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by Mark Hartell, Capital Projects Consultant September 2014. We continue our look at why soft skills are an essential part of the project manager’s repertoire if large capital projects are going to deliver sustainable outcomes that meet wider project objectives. This time, communication. Scenario Picture this scenario: you survived your first week on the project and, on Friday afternoon, you sent out your first status/progress report outlining some key milestones including move dates for staff, expected groundbreaking for the new facility and the key risks/issues. It is standard project management stuff; a nice, color coded summary covering all the key factors. You did not expect that by Monday morning the sponsor would be calling you concerned that they are hearing rumors of unhappy people and misunderstandings. What went wrong?  In your well intentioned desire to communicate, you opted for a one way, “tell” message, written in your own terminology, that focused on what and when rather than why. People jumped to different conclusions about the information that was presented: Some felt that move decisions were unfair. Others saw the decisions as a “Trojan horse” for organizational changes that have nothing to do with the capital project. Departments in any way […]

September 2014. We wanted to gather advice for how to set up internal funding for CBE courses and programs effectively. How can colleges who are in the early stages of piloting competency-based education set up their own CBE course development or program development grant?  To learn more, we reached out to Dr. Sally M. Johnstone, vice president for academic advancement at Western Governors University, who has worked extensively with colleges across the US, assisting them in developing their own CBE programs.  This article is excerpted from our interview with Sally. Interviewer: Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions AI: Sally, thank you for joining us today. You’ve been working with 11 community colleges over the past two years now as they create their own competency-based education programs.  What have you learned about financing pilot CBE projects? Johnstone: Some of the colleges had a substantial amount of external funding through the Department of Labor’s TAAACCT grant. For these institutions, setting up a CBE program was still a lot of hard work, but it’s easier when you have a couple of million dollars to do it.  They were able to hire a dedicated project manager, pay for faculty time and new equipment, engage employers in focus groups, and […]

by Cory Phare and Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions August 2014. Recently, we polled a group of 55 administrators tasked with directing first-year programs. Of this group: For 2 in 3 administrators, assessing their first-year program is a priority; yet for one full third, this is not the case. Few are looking at “student success” more broadly than GPA, student satisfaction, and first-to-second-year retention. Nearly all have strong partnerships with academic advising, student support services, and orientation/transfer services – but not many have strong partnerships with other key offices such as service learning/civic engagement or multicultural services. Though this is a small group, the poll offers an interesting, real-time snapshot of several of the challenges facing many first-year program directors. Assessing the Effectiveness of First-Year Programs Yet for 16 of the 55 directors polled, assessment of the first-year student experience program is either not a priority or “somewhat a priority, but with few resources behind it.” (Compare this with the National Resource Center finding that just 59% of First Year Student Experience programs have conducted a formal assessment or evaluation of their program since Fall 2009.) Among those who are pursuing assessment, there is room for improvement. Key measures of success cited […]

Colleges are working hard to bring in additional students. And there is such a cost to bringing in each student, that you don’t want to lose them through an enrollment and registration process that is confusing or simply takes too long. Or as Kevin Pollock, the president of St. Clair County Community College, remarks pointedly, “Any time your students have to walk across campus unnecessarily from one office to another in trying to resolve an issue is an opportunity for them to walk to their car and leave.” Where are the Bottlenecks Kevin Pollock suggests that a key task of your student success task force or retention committee is walking through each step of the student’s experience on your campus, from admission on, to take an in-depth look at where students run into bottlenecks, delays in service, or where there might be missed opportunities to better support their academic success. Pollock recommends trying an array of data collection methods from surveys to focus groups to “mystery shopper” exercises (in which a member of the task force walks through a process in person to get a first-hand perspective of its efficiency). “How does a student register for classes?” Pollock asks. “Is the […]

In November 2012, Academic Impressions surveyed professionals from 79 institutions of higher education, asking them to grade their institution’s level of customer service and to comment on the challenges faced in improving it. The responses were revealing. A “C” in Customer Service 29 of our respondents rated their institution with a “B” letter grade for level of service offered, and 31 would assign a “C” grade (together accounting for three-quarters of the total responses). Only six would assign an “A.” Among those who assigned a failing grade and those who assigned a “C,” a litany of common complaints emerges: Many of the respondents emphasized that front-line staff are focused on completion of tasks rather than achievement of (student-centered) outcomes, and lack the time and the perspective to provide better service to students. When asked to describe how they see exemplary customer service, overwhelmingly, the respondents focused on responsiveness. And while some respondents cited the need for a “friendly” attitude, among many there is a growing awareness that providing effective service to students has less to do with targeting “customer satisfaction” through an improved demeanor and more to do with eliminating wait times, shortening lines, and ensuring that students receive the […]