Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Academic Leader Issue Update - September 2010
Listed below are the new articles for the issue of Academic Leader posted September 1, 2010. Simply click a title to go to that article page on our site and read the full article.
Establishing, Maximizing, and Refining Your Advisory Board
Defining the purpose and raison d’être of your advisory board is a critical first step in creating your board. A common function of an advisory board is to provide strategic guidance and expertise where you need it most—with an emphasis on the word “advise.” Explore these questions to bring clarity to your thinking: Where do you need assistance as a leader? What kind of expertise do you need to tap, and who has it? Once you have a clear mission and set of goals for your board, you are on your way to writing out a “charge” to your board that articulates members’ roles vis-à-vis your mission statement and goals.
Leadership under Pressure
A great deal of information is available about how academic leaders can cope with the stress and pressure of their positions. Most of these resources offer excellent advice on how to relieve or escape stress and to reduce its negative effects on an administrator’s life. But much less information is available about how to lead under stress, how to (in the words of Kipling’s “If”) “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you,” and how to focus on the good of your programs and their stakeholders despite serious challenges to your career or integrity. When it’s your campus that is in the midst of a natural disaster or terrorist attack, it’s not enough to cope with the pressure and make sure that your own interests are protected. These are the times when the purest form of leadership is necessary, and these situations can be among the severest tests of any administrator. Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind when facing your next crisis.
Redesigning an Academic Early Alert System: Creating Faculty Buy-in
Amid decreased state funding (McCluskey & Edwards 2009) and calls for increased accountability (Basken, 2008) there is a renewed sense of urgency in retaining students. Undoubtedly, one method to assist in retaining students is to implement an early warning system that effectively helps faculty identify and assist students with academic issues. Establishing such an alert system was the goal of the task force at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. The task force consisted of the dean of enrollment management; the dean of student success; the dean of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; the executive director of institutional effectiveness; the associate provost; the director of student advisement and career planning; a retention/completion specialist; and a faculty member.
Seven Steps for Dealing with Problem Faculty (The top concern of America’s academic chairs)
In a 2009 survey of America’s academic chairs almost 3,000 participants identified “dealing with problem faculty” as their greatest concern (Crookston, p. 13). The title of this article is not “seven easy steps for dealing with problem faculty.” The task was number one for a reason; rehabilitation is difficult and in rare cases may not be possible. Whether your problem person is a low achiever, a passive aggressive, a prima donna, a bully, or an exasperating jerk—you’ll probably spend far more time dealing with him or her than you want. One challenge is that problem faculty members are seldom self-made deviants; usually they are the product of ongoing department-wide neglect. From my experience as a department head and dean plus my research into the literature on leadership and chairing, I have identified seven steps that can help.
Magna Publications
2718 Dryden Drive • Madison, WI 53704-3086 • 800-433-0499
© Copyright 2010 Magna Publications
Innovative Educators Webinar Workshop: Teaching Students to Be More Successful Learners and Thinkers
Friday, September 24 & Friday, October 1 ~ 1:00-2:30 EDT (2-part workshop)
$545.00
Webinar Description
In this two part workshop, Dr. Timothy Walter will present a validated instructional program of basic cognitive and behavioral critical thinking and learning strategies that are viewed as general education outcomes by many institutions of higher education. The critical thinking and learning strategies these students have learned are those basic strategies upon which much higher level critical thinking and learning is based as described in Bloom's Taxonomy. The workshop will focus on introducing participants to the intellectual model upon which these cognitive and behavioral strategies are based and then participants will see how instructors in the classroom can engage students in interactive classroom exercises which facilitate the learning of basic critical thinking and learning strategies Participants will leave the workshop with skills to teach students in all courses the critical thinking and learning strategies upon which higher level thinking and learning is developed and which make thinking and learning more orderly and effective. They will specifically learn how to teach students to apply these cognitive and behavioral strategies to their texts, readings, lectures, and class discussions.
Objectives Part I - Participants will . . .
• Define what successful learners and thinkers do in the classroom and outside the classroom
• Learn how to teach:
o focusing reading, thinking, and learning
o focused note-taking
o focused test preparation
Part II - Participants will learn . . .
• what the TCDR strategy of critical thinking entails as described in Dr. Walter's co-authored book "Critical Thinking: Building the Basics."
• how Dr. Walter and his colleagues studied successful critical thinkers and learners to determine the essential characteristics of successful learning and thinking.
• what more successful thinkers and learners do as compared to less successful thinkers and learners.
• why the TCDR strategy is the basis upon which higher order thinking skills (i.e. applying, analyzing, and evaluating information) are based.
• why the TCDR strategy is the basis for critical thinking skills required for academic success.
• how to teach students the TCDR strategy of critical thinking by working through a series of exercises
• how the TCDR strategy is related to Bloom's Taxonomy.
• basic classroom instructional strategies that increase the likelihood of students learning the critical thinking and learning strategies that are the basis of the TCDR strategy of critical thinking.
Who Should Attend?
Any college faculty member, staff member or administrator who interacts with or teaches students will benefit from participating in this workshop.
Who are the Speakers?
Dr. Timothy L. Walter, Dean of Academic and Student Services at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Dr. Walter is a leading authority in the area of student success. He has written eight editions of his text Student Success, three editions of The Adult Learner's Guide to College Success, and two editions of Critical Thinking: Building the Basics. He was honored in 1994 as an Outstanding Advocate of First Year Students by The National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. He has consulted widely in the area of student success and the first-year experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)