Professional Development

For nearly two decades, pundits have been predicting the demise of higher education in the United States. Our colleges and universities will soon find themselves competing for students with universities from around the world. With the advent of massive open online courses ("MOOCS") over the past two years, predictions that higher education will be the next industry to undergo "disruption" have become more frequent and fervent. Currently a university's reputation relies heavily on the "four Rs" in which the most elite schools thrive--rankings, research, real estate, and rah! (i.e. sports). But for the majority of students who are not attending these elite institutions, the "four Rs" offer poor value for the expense of a college education. Craig sees the future of higher education in online degrees that unbundle course offerings to offer a true bottom line return for the majority of students in terms of graduation, employment, and wages. College Disrupted details the changes that American higher education will undergo, including the transformation from packaged courses and degrees to truly unbundled course offerings, along with those that it will not. Written by a professional at the only investment firm focused on the higher education market, College Disrupted takes a creative view of the forces roiling higher education and the likely outcome, including light-hearted, real-life anecdotes that illustrate the author's points.

Using social media to enhance learning outcomes, engagement, and retention Although research shows that most of today′s college students adopt and use social media at high rates, many higher education professionals are unaware of how these technologies can be used for academic benefit. Author Reynol Junco, associate professor at Purdue University and fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet & Society, has been widely cited for his research on the impact of social technology on students. In Engaging Students through Social Media: Evidence-Based Practice for Use in Student Affairs, he offers a practical plan for implementing effective social media strategies within higher education settings. The book bridges the gap between a desire to use social media and the process knowledge needed to actually implement and assess effective social media interventions, providing a research-based understanding of how students use social media and the ways it can be used to enhance student learning. Discover how social media can be used to enhance student development and improves academic outcomes Learn appropriate strategies for social media use and how they contribute to student success in both formal and informal learning settings Dispel popular myths about how social media use affects students Learn to use social media as a way to engage students, teach online civil discourse, and support student development The benefits of social media engagement include improvements in critical thinking skills, content knowledge, diversity appreciation, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, community engagement, and student persistence. This resource helps higher education professionals understand the value of using social media, and offers research-based strategies for implementing it effectively.

In clear and concise language, veteran education writer Robert Rothman identifies nine instructional "shifts" encouraged by the new Common Core State Standards and provides examples of how teachers and school districts are overcoming challenges in implementation.

Supplying a foundation for understanding the development of the brain and the learning process, this text examines the physical and environmental factors that influence how we acquire and retain information throughout our lives. The book also lays out practical strategies that educators can take directly into the classroom. * Covers a wide range of topics written by educationists, psychologists, and neuroscientists who are all experts in their field * Provides meaningful instructional strategies that can be applied in the real world to improve educators' results * Examines the brain through the human lifespan—prenatal, early childhood, childhood, adolescence, adult, and old age—in order to supply a comprehensive look at how neuroscience can be applied to improve learning at all stages of maturity * Addresses cognitive neuroscience findings as they relate to special education students—invaluable information for educators who work with this important group of learners

This book tells the compelling saga of American higher education from the founding of Harvard College in 1636 to the outbreak of World War II. The most in-depth and authoritative history of the subject available, The History of American Higher Education traces how colleges and universities were shaped by the shifting influences of culture, the emergence of new career opportunities, and the unrelenting advancement of knowledge. Roger Geiger, arguably today's leading historian of American higher education, vividly describes how colonial colleges developed a unified yet diverse educational tradition capable of weathering the social upheaval of the Revolution as well as the evangelical fervor of the Second Great Awakening. He shows how the character of college education in different regions diverged significantly in the years leading up to the Civil War--for example, the state universities of the antebellum South were dominated by the sons of planters and their culture--and how higher education was later revolutionized by the land-grant movement, the growth of academic professionalism, and the transformation of campus life by students. By the beginning of the Second World War, the standard American university had taken shape, setting the stage for the postwar education boom. Breathtaking in scope and rich in narrative detail, The History of American Higher Education is the most comprehensive single-volume history of the origins and development of American higher education.

