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3 Ways to Help Peer Educators Succeed

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

In a related article, we asked Sarah Whitley, director of first-year experience and family programs at Longwood University, to offer her insights on what critical items are often missing from peer mentor training. Whitley’s answers indicated the need for a shift in thinking about the support and development peer educators need, whether your peer educators serve primarily as peer mentors or whether they lead first-year seminar courses or other elements of the first-year student experience. We decided to dig deeper in a follow-up interview. Sarah Whitley and Jennifer Latino, the director of first-year experience at Campbell University, suggest three keys to helping peer educators step into a leadership role and take greater ownership of their work: Shift the Focus from Orientation to Leadership Development “Don’t think of this as just training,” Latino suggests. “Think of this as a process of development for peer educators. I think where we often fall short in administering these training programs is that we don’t take into consideration the impact on the peer mentor. We know that training peer educators is good for first-year students, but peer mentoring is also a profound experience for the mentors themselves. When our training is focused on what to […]

Practical Strategies for Women in Leadership in Higher Ed

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

In November of 2016, Academic Impressions held its first Women’s Leadership Success in Higher Education conference. (You can see information about the upcoming Women’s Leadership Success conference here.)  For me personally, this was one of the highlights of my year and a culmination of months of work that sprung from an idea that had formed in the summer of 2015. As it happened, the conference took place the week after the election. I found myself wondering how or if the election would impact the synergy in the room. What we experienced was an incredibly positive, high-energy, joyful three days of learning! Key messages standout from that experience: As we prepare for the 2018 conference, coming up in just a few short weeks, we asked a few of our speakers for their thoughts on what holds women back from their leadership potential and what tactics they use in challenging situations to handle them with confidence. Their answers were varied, but demonstrate how each taps into her unique strengths to lead effectively. We spoke below with Jeanne Hey, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, University of New England, and with Arlethia Perry-Johnson, (Retired) Vice President of Marketing, Kennesaw State University. An Interview with 2 […]

Supporting Adjunct Faculty: An Investment in Your Instructors, an Investment in Your Students

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

A 2010 US Department of Education study found that adjunct instructors teach 60% of the college courses in the US. They represent a critical first line of instruction for many students, yet often receive minimal faculty development and minimal institutional support for serving students. This week, we interviewed Jennifer Strickland, the interim director for Mesa Community College’s Center for Teaching and Learning, which supports the college’s 300+ residential faculty and 1100+ adjunct faculty. We asked Strickland why the issue of adjunct support should be accorded some urgency – and what forms of support she has found to be most needed in order to improve teaching and learning, as well as retention of adjunct faculty. The Need for a Shift in Institutional Culture Strickland argues that providing adjunct faculty with few resources to improve pedagogy and limited logistical support doesn’t serve students well. While the rationale for this has to do with the level of investment in contingent versus full-time faculty, what is actually at stake is the level of investment in the student. Strickland notes the example of institutions at which part-time faculty lack an office (even a shared one) and a phone line on campus-–curtailing their ability to offer […]

Taking On-Campus Student Employment to the Next Level

Posted on by 25337pwpadmin@ai_azuread

September 29, 2011 The 2010 census data paints a bleak financial picture for recent graduates, and as the recession lingers, it’s clear that many of the students enrolled at your institution will be graduating into a very difficult market. There has rarely been a better time to conduct an aggressive rethinking of your on-campus employment opportunities. We reached out to Brett Perozzi, the associate vice president for student affairs at Weber State University and a key thinker and innovator on this issue, to learn more about how on-campus employment opportunities can be structured well to enhance student learning and prepare students well for entry into their future careers. Perozzi offered us advice on these four items: “The key that I have found is selecting specific learning outcomes (for example, outcomes focused on critical thinking, communication skills, problem-solving skills, leadership), and then teaching and training students around those specific skill sets. Often we think: “Well, of course students will become better problem-solvers after these employment opportunities.” But you need to train for this and provide structured opportunities for this learning to occur. Good on-campus employment programs select specific learning outcomes, provide relevant and targeted training, and assess progress.”Brett Perozzi, Weber State […]

Outsourcing Financial Aid Operations

Posted on by greta@academicimpressions.com

Financial aid offices at colleges that are experiencing rising enrollment as well as increased percentages of the student population seeking financial aid find themselves facing: High inbound call volume (especially at peak times) Longer lines as students unable to get through by phone visit the office in person A bottleneck in staff time and resources with the verification process, as the US Department of Education is selecting more financial aid reports to be verified This strain comes at a time of tight budgets, when most financial aid directors are not able to add staff or other resources. Once these bottlenecks begin to result in deterioration of service, this situation makes outsourcing your call center or your verification process an attractive option. But it is critical to outsource to the right contractor and with the right oversight in place. We turned to Dewey Knight, associate director of financial aid at the University of Mississippi, for his advice on due diligence in outsourcing financial aid operations. Making the Decision to Outsource “I am a big believer in outsourcing financial aid functions when that contributes to a better experience for students and parents,” Knight advises. “But you have to do it right.” In […]

