Higher Ed Live

What are some strategies for establishing a culture of assessment and a systematic process of inquiry? What are methods beyond the traditional survey that we can employ to improve student learning and better serve our students? How can we creatively aggregate data and share our story with university stakeholders? How can we raise the bar in assessment education and skill across an entire division of Student Affairs? What are the emerging roles and responsibilities of divisional assessment coordinators? How do you overcome commonly stated barriers to assessment such as time constraints, limited resources, staff resistance, crisis of the immediate, and lack of skills? What is the potential for use of technology for collecting, analyzing, and processing data?

Learn the answers to these questions and more as host Tony Doody speaks with Dr. Gavin Henning, Director of the Master of Higher Education Administration and Doctorate of Education Programs at New England College, and Dr. Darby Roberts, Director of Student Life Studies at Texas A&M University.

Education is constantly shifting to best meet the needs of students and their future paths. One of the recent shifts that a significant number of high schools across the US are making is a movement towards competency-based assessment and grading systems. Within a competency-based education system, "learners advance through content or earn credit based on demonstration of proficiency of competencies" (source: Iowa Department of Education CBE Pathways). Depending on the institution, this may drastically change the grading system and transcript information from what many Admission Offices are accustomed to, thus impacting a significant amount of processes across the admissions and financial aid review process.

In an effort to understand the impact of this shift and to offer support to Admission offices seeking to improve their review process to honor this newer system, Admissions Live host Nicole Lentine will interview Michael Stefanowicz, Assistant Director of Admission at Saint Michael's College.

Every institution gears up for the most celebrated event in their student’s lives: graduation. Hear from top universities on what they are doing to make their graduation stand out from the rest.

What are the unique characteristics of Generation Z, or those born from 1995-2010? How should our college and university organizations, environments, policies, and curriculum adapt to best meet the needs of this newest generation to come to campus? What do student affairs educators need to know to best engage and connect with students from Generation Z? Corey Seemiller and Meghan Grace, authors of Generation Z Goes to College, write, “Although some characteristics may look similar to the Millennial Generation, Generation Z brings a whole new set of attributes and experiences to higher education.”

Recognizing alumni are smart, opinionated, and care about their alma mater, Columbia University launched a new initiative in August 2015 where alumni were explicitly asked to be all of these things. A new volunteer opportunity for the Columbia Alumni Association (CAA), called Alumni Voices, pings thousands of alumni and take a survey once a month.

Done correctly, recruitment for alumni panels can be designed to capture a representative sample and, as a result, provide responses that are statistically valid as if polling the entire population. The Columbia Alumni Voices panel proportionally represents alumni across all of the university's schools. Join the conversation with Andrew Gossen and the CAA team as they reveal the early results of this new digital volunteerism offer.

Higher Ed Live is excited to partner once again with the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) on a virtual book club initiative aimed to connect college admission professionals through regular book discussions. The #NACACreads book chat is a fun way to keep up with trends and network with colleagues on Twitter.

In an effort to elevate these discussions Admissions Live host Chris D’Orso will interview Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult, the next #NACACReads selection. Bring your questions to this live broadcast and save the date for the upcoming #NACACreads chat, May 17.

One of the greatest hidden benefits to usability testing is gaining credibility with both faculty and administration. Don't get caught in an endless debate about whose opinion is correct or how your website should be structured. Instead, get yourself to a place where everyone is comfortable asking, “What does the data say?”

Learn how to use online tools and student email addresses to gather data fast. The value of this data is immeasurable. Usability testing, in addition to data analysis, will arm you with the information you need to cut through internal politics.

The emergence of the chief marketing officer as a strategic leadership role in higher education has been well chronicled. According to a 2014 study, approximately half of CMOs report directly to the institution's president (or chancellor), and nearly 60 percent serve on the president's cabinet or leadership team. That still leaves a significant percentage of marketing departments that sit elsewhere within the organization, and a variety of models exist. In this episode, two senior-level marketing leaders will take a deep dive into the structures of communications and marketing departments. Whether the scenario is starting a new department or restructuring an existing one, they will explore all of the key considerations – including levels of centralization and relationships with admissions and advancement – and offer suggestions.

Our first episode on live video for alumni engagement just scratched the surface of what's doable when it comes to engaging alumni in real-time with video. As Periscope, Meerkat, Facebook LIVE, and other platforms continue to evolve and grow in popularity, alumni offices MUST include live video in their engagement strategies. In this episode of Advancement Live, Kim Brown speaks with experts from Duke and Cornell about what they've accomplished LIVE - and where they see future opportunities to expand live offerings.

They said it could not be done with shared governance, a model where the academic senate has equal say in decisions made that impact the whole university. How does this model work when you are trying to implement a search engine or any other enterprise software solution? This organizational structure is common and challenges many universities.

On this special edition of Higher Ed Live, Kevin McGlynn speaks with us about implementing large projects in a federated environment at University of Oxford. He'll share experience implementing one software solution centrally, and another on the outskirts, in isolation. Both approaches have their merits and both have been successful for different reasons.