Learning Innovations for Identifying and Developing Talent for University

As a response to global and local imperatives for organizational, operational, and social change facing education today, learning innovations developed by Curtin University’s Learning Futures team offer examples of new technology-enhanced learning experiences used to identify and develop talent for university. The innovations presented are helping to reset school-university relationships to a focus on direct, scalable, and personalized digital learning services, delivered via interactive technologies that utilize game-based and team-based learning approaches. Two frameworks are proposed: one for collecting and evaluating evidence of a future ready learner and one for situating technology innovations across five domains of higher education learning and teaching. The case study indicates that new educational technology innovations can support an expansion of the university’s mission, as well as its academic, research, and service-based strategic actions, by enabling a continuum of potential entry points for learners of all ages, accessible anywhere at any time

BEYOND THE DREAM: IMPROVING COLLEGE-READINESS OF UNDERPREPARED COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

The majority of the nation’s first-year college students are not prepared to assume postsecondary level studies. Many are diverted to developmental education programs and most never attain postsecondary credentials. Educational reform is on the national agenda and challenges community colleges to address the growing lack of postsecondary achievement. The purpose of this instrumental multi-case study was to explore and analyze reformative strategies that effectively address college-readiness and achievement of underprepared community college students. A qualitative methodology was employed in analyzing strategies implemented at community colleges to improve college-readiness. A criterion-based selection process identified six community colleges recognized by the Achieving the Dream organization as Leader Colleges in improving student success and located within systems with statewide educational policy reform. In addition, purposeful sampling was used to design a focus group of field experts to examine effective strategies and best practice criteria. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews with Core Team Leaders who led implementation of reformative strategies at the six colleges. Collected demographic survey-data offered context and pertinent document reviews and focus group data contributed to the triangulation of evidence. The interviews yielded insight into 18 strategies designed to improve college-readiness. Findings include descriptions, evidence of impact, factors that supported effectiveness, perceived potential for wide-scale implementation, and recommended best practices. Cross-case analyses offered aggregated comparative analysis and a disaggregated examination of ten common strategies. Composite analyses revealed seven themes that underscore common purposes of the strategies and factors that improve effective implementation. Three common core purposes among the effective strategies include instructional reform, student engagement, and transition to college. Four thematic elements that support effective implementation of strategies include college culture, evidence of effectiveness, integrated systems, and committed leadership. A Relational Paradigm is offered that describes the multidimensional interplay between the core purposes of the strategies and the contextual factors that influence effective implementation. The Paradigm can be used to guide adaptation of strategies to fit unique college cultures. Implications for community colleges to improve college-readiness include the need for strong leadership with system-wide collaborations to create new instructional and organizational models that support student transition, engagement, and learning

Neglected Cultural Outcomes That Impact Hispanic-Serving Institution Policymaking

The Higher Education Act (HEA) Title V is designed to expand opportunities, increase attainment, and enhance institutional quality and stability of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). The assessment of Title V goals relies on enrollment, retention, and graduation rates which reflect organizational outcomes that policymakers prioritized without deference to student population, institutional mission, and funding levels. Title V policymakers do not currently consider the ways HSIs centralize the racialized experiences of students and institutions do not uniformly collect or report cultural outcome data despite its relevancy to Hispanic student success. The purpose of this study was to draw on criteria identified in the qualitative literature to quantitatively investigate the Typology of HSI Organizational Identities (Garcia, 2017) as a policymaking tool. A TwoStep cluster analysis was used to determine how well the measured variables represent the conceptual typology constructs. A MANOVA determined the degree cultural outcomes further differentiated HSI clusters. To determine the extent to which institutions centralized the experiences of Hispanic students, a website review was used. The results showed three distinct four-year sub-clusters and three distinct two-year sub-clusters with good silhouette measure of cohesion and separation scores. A statistically significant MANOVA in both sets of sub-clusters revealed, to small effect, that 17% of variance iii in cultural outcomes was explained by cluster assignment. Differences between clusters were detected in five of 15 cultural variables. The findings of this study align with the Typology of Hispanic-Serving Institution Organizational Identities (Garcia, 2017); however, alignments could only be made after rubric-informed website reviews. The typology was limited in its practical use because it currently does not accommodate important sector differences. There is overwhelming evidence that two-year and four-year HSIs are significantly different from one another, thus may benefit from separate treatment in Title V. Current federal data prioritization and collection practices are insufficient to affirm an institution’s ability to serve Hispanic students, and opportunities exist for policymakers to remedy the neglect of cultural outcomes. Although interpretation of the findings is constrained by methodological limitations, the results may be used by policymakers, scholars, and HSI practitioners to tailor efforts designed to truly serve Hispanic students

Assets and Education Research Symposium Report–Linking Savings and Educational Outcomes: Charting a Course for Scholarship and Policy

Assets and Education Research Symposium Report–Linking Savings and Educational Outcomes: Charting a Course for Scholarship and Polic

Improving the Yields in Higher Education: Findings from Lumina Foundation's State-Based Efforts to Increase Productivity in U.S. Higher Education

In 2008, Lumina asked SPEC Associates (SPEC) to evaluate the foundation's grant making aimed at improving the productivity of higher education through statewide policy and program change. The initiative was initially known as Making Opportunity Affordable and later became known more broadly as Lumina's higher education productivity initiative. Eleven states received planning grants in 2008 and a year later seven of these states received multi-year grants to implement their productivity plans. In 2009, Lumina published Four Steps to Finishing First in Higher Education to frame the content of its productivity work. In 2010, the foundation, working with HCM Strategists, launched the Strategy Labs Network to deliver just-in-time technical assistance, engagement, informationsharing and convenings to states. Lumina engaged SPEC to evaluate these productivity investments in the seven states through exploring this over-arching question: What public will building, advocacy, public policy changes, and system or statewide practices are likely to impact higher education productivity for whom and in what circumstances, and which of these are likely to be sustainable, transferable, and/or scalable

Faculty Scholarship Celebration 2017

Program for Western Carolina University's annual Faculty Scholarship Celebration

DoR Communicator - June 2014

The June 2014 issue of the Division of Research newsletter.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/research_newsletter/1009/thumbnail.jp