Today's emphasis on metrics and personalization make evidence-based instruction an imperative. In this practice-based handbook, the authors draw on the research of the humanistic psychologist and educator Carl Rogers to present an empathetic approach to information literacy sessions, reference service, and outreach. With an eye on everyday library work, they offer concrete, empirically-based strategies to connect with learners at all levels. Offering plentiful examples of pedagogy in action, this book covers: 6 cognitive principles for organizing information literacy instruction, with sample worksheets and organization tools for instruction planning; how to establish rapport and kindle learners' motivation; tactics for transcending "cite 5 sources" and other uninspiring research assignments; educational evidence debunking the mythical perception that because students are skilled at computers and mobile technology, they already know how to do research; questions to keep in mind for inspiring autonomous learning; the power of story, as described by Joan Didion, Bren Brown's Ted Talk, and educational psychology research; the science behind information overload; and a balanced framework for evaluating specific educational technology tools. Fusing theory with practice, this handbook is a valuable resource to help every practitioner connect with learners more effectively.

On Being a Mentor is the definitive guide to the art and science of engaging students and faculty in effective mentoring relationships in all academic disciplines. Written with pithy clarity and rooted in the latest research on developmental relationships in higher educational settings, this essential primer reviews the strategies, guidelines, and best practices for those who want to excel as mentors. Evidence-based advice on the rules of engagement for mentoring, mentor functions, qualities of good mentors, and methods for forming and managing these relationships are provided. Summaries of mentorship relationship phases and guidance for adhering to ethical principles are reviewed along with guidance about mentoring specific populations and those who differ from the mentor in terms of sex and race. Advice about managing problem mentorships, selecting and training mentors, and measuring mentorship outcomes and recommendations for department chairs and deans on how to foster a culture of excellent mentoring in an academic community is provided. Chalk full of illustrative case-vignettes, this book is the ideal training tool for mentoring workshops. Highlights of the new edition include: Introduces a new model for conceptualizing mentoring relationships in the context of the various relationships professors typically develop with students and faculty (ch. 2). Provides guidance for creating a successful mentoring culture and structure within a department or institution (ch. 16). Now includes questions for reflection and discussion and recommended readings at the end of each chapter for those who wish to delve deeper into the content. Best Practices sections highlight the key takeaway messages. The latest research on mentoring in higher education throughout. Part I introduces mentoring in academia and distinguishes mentoring from other types of relationships. The nuts and bolts of good mentoring from the qualities of those who succeed as mentors to the common behaviors of outstanding mentors are the focus of Part II. Guidance in establishing mentorships with students and faculty, the common phases of mentorship, and the ethical principles governing the mentoring enterprise is also provided. Part III addresses the unique issues and answers to successfully mentoring undergraduates, graduate students, and junior faculty members and considers skills required of faculty who mentor across gender and race. Part IV addresses management of dysfunctional mentorships and the documentation of mentorship outcomes. The book concludes with a chapter designed to encourage academic leaders to make high quality mentorship a salient part of the culture in their institutions. Ideal for faculty or career development seminars and teaching and learning centers in colleges and universities, this practical primer is appreciated by professors, department chairs, deans, and graduate students in colleges, universities, and professional schools in all academic fields including the social and behavioral sciences, education, natural sciences, humanities, and business, legal, and medical schools.

The college application process-which entails multiple forms, essays, test scores, and deadlines-can be intimidating. For students without substantial school and family support, the complexity of this process can become a barrier to access. William G. Tierney and his team at the University of Southern California approach this challenge innovatively. Using the tools of online games and social media, they have developed ways to make applying for college much less intimidating. While the vast majority of college students use social media and gaming in their everyday lives, colleges and universities have been slow to recognize and harness the power of either. Postsecondary Play explores the significance of games and social media in higher education, and particularly how they can be used to attract, retain, educate, and socialize students. Tierney, a past president of the American Educational Research Association, has gathered some of the best research on the emerging role of multiplayer games in the classroom and how these tools can boost student confidence and increase college access. Scholars writing from a wide variety of disciplines-college access, social media, game studies, and learning sciences-provide concrete examples to illustrate the new and complex ways in which students learn in response to social media and games. Tierney and the contributors find that, although games can be powerful tools for encouraging underserved students, quality game design and mastering the concept of play-the ability to develop skills while engaging in the game-are essential in the effective use of serious games in teaching and learning. Summarizing a decade of research in game design and learning, Postsecondary Play will appeal to higher education scholars and students of learning, online gaming, education, and the media.

