Variables That Predict Success With Associate Degree Nursing Students At A Community College In Florida

The purpose of this exploratory, retrospective study was to determine if student demographics and academic variables predicted student persistence and success in an associate degree nursing program in Florida and to investigate the variables in Tinto\u27s Longitudinal Model of Dropout (1975).The sample population (N=304) for this study was students enrolled in one of the initial courses of the associate degree nursing program at Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) in Daytona Beach, FL from August 2002 through August 2003. Students were assigned to one of three groups (a) passing group, (b) failing group, or (c) withdrawing group. The convenience sample of (N=304) included: 242 students who successfully completed the nursing program, 32 students who failed a nursing course, and 38 students who withdrew from a course prior to successful completion. Demographic variables, admission and college science course grade point averages, and Nurse Entrance Test (NET) scores were collected on the sample population. Descriptive statistics were used to identify any unique differences that may have existed between the three groups, and multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the variables that best predicted success in the associate degree nursing program. Students in the passing group were found to be slightly older than students in the failing and withdrawing groups. The passing group had a higher percentage of females; the failing and withdrawing groups had higher percentages of males. The failing and withdrawing groups also contained higher percentages of minority students and students with English as a second language. Ethnicity was considered a significant predictor for student success in this study. Grade point average (GPA) score at the time of admission to the nursing program and college mean science course GPA scores were significant predictors. Students in the passing group had higher mean admission grade point averages than the failing and withdrawing groups. Students in the passing group also had noticeably higher mean grade point averages in all college science courses. NET scores were not considered significant predictors, at least for students who met the requirements for admission, and minimal differences were noted between the three groups in the study. The results of the study supported the use of variables identified in Tinto\u27s Longitudinal Model of Dropout (1975) for predicting program success with nursing students. Individual attributes and pre-college experiences were predictors of student success for this sample, and demographic differences were identified between successful and unsuccessful students. Based on the results, the nursing department should consider placing more emphasis on admission and college science course grade point averages during the application process. A future conceptual model should include college science course GPAs, specifically anatomy and physiology and microbiology, and admission grade point average. Remedial or support services should be emphasized for minority students and students with English as a second language. Strategies should be implemented to retain men in the nursing program

Getting Your Bearings: Understanding Organizational Culture

What do you know about your institution’s organizational culture? How do individuals, collaborative partners, and teams get work done? How are decisions really made? How is change introduced and implemented? How do you know when to go with the flow and when and how to resist or stand your ground? Every workplace is different, but awareness of some common challenges, a set of questions to help librarians interpret what they observe around them and profiles of organizational dynamics in action will support those working to cultivate a professional practice in often complex library environments

Engaging in Informal Leadership: Benefits, Challenges, and Strategies

Informal Leadership (IL) can be a heavy lift, with varied challenges. Yet in certain organizations, IL may be the only way to gain specific skills, acquire necessary experience, and build crucial relationships. So how do you determine whether this (often undercompensated) labor is right for you? And if it is, how do you identify IL opportunities and develop strategies that can help prepare you for the challenge? In this interactive workshop, participants will learn from each other and discuss their experiences with, or nascent interest in, informal leadership. The presenters will provide definitions of IL, taken from the literature of various disciplines, and talk about how IL has affected, and driven, their respective career trajectories. They will also discuss the challenges of \u27leading from amon\u27 and \u27leading from below,\u27 and the importance of understanding organizational culture prior to taking on an IL role. During a knowledge-share exercise, individuals with varying levels of IL experience will work together in groups to develop questions and provide stories of successes and failures based on specific prompts related to IL opportunities, how to do IL, managing relationships, and difficult lessons learned. They will also work together to identify particular skills and strategies that are important to the success of IL, as well as ideas and strategies on how to avoid potential burnout. Finally, a larger discussion will tackle individual and organizational benefits, challenges, and where to find support. Participants will begin to develop their own proposals of how best to undertake or facilitate IL and how to inspire professional engagement in their own institutions and among their peers

Egalitarian Teams in Action: Organizing for Library Initiatives

In 2006 Peter Senge, who coined the term the learning organization, wrote, “As the world becomes more interconnected and business becomes more complex and dynamic, work must become more ‘learningful’... It’s just not possible any longer to to figure it out from the top, and have everyone else following the orders of the ‘grand strategist’” (p. 4). Senge documented the need for professions and organizations that can change, that can quickly adapt, be nimble, learn, and find new opportunities in the changing information landscape. Libraries are not immune from this kind of pressure. In this case study, first presented at the 2017 LACUNY Institute, three library faculty members describe a team with the salient characteristics of commitment and nimbleness, a team that aims to be this new, “non-traditional” team, one that is in alignment with best practices for change management and learning organizations, and with the work of Etienne Wenger and others on Communities of Practice (CoPs). After describing the team’s background and formation, this case study presents the results of a mid-year survey, along with a list of the team’s work and accomplishments, as evidence of productivity and team members’ satisfaction. Specific benefits and challenges of the team’s structure and processes are discussed. Finally, best practices for this type of committed and agile teamwork are drawn from the CoP literature and this case study, and some of the ways this “learningful” experience may impact faculty as individuals, and what that may mean for the future of the library, are considered

Rethinking the Allocation of Teaching Resources: Some Lessons From High Performing Schools

Although a great deal of debate surrounds the level and allocation of resources to public schools, very little of this discussion addresses how schools might organize teaching resources more effectively at the school level. This paper describes case studies of five high performing public schools that have organized professional resources in innovative ways. The study sought to detail alternative ways of deploying instructional resources in order to provide concrete alternatives to traditional organization of teachers and to quantify objectively the ways in which these schools use resources differently depending on their instructional goals and strategies. Although the schools studied looked very different from one another, they shared five principles of resource allocation which are outlined in this paper. The paper develops a framework for re-examining the use of resources and a methodology which may be used to measure the extent to which schools use their resources in focused ways to support teaching and learning

Getting to Great: Transitioning from a Special to an Academic Library

Case study description of the transition from the field of special libraries (non-academic, non-public) to academic libraries. The author spent eleven years moving up through the ranks in an arts education library, before successfully transitioning to a position in a university library

Ralph Hall Brown :

He taught at the University of Colorado, did field work in arid areas, and published articles on land use change. He moved to the University of Minnesota in 1929, where he taught until his death in 1948. In the early 1930s he began work in historical geography which he defined as past regional geography. Brown's books were unique: no geographers continued his research, and the 1948 work remains the only text on the nation's historical geography. Two distinguished historical geographers cited Brown's books as the beginning of modern American historical geography.Brown began geography graduate work (at the University of Wisconsin) in the early 1920s, when social scientists were developing more specialized research methods, emphasizing first-hand data collections. Some geographers rejected the goals of their discipline's earlier workers--determination of the relationships between man and the environment. Brown helped develop a new geography by his participation in field conferences, concern with accurate source materials, and work in describing and interpreting regions.Ralph Hall Brown is best known for his two books, Mirror for Americans (1943) and Historical Geography of the United States (1948), in which he reconstructed past American regions through the use of contemporary, primary sources. The books are well-known for their pioneering emphasis on environmental perception, and for his primary sources, a technique later widely imitated by historical geographers. Brown was respected as a leader in the Association of American Geographers, a prolific writer, and original and thorough scholar

Strategic Sales Conversations As A Foundation For Effective Partnership Selling

This paper presents a new sales organization tool, strategic sales conversations, that can be used to enhance relationships with customers. Strategic sales conversations are an adaptation of strategic conversations in an inter- and intra- organizational context in which the selling firm is attempting to utilize open and honest communication to better understand the long-term needs of the buying organization.  A process model of strategic sales conversations is developed and its implications are discussed.&nbsp

Sustainable Delivery of Speech-Language Therapy Services in Small Island Developing States Using Information and Communication Technology – A Study of the Maldives

Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a subgroup of Majority world countries, face complex challenges providing equitable access to speech-language therapy (SLT) services. Increasing use of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance SLT services is seen in the Minority world. This study explored the potential of using ICT to provide sustainable SLT services in one SIDS, the Maldives. A mixed method approach was used integrating data from (a) 21 online documents, (b) interview with an ICT official, and (c) surveys of 13 island councillors and 73 parents of children with communication difficulties. Almost 100% of the population had access to mobile phones and mobile broadband internet. Most parents were active and frequent ICT users. The government provided financial aid for people with disabilities which could be utilised to access ICT for services. Asynchronous service delivery using accessible ICT and parents as agents of service delivery can potentially enhance SLT services