Academic Affairs

What Has Happened So Far:

Mike Caulfield, Irene Herold and Jenny Darrow have been tasked with doing the first draft of an Academic Affairs Academic Technology Plan. We’ve been working on it for a few weeks and have had some very inspirational moments. We invite you to visit and contribute your thoughts to our working draft which is visible on our wiki workspace: http://atvision.pbwiki.com

By using a wiki we are modeling some of the behaviors we want the plan to foster. Please note: 1) this is a living draft with ongoing changes 2) it’s hyper (i.e. not linear) so don’t expect a traditional draft document 3) the thought process is part of the draft so be forewarned.

Some of the comments we have received about the wiki are:

“I really enjoyed reading what’s up there, and I’m very intrigued with how the vision gets realized in the rest of the plan. Very exciting.”

“I like that it is not linear. It provides opportunities to go all over the place and brainstorm with a really large number of people without leaving your desk! The world is at your finger tips. It is really creative. An opportunity to pull in ideas you could not get to in other ways.”

Another person immediately commented in an email response about a project one of their students is engaged with and how the of vision of Academic Technology as drafted would support their activity.

Next Steps:

After discussion on the wiki, the draft will move through Academic Affairs Council for comment, and then to the Academic Technology Steering Committee (ATSC) for further revision. At this point ATSC will bring forward their version for campus comment. Whether this is through a campus forum(s) for discussion or some other mechanism is up to the ATSC. After this it will move to the College Information Technology Committee (CITC) for support and then to the Principle Administrators for adoption or revision.

We invite you to participate!
http://atvision.pbwiki.com

Tags: Academic Technology Strategic Plan, Wiki // 1 Comment »

In the last three years I have participated as part of a New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Inc. Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, or NEASC for short, accreditation team on site visits to two institutions. This year in November I will be going on another one, but this time under the new standards adopted in January 2006. I recently attended a standards training session and specifically met with other librarians who will be assessing institutions on their ability to express their work on Standard Seven Library and Other Information Resources and Standard Ten Public Disclosure. I do not know why NEASC always pairs those two standards and gives them to one individual to review, but they do. How understanding libraries and academic technologies equates with marketing and web presence is a logical disconnect for me. Still it is my assignment and each time I do it I learn so much about how colleges and universities work, how interconnected all of our work is, and how varied and yet similar educational institutions accomplish their tasks.

Another benefit of working with the NEASC materials is the insight I gain looking toward our own institution’s next NEASC site visit in 2010. With the revised standards we have a lot of work to do to make seamless and transparent our interconnectedness. For example, what’s not new with the new standards is that they are purposely constructed ambiguously since they are mission-centric, intended to be aspirational and to be met at least minimally, non-prescriptive (only three numbers are prescribed in all of the standards), largely qualitative, include evaluation for improvement and are intended to help the institution anticipate the future. What are new sections are heightened emphases on educational quality and student success, program review, institutional capacity, role of the governing board, public disclosure and institutional effectiveness.

Institutional effectiveness is expressed as balancing inputs, processes and outcomes. NEASC does not proscribe one way to do this assessment. They acknowledge that there are multiple valid approaches to measuring student success. They know that not every measure is appropriate for every institution. But they do require that institutions do some kind of measurement(s) and explain why they are doing that approach. Every standard now has as the last numbered paragraph references to institutional effectiveness.

Since one of my review areas is Public Disclosure, it is interesting to note that there are some new items that NEASC looks for institutions to disclose including: statements of goals for students’ education and success in achieving those goals; rates of retention and graduation and other measures of student success; passage rates for licensure exams; total cost of education; and availability of academic and other support services. There’s a new “Public Disclosure ‘checklist’” that breaks down each piece of Standard Ten and requires an institution to list the URL or print publication where that piece of information is available.

As we go through the process of creating our four-year institutional effectiveness plans, it is not too soon to look at the NEASC standards and think about how your program or unit’s assessment plan will address your particular standard’s institutional effectiveness section. There might not be a fit, since NEASC isn’t prescriptive and is constructed ambiguously to give us the latitude to do our work in the way that makes the best sense for our institution. Still it doesn’t hurt to take a look and know what will need to be addressed in the future.

