Helping At-Risk Students Succeed in the College Classroom

Readers,

As a professor, I strive to help every student in the classroom. I have a strong believe that everyone has the ability to succeed. However, there are a few variables which inhibit some students from being successful. These variables include: not attending class, not keeping an updated schedule, not paying attention in class, and other more subject/academic-based variables.

As a result, I loved reading this article, "Helping At-Risk Students Succeed in the College Classroom". Now, I am eager to implement some of the suggestions from the article in my Fall classes! I plan to integrate an undergraduate research opportunity/conference, in-class presentations, virtual office hours, weekly reminders, and Twitter reminders. I cannot wait to help my students!

J. Edwards

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Does GENDER Make a Difference in the Preparation and Promotion Higher Education Administrators?

In the article entitled, “Gender Differences in the Preparation and Promotion of Community College Administrators”, Kim E. VanDerLinden exposes many of the differences between males and females in executive positions that exist in higher education. The main point that the article highlighted was career advancement among males and females at community colleges. Some of the secondary points that were highlighted under career advancement were the relationships between gender, human capital, and promotion. The findings of the article indicated that there was not a difference between women and men in terms of career advancement at a community college.

Women are given more educational and employment opportunities at community colleges. This number is significantly higher than four-year colleges and universities (AACC, 2000; Townsend, 1995). As a result of this growing number, the women are not being trained properly in terms of career advancement, career patterns, and professional development. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “In the next few years, almost 45% of community colleges will have openings in their presidential positions”. The key question behind this matter is, “Where is the new leadership going to come from?” In general, women and men that are currently employed by community colleges are not being prepared for such leadership positions.


The evidence that the author uses to make her main points are from such sources as the National Profile of Community Colleges, the New Directions for Community Colleges Journal, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. These are very credible sources, because they are all research intensive documents. The statistics that is gathered from these sources are astounding, because community colleges are in an inherent crisis. These colleges need leaders to help guide their institutions on the right path and to accomplish their particular mission statement.


It is interesting, because I completely agree with every contention that the author makes. 
These contentions are stated after the study is conducted and the results are analyzed. Some of the contentions that were stated are: (1) women who aspire to advance into leadership positions should actively plan and develop multidimensional goal-oriented career paths, (2) women who are currently in upper-level administration have the opportunity to shape the organizational culture, and (3) the current leadership crisis may provide opportunities for women to advance.


This article significantly contributed to my understanding of leadership, because I am able to see a qualitative and quantitative study about women in administrative positions at a community college. In the past, I have always read documents about women in leadership positions at institutions of higher education and the problems that they may encounter. 


This article put everything into perspective, because there are inherent differences and likenesses between in genders in regard to higher education. The common belief is that women are not participating in as many professional development opportunities and do not have as much campus involvement that men do. The actual statistics show that women have much more involvement than men do and that they participate in professional development opportunities more readily than men do.


In conclusion, community colleges are not that different from universities, but it will be interesting to see what types of professionals are going to take these leadership positions in the next few years.

The Class of 2014 - Benoit College College Freshman Mindset List (My Response)

Every year, I look forward to receiving the Benoit College Mindset list for college students!

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php

However, as a millennial, I have to question some items. I experienced a similar skepticism as the author of the following article:

Do College Students Really Think Beethoven Is A Dog? : Monkey See : NPR

Here is the mindset list for my college graduating class (see if you can figure out the year). :)


"Spam" and "cookies" are not necessarily foods.

Uh - Both of these were foods in my life as a teenager! :)

The Osmonds are talk show hosts.

True - I had no idea who the Osmonds were until a few years ago.

They neither know who Billy Joe was, nor wondered what he was doing on the Talahatchee Bridge.

True - I still do not know who this is...

"Coming out" parties celebrate more than debutantes.

True :)

They have never heard a phone "ring."

False - Hey, I grew up in the country! My grandmother had a rotary phone!

Woodstock is a bird or a reunion, not a cultural touchstone.

False - I LOVE Woodstock and the 60s!

There has always been a national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

True - Yup!

We have always been able to receive television signals by direct broadcast satellite.

True - Yes, really HUGE ones!

