Category: Uncategorized

General Education Reform: Unseen Opportunities

A recent national survey conducted by Academic Impressions revealed a surprising and welcome finding that 80% of the more than 300 institutions surveyed have recently completed or are currently involved with reforming their general educationprograms. For years, leaders across all types of institutions have been calling for reforms to general education to improve persistence and quality. Traditionally thought of and treated as core to the idea of educating the whole student, general education programs have become increasingly watered down with: The proliferation of courses that can meet general education requirements marks a missed opportunity to improve student persistence by offering a tightly structured and mission-driven core. This also adds cost for the institution. As Lucie Lapovsky, past president of Mercy College, notes, “General education curricula with lots of choices tend to be inefficient because all of the seats in most of the classes are not filled.” The reasons for this situation are many—general education programs are infrequently reviewed, quality is defined only by internal standards, and faculty lobby to have courses included to ensure credit hours for their department. So it’s encouraging to us that institutions are looking to reform their curriculum—because if done the right way, there are numerous […]

Title IX Checklist

The April 2011 Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “Dear Colleague” letter mandated changes for how institutions must handle reports of sexual misconduct. Recently, we conducted one of our informal 7 Second Surveys to learn whether a general sample of faculty and staff across campus were concerned about the changes and their institution’s compliance, we received little response–and only a few of the respondents noted that they had more than a “little” anxiety. Most (84%) knew who their Title IX coordinator was, and most indicated that their Title IX coordinator had a handle on the compliance issue. Yet, in a series of in-depth phone conversations conducted by Lisa LaPoint, assistant conference director with Academic Impressions, attorneys and Title IX coordinators note that complying with the mandated changes is something everyone on campus should be worried about. “It is the responsibility of everyone on campus to understand Title IX compliance. Faculty and staff who work directly with students may not be the ones making decisions about Title IX compliance, but they need to understand what to do. Just one conversation with a student, if not handled correctly, can lead you down a terrible path.” Lisa LaPoint, Academic Impressions To learn more, we […]

Conversations That Matter: Copyright, Fair Use, and MOOCs – What To Be Aware Of

Fair use and copyright ownership are complicated enough when we are considering materials for a class with seven or 70 students. But what if you are venturing into the world of the MOOC, where media and written materials may be shared with 7,000 or 70,000 students? How do fair use and copyright considerations change as you move into that setting, and what do your faculty need to be aware of? For answers, we turned to higher-education librarian and attorney Kevin Smith, director of copyright and scholarly communication at the Duke University libraries. Smith shared several key considerations with us in this 10-minute podcast: See Other Topics in Academic Leadership

2 Checklists: Selecting the Right LMS

In last week’s 7 Second Survey, Academic Impressions asked academics to comment on their learning management system (LMS). 184 academics responded. What they told us: We asked Thomas Cavanagh, associate vice president of distributed learning at the University of Central Florida, to comment on the findings. Cavanagh and his team recently underwent an LMS review and selection process, including external consultations, vendor demos, comparative feature checklists, pricing, etc. Cavanagh reacted especially to the second finding–that over one third of academics responding to our survey expressed a need for more faculty involvement in the LMS selection process. “My experience is that you almost can’t have too much faculty involvement. The faculty are the front lines who will be using this system. If they are not comfortable with the usability, the features, and the affordances of that particular system, it will be very difficult to make that LMS successful at your institution. Involve faculty as early as possible.”Thomas Cavanagh, U of Central Florida So how do you ensure that your review of possible LMS platforms doesn’t miss any critical steps? Cavanagh offers two short checklists to get you thinking: Checklist A: 6 Questions to Ask Your Faculty There are many technical and […]

Conversations That Matter: Reviewing Your Academic Library’s General Collection

Are you managing your library’s general collection in a way that is responsive to the needs of all of your stakeholders–including faculty and students? Recently, for our podcast series Conversations That Matter, we interviewed Annie Belanger with the Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo and Michael Levine-Clark with the University of Denver Libraries, who have an especially responsive approach to managing the general collection. You can listen to their ideas and advice here: Critical Questions to Ask To ensure an intentional approach to collections management, Belanger and Levine-Clark also suggest this brief checklist of critical questions to answer at the outset of an effort to review, audit, or weed the general collection: See Other Topics in Institutional & Academic Planning