Page One Public Disclosure Checklist
Page Two Public Disclosure Checklist

Tags: NEASC, assessment // Add Comment »

In this morning’s Chronicle of Higher Education, Max Clio (the pseudonym of a Big-Ten historian) writes about “teaching styles“. Basically, his point is that we spend a lot of time studying and understanding students’ learning styles, but shouldn’t we also be interested in the variety of teaching styles among faculty. His point of reference is that each semester he assigns a book that he hasn’t read. The result, for him, is the excitement of discovering a text along with his students.

This immediately brought be back to my days in the classroom. I used to team teach a course in minority voices with a colleague of mine in the communication department. My style was loose and fluid (and not a little clumsy at times). I’d never teach with more that a page of notes. A beginning and an end. I didn’t know the path we’d take to get there, but I had confidence we would reach the point I needed to make in the class.

My colleague charted her path with meticulous detail. Her lectures were an elegant road map that took us point by point to the conclusion she needed to make. Her lectures were always a discovery for me, and equally effective in engaging the students in the topic.

We learned very quickly that our teaching styles wouldn’t work for the other. When one of us was primary during a particular class period, we did it our own way. When we were up there together–which was most of the time–we developed an approach that blended our teaching styles. And we learned from each other.

A commitment to teaching is a commitment to lifelong learning. And it’s not just content I’m talking about here. Learning about my colleague’s approach to teaching forever influenced my own pedagogical techniques. And even though I’m less frequently in the classroom these days, I still attend to my teaching. I still love the thrill that comes from a great class, and I still love the excitement that comes from knowing where I want to get to with only a slight notion of how I’m going to get there.

Tags: teaching // Add Comment »

Today we introduce our first guest author on the Academic Affairs Blog. I recently had a discussion with our Distinguished Teacher Therese Seibert about the start of the semester. I enjoyed our conversation and asked her to blog about it. And now a word from Therese Seibert.

A SEASON OF CHANGE
Fall is in the air. I love it, and not just because of the beautiful array of colors that blanket the countryside. Fall means change, new beginnings and fresh starts, including the start of a new semester. Change and the opportunity to try again is one of the many aspects I love about academia. If some teaching approach did not work last semester, I can try a new one. If that paper did not get accepted by a journal, there is always the chance to improve it and try again. Most often in my case, there is the welcome change of getting it out the door in the first place.

The start of this semester ushered in two momentous changes at Keene State: the campus-wide, four-credit model and a new general education curriculum, now referred to as the Integrative Studies Program (ISP). Oh yes, there is also the rotary, but that’s for another blog. For now, I would like to talk about my own experience with the four-credit model and ISP.

A year ago I reluctantly agreed to teach a Quantitative Literacy (IQL) course for the ISP. Wait a minute. Didn’t I just celebrate change? Why the reluctance? I was concerned that additional resources would be taken out of my department that already struggles to offer majors a breadth of courses. But there was another reason, one that I am not proud of. In fact, I hesitate to confess it publicly. So let me put it this way… I am usually not the first person in my department to jump at the chance to teach first-year students. I admit it. Teaching small classes with mature, highly motivated, and well-prepared students is appealing.

Well taking into account some inevitable variation, my first-year, IQL course “Africa by the Numbers” has proven to be a relatively small class with mature, highly motivated, and well prepared students. Here is some empirical evidence to support my observation:
• Most of the students come to class early, not simply on time but early, having read the material carefully. How do I know this? They participate in class discussions, and they question me on material which is a good thing, a very good thing. Yes, this is supposed to be the norm, but I am seeing an appreciable improvement in these areas.
• Many of the students have spoken about studying Africa in a high school course. Indeed, a number of them have suggested videos and books to me, which is also a very good thing. These students demonstrate a greater awareness of global issues than previous cohorts.
• Within one class, most learned how to generate demographic data in Excel. Within one class, they generated a population pyramid using the statistical software package SPSS. This meant learning how to enter data and how to use SPSS in the first place. Some students even tell me how to make my own charts look nicer. I guess this is a good thing; I am still getting used to this one. But most tell me that they took courses in Excel and other computer applications in high school. They are by far the most technologically savvy cohort of first-year students that I have ever taught.

