Free Webinar for Higher Education Professionals - Faculty Perspectives on Cultures of Assessment (Sponsored by AALHE)

If you are interested in higher education assessment, this is a great resource for you. This webinar is sponsored by Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education (AAHLE).

October 16, 2015

Faculty Perspectives on Cultures of Assessment 1:00 PM EDT - to register go to  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3180659909157253377

Presented by:  Matthew Fuller, Ph.D.  Sam Houston State University

Abstract: Through books, articles, and presentations, assessment scholars have advocated specific practices to gain faculty support and “buy in” for assessment. Tying assessment practices to tenure and promotions policies, engaging faculty in early and frequent dialogue, and developing assessments that are associated with what faculty value are a few examples of recommended efforts. However, very few studies have actually asked faculty what they believe about assessment and fundamental perspectives on their institution’s culture of assessment.

The Faculty Survey of Assessment Culture is a nation-wide, annual survey of faculty members’ perspectives on their institution’s cultures of assessment. The instrument is meant to explore the extent to which institutions exhibit elements of culture of compliance, fear, or generative support for assessment in faculty members’ perspectives. The survey identifies several factors 

(1) Faculty perceptions, 

(2) Use of Data, 

(3) Sharing Data, 

(4) Compliance or Fear Factors, and 

(5) Normative Purposes of Assessment as well as 

(6) higher-order factors of (a) a culture of assessment, and (b) leadership strategies for assessment that have been identified and measured through this 5 year research effort . 

Much has been learned about faculty perceptions and, through a parallel study of administrators . And similarities and differences between administrators and faculty have been identified. 

(Information Shared from the AALHE Listserv)

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

FREE Training for Higher Education Faculty - Pearson's Speaking About...Webinar Week

Are your travel funds small this semester? Are you short on time, but eager to learn about new aspects and concepts focused on your academic discipline?

I am FAN of FREE online webinars and online conferences focused on teaching, learning, and research. Here's a neat opportunity from Pearson's Professional Development Online "Speaking About..." series focused on: Art, English, History, Music and Humanities, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, and World Languages. This event takes place between October 12-16, 2015.

These sessions look spectacular - here's a sample:

How to Think About Masculinities
Professor Michael Kimmel - Stony Brook University

Increasing Economic Inequality: A Closer Look 
Dr. John Macionis - Kenyon College

Using Social Media to Teach Sociology
Nathan Palmer - Georgia Southern University

Make-Believe Play and Children's Self-Regulation
Dr. Laura Berk - Illinois State University

Generation Me: Teaching and Working with Today's Students
Dr. Jean Twenge - San Diego State University

Gamification Techniques ANY Instructor Can Use to Engage, Assess, and Energize Students
Dr. Amy Marin - Phoenix College

Open Science, Replication, and Teaching Psychology
Dr. Mark Krause - Southern Oregon University
Dr. Daniel Corts - Augustana College

Using Blogging in the Teaching of Psychology
Dr. Sam Sommers - Tufts University

Here's more information about the "Speaking About..." Series - http://www.pearsoned.com/events-and-webinars/higher-education-events-and-webinars/speaking-about-webinars/.

I am not sure if a hashtag will be utilized for the event, but utilize the #55HigherEd hashtag to share ideas! :)

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Tried and True Ways to Incorporate Social Media in Higher Education Classrooms

In August, I was invited to speak at the #LEAPTX annual meeting in Nacogdoches, TX. I was excited to take advantage of this opportunity as a #LEAPTX Fellow and presented a session on "Incorporating Social Media in Higher Education Classrooms (and High-Impact Educational Practices)".

Here are the slides from this session:


Also, to continue the conversation, the #55HigherEd Community was launched on Facebook. This community is for faculty to ask questions about the teaching, research, and/or service process and to also keep one another accountable on our journey towards tenure (or towards becoming a full-professor). Here's the community - https://www.facebook.com/groups/589073234563970/.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

When Academic Interests and Administrative Interests Positively Collide

As a mid-level higher education administrator, it is important realize how your academic field positively affects your administrative work. This has been especially evident for me during this past academic year when my academic interests and administrative interests collided in four beneficial ways.