How to Reach Millennial Donors

The 2013 Millennial Impact Report offers data on millennials’ propensity to give: 83% of millennial respondents gave a financial gift to a non-profit in 2013 (up from 75% in 2012) 52% would be interested in monthly giving In light of this high propensity to give and the significant opportunity this presents to grow the donor pipeline, it is especially crucial for annual giving professional to take stock of what motivates their millennial alumni to give–and be intentional in strengthening this base of givers as these donors age into their early 30s. Millennials first support causes they are passionate about (rather than institutions), so it’s up to organizations to inspire them and show them that their support can make a tangible difference on the wider issue. The question for nonprofits becomes then: How can we fully invest in this generation, immerse them in the cause, and maximize the impact of their interest, time, and giving? 2013 Millennial Impact Report To gather practical suggestions, we turned to Jeff Mavros, director of the Wesleyan Fund at Illinois Wesleyan University, who has led a very intentional effort to research the motivations and affinity of IWU’s alumni and to craft deliberate strategies for acquiring and […]

Conversations That Matter: The Next Generation in Student Residential Facilities

Wake Forest University’s new residential facilities–part of the institution’s transition to a three-year residency requirement–are unique in several respects. First, they were designed to mirror the stages of students’ social development. For example, the new facilities offer a more communal atmosphere for freshmen, sophomore assignments based on “friendship groups” that students have formed, and apartment-style housing for upperclassmen. Second, the design process included significant student involvement, including: Recently, we reached out to Donna McGalliard, dean of residence life and housing, and to Eric Moss and Bynum Walter from Ayers Saint Gross, to learn more about the decisions Wake Forest University made, and what other institutions can learn from their success. Audio: Interview with Wake Forest University and Ayers Saint Gross More Innovations in Student Housing You might also be interested in these articles: Do Your Living-Learning Communities Offer an Immersive Learning Experience?Creating a Housing Master PlanAdding Gender-Neutral Housing See Other Topics in Student Success

Higher-Ed Crowdfunding: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

“Crowdfunding” is the buzzword of the day in higher-ed fundraising. Last week, in one of Academic Impressions’ informal 7 Second Surveys, we asked our readers: “Do you expect to use a crowdfunding tool to raise dollars at your institution in the next year?” 67% said “no.” 33% said “yes.” 140 higher-ed fundraisers replied to our informal survey. What quickly becomes apparent in reviewing the comments on the survey, however, is that professionals in higher education are using “crowdfunding” to refer to a variety of new donor acquisition initiatives that are distinct both in approach and in the level of investment required. For some, crowdfunding refers simply to any form of online giving. Our advancement program directors Erin Swietlik and Gwen Doyle offer this breakdown of three new donor acquisition initiatives some of your peers are trying and how these initiatives differ — to help you determine what option might be the right fit for your institution. 1. A Day of Giving A day of giving is a concentrated, 24-hour fundraising campaign targeted at increasing unrestricted gifts over a short, concentrated period to the annual fund. The effort typically uses email solicitation, social media buzz and peer-to-peer solicitation, all driving towards […]

Email Advising: Doing it Wrong, Doing it Right

by Sue Ohrablo, Ed.D.

In a recent, interactive online training session, Susan Ohrablo, a doctoral enrollment counselor with the Abraham S. Fischler School of Education at Nova Southeastern University and past advising center director, conducted a detailed critique of a series of examples of advisor responses to students’ email inquiries. Ohrablo reviewed what works and what doesn’t work in email advising. This article offers several key takeaways from that training session. Here are 3 principles that are key to effective, electronic advisor-student communication. 1. Be Available: Treat an Email Response as an Advising Session One significant point that Ohrablo makes is that what works well in a face-to-face advising session needs to guide your understanding of what works well in electronic responses to student inquiries. During the online training, Susan Ohrablo polled advisors and advising directors at 41 institutions, asking what they thought made an advising session particularly effective. The responses: This list of what constitutes effective developmental advising should also guide what an advisor sets out to achieve in an email response to a student. “When you review your email,” Ohrablo suggests, “remember that the student sending that email is an advisee. Treat your response as an advising session. If you do that, […]

Online Giving is Trending Up: Here’s the Data You Need to Guide Your Strategy

At a recent AI online training “10 Tips for Improving Your Online Giving Site,” consultant and blogger Lynne Wester of www.donorrelationsguru.com reviewed recent data on online giving and what this data means for your giving site and email solicitation strategy. Here are several key takeaways that we recommend sharing with your colleagues. Let’s take a look. What Can Be Gleaned First, Wester shared relevant stats from Blackbaud’s 2013 study of online fundraising for nonprofits: Revenue growth in online giving has risen 11.6% in the past year. The average online donation in higher education: $150. “These are not just $10 donors,” Wester notes. “These are people who are of value to us, and it’s important that they have a quality experience on your online giving site.” The average online donation in higher education is higher than the average online donation for any other kind of nonprofit organization. The average one-time online gift to a nonprofit in 2012 was $60, but the average monthly online gift was $19, or nearly $240 a year. “It’s crucial that you set up your online giving site to accept monthly giving.” Also, higher education saw a 73% growth in monthly online giving in 2012 – “so […]