions. The bigot bases such rejection of others on ignorance and usually takes such bigoted positions to insult.

In one of the many scandals that we are witnessing on a weekly basis, Donald Trump referred to all the countries of Africa, as well as Haiti and El Salvador, as “s***hole countries.” The problem with this statement is that it not only reflects …

Higher Ed Is In Need Of Fresh Ideas, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One common expression in the English language, particularly on this side of the Atlantic, is to refer to unexpected or crazy ideas as coming “out of left field.” The expression originated from baseball, specifically after Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, was built in 1914. In what is today the left field of the stadium, there used to be what was then called a mental asylum. So when something crazy or unforeseen happened it was said to be “out of the left field.”

Some of the greatest ideas in the history of civilization came “out of the left field.” …

U.S. Vs. Europe In Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Last week, while in Spain, I had the chance to speak with several higher education officials about how academia compares between Europe and the U.S. As someone who received his under-graduate degree in Europe and his graduate education in the U.S. many years ago, I was very intrigued. And this is what I found out.

When I went to college at the Universitat de Barcelona in Spain, European undergraduate degrees were five years. During those five years, all the subjects that you took were both a year long, and also were all related to your field of study. The advantage …

Weissman Was My Destination, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

The date was Monday, August 8, 2016. The coeditor of this book, Gary Hentzi, and I visited Baruch College’s archives to get an idea of the kind of photographic resources we would have available to use as illustrations. We were impressed by how much material the archives contained and by how well organized they were. The director of the archives, Sandra Roff, and her staff walked us through the collection and occasionally showed us a particular picture that they thought could be of interest.

Moocs 2.0: Reviewing N.Paradoxa's Mooc On Contemporary Art And Feminism, Parme Giuntini, Anne Swartz, Kathleen Wentrack

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

This collaboratively written article explores the pedagogical role of MOOCs today through analysis of a MOOC on contemporary art and feminism, created by Katy Deepwell, editor of the international feminist art journal n.paradoxa. Parme Giuntini offers an updated overview of MOOCs and their increasing value as OERs for faculty and students. Feminist art historians Anne Swartz and Kathleen Wentrack investigate the n.paradoxa MOOC from different, but complimentary perspectives. Wentrack explores the structure, documents, and interactivity of the MOOC as a rich source of feminist material useful to both students and scholars. Swartz addresses Deepwell’s international treatment of transnational feminism …

Why World Art Is Urgent Now: Rethinking The Introductory Survey In A Seminar Format, Gretchen Holtzapple Bender

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

Ultimately, what can and should an introductory course in the history of art do? What difference can it make and what work can it perform? To fully contemplate these questions and radically rethink the standard large-lecture survey, in an experiment, it was taught as an advanced seminar to both majors and general education non-majors, with “global understanding” privileged over extensive content knowledge. The classroom environment moved from the authoritative stance imposed by a lecture format to a space for speaking and listening that was collaborative and exploratory, nurturing curiosity and critical thinking not just about disciplinary knowledge and methods, …

Editors' Note: New Research In Sotl-Ah, Virginia Spivey, Renee Mcgarry

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of The End Of Net Neutrality, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

You expect that any material in public libraries is available to you. There may be a few exceptions, such as adult material not being accessible to minors, or some very rare or delicate materials that need to be handled with special care and cannot be checked out. Nowadays when you do an Internet search you expect to access any web site for the same cost and at the same speed.

There is free access to the Internet at many locations, from public libraries to places such as malls, coffee shops, and the like. The connections at these places are usually …

A How-To Guide On Bringing Undergraduate Research To Community And Technical Colleges, Angelo Kolokithas, Olga Calderón

Publications and Research

Increasing the interest and participation of students in STEM is a priority for colleges, universities, and the nation as a whole. As new generations of students embark in training and in learning novel technologies to deal with the challenges of emerging infectious diseases, crop and food production, and the development of new and better sustainable alternatives in the face of a changing environment on our planet, we must also evolve our approach to teaching and learning. One strategy that may be found helpful as students face the challenges ahead is to instill inquiry and problem-solving skills as part of their …

Using Visual “Bait” To Hook, Engage, And Empower New Community College Writers, Nicola Blake

Publications and Research

This reflective article focuses on a series of semester-long activities conducted with developmental writers in an urban community college classroom. It builds on the research of John Berger (1972) and Sondra Perl (1994) who highlight seeing and perception as key components of self-composition. The article showcases assignments where students created photo journals as a way to share their lives, thoughts, and experiences. The use of structured prompts allowed students to actively engage with their neighborhoods -- a sort of text to be read, captured, and ultimately decoded through written explanation. The examples will be useful to practitioners who may be …

Early Career Exploration As A Strategy To Reduce Loan Debt, Karen Abigail Williams