False - I moved to the country and everyone had rabbit ears!

They have always bought telephones, rather than rent them from AT&T.

True - However, people had the option to rent. :) I knew some people who did rent telephones!

A "45" is a gun, not a record with a large hole in the center.

True - I agree. :)

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

College Students Hide Hunger, Homelessness : NPR

College Students Hide Hunger, Homelessness : NPR

After listening to the Educause presentation a few days ago, I discovered that many campuses have homeless students. I never knew about the true extent of this problem. Here's a report on the phenomenon:

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Young couples having babies, not graduating college | USA TODAY College - A student focused web portal

Young couples having babies, not graduating college | USA TODAY College - A student focused web portal

At my current institution, some of the students do juggle work, home, husband/wife, and family. I applaud these students because it is hard for ME to juggle everything and I do not even have children yet!

As a millennial, I am focused on my family (husband, house, etc.) My family is my first priority in life. After family comes my dreams of tenure with require teaching, publications, presentations, and grading papers).

However, I could not imagine having children during college. These students are some of the most dedicated students I have ever seen! I aspire to be like some of them when I become a parent!

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Educause Seminar (Recorded) - "Overview of Next Gen Learning Challenges"

A few days ago, I attended a unique webinar titled, "Overview of Next Gen Learning Challenges". Here's the interesting aspect, I downloaded the Adobe Connect app and I experienced the same webinar on my iPad. It was great! I could hear everything and I saw all of the chats in real-time. 


I cannot wait to attend next year's EDUCAUSE conference and implement some of the ideas in my courses.


If you are interested in this EDUCAUSE presentation, please click the following link - https://admin.adobeconnect.com/_a729300474/p96644371/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal.

Millennial Professor - Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Vote for the AmeriCorps Video and Photo Contest!

Illustration by Jason Robinson - His art is amazing! :) - http://www.illustration-by-design.com/

Five Days Left to Vote in the AmeriCorps Video and Photo Contestwww.AmeriCorpsContest.org

Are you an Americorp alumni? I am a big fan of AmeriCorps (although I have never served with the organization). Many of my students are interested in serving with AmeriCorps and I would like to help them out by promoting their video and photo contest!

The judges have selected 5 video finalists and 10 photo finalist whose work depicts how AmeriCorps gets things done in communities. The general public will select the winners by voting for their favorite videos and photos. If you haven't already done so, check out the amazing videos and photos that highlight the great work that AmeriCorps members are doing in communities across our nation. Public voting will be open until midnight Eastern Time on July 30, 2010. 

Visit www.AmeriCorpsContest.org to vote! 

Millennial Professor 
Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

Textbook Companies and Information Disclosure - How IS the new edition of the book different?

This shall be VERY interesting! When I was a college student, I really appreciated USED books and professors who provided options for cheaper course materials and books. However, there were some professors who required students to purchase bundled packages. Some of which I still have in boxes at my parents' house (along with my course notebooks).

Students May See Some Gains Through New Textbook Rules
by Charles Dervarics , July 8, 2010


In 2010, it seems that textbook companies will be required to disclose the following pieces of information to students and faculty:

Part of the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, the changes took effect July 1. “This change makes sure that all of the information is on the table,” said Nicole Allen, textbook advocate for The Student PIRGs, an organization affiliated with the consumer group U.S. PIRG.

Other changes in the rules would:

• Require publishers to provide bookstores with their wholesale prices.

• Require publishers to provide descriptions of changes made in a new addition compared to previous ones.

• Require publishers to offer textbooks and supplemental materials individually  rather than just in so-called “bundles” that may include books, CDs and DVDs. 



Millennial Professor Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

8-18 Year Olds...The Last Segment of Millennials...

As many of you know, I am a millennial who is interested in issues concerning my generation. Recently, my co-author and I submitted an article based on millennials to a distance learning journal. I understand the different segments that exist in my generation, but I did not know that others were interested in the differences among millennials. The editors of the journals encouraged us to separate the larger definition of millennials into several different categories.

As a result, I sought articles focused on the differences among millennials. This was not an easy process, but I did find a few articles that fit my search. Here is one of the articles - Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds.