Sociologists always want to know why social phenomena occur; this one is no different for me. Maybe it is the smaller class sizes for IQL courses or the extra time that allows me to cover projects from start to finish in one period. Maybe we are now experiencing the effects of high schools internationalizing their curriculum and infusing more technology. Maybe our curriculum changes are increasingly attracting well-prepared students. Maybe students are getting the message about academic rigor through admissions, orientation, and so forth. Maybe it was the first-year convocation, and in particular, Provost Netzhammer’s speech on our commitment to high academic standards. Maybe it is none, some, or a confluence of all of these factors. What I do know is that I am enjoying this class and the beautiful fall season.

Tags: IQL, ITW, academic excellence, teaching // Add Comment »

So, The Annals of Improbable Research released the 17th Annual Ig Nobel Prizes, and the list is intriguing. If you don’t know these awards, they’re a humorous take on some of the research we academics are doing. The kind that’s easy to make fun of. This year I’m thinking, though, “I want to know more about this!”

Okay, I get a little queasy thinking about the possibility of cooking with vanilla extracted from cow dung, but I’m curious about the process that led Mayu Yamamoto to consider this research direction. I’m also curious about what led Juan Manuel Toro, Josep B. Trobalon, and Núria Sebastián-Gallés to explore the phenomenon that rats sometimes cannot tell the difference between a person speaking Japanese backwards and a person speaking Dutch backwards.

What intrigues me, though, is that a couple of the Ig Nobel Laureates are exploring things that, at another time in my life, I might have considered. Take, for example, the work of literature Laureate Glenda Browne. She studied the word “the” and the problems it causes in alphabetization. This alphabetizing thing has frustrated me for most of my adult life, and computers are only exacerbating the problem. If Dr. Browne’s research can bring some sanity to this area, then I emplore her to continue her work.

And what of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the winner of this year’s Peace Prize. The lab is working on a research into a bomb that would make enemy soldiers sexually attracted to each other. The thinking behind thisis that soldiers would be likelier to concentrate on love rather than war. This is cool. My first thought is that since this is a gay bomb, we should proceed cautiously in making the military gender neutral. My second thought, though, is that if this were research done right, we’d learn so much about the science of sexual orientation and the politics and complexities of warfare (not that I’m thrilled that these are part of the same research project) that I could be fascinated for days.

And that’s where I end this morning. Anyone can take our research and with a quick turn of phrase make it seem trivial. What makes the Ig Nobel awards fun is that we have a sense of humor about ourselves and our work. That I like. And the truth is, there’s little that is ignoble about this work–our work. I do, in fact, want to know about the results of the study by Johanna E.M.H. van Bronswijk, whom completed a census of all the mites, insects, spiders, pseudoscorpions, crustaceans, bacteria, algae, ferns, and fungi with whom we share our beds each night. As queasy as it might make me, this is interesting stuff.

Tags: research // 1 Comment »

I’m just heading out to attend the last two Parent/Family weekend. It’s been a lot of fun, though I am a little exhausted (though certainly not the only one). These are my thoughts as I head out the door.

One of the President’s expectations, strongly supported by all of the VP’s, is that as we continue our quest to make our academic programs stronger that we look to beef up the academic component of everything we do. Academics is everywhere. We’ve changed the orientation program to strengthen academic expectations. We’ve changed things in the residence halls to facilitate learning. We created new rituals–specifically the new student convocation–to make it clear that we have high expectations for our students. Even in athletics, we attend to academics. Many people don’t realize that when Vice President Kowpak reminds us that we are the Number 1 public institution in New England and the 19th ranked Division 3 institution nationwide the we’re talking about the academic performance of our athletes.