Publications and Research

Despite the recent economic recovery, state support for higher education remains below pre-recession levels, making college loan debt a requirement for students from low and middle income families (Mitchell & Leachman, 2015). In cases where they have unmet financial need, students incur supplemental loan debt to attend these institutions, even if their out-of-pocket expenses are less at lower-ranked institutions (Williams, 2012). Study participants who entered college as low-income students recommended that students only assume loan debt if they understand their career goals, potential salaries, and the impact of loan debt on future finances. This article explores how attitudes about upward …

Emancipatory Learning, Open Educational Resources, Open Education, And Digital Critical Participatory Action Research, Jason Leggett, Jay Wen, Anthony Chatman

Publications and Research

Given that we must prepare students for the future workforce today how can we use the power of Open Educational Resources (OERs) and Digital Social Science research to improve student learning and help students develop technical skills needed for the high-tech workforce? In this article, we use transformative learning theory (Mezirow, 1978) and Digital + Critical Participatory Action Research (D+CPAR) to analyze the effectiveness of integrating OERs into a course and reflect on how we used OERs to support student learning and make civic engagement more equitable at an urban community college. In a criminal justice course analyzing the legal …

Learning Places At The Intersection Of Information Literacy And Place-Based Learning, Anne E. Leonard

Publications and Research

This information literacy lesson enhances assignments in a range of social science disciplines, including geography, sociology, anthropology, and political science. It was designed with undergraduate social sciences and interdisciplinary courses in mind. Interdisciplinary courses that engage with one or more social science disciplines should be included. Graduate students in urban planning, architecture, social work, and public affairs will benefit from this module as well.

Lab Manual Design With Engineering Learning Style And Flipped Learning Model In Computer Engineering Technology Education, Yu Wang, Sunghoon Jang

Publications and Research

We have designed a lab manual based on Felder-Silverman learning style model (FSLSM) and the flipped classroom model for engineering education. This lab manual is developed for early junior year course of “Microcomputer Systems Technology” and emphasizes student-centered active learning experiences with more practical exercises and open-ended questions. Instead of taking traditional assembly language to study computer architecture, we are looking for a different approach to teach students to learn the assembly language by embedding an inline assembly language module into a C program. Our lab guide consists of online videos and practical exercises on various platforms including Microsoft Windows …

Proceedings Of The Cuny Games Conference 4.0: The Interactive Course, Robert O. Duncan, Joe Bisz, Julie Cassidy, Kathleen Offenholley, Maura A. Smale, Carolyn Stallard, Deborah Sturm, Anders A. Wallace, Cuny Games Network

Publications and Research

Proceedings of the CUNY Games Conference, held from January 22-23, 2018, at the CUNY Graduate Center and Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Critical Play with History (Panel) - Composition & Storytelling - Health & Cognitive Sciences - Gaming Anthropology: Teaching Culture and Power Through Games and Design (Panel) - Twine & Writing Games - Easy Ideas II - STEM Games - Global Games for Change Catalog (Panel) - Comics & Active Learning - Fact Checking & Research - Computer Science & Game Design - SimGlobal: Building a Serious Roleplay Course for the Social Sciences (Panel) - Role Playing Games, Narrative, …

Going Public: How And Why To Develop A Digital Scholarly Identity, Katina Rogers, Lisa M. Rhody, Danica Savonick, Lisa Tagliaferri

Publications and Research

Establishing a meaningful digital identity is essential to managing one’s scholarly and professional reputation. This workshop addresses ways to cultivate an online identity and offers guidance on “going public” using tools and strategies for building a community around your work. Topics include social media, writing for different audiences, personal websites, digital dissertations, and more.

Symptomatic Leadership In Business Instruction: How To Finally Teach Diversity And Inclusion For Lasting Change, Linda L. Ridley

Publications and Research

Are business faculty complicit in mythologizing business concepts by ignoring historical precedence?

The refusal to examine in totality the history of discrimination and racism allows us to perpetuate a mythology of white supremacy that is enhanced through impotent diversity programs repeated throughout corporate America. This paper examines the importance of demythologizing the business curriculum through symptomatic thinking, which allows faculty and students to untangle the quagmire of diversity and inclusion in corporate America. Students are thereby equipped with tools for behavior transformation in the workplace that uses a symptomatic, rather than symbolic approach, to decision making and problem solving.

From Departure To Destination. Reminiscences Of The Weissman School Of Arts And Sciences., Aldemaro Romero Jr., Gary Hentzi

Publications and Research

This volume is both a remembrance of the past and a prologue of the bright future to come for the George and Mildred Weissman School of Arts and Sciences (WSAS). As these chapter attest, the Weissman School has grown and evolved significantly, and particularly in the period sine George and Mildred Weissman provided their visionary endowment gift in 1999. Now the School is on the precipice of a new era.

