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4 Ways Academic Deans Can Make the Core Curriculum More Effective

by Stanton Green

EARLIER ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES 4 Things Academic Deans Can Do to Help Students Succeed after Graduation4 Things Academic Deans Can Do to Connect Majors and Minors with Careers This is the third in my Academic Impressions series on “Things Deans Can Do to Help our Students after they Graduate.” This time, my focus is on how deans can use career development to enhance general education. Academic Impressions’ 2013 report, General Education Reform: Unseen Opportunities, reviews several exemplary general education programs that are driving increases in student retention and, to a somewhat lesser extent, graduates’ employability. In this article, I will consider more fully how infusing career and life preparation development into general education can support these important measures. The Tragedy of the Commons Since the general education core is not owned by any one discipline, it often finds itself without the required faculty champion. General education usually represents about 40% of a Baccalaureate curriculum that is up for grabs.  As such it becomes an academic example of The Tragedy of the Commons, where individual departments compete in a zero sum game. Disciplines capture curricular acreage that can lead to a degradation of the overall quality of educational grazing land. The […]

Creating a Written Professional Development Plan

by Daniel Fusch

In our second annual survey on The State of Professional Development in Higher Education, we learned that those who optimize the return on their investments in professional development (PD) are very intentional about making those investments. They don’t just go to the same events annually; they actively seek out new ideas for their department, and they write down their PD plans. Only 30% of managers in higher ed responding to the survey reported that their team members had written PD plans; the written PD plan is an emerging, but largely under-utilized best practice in higher-ed PD. A FREE RESOURCE What does a written professional development plan (PDP) look like? What should it include? You can download a complimentary PDP template here. Of those 30%, most update their plans on an annual basis. But we also discovered an intriguing minority who update their plans every six months. Only 23 managers who responded to our survey do this; that’s 4% of all managers who responded, and 14% of those who say their team members have written PDPs. But when we took a closer look at this minority who update their PD plans twice a year, we discovered that they report more ability […]

The State of Professional Development in Higher Education: February 2016

Professional development is a strategic asset to an institution, as it is a key engine for increasing the capacity of your team and for bringing in proven strategies from other organizations—allowing you to both avoid “reinventing the wheel” and to revitalize your work with fresh ideas. In late 2015, we surveyed 971 managers and frontline faculty and staff at colleges and universities, both to score this year’s investment in professional development against last year’s, and to uncover new findings and emerging stories of what teams that are leveraging professional development (PD) to move their institutions forward are doing differently—and what you can learn from them. In this report on our second annual survey, we will present: We hope you will enjoy this report and share it with your colleagues! Read the report. See Upcoming Leadership Development Workshops Designed Specifically for Higher Ed Professionals

Scorecard: How Do Higher-Ed Institutions Leverage Professional Development?

by Daniel Fusch

Professional development is a strategic asset to an institution, as it is a key engine for increasing the capacity of your team and for bringing in proven strategies from other organizations—allowing you to both avoid “reinventing the wheel” and to revitalize your work with fresh ideas. In late 2015, we surveyed 971 managers and frontline faculty and staff at colleges and universities, both to score the past year’s investment in professional development against the previous year’s, and to uncover new findings and emerging stories of what teams that are leveraging professional development (PD) to move their institutions forward are doing differently—and what you can learn from them. Our full, complimentary report (which you can read here), includes: Here’s a look at the scorecard:See full-size version How would your own institution, division, or department score? Can you use this scorecard to start some critical conversations at your office? Daniel Fusch, Ph.D.Director of Research and PublicationsAcademic Impressionsdaniel@academicimpressions.com See Upcoming Leadership Workshops

How Wake Technical is Taking a High-Tech, High-Touch Approach to Supporting At-Risk Students