We’ve also committed to strengthening the academic component of Parent/Family Weekend. On Friday, 73 parents attended 7 classes that they had pre-registered for, just like their students. Today, we have our first Celebration of Academic Excellence during the Weekend. We’ll be showcasing Student-Faculty Partnerships, from studying abroad to undergraduate research initiatives to community outreach.

This is exciting stuff. It’s also rather new. We’re trying new things on our campus and we’re having tremendous success. But we don’t always succeed. A class is missed, someone forgets to show up, we’ve been a little late in notifying people about a few things. For those, I apologize to those affected.

 For today, I ask that everyone take great pride in the revitalized commitment to academic achievement and to our core purpose as an institution of higher education. It’s nothing short of thrilling…mistakes and all.

Tags: academic excellence, orientation, parents, residence life // Add Comment »

Last week, we were finally able to go public with our big announcement: Rick and Jan Cohen have endowed our first chair, The Cohen Chair for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. We’ve been itching to shout about this for some time now, and the day was a marvelous one.

President Helen Giles-Gee did a great job of explaining the four reasons why this is so important to Keene State College:

First, the gift is the largest single gift in the history of the College. It speaks to the continuous and strong commitment the Cohen family has had for the education and particularly for this public college. Theirs is a long standing recognition that supports the need for high quality higher education for all of this State’s citizens

Secondly, their gift supports the development of academic curriculum in Holocaust studies extending its study to include genocide to address not only the past but unfortunately the atrocities of today. This is a gift that truly will serve the world. 

Ihird, this gift creates a perpetual academic position of leadership. An endowed chair is an academic distinction awarded to a scholar in recognition of past and potential original contributions to the individual’s discipline. The scholar serves as faculty providing oversight for curricular development, teaching and research with colleagues and students.

Fourth, the Cohen’s gift signals the importance of a contribution to enhance quality of the academic program for not only the good of students at this institution but for the good of us all.

Keene State College is honored and privileged to receive this endowment from the Cohens. As the president suggests, a gift of this nature is both a recognition of the high quality of the academic program and a partnership that will allow us to be even better in the future.

This is a big deal. This is a very big deal.

Periodically, I’ll be blogging about some of the other big deals on campus. There are so many ways we demonstrate academic excellence in exciting an innovative ways. This blog is a great opportunity to feature them.

 For now, thanks to the Cohens and to the faculty and staff of the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies who have done great work–the kind of work that merits such an incredible gift.

Tags: academic excellence, endowed chair // Add Comment »

This afternoon I get to spend some time with Judy Cramer, a Keene State graduate from the 1980s. I first met Judy when we became colleagues at Buffalo State College in the mid-1990s. She moved on to a position at another school a few years later, but we’ve remained friends. Last year about this time I received an email from Judy that started, “I opened the new issue of Keene State Today and imagine my surprise….” So, we’ve reconnected as members of the Keene State community.

Judy achieved some degree of fame at Keene State as the first woman to be sports editor of the Equinox and the first woman to be sports director of the radio station. She has since gone on to develop a reputation as an important scholar in the areas of women in radio and women in sports and sports journalism. She’s currently an associate professor at St. John’s University.

So, why is this a momentous occasion worthy of a blog entry? The prospect of Judy’s visit has got me thinking about the role our alumni play at Keene State College. My interest at the moment is a curricular one. Our colleague and Alumni Board president David Gagne speaks often about the interest of our alumni coming back to serve the institution. And they’re on campus frequently. But I wonder about the degree to which we think about our alumni as those who can offer an important classroom experience for our students.

As a faculty member, I was often confronted with this issue. I’d get a call from a dean or someone in advancement that began, “So and so from the class of 19-something or other is going to be on campus next week. Wouldn’t you love to have him guest lecture in your class?” I remember at the time that my thinking along these lines: What am I going to give up if I turn a day over to so and so? Why is advancement getting involved in how I handle my classes? I have a set curriculum and it doesn’t allow for this tangent.