Improving the Accessibility of Online Course Materials

Posted on by greta@academicimpressions.com

July 7, 2011. In a climate of increased demand for online courses and increased federal scrutiny of regulatory compliance, it is increasingly critical that colleges and universities ensure the accessibility of their online course materials for students with disabilities — and not only for online courses, but also for classes held in the physical classroom that direct students to pursue research online or access supplemental materials via a course management system. Fortunately, significant gains in accessibility can be made with relative ease — the key is to be proactive and plan for them early rather than after an issue is noticed. To learn more about the “low-hanging fruit” for accessibility of course materials, we interviewed two leading experts on the issue from Drexel University — Dan Allen, content management specialist with Drexel’s Office of Information Resources and Technology, and Jenny Dugger, director of Drexel’s Office of Disability Services. Allen and Dugger offer the following tips for: Vetting potential vendors for accessibility Coaching your faculty in making course materials more accessible Vet Potential Vendors, Thoroughly “Where institutions often get into trouble is when they don’t vet their vendors for accessibility; by the time they realize there are issues, they have already made a long-term […]

A Year in Crisis: Lessons in Communication Learned as a Department Chair

Posted on by bradystanton@ai_azuread

Introduction We have just passed the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this experience may have provided opportunities for us to learn and grow, it has also taught us there are critical elements of our life and work where no substitute is sufficient. One of these elements is communication. The extreme safety measures of social distancing, lockdowns, quarantines, remote teaching, and working from home have made communicating with one another increasingly difficult and acutely essential. Let’s not forget, though, there has always been a need for academic leaders to improve communication—many of us have even read books and attended workshops dedicated to this topic. However, the current pandemic has magnified potential weak spots in our communication, providing the opportunity to develop new habits that will benefit those we lead. Allow me to share with you some lessons I have learned recently—some more painful than others—and how they can be applied right now, as well as in a post-pandemic world. Knowing Your Responsibilities Makes You a Better Communicator Being a department chair is the toughest job on campus, and the job does not get any easier during a pandemic. Students, faculty, and staff look to us for magical answers to […]

The Words We Use: How Higher Ed is Responding to Calls for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

Increasingly, faculty leaders are responding seriously to the call for more “culturally relevant pedagogy,” referring to more inclusive classrooms and pedagogical styles. This article draws on findings from a recent inquiry into how institutions are thinking about equity within pedagogy. In late 2019 (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic), I conducted 28 phone interviews with both administrators and academics in higher education, from distinct universities. I spoke with leaders of Centers for Teaching and Learning, leaders in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and faculty in leadership positions. My research also included a review of timely literature on this topic. In this article, I share a quick snapshot of how institutions are responding to the call for culturally relevant pedagogy. by Ashvina Patel, Ph.D., Research Analyst, Academic Impressions Want more articles and reports like this one delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Pulse on higher education. The Words We Use What do we call the effort? “Decolonizing curriculum,” “decolonizing the classroom,” “culturally relevant curriculum,” “culturally responsive materials,” “inclusive pedagogy,” “inclusive teaching content,” “diversity in curriculum,” “hidden curriculum,” and “uncovering implicit bias” are just some of the words higher education institutions are using to describe a change that is both […]

Keys to Cultivating Emotional Intelligence as a Department Chair Part One: Awareness and Emotional Intelligence

Posted on by bradystanton@ai_azuread

Academia’s leadership challenge is that almost none of us have been trained to manage people, much less other academics; almost none of us have significant, sustained leadership development opportunities; most academic chairs are happy to step back into faculty roles. Emotional Intelligence can help us be more effective and resilient, as leaders and as members of the department team. This article is the first in a series. Here at the outset, I’d like to define awareness (as a foundation for emotional intelligence) and then share a three-stage awareness-building exercise that—while it does entail considerable reflection and emotional work—can be done quickly, even amid all the pressures of a department chair’s week. When I’ve worked through this exercise with other chairs, it has helped develop self-awareness and awareness-of-others. Later, in the articles that follow, I’ll share further ideas and exercises that are intended to help chairs (and other academic leaders) to develop strategies for navigating the workplace in what is hopefully a healthier way—and to build greater resilience over time. “I’m aware of that…” I am a philologist. I say this without too much self-deprecation or, to be truthful, apology, but it is relevant here because – like all of our […]

Forecasting the Fall: Calamity or Opportunity?

Posted on by Daniel Fusch

In these rough waters, higher education leaders cannot indulge the luxury of sitting back and waiting to see what everyone else does. Whatever happens with the pandemic or the economy, we are not going to see a simple “return to normal” or to the conditions under which our institutions operated in January, and leaders must take decisive action if they are to position their institutions for a changing future. by John King, Ed.D., strategic consultant, recently interim provost at the College of Western Idaho Higher education finds itself at a tipping point where leaders must make decisions about how to respond to today’s chaotic world situation: Return operations as they were, or adjust to a changing world? As of this writing, COVID-19 has infected over two million Americans, that we know of. Experts are saying that we are at the front end of this pandemic curve as opposed to its end. We are also experiencing an economic downturn that has caused massive unemployment and officially thrown the country into a recession. On top of all that, recent civilian deaths at the hands of police have led to nationwide protests over racial and social inequality and excessive police violence against minorities. […]

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