Independent Evaluation of the Jim Joseph Foundation's Education Initiative Final Report

The Jim Joseph Foundation created the Education Initiative to increase the number of educators and educational leaders who are prepared to design and implement high-quality Jewish education programs. The Jim Joseph Foundation granted $45 million to three premier Jewish higher education institutions (each institution received$15 million) and challenged them to plan and implement programs that used new content and teaching approaches to increase the number of highly qualified Jewish educators serving the field. The three grantees were Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and Yeshiva University (YU). The grant covered program operation costs as well as other costs associated with institutional capacity building. The majority of the funds (75 percent) targeted program planning and operation. The grantees designed and piloted six new master's degree and doctoral degree programs or concentrations;1 eight new certificate, leadership, and professional development programs;2 two new induction programs;3 and four new seminars within the degree programs. 4 The Education Initiative also supported financial assistance for students in eight other advanced degree programs. 5 The grantees piloted innovative teaching models and expanded their use of educational technology in the degree and professional development programs. According to the theory of change that drives the Jim Joseph Foundation's Education Initiative, five types of activities must take place if higher education institutions are to successfully enhance the Jewish education workforce. These activities include (1) improved marketing and recruitment of talented individuals into ongoing education programs, (2) a richer menu of programs requiring different commitments of time to complete and offering varying content, (3) induction programs to support program participants' transition to new employment settings, (4) well-planned and comprehensive strategies for financial sustainability, and (5) interinstitutional collaboration. As shown in Exhibit 1, the five types of activities are divided into two primary categories. The first category (boxes outlined in green) addresses the delivery of programs that provide educators and educational leaders with research-based and theory-based knowledge and vetted instructional tools. The second category (boxes outlined in orange) is not programmatic; rather, it involves sharing knowledge, building staff capabilities, enhancing management structures, and providing technological and financial support to enable the development of quality programming that is sustainable after the grant ends

The composition of first-year engineering curricula and its relationships to matriculation models and institutional characteristics

The preparation of technically excellent and innovative engineering graduates urges for a reform of the engineering curriculum to meet critical challenges in society (National Academy of Engineering, 2005). An examination of the current engineering curricula is needed to offer a baseline to further discuss if the curriculum reform meets the critical challenges. Meanwhile, concern about engineering retention prioritizes a review of the first-year engineering curricula. The existing literature does not include a nationwide examination of the first-year engineering curricula and introductory engineering courses. This study aspired to fill the gap by providing a detail description of the composition of first-year engineering curricula and introductory engineering courses of all ABET EAC-accredited programs. Furthermore, this study investigated the degree to which first-year engineering curricula and institutional characteristics varied by the matriculation policies of engineering programs. ^ To this end, this study analyzed the recommended first-year course sequences of 1,969 engineering programs and descriptions of 2,222 first-year engineering courses at all 408 U.S. institutions with ABET EAC-accredited programs. Keywords extracted from the engineering course descriptions were classified using a revised First-Year Engineering Course Classification Scheme (Reid, Reeping, & Spingola, 2013). In addition, institutional characteristics of 408 institutions grouped by matriculation models were examined. ^ There were five major findings. First, engineering courses took up 14-17% of total credit hours in the first year. Most first-year engineering courses were mandatory instead of elective or optional. Mathematics and science still formed the basis of the early engineering curriculum by accounting for more than half of the first-year credit hours. Second, the composition of first-year engineering curricula, the composition of first-year engineering courses, and the time when the first engineering course was required all varied by matriculation models. Third, topics related to engineering technologies and tools were listed most frequently in first-year engineering course descriptions, followed by topics related to design and the engineering profession. Topics related to global interest were seldom listed. Fourth, while first-year course composition varied by matriculation model, the most frequently listed topics were shared by programs with varied matriculation models, suggesting that content selection of first-year engineering courses was homogenous nationally. Lastly, institutions with different matriculation models had distinct characteristics, demonstrating the existence of relationships between institution-level and unit-level variables shown in the Model of Academic Plans in Context (Lattuca & Stark, 2009). ^ Findings of this study addressed fundamental questions of engineering education research, and had the potential to help program administrators and instructors with program and curriculum planning purposes