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges, universities, and organizations that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. 2015 was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. by Lisa Cook, Academic Impressions At-risk students taking online coursework face greater challenges in persistence and success, but recent studies have suggested that a high-touch approach to support can make a difference. Wake Technical Community College is piloting some ways to do just that. More than 15,000 of Wake Technical’s students take at least one online course, and more than 5,700 are completing their education exclusively online. Now, with the help of a $2.7 million First in the World grant, Wake Tech is embarking on a phased redesign of its high-demand, low-success courses so that students — particularly at-risk students — […]

A Close Look at Rio Salado College’s Approach to Boosting Success for At-Risk Online Students

by Lisa Cook, Daniel Fusch

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges, universities, and organizations that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. 2015 was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. If you’re looking for ways to assist online students who are academically under-prepared, you may want to watch Rio Salado College’s developing research project, PLan for Undergraduate Success (PLUS). The two-year college’s latest initiative targets new students pursuing an associate degree or planning to transfer to a four-year institution, and will allow Rio Salado to route additional support and preparation to these students. Assisted by a $2.7 million First in the World grant, the college hopes to increase degree completion and persistence by personalizing learning, supporting students with a college success course and facilitator, and by offering an online boot camp […]

Gateway Math: A Close Look at Miami Dade College’s Approach

by Lisa Cook, Daniel Fusch

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges and universities that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. 2015 was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. When Florida passed a law making college placement tests optional for recent high school graduates, institutions were left to grapple with how to address the needs of students in college-level math who previously might have been routed to developmental courses. (Under the 2013 law, even if students do choose to take the optional placement exam, they may still enroll in regular courses even if their test results indicate the need for developmental work.) At Miami Dade College, enrollment has skyrocketed in the first college-level course in the math sequence, MAT 1033, while enrollment in developmental math courses dropped by more than 40 […]

How Jackson State University is Improving STEM for All Students

by Lisa Cook

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges, universities, and organizations that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. 2015 was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. Jackson State University has a holistic plan for increasing their STEM retention and graduation rates by simultaneously improving teaching and learning in STEM disciplines and increasing STEM literacy among all students. The plan is to provide students from other disciplines with opportunities to participate in collaborative projects with STEM faculty and students. JSU has received a $2.98 million First in the World grant to support the project, which will impact 160 faculty members and 1,280 students from a variety of disciplines. To learn more, we talked with Paul Tchounwou, associate dean of Graduate and International Programs in the College of Science, Engineering […]

How Georgia State University Plans to Use Predictive Analytics to Address the National Achievement Gap

by Lisa Cook

Here’s how Georgia State University is using predictive analytics to identify at-risk students and intervene quickly – and how they’re now testing the approach across other institutions. SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 18 colleges and universities that are innovating to solve critical challenges with access, recruitment, retention, and student success. At AI, we have interviewed each of the recipients to learn more about the projects these institutions are pursuing, how their approaches are unique, and what other colleges and universities can learn from these new efforts. This was the second year of the First in the World grants. You can read our interviews with the 24 institutions that received 2014 grants here. During the past ten years, officials at Georgia State University have tracked more than 140,000 student records and 2.5 million grades in order to identify mistakes that put a student at risk of dropping out. A decade later, they’ve identified more than 800 different mistakes, and continue tracking all 30,000 of their students so they can quickly intervene. Their next challenge? Using the same approach to track students at 11 different institutions across the country […]

Checklist: Ways Campus Housing Directors Can Improve Campus Sustainability

by John Yaun

Given the nature of their work, campus housing directors are in a unique position to work with students, staff, and faculty and establish themselves as leaders in campus sustainability efforts. What could you do at your campus? Here is a checklist of ways in which campus housing directors can work to improve sustainability in construction, education, student leadership, purchasing, and recycling. How many of these are you currently doing? How many could you be doing? I recommend sharing the checklist below with your colleagues to start some critical conversations. (View larger version.) If you’re thinking of creating a campus housing sustainability initiative, make sure to Want to talk further? You can reach me at John.Yaun@csusb.edu. See Upcoming Events for Student Affairs Professionals