This website also features additional items, including a webcast, podcast, etc.

Millennial Professor
Jennifer T. Edwards, Ed.D.

The After the Degree, Now What?" Conference - Our Fall 2009 Service-Learning Event

I am so proud of my students! Recently, my wonderful students sponsored a service learning event titled, The "After the Degree, Now What?" Conference. The idea for this conference was conceived last summer when I read a wealth of articles pertaining to the amount of Texans with four-year degrees that were facing layoffs. In addition, since I teach undergraduate students, I was very concerned with our students gaining employment (that they are passionate about) after graduating from our university in next few months. Then, I contacted another professor in the Communication Department and the Career Services Department and the idea became an actual event. 

We wanted our COMS 101 students to present the sessions, because the students would provide a service for the community and learn more about public speaking at the same time. My Interpersonal Communication class and her Small Group Communication class planned the ENTIRE CONFERENCE!

These wonderful students developed the title, added items to the backwards plan, and worked the entire conference. In addition, our beginning public speaking class (COMS 101) presented most of the sessions. The only session that they did not present was the "Panel Discussion of Professionals", which featured panelists from the graduate school, career services department, small business development center, financial management division, and the Texas Workforce Commission.

Here is a list of our sessions - http://www.tinyurl.com/ATDNWsessions/.
 

We used Google Docs to collaborate amongst ourselves and this proved to be a wonderful resource! As a result of our hard work, over 90 students attended the sessions and over 95 students presented the sessions. These students represented each of the five colleges on campus and over 20 different majors.

This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I had the pleasure of working with the students who I teach in class every week. The students had the chance to know me outside of the classroom and I had the chance to see their true personalities. The students took ownership over the conference and made it their own. More importantly, I am very excited to offer a class project that will help the students develop their resume with service learning and job-related experiences.

I cannot wait until next year!

Dr. J. Edwards

The Economy and Our Undergraduate Students

As an undergraduate, my sorority sisters and I spent most of our meager salaries on restaurant meals, shopping, road trips, movies, and weekend "entertainment". I know that this is the budget for most active undergraduates. However, I know that current undergraduates might not be able to live such a "lavish, fun-filled" lifestyle in this economy.

Some of the undergraduates in my classes went on road trips to South Padre Island for Spring Break. However, most of the undergraduates went to their hometown to make money at their old part-time jobs. When I was in college, it was an anomaly to hear that one of our classmates went home during spring break to work.

In addition to working during spring break, my undergraduates' persuasive speech topics have changed as well. I give them a choice of the following topics: (a) to persuade my audience to perform an act of service, (b) to persuade my audience to purchase a particular product, (c) to persuade my audience to adopt a money saving strategy. Consistently, the undergraduates usually choose option "a" or "c". Through topic "c", they advocate using coupons, living off campus, cooking meals at home, etc.

This frugal lifestyle for undergraduates also expands to include new graduates. An article in USA Today, "Recession generation? Young adults brace for simpler lifestyle" focuses on how recent graduates are coping with the new economy.

What are your opinions of our newly frugal undergraduates?

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Are For-Profit Institutions Better for Our Students?

A colleague sent this article to me via e-mail yesterday - "Who Graduates At-Risk Students".

 

My Opinion - The fact that for-profit career colleges have more college graduates than public/private community colleges and universities makes sense. Many for-profit career colleges focus on the technical skills of their students (i.e. - welding, graphic design, etc.) for one to two years. Other colleges require the students to complete core requirements and advanced requirements for their degrees. In addition, public/private community colleges and universities require their students to attend school for a longer amount of time than their for-profit counterparts.

 

Also, the for-profit institutions provide courses that fit the students' busy schedules. For example, one for-profit institution offers courses from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. These institutions also use unconventional advertising methods (i.e. - commercials during soap operas and late night television, sponsoring a radio spot, etc.).

 

What do you think?

 

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Helicopter Parents and Their Millennial Student(s)

Helicopter Parents are EVERYWHERE! Fortunately, I have not have the pleasure of speaking with any of my students' parents (outside of summer orientation/parent's days). However, some of my colleagues have had the pleasure of doing so on a regular basis. I try to keep myself abreast of the new articles regarding the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, but it seems parents (and students) utilize a variety of strategies that may challenge the rights provided by this act.