Contents:

"Foreword," Mitchel B. Wallerstein

"Introduction," Katherine Pence

"First Annual Weissman Lecture, 1998," George Weissman

"A Two-Way Street," Carol Berkin

"Baruch and the Liberal Arts," Myrna Chase

"Fertile Ground," Roslyn …

Who Speaks For The Paralegal Studies Student? - An Educator’S Perspective When Teaching Forensic Science To The Legal Studies Student, Marissa Moran

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

From College To Careers: Tracking The First Two Years For Graphic Design Graduates, Kathryn Weinstein

Publications and Research

This article presents the findings of a two-year longitudinal pilot study of one graduating class from an undergraduate graphic design degree program of a New York City public college. Through an initial survey and four subsequent surveys over a two-year period, the study has sought to determine the percentage of graduates who found employment in the field of graphic design, the length of time graduates persisted before exiting the field, and the identification of factors that influenced the ability of these thirty-seven graduates to secure employment as graphic designers. Two years after graduation, the majority (65 percent) of the cohort …

Higher Education Has Had Better Years, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

We are all familiar with the maladies that have affected higher education over the past few years: budget cuts, enroll- ment declines, bad press, etc. But was there anything that made things particularly worse in 2017? Plenty.

The bad news started with reports of increasing censorship and intimidation exercised upon college newspapers. We saw it happening on the campuses of Mt. Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, Northern Michigan University and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. The University of Kentucky’s campus newspaper was sued by the university, and at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, three staff members on “The Justice,” the student newspaper, …

The New Tax Law’S Impact On Higher Ed, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

“The power to tax is the power to destroy,” said the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, John Marshall. When one looks at the new tax code produced by the U.S. Congress, we can see how this quote rings a bell of authenticity when it comes to higher education.

Since the latest changes in the U.S. tax code were first proposed, it was clear that higher education was going to be one of the targets of Republicans in Congress. The overall objectives of these changes were to get the money needed to pay for huge tax cuts to benefit …

The War On Science Grows Deeper, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In 2005, journalist Chris Mooney pub- lished a book titled “The Republican War on Science,” which documented the persistent tendency among many conservatives to reject any science that runs contrary to their ideological principles, whether it is climate science, evolutionary biology, or health-related findings that challenge industry interests.

Since then, things have gone worse in cases that remind us of the evilest experiences from recent authoritarian regimes.

Assault On Peer Review A New Threat, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

On October 17, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced to the Senate U.S. Committee of Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs a bill titled “BASIC Research Act.” This apparent innocent title covers the real intention of this legislation – an attempt to defund basic research and make it subject to partisan politics. This legislation would change the way grant proposals are evaluated by all federal agencies, from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). These and other federal agencies are the main funders of scholarly work in higher education …

When Institutions Of Higher Ed Fail, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

Some may think that the only sign of a college or university failing is when it closes. And that has certainly happened to some small, private colleges that have gone bankrupt in the last few years. Yet, failure has many faces and comes in many degrees.

We can say that colleges and universities fail when the quality of education they offer is not rigorous, regard- less of what some regulatory agencies might say. Or when they promise to prepare students for jobs that no longer exist. Luring new students based on rankings, amenities, and other forms of non-academic qualities is …

The History Books Tell It? Collective Bargaining In Higher Education In The 1940s, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

This article presents a history of collective bargaining in higher education during and just after World War II, decades before the establishment of applicable statutory frameworks for labor representation. It examines the collective bargaining program adopted by the University of Illinois in 1945, along with contracts negotiated at other institutions. The article also examines the role of United Public Workers of America (UPWA) and its predecessor unions in organizing and negotiating on behalf of faculty, teachers, and instructors. The first known collective agreements applicable to faculty, teachers and instructors, were negotiated by those unions before UPWA was destroyed during the …

Libraries And College Readiness: The Bronx Community College Library High School Collaborative, Carl R. Andrews, Dickens Saint Hilaire

Publications and Research

In today’s information-rich global economy, City University of New York (CUNY) graduates need strong critical thinking skills. Over three quarters of the students who enroll across CUNY’s 24 campuses are drawn from schools in the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) (Strang, 2014). The NYCDOE, the largest public school system in the United States, serving over 1 million students (Strang, 2014). Unfortunately, many of the students who matriculate to CUNY’s college and universities are underprepared for college-level work. This is especially the case with students who attend high schools throughout the Bronx, one of New York City’s five boroughs. …

Paradise Lost For Higher Education, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

One of the most famous poems in English literature is “Paradise Lost” by the British writer John Milton. Originally published in 1667, it deals with the biblical story of the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the garden of Eden.

On November 5, the German newspaper Südeutsche Zeitung revealed a trove of leaked documents from the Bermuda- based law firm Appelby. Those documents show that a large number of individuals – from Queen Elizabeth II to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and companies from Apple to Nike – were using what is commonly called “fiscal …