Poster Sessions

A Practical Model for Developing Micro-credential Infrastructure and Community Partnerships

Jennifer Bryer and Justin Dolce, Farmingdale State College

This poster session will provide information about a leadership initiative aimed at developing a micro-credential program for a public technology college. The objective of this initiative is to collaborate with faculty to create credential programs design.

Considerations Impacting Protégé Self-Selection of Academic Mentors

Jordan Terry and Evan Walker, United States Military Academy at West Point

This poster session will generate discussion focused on the factors impacting the self-selection of mentors by approximately one thousand students in an undergraduate organizational leadership course. We will describe the prevalence of demographic homogeneity in matching, as well as the distribution of selected mentors by level of experience, operational specialty, and academic field. Our research will stimulate intellectual discourse to better understand the impacts of matching characteristics on the frequency and length of meetings with mentors, the topics of mentorship meetings, and the perceived value of the mentorship relationship from the perspective of the protégé.

Documenting Course Quality Across Modalities: Implementing Best Practices for Assessment

Amy Poland and Jo Anne Durovich, St. Joseph’s College-New York

Multiple reasons for assessing the quality of online programs exist from the practical (accreditation) to best practices in the field (current research) and continuous improvement of academic programs for students. By utilizing both direct and indirect measures of assessment, the authors developed a systematic mixed method analysis for measuring faculty presence, student participation and other indicators that course objectives are being met in online classes similarly to land-based classes. These analyses included student performance (course grades), student course evaluations (both quantitative and qualitative responses), and focus groups with alumni from both land-based and online programs.

Dump the Old Model: New Interview Strategy for Better Hires

Christie Magoulias, University of Illinois Springfield

After a new administrator failed in the first seven months on the job, the hiring team looked inward to find the blame—and the solution. The team determined that the interview was a major flaw in the selection of the candidate and designed a new interview strategy to provide the insight needed to select the right candidate. Standard interviews of administrators and faculty in K–12 and higher education are restrictive, predictable, shallow, and leading. To remedy this, the team created a new interview model to improve the outcome of the selection of new hires.

Giving Meaningful Feedback in Higher Education

Sandy Morse, University of Rochester School of Nursing

This poster presentation offers educational leaders a summary of evidence-based approaches to offer meaningful feedback in higher education and how these can be applied both in practice, and in the teaching of students at all levels. The presenter will highlight the concept of psychological safety and illustrate the importance of this concept in the setting of providing meaningful feedback to learners. The educator’s ability to apply the evidence-based practices described in this poster presentation can also have a positive impact on retention and student, faculty, and staff satisfaction.

Leadership in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environment

Carel Daniel Jansen van Vuuren, University of the Western Cape

Higher Education is becoming increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA). This is due to increased globalization and rapidly changing technological, social, economic, and political spheres. Previous leadership models are failing and leadership is challenged to find new ways to be successful. A study investigating contemporary leadership behavior enabling high performance in a Public University in the Western Cape, South Africa, was initiated. A qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews was used. The method of thematic analyses was employed and themes were identified from the transcribed interviews. The sample consisted of leadership ranging from Junior Managers to Deputy Vice Chancellors.

Mental Health and Online Post-Secondary Learning Environments

Natalie Frandsen, University of Victoria

Twenty-four percent of first-year university students self-declare as having a disability, most commonly related to mental health (14%) (Canadian University Survey Consortium, 2019). Each year, more students with disabilities (Rao, Edelen-Smith & Wailehua, 2015) and with mental-health-related challenges enroll in post-secondary institutions (American College Health Association, 2016). Concurrently, more students are taking online courses for credit (Donovan et al., 2019). These increases pose challenges for students and educators. Key literature review findings will be shared with program participants including factors contributing to academic performance for undergraduate and graduate level students with mental-health-related disabilities taking online-courses for credit.

Online Graduate Program Assessment Design and Validation

Michael Mott, The University of Mississippi

Research addressing a graduate-level online program assessment design and validation process for improving student learning closely aligned with program course goals and objectives will be presented. Higher education administrators/program coordinators and others will interact with findings that summarize how a program-wide collaborative assessment design and validation can aide course instructors with a coherent and cohesive approach to supporting students learning online across and within their coursework.

The Critical Issue of Presidential Turnover in Higher Education

Tabitha Coffman, Hardin-Simmons University

The presentation will investigate the critical issue of presidential turnover in higher education. The president’s unique role encompasses a plethora of functional areas that leads to questioning of leadership preparation and training due to the continual rise in presidential turnover rates since the recession of 2009. The current tenure of presidents averages six and a half years with, approximately 68 million dollars spent on recruiting and search firms. The average age of presidents increased when entering the position, and a shift from experienced academic leaders to business-oriented individuals hired from outside of higher increased dramatically increased in the last decade.