Table of Contents Information -- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/cc.20271

Everyday learners use and reuse open, digital resources for learning. Reusing Open Resources offers a vision of the potential of these open, online resources to support learning. The book follows on from Reusing Online Resources: A Sustainable Approach to E-learning. At that time focus was on the creation, release and reuse of digital learning resources modeled on educational materials. Since then the open release of resources and data has become mainstream, rather than specialist, changing societal expectations around resource reuse. Social and professional learning networks are now routine places for the exchange of online knowledge resources that are shared, manipulated and reused in new ways, opening opportunities for new models of business, research and learning. The goal of this book is to extend the debate of how open, online resources might support learning across diverse contexts. Twenty-four distinguished experts from nine countries distributed across Europe and North America contribute empirical evidence and ideas. Collectively they provide a vision of the potential of open, online resources to support learning across everyday contexts of education, work and life.

In her groundbreaking history of 175 years of American education, Dana Goldstein finds answers in the past to the controversies that plague our public schools today. Teaching is a wildly contentious profession in America, one attacked and admired in equal measure. In The Teacher Wars, a rich, lively, and unprecedented history of public school teaching, Dana Goldstein reveals that teachers have been similarly embattled for nearly two centuries. From the genteel founding of the common schools movement in the nineteenth century to the violent inner-city teacher strikes of the 1960s and '70s, from the dispatching of Northeastern women to frontier schoolhouses to the founding of Teach for America on the Princeton University campus in 1989, Goldstein shows that the same issues have continued to bedevil us: Who should teach? What should be taught? Who should be held accountable for how our children learn? She uncovers the surprising roots of hot button issues, from teacher tenure to charter schools, and finds that recent popular ideas to improve schools--instituting merit pay, evaluating teachers by student test scores, ranking and firing veteran teachers, and recruiting "elite" graduates to teach--are all approaches that have been tried in the past without producing widespread change. And she also discovers an emerging effort that stands a real chance of transforming our schools for the better: drawing on the best practices of the three million public school teachers we already have in order to improve learning throughout our nation's classrooms. The Teacher Wars upends the conversation about American education by bringing the lessons of history to bear on the dilemmas we confront today. By asking "How did we get here?" Dana Goldstein brilliantly illuminates the path forward.

A CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title 2014! How can teachers transform classroom teaching and learning by making pedagogy more socially and culturally responsive, more relevant to students' lives, and more collaborative? How can they engage disaffected students in learning and at the same time promote deep understanding though high-quality teaching that goes beyond test preparation? This text for prospective and practicing teachers introduces engaging, innovative pedagogy for putting active and dramatic approaches to learning and teaching into action. Written in an accessible, conversational, and refreshingly honest style by a teacher and professor with over 30 years' experience, it features real examples of preschool, elementary, middle, and high school teachers working in actual classrooms in diverse settings. Their tales explore not only how, but also why, they have changed the way they teach. Photographs and stories of their classroom practice, along with summarizing charts of principles and strategies, both illuminate the critical, cross-curricular, and inquiry-based conceptual framework Edmiston develops and provide rich examples and straightforward guidelines that can support readers as they experiment with using active and dramatic approaches to dialogue, inquiry, building community, planning for exploration, and authentic assessment in their own classrooms.

Lately, our nation s strategy for improving our schools is mostly limited to getting tough with teachers. Blaming teachers for poor outcomes, we spend almost all of our energy trying to control teachers behavior and school operations. But what if all of this is exactly the opposite of what is needed? What if teachers are the answer and not the problem? What if trusting teachers, and not controlling them, is the key to school success? Examining the experiences of teachers who are already trusted to call the shots, this book answers: What would teachers do if they had the autonomy not just to make classroom decisions, but to collectively with their colleagues make the decisions influencing whole school success? Decisions such as school curriculum, how to allocate the school budget, and whom to hire. Teachers with decision-making authority create the schools that many of us profess to want. They individualize learning. Their students are active (not passive) learners who gain academic and life skills. The teachers create school cultures that are the same as those in high-performing organizations. They accept accountability and innovate, and make efficient use of resources. These promising results suggest: it s time to trust teachers."

In What Excellent Community Colleges Do, Joshua S. Wyner draws on the insights and evidence gained in administering the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. This book identifies four domains of excellence--degree completion, equity, student learning, and labor market success--and describes in rich detail the policies and practices that have allowed some community colleges to succeed in these domains. By starting with a holistic definition of excellence, measuring success against that definition, and then identifying practices and policies that align with high levels of student success, the author seeks to contribute to the growing body of knowledge about improving student success in community colleges.