For example, it seems that a few millennial undergraduate students give their parents access to their university (and personal) e-mail addresses. Sometimes, I will receive an e-mail from a "student", only to discover that the e-mail was written by a parent and submitted through the students' e-mail or blackboard account. However, all of the e-mail that I received (via their student's account) have been focused on upcoming or past absences/sicknesses.

As a professor from the millennial generation, this was very surprising to me for a variety of reasons:
a) I would never give my mother (or father) access to my e-mail account.
b) My parents just learned how to send e-mail. However, they do not use the feature frequently.
c) I feel that college independence contributes to the student development process. Therefore, students should learn how to prepare for the post-graduation world through this four (perhaps five or six) year acculturation process.

Today, I found an article titled, "How Not to Be a Helicopter Parent - but Still Be a Parent". It seems this article/book's content will help our undergraduate students' parents become less involved in their students' lives, but more involved in sustaining a positive experience that conducive for student growth and development.

What experience do you have with helicopter parents? What are your opinions of helicopter parents?

Millennial Professor

Some Facts about Our College Freshmen

http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkyhack/

Last month, Spectra (a monthly publication from the National Communication Association) featured an article titled, "On Freshman's Minds: A Statistical Profile". This article included information from the UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute titled, "The American Freshman: National Norms for Fall 2008." The statistics for this report featured information from surveys administered to 240,580 first-year students attending 340 baccalaurate colleges and universities in the U.S. Here are some facts from this report:

I. Miles from College to Permanent Home: 4.9% of freshmen live five (5) miles or less from home 5.8% of freshmen live six (6) to ten (10) miles from home 24.3% of freshmen live 11 to 50 miles from home 17.3% of freshmen live 51 to 100 miles from home 33.0% of freshmen live 101 to 500 miles from home 14.1% of freshmen live over 500 miles from home
II. Student Rate Self Above Average or Highest 10 Percent in: 75.2% Drive to Achieve 73.7% Cooperativeness 69.5% Academic Ability 67.2% Understanding of Others 61.8% Leadership Ability 60.7% Self-Confidence 58.5% Self Understanding 56.8% Creativity 55.8% Physical Health 54.5% Emotional Health 52.5% Self-Confidence (Social) 47.5% Writing Ability 44.9% Mathematical Ability 39.9% Spirituality 39.4% Popularity 38.4% Computer Skills 37.7% Public-Speaking Ability 30.6% Artistic Ability

What do you think about these statistics? It seems this study's public speaking statistics are reinforced by my students' public speaking goal setting assignment. Their goals indicate the students are not comfortable delivering a speech in front of a group of people. I require the students to reexamine their goals during the midterm examination period. When the end of the semester arrives, my students give their goals a final examination and a written reflection. Overwhelmingly, it seems most of the students are significantly more comfortable with their public speaking ability after completing the course. It would be interesting to see if HERI decides to turn their Fall 2008 study/report into a longitudinal study!

Residental Learning Communities: A Win Win Situation!

I am very interested in Residential Learning Communities. Every semester at XYZ institution, I've taught a communication course that features students from university's RLC. I think that the RLC concept is one of the most positive life-altering programs a university can offer their students.

Today, I received an article (via RSS feed) from the University of Connecticut. This program pairs incoming freshmen with other like-minded peers who wish to explore their intellectual and social interests. Therefore, a communication major who has an interest in jazz music could choose to live in a residential community of peers who love jazz music! To learn more about concept, please visit the following link - Residental Learning Communities Help Foster Student Interest.

Millennials and Their Digital Dirt

Today, I am exhausted. I think that it has something to do with the time change (this is my first week back after spring break). Besides my exhaustion, we had three wonderful "Digital Dirt" presentations in class today. Career services always sponsors these presentations and I think they are very informative for our students.

The following topics always emerge in the discussion portion of the presentation:
a) employers do not have to right to look at our facebook profiles
b) what we do in our private lives is our business

These topics emerged today, but one student commented, "If we put it [the content] up there [on facebook], we should take responsibility for it [the content]." The career services representative was floored by the student's comment and I was excited that this freshman student had such a strong professional stance at this point of her academic career.

