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Spotlight on Innovation: How Texas A&M – Corpus Christi is Using Online Supplemental Instruction to Boost STEM Student Success

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded the multi-million dollar First in the World grant to 24 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. Texas A&M – Corpus Christi already offers face-to-face supplemental instruction (SI) for many barrier STEM classes and has seen it boost retention and graduation. However, the number of students who took advantage of SI remained low in comparison to the number of students in the courses. Students frequently reported they could not attend face-to-face sessions due to schedule conflicts or jobs. Dr. Patricia Spaniol-Mathews, Executive Director for Programs for Academic Student Support, hopes to eliminate that obstacle by piloting an interactive online supplemental instruction program with the $3.3 million First In The World grant.  It is an exciting opportunity because the online option will eliminate schedule barriers, increase the number of students who can benefit from supplemental instruction, and hopefully boost STEM retention and completion rates […]

Spotlight on Innovation: How Bryn Mawr is Closing Math Skill Gaps with Targeted Online Modules

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 24 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. Bryn Mawr College has long boasted a strong history of women attaining STEM degrees, with more than a third of their students majoring in math or science. Now, Bryn Mawr is working to take the next step toward increasing the number of underrepresented, underprepared and low-income students attaining STEM degrees by targeting the needs of students who have gaps in specific math skills or who lack the overall mastery that would allow them to thrive in STEM. Their project, funded by a $1.65 million First in the World grant from the US Department of Education, will combine face-to-face coaching support and blended learning through online modules, in partnership with twelve other institutions. The Challenge The project targets the group of students who have passed Bryn Mawr’s entry […]

Getting Buy-in for Addressing Deferred Maintenance

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Earlier this month, we surveyed the institutions planning to attend an Academic Impressions webcast on rethinking and prioritizing physical campus improvements. We asked questions about their balance of new capital projects and replacement and renewal, how they were handling issues with limited space capacity, and their level of commitment to addressing the deferred maintenance backlog. Of the facilities managers surveyed, 75 percent noted that addressing the deferred maintenance backlog was either a “high” or “highest” priority for the next 12 months. What’s interesting is that when we asked facilities managers the same question at the end of January this year, the percentage who assigned a high priority to deferred maintenance was 68 percent. While in the past the deferred maintenance backlog has been a perennially neglected issue, it is now rising steadily in its importance to an institution’s planning around physical campus improvements. EXPLORE THE FINDINGS For the findings from the January – February 2012 deferred maintenance survey, read our recent article “Benchmarking Deferred Maintenance.” In response to these findings, we asked Kambiz Khalili, the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs and the executive director of housing and dining services at the University of Colorado Boulder; Dan King, the assistant […]

Recruiting International Students

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Overall first-time graduate enrollments from international students at US institutions did not climb in 2008-09 (though emerging markets in the Middle East still saw increases), according to a survey released this week by the Council of Graduate Schools. Reasons suggested for the stagnant numbers include the global recession and increased competition from other nations. Many undergraduate programs, however, have reported surges in international students; the University of Oregon announced a 16% jump in undergraduate international enrollment. And many institutions (among the most recent, Virginia Tech and the University of Nebraska) have set goals for doubling international enrollment in the next five or ten years. Now more than ever, it’s critical for enrollment managers in the US and Canada to be intentional in their approach to recruiting international students. Sarah Ramisch Stewart, Manager of International Admissions and Recruitment at Carleton University, offers some practical tips for planning your approach. What You Should Be Asking Approach international recruitment with clearly defined goals and an eye for finding the best match. Stewart suggests: Identifying the right student profile is critical, and not just in terms of academic interest. Stewart offers the example of a rural or lesser-known institution seeking applicants in Turkey. In this […]

Four Tips for Managing the Brand Launch

Posted on by Greta Bell

June 9, 2011. Competition for visibility continues to pressure institutions of higher education to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. In order to stay competitive, maintain enrollment levels, and meet advancement goals, your institution needs a unique brand strategy that carefully defines who you are in the minds of stakeholders. Often, though, marketing professionals and institutional leaders have questions concerning how to effectively roll out or communicate a change to the brand. Past examples of branding efforts gone wrong have taught us that a brand campaign carries considerable public relations risk. This week, we asked Bill Faust, senior partner and chief strategy officer for Ologie, for his advice; Faust offers these four tips for success in managing your brand launch. Decide Whether You Need a Hard or Soft Launch Faust suggests that a hard launch or “roll-out party” isn’t always necessary: “some launches are very soft and are rolled out over time, applied to specific areas of the institution at a time.” If your institution has been through a tumultuous time or needs to change its public image dramatically (the public thinks of you as X, but you need them to think of you as Y), then a hard launch may be […]

Spotlight on Innovation: How the University of Minnesota is Building Collaborative Partnerships to Improve Retention of First-Gen Students