Open Pathway Quality Initiative Report

Completed in accordance with HLC requirements, this report concerns the Quality Initiative undertook by the university from 2014 to 2018, choosing to follow through and extend an overhaul of the first year experience. Originating from a 2013 action plan created in consultation with the Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, the program, entitled “The First Year in High Gear,” aimed to revitalize first year experience along six areas (pg. 3)

UTB/TSC Legacy Degree Programs and Courses 2014 – 2015

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/brownsvillelegacycatalogs/1030/thumbnail.jp

UTB/TSC Legacy Degree Programs and Courses 2013 – 2014

https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/brownsvillelegacycatalogs/1029/thumbnail.jp

Researching Writing Program Administration Expertise in Action: A Case Study of Collaborative Problem Solving as Transdisciplinary Practice

Theorizing WPA expertise as problem-oriented, stakeholder-inclusive practice, we apply the twenty-first-century paradigm of transdisciplinarity to a campus WID Initiative to read and argue that data-driven research capturing transdisciplinary WPA methods in action will allow us to better understand, represent, and leverage rhetoric-composition/writing studies’ disciplinary expertise in twenty-first-century higher education

Get yourself connected: conceptualising the role of digital technologies in Norwegian career guidance

This report outlines the role of digital technologies in the provision of career guidance. It was commissioned by the c ommittee on career guidance which is advising the Norwegian Government following a review of the countries skills system by the OECD. In this report we argue that career guidance and online career guidance in particular can support the development of Norwa y’s skills system to help meet the economic challenges that it faces.The expert committee advising Norway’s Career Guidance Initiativ

Institutional Factors that Pertain to Commuter Student Success

The purpose of this study was to explore what institutional factors affect retention and student success at a Florida public, 4-year university for commuter students. This study included institutional factors controlled by the university that affect retention with students who commute to the institution. Commuter students compose over 80% of enrollment at the nation’s college and university campuses. This mixed-method study included both a survey and focus groups. In the first part of the study, quantitative data were collected, using the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI). The survey analysis of the data collected using the SSI indicated that the scores for the scales were not statistically significant in determining whether or not a student would choose the university again. In the second part, focus groups were conducted to better understand student satisfaction with the institutional factors. Four main themes emerged from data analysis: (a) location and other reasons to attend the institution, (b) connectedness to the institution, (c) institutional factors that assist with progression toward degree, and (d) obstacles to graduation. Four major conclusions were addressed: students who participated in this study had higher levels of satisfaction with library services and academic advising services than with other institutional factors, commuter students were not participating in student organizations or social activities on campus because they needed to balance external obligations with their academic careers, that students in the focus groups appeared to have an instrumental view of their college experiences and are focused on what they needed to do to complete course and degree requirements, and commuter student desired to have increased regular interactions with faculty teaching courses in their major fields. In conclusion, because commuter student are the majority population on many campuses, college administrators and faculty will need to continue providing opportunities for commuter student engagement and academic success

Undergraduate Student Retention: Using Leader Member Exchange as an Organizational Change Driver

University student retention is one of the most studied enrolment management concepts in academia, with large amounts of theoretical and empirical research that has influenced campuses around the world (Astin, 1993; Habley, Bloom & Robins, 2012; Swail, 2004; Tinto, 1987). Although the considerations surrounding student retention are many and complex, the definition of retention is fairly straightforward. Berger, Ramirez, and Lyons, (2012) defines retention as “the ability of an institution to retain a student from admission through graduation” (p.5). This organizational improvement plan will discuss student retention in the context of a problem of practice at a Canadian university. Specifically, how a medium-sized research intensive university in Ontario, Canada can increase student retention from the first to second year of undergraduate study. The organizational improvement plan is framed using Bolman and Deal’s (2013) four frames model and an approach for organizational change is considered using Leader-member Exchange (LMX) theory (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995)