Employing a Communication Intern (Social Media Coach) Who Works in Our Office (Social Media)
Our communication intern is absolutely wonderful and she has amazing ideas about how to reach students (from a student mindset). She is also learning about social media along the way: crafting effective posts, deciphering the analytics for the student success and multicultural initiatives social media channels, and blogging about student success from a student's perspective. Here's her blog for our area: http://tarletonssmi.blogspot.com/

Crafting E-Mail Messages with the Current and Potential Readers in Mind (Target Audience Approach) (Fundamentals of Speech Communication)
When writing any e-mail message for students, faculty, or staff, I always strive to write the message for the audience and to avoid any potentially interesting responses by never utilizing the BCC line and sparsely utilizing the CC line. This is especially important when conversing about interesting issues in higher education. I always reply to the original sender and almost never include the individuals carbon copied on the e-mail, because your sender intended for this message to go to you, you do not have permission to reply to every cc'ed on the e-mail. Also, never send e-mails that you do not intend for others (in addition to the intended party) to read.

Creating Publications (and Videos) that Others Will Want to Read (Mass Media)
This semester, student success and multicultural initiatives created an infographic instead of a bulky (and potentially unread) annual report for the university's faculty, staff, and students. In this infographic, the data is presented in an engaging (and graphical) way and I think the intended parties are more likely to understand what we do in student success and multicultural initiatives instead of sending the data-based message in a report.

Forming Mentoring Groups for Mothers and Faculty of Color (and Other Underrepresented Populations) - Intercultural Communication
Last year, we formed a university mother's group and a group of diverse faculty members. Our membership for both groups ranges between 25 and 60 members. These groups serve as wonderful sounding boards for the mothers and diverse faculty and they also gain ideas and form research collaborations. Both of the aforementioned groups helped me through my journey as a new mother and I wish that I had the faculty of color group when I persisted through the tenure track.

Each of the aforementioned skills (and associated courses) continue to make an imprint on my life as a mid-level administrator on a daily basis. I am thankful for delightful and fulfilling experiences in the classroom as well as working with an amazing group of academic leaders at the university. Administrative experiences make academic experiences richer and academic experiences make administrative experiences richer. We become more because we teach, we reach more because we serve others through administrative duties in higher education.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Finding a Budget-Friendly College or University By Using the New College Scorecard by the U.S. Department of Education

Today, the new college scorecard from the U.S. Department of Education made it's debut on a new website - https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/. This scorecard is meant to help parents and students discover the best and more affordable higher education opportunities for their families.

Also, the new College Scorecard tool was featured on the White House Blog and the Department of Education blog today - Under the Hood: Building a New College Scorecard with Students.

In addition to the New College Scorecard (Comprehensive and Updated Data on Higher Education Institutions), there are several additional resources for families to find the more affordable college with the best features (majors, minors, etc.) for their students. These resources (as featured on the Department of Education Blog) include the following:

Additional Customized Tools for Students

- Scholarmatch

- StartClass

- College Abacus

- Payscale

- InsideTrack

As higher education administrators, faculty, and staff, it is important to know the information that exists about our institutions that is available on the internet. Did you find anything interesting about your institution (or aspirant institutions in the data available via any of the websites listed above)?

Let us know!

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Leaving Our Mark as Millennial Mothers in the Community, the Internet, and the Workplace

How do you want to be remembered? As a millennial mother, professional, and wife in my early 30s, I struggle with this "memorial" question on a frequent basis. Millennials (like myself) want to be remembered for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important reasons that I would like to be remembered is because I made a positive contribution to my community, my state, my country, and perhaps beyond.

Millennial Mothers Leaving Their Mark in the Community Through Service
In my current work position (as a professor), I have many opportunities to positively impact each of those areas, but my family position takes priority (at least for the next few years). My daughter is still relatively young, but I long for the day of the future when I can take her to volunteer in the community, nationally, and also internationally.

Millennial Mothers Leaving Their Mark on Their Family Through Multitasking
I've discovered that the key to true work/life balance is knowing that it does not truly exist. Yes, you can let the e-mails sit in your inbox until the next day, but usually millennial moms are always thinking about work (from sun up to sun down). By involving your children in your daily activities including answering e-mail, attending family-oriented family functions, and in my case - grading papers, my daughter realizes the importance of a hard day's (and night's work). She has also learned valuable skills (and concepts) along the day. Recently, I discovered that she can correctly identify a professor, a university, a classroom, and yes - she can identify Blackboard (our learning management system as well).

Millennial Mothers Leaving Their Mark on the Internet (and the Blogosphere)
Each summer, I look forward to meeting new millennial moms and refining my existing millennial moms (in Texas) by attending a summer blogging conference. We meet in San Antonio and our families (the dads as well) connected and everyone learned techniques focused on how to make their blogs more effective.

As first, it was difficult for me to think about how I could connect with the bloggers because of them were stay-at-home mothers, but when I ventured