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

SPOTLIGHT ON INNOVATION SERIES The US Department of Education has awarded multi-million dollar “First in the World” grants to 24 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. Geoffrey (Geoff) Maruyama, the department chair of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, has an intriguing — and direct — way of explaining the challenges faced in improving the academic success and persistence of under-represented and lower-income students. He cites Urie Bronfenbrenner’s research on the ecology of human development. Transformative Learning for First-Generation Students “Kids grow up in a lot of different ecosystems,” Maruyama notes. “To the extent to which those ecosystems are aligned, life is simple. When you have a bigger transition, however, it gets more complicated. First-generation students are less likely to have grown up in a culture with strong links to higher education, making the transition to a college environment a more significant change.” A lot of professionals in higher education are discussing how best […]

Financing and Planning Student Life Facilities

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

READ THE FULL SERIES This summer, we released an executive summary of the findings from a survey of institutions looking to add new student life facilities in the next year. You can read our executive summary here. Now, we are following up with lead architects and consultants who work with student life facilities in higher education. In this series of interviews, we are asking these lead experts to comment on the survey findings, trends they are noticing with student life facilities, and practical strategies they would recommend for colleges and universities that are seeking to take a more integrated approach to student life on their campuses. In this first interview, we have spoken with Eric Moss, director of the Student Life Studio at Ayers Saint Gross, and Julie Skolnicki on how institutions can adopt forward-thinking approaches to financing and planning student life facilities. 1. What especially struck you about the survey findings? JULIE SKOLNICKI, EdR.The Academic Impressions survey reinforces what we are seeing across the country: More thoughtful and integrated planning of student life facilities, but some ongoing challenges specifically related to funding hurdles. University planning for student life facilities has evolved significantly in the past 15 years: This evolution has led […]

Is It a Microaggression?

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Is it a microaggression? The authors of Fix Your Climate, two leading experts on hierarchical microaggressions, discuss how microaggressions operate within an academic workplace and offer a few quick tips for identifying and reducing them. Microaggressions, microbullying, and bullying are the silent destroyers of a university’s climate. Because microaggressions have a cumulative and amplifying effect (an organizational culture rife with microaggressive behavior becomes a fertile ground for microbullying behaviors), it is crucial to both educate your departmental or institutional culture about microaggressions and help your faculty and staff understand what they are, what they are not, and how they work. Identifying a microaggression Let’s look at two quick scenarios. SCENARIO A A white, male assistant professor says to a colleague, “Someone mistook me for a security guard.” I ask, “How did that make you feel?” He responds, “Fine. It was funny.” Is this a microaggression? Probably not. His feelings weren’t hurt. The incident did not relate to an aspect of his identity. No microaggression. SCENARIO B If you change the race of the individual in the same scenario, the outcome of the scenario might also change. An African-American, male, assistant professor says, “Someone mistook me for a security guard.” A […]

Training Peer Mentors for First-Year Students: What’s Missing

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

Peer educators can serve as an effective front line in the student development and academic success of first-year students, and employing peer mentors (either as employees or as volunteers) can save on costs. Yet many institutions provide only the most cursory training and orientation for their peer mentors. This week, we turned to Sarah Whitley, the forward-thinking director of first-year experience and family programs with Longwood University. We asked her what critical efforts are often missing from peer mentor training. Here are three items she drew our attention to. Introduce Student Development Theory “One thing that I have found incredibly useful and successful, and that many universities aren’t doing, is to actually provide a training session on student development theory. I know that probably seems a bit “heavy” for undergraduates. It seems like more of a graduate school topic. But offer a basic overview to kick off your training program, because it’s really important for the peer mentors to understand the developmental level of new students coming into the institution.”Sarah Whitley, Longwood University Whitley suggests that a basic overview of Chickering and Perry and brief discussions of student development vectors, how students are trying to make decisions, and how students […]

How Do You Make the Case for Funding Maintenance and Renewal for Campus Facilities?

Posted on by Kenneth Soldink

YOU’LL ALSO WANT TO READ:Benchmarking Deferred Maintenance: A Recent Survey (May 2012)Proactive Approaches to Deferred Maintenance (November 2011) In our January – February 2012 survey of facilities managers (read the executive summary here), Academic Impressions learned that while physical plant operations at most institutions have assigned a high priority this year to addressing their deferred maintenance backlog, many falter in making an effective case for funding facilities replacement and maintenance needs. We turned this week to Daniel King, facilities manager at Auburn University (Auburn, AL), who has recently done some innovative thinking and piloting around just this issue. Here are two ideas Dan King offers – one for working with academic leaders to prioritize “small and modest” maintenance projects, and one for communicating to institutional leaders the big picture of the institution’s replacement and renewal needs. A Clear Process for Prioritizing Maintenance Projects Auburn University has piloted a prioritization process that involves soliciting maintenance needs from across campus and then meeting with the provost to evaluate the proposed projects on a regular basis. The keys to the process are the involvement of the entire campus in a discussion of the institution’s maintenance needs and transparency around the decisions made. King’s […]

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