I administer a pre-test and post-test to gauge the students attitudes/perceptions of their facebook/myspace profiles. At this point, I think we have over 500 surveys. I cannot wait to run the stats!

Millennial Professor

If Students Meet the Requirements, Should They Receive As for their Effort?

According to Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes, an article in the New York Times, most millennial undergraduate students feel they should receive As for meeting the minimum requirements for their classes.

Since the beginning of my teaching career, I have held steadfast to an "above and beyond" principle on assignments and tests. On the first day of classes, I tell the students about this principle.

The Above and Beyond Principle
If you do what is required, you will receive a "B". If you go "above and beyond" the requirements, you receive an "A". For example, if a test question asks "Please list and explain at least two of the four windows in the Johari window", I am really looking for three or all four windows in the Johari window. In addition, before the test, the students receive a grading rubric for the qualitative questions.

Post-Graduation Boot Camp for Millennial Students
I make sure the students understand that I am preparing them for the post-graduation world. A majority of the entry-level jobs that are available to students after graduation will require them to have an annual evaluation with their supervisor. One of the categories on this annual evaluation will be "exceeds expectations". I try to prepare the students for this category by implementing the "above and beyond" principle. Most of the students understand and adhere to this principle, but others choose to merely meet the requirements.

Millennial Student Meeting the Minimum Requirements
What will happen to these students who choose to meet the requirements when they enter the workplace? Many employers are laying off employees and it seems much easier to release employees who merely meet the requirements.

Processing Questions
Will these students (future graduates) continue to choose the easier way out? If so, what are the implications for the future employers of our millennial graduates?

El Diablo is in the Details: Fundrasing within Academic Departments

For the past couple of weeks, it seems most of my higher ed colleagues received letters from their college or university regarding the economic crisis. Academic departments are coping with economic crisis by implementing one or more of the following steps:

• Increasing the faculty course load from 4:4 to 5:5.
• Increasing the number of students in each class.
• Releasing visiting faculty and adjunct faculty from their duties at the institution.
• Eliminating out-of-state travel.
  
• Decreasing the departmental travel budget.
  

The economic situation for some academic departments is becoming so bleak that they are supplementing their shrinking budgets with external funds from companies.

A few weeks ago, the Chronicle of Higher Education published an article titled, "When Ads Enter the Classroom, It is a Deal with El Diablo". This article focused on a professor's plan to earn the department some seed money by advertising for a local business (El Diablo) in his classroom. His advertising plan included the following: placing the restaurant's logo on the class syllabus, dispersing El Diablo stickers to students, and projecting the logo on one of the classroom walls. This plan was downgraded when university administrators heard of his fund raising strategy.

Another classroom advertisement case stems from an article (This Lecture Brought to You By McDonalds) featured on the Colombia Spector Online. Apparently some professors invite Kaplan representatives to advertise their services at the beginning of the year. According to the article, some students are annoyed with this practice and are seeking actual course content in their classes.

A few questions stem from this practice:

1. Why are student services departments (athletic events, etc.) able to accept advertisement dollars while academic departments are not able to accept money from companies?

2. What incentives are professors receiving from their fundraising ventures?

3. What postive and/or negative implications does in-class fundraising have on student learning?

Millennial Professor

Neat Programs for Undergraduate Students

The Online College Blog has a list of almost 70 free or open source tools for undergraduate students. These tools range from "Remember the Milk" and "Jott" to "Inkscape" and "Scriblink".

I think professors can make use of most of these tools as well. "Remember the Milk" can help with personal organization and time management.Professors who attend conferences can post their session slides on "Slide Share".

Here's the link - 69 Free or Open Source Tools for Students.

More Students Are Attending Community Colleges

The economic situation in our country has perpuated a slight change in the higher education environment. According to David Tirrell-Wysocki, a writer from the Associated Press:

"The two-year schools are reporting unprecedented enrollment increases this semester, driven by students from traditional colleges seeking more bang for their buck and by laid off older workers."

His article is available here - Recession Sending More Students to Community Colleges.