A few short years later, I became the dean who made the phone call to the faculty member. As I began to network with alumni–one of the things I loved about being dean and now about being Provost–I came to realize that these were not just friends of the college who wanted to bring their war stories to classes. These were people who had integrated the knowledge and experiences gained as a college student into successful careers. They were master practitioners who had much to offer our students in the classroom.

It was the theater department faculty who really helped me to change my thinking. They were constantly bringing back alumni, often on no notice, and were marvelously effective at integrating the alumni perspective. Students got a demonstration and testimonial of how college learning is the foundation for post-college success. And they buckled down. The department faculty built a theater–literally and figuratively, by the way–by integrating alumni into their curriculum. They recognized that alumni were a key indicator of the success of their program.

 When we’re asked to engage our alumni in a classroom experience, we should think less about the cost and more about the benefits to our curriculum and to student success. It forces us to be a little nimble, but I like that challenge, too.  And if it supports other institutional goals, well we’re all a part of this community and should support the goals of the institution.

Tags: alumni // Add Comment »

NEASC (www.neasc.org) had a daylong event in Boston on Tuesday to more or less do a reality check about public disclosure, assessment, institutional effectiveness and, oh yes, accountability. The meeting was equal parts helpful and frustrating. My frustration was with my colleagues who still can’t get beyond what they see as the unfairness of the accountability movement. It’s here, it’s been here, it will be here. (And I don’t think for a second that any leadership changes in D.C. will have a dramatic impact on all this.) We simply must play in this world, and no amount of complaining is going to change that. I’ve vented, and now I’ll move on.

People on campus have asked me about my bulldozer push into the world of assessment. I should note first and foremost that I advocate for assessment because I think it is the right thing to do. I have seen departments and programs reinvented in miraculous ways when the faculty came together and embraced assessment. I think we have a responsibility to measure what our students are learning and how effective all of our units are in meeting the outcomes we set for ourselves.

The external forces are huge here, too. There is nothing inherently wrong in the people who fund us (legislators, taxpayers, parents and students, themselves) holding us accountable. Without a doubt, much of the work on accountability in higher education has failed to consider the goals and processes of higher ed. But the goals are not insidious.

If I’m pushing for better assessment on our campus, it’s because I think it’s the right thing for us. If I’m pushing particularly hard, it’s because of the external forces at play. The Secretary of Education is applying huge pressure for colleges to get their act together around assessment. But in the end, it’s not just politics, it’s pragmatism. Our NEASC visit is right around the corner. We’re fast coming up on the self-study. We need to demonstrate that we have a command of institutional effectiveness and that we are making improvements based on the information we’re collecting. And so we shall.

I think we actually have a solid infrastructure in place. As we’ve prepared for the 4-credit conversion, we’ve revised all of our programs and made them assessment ready. Awesome! We’ve been doing a fair amount already. Much of what we need to do is better coordinating of work we do and institutionalizing these processes. And, of course, people are in very different places around this.

Which brings me to the helpful piece of the NEASC meeting. Demonstration of institutional effectiveness is still largely driven by the institution itself with the guidance of the regional accrediting body (in our case, NEASC). The meeting on Tuesday gave us better guidance and some options. I will write about the Voluntary System of Accountability being promoted by AASCU and NASULGC, but I’m impressed with how the VSA helps us to frame and control the debate. The current report is worth a read (http://www.nasulgc.org/vsa-8-31-06.pdf).

So, we don’t have a choice. That really doesn’t matter because it’s the right thing for Keene State College, and this is the right time.

Tags: academic priorities, accountability, assessment // 1 Comment »

Welcome to the Academic Affairs Blog on  Keeneweb.org. The provost and members of the Academic Affairs Council will use this space to talk about Keene State priorities and to contextualize our priorities within the national dialogue on higher education. This is also a place where we’ll recognize some of the major achievements in Academic Affairs, and we’ll invite some of our colleagues to be guest bloggers on the site.

This is a transformational moment for Keene State, and the Academic Affairs Blog will give us an opportunity to reflect on the changes afoot. This is not a one-way communication. Please comment and join us in this dialogue.

Tags: Uncategorized // Add Comment »