Leading on Open Educational Practices at a Regional Comprehensive University Library

There are opportunities for all types of libraries to move their universities forward in the space of Open Practices (ie. open scholarship, open educational resources, open pedagogy). Learn how a regional comprehensive university leveraged librarian expertise, consortial collaborations, and partnerships with teaching faculty to scale up open practices on our campus, over a 4 year period, keeping momentum even during the pandemic. Learn what worked well and what we would have done differently. Learn how we connected this effort to the vision, mission, and values of the institution, especially in the area of providing equity and inclusion for a student body with a high number of first generation students

Impact of Living Learning Communities on Underserved Minority Students at a Regional Comprehensive University

As access to higher education for underserved minority (USM) students has consistently increased over the past 20 years, college and university campuses across the United States have observed an achievement gap between USM students and their white counterparts (Brown, 2019; Doan, 2015; Flores, Park & Baker, 2017; Pope, 2002; Ramos; 2019). This achievement gap is acute and carries significant consequences if not addressed. As campuses seek to find solutions to close this achievement gap, it is essential to identify strategies that meet the needs of USM students instead of waiting for students to adapt to higher education and campus culture (Aries, 2008; Gross, 2017). Utilizing the theoretical framework Astin’s (1984) Theory of Student Involvement, Astin’s (1993) I-E-O Model and Critical Race Theory, this qualitative study explored the impact of living learning communities (LLCs) on the college success of underserved minority (USM) students at Southern Regional University. Through individual semi-structured interviews, this study provides insight into the lived experiences of five underserved minority USM students who live on campus and are members of an LLC and four USM students who live in campus housing but are not members of an LLC. The findings from this study suggest the benefits of living on campus, regardless of LLC participation and stress the importance of having a sense of belonging, establishing relationships with faculty or staff and self-efficacy

Factors Influencing College Choice: A Study of Enrollment Decisions at a Regional Comprehensive University

This research uses a linear probability model to analyze the enrollment decisions of applicants to Sycamore U and identify factors that affect the likelihood of 1 enrolling. The results of this regression indicate that Sycamore U faces challenges in enrolling minority students, as do many similar institutions, but that aspiring teachers and students with a family connection to Sycamore U are more likely to enroll. Students also appear to react strongly to merit-based financial aid and, to a lesser extent, need-based financial aid offerings from Sycamore U

Building Credibility and Consensus as Newly-Tenured or Junior Faculty Chairs

Participants will explore the challenges that newly-tenured or junior faculty department chairs may face. Representing a small, private college and a regional comprehensive university, our panelists will offer recommendations for building credibility and consensus within the department even when there may be a gap of age and/or experience between the chair and faculty

Implementing a One-to-One Technology Initiative in Higher Education

This paper describes the process of conceptualizing and implementing a one-to-one technology initiative at a regional comprehensive university. Organized around the principle that sustainable change requires attention to clear, justifiable goals, attention to key decisions, the development of stakeholder investment, adequate training, building appropriate infrastructure, and a concern for sustainability, the authors provide specific examples detailing how the change initiative in which they participated addressed each of those areas

Ready Pupil One: Online Learning Experiences of Undergraduate STEM Majors at a Midwest Regional Comprehensive University

Many institutions of higher education in the United States, and, indeed, around the world, are feeling multi-faceted pressures to offer course content through online delivery modes. Administrators of institutions of higher education often view such delivery as a way to raise revenue and reduce costs for the institution while also often offering students flexibility to learn at their own pace. Still, many students and faculty alike often also encounter challenges with online delivery. In this phenomenological qualitative study, I explored the positive and negative experiences of undergraduate STEM majors who had taken at least one major-required, STEM-focused, class delivered entirely online. Using a semi-structured interview format, I interviewed twenty-three undergraduate STEM majors at a mid-sized, public, four-year Regional Comprehensive University. Students described their learning experiences, which I then analyzed for emergent themes. The majority of participants reported feelings of isolation and loneliness in their classes, owing, primarily, to a lack of opportunity to interact with their peers in substantial ways. This study’s findings align with previous research suggesting that best practices for online synchronous and asynchronous instruction include giving students opportunities to learn collaboratively with peers and interact regularly with their professors

Creating A Model For High Impact Practices At A Large, Regional, Comprehensive University: A Case Study

Student engagement in High Impact Practices (HIPs) has been gaining the attention of higher education leaders and researchers. When students are actively engaged in the learning process they report greater gains in learning and personal development. Students involved in HIPs show better retention, higher GPA and succeed in graduating college in a timely manner. Less advantaged students benefit even more when they participate in these practices. As university funding models are becoming performance based, HIPs are more important in ensuring students success. The following presents a case-study at a large, regional, comprehensive university- California State University Fullerton in Southern California. In 2013, the Strategic Plan was implemented at CSUF. The plan contained four goals. Goal number two was to “improve student persistence, increase graduation rates University-wide, and narrow the achievement gap for underrepresented students.” One of the objectives for this goal was to “Increase participation in High-Impact Practices (HIPs) and ensure that 75% of CSUF students participate in at least two HIPs by graduation.” How do you get a university of over 38,000 students to have 75% of the students participating in HIPs? A strategic plan task force was created to define HIPs, create an assessment report on HIP outcomes (focusing on increased retention and graduation rates), and develop a system for creating HIPs on a campus as large as CSUF (a result of the AAC&U experience).This case study describes their preliminary work

A Research Project of Developing a Research Data Management Service (RDS) Program at CWU: Needs Assessment and Recommendations

The project is to analyze the needs of Central Washington University (CWU) researchers for research data management services (RDS) through an assessment and evaluation process, discuss the possibility of developing an RDS at CWU Libraries. A survey was designed to assess and evaluate CWU researchers’ needs for RDS and to explore the feasibility of launching an RDS program at CWU Libraries. Through analyzing the survey results, this study found that the researchers’ needs in a regional comprehensive university such as CWU could be quite different from those of researchers in a research-intensive university. Thus, with limited budget and resources, a regional comprehensive university library should make an in-depth assessment and evaluation to have a better understanding of its researchers’ needs before launching an RDS program. Also, a regional comprehensive university library should consolidate its current resources and focus on the services derived from the assessment and evaluation process

Developing research data management services in a regional comprehensive university: The case of Central Washington University

This study aims to analyze the needs of researchers in a regional comprehensive university for research data management services; discuss the options for developing a research data management program at the university; and then propose a phased three-year implementation plan for the university libraries. The method was to design a survey to collect information from researchers and assess and evaluate their needs for research data management services. The results show that researchers’ needs in a regional comprehensive university could be quite different from those of researchers in a research-intensive university. Also, the results verify the hypothesis that researchers in the regional comprehensive university would welcome the libraries offering managed data services for the research community. Therefore, this study suggests a phased three-year implementation plan. The significance of the study is that it can give some insights and helpful information for regional comprehensive universities that are planning to develop a research data management program

How Do Management Students Prefer to Learn? Why Should We Care?

This paper reports the findings of a study of the learning styles of students in the operations management class at a regional comprehensive university in southeastern United States. Extant learning styles are found to be highly diverse and differ by student gender. However, in contrast to at least one prior study, the learning styles of our respondents did not differ by student major. Five areas of opportunity for future research arising from the results of this study are identified in the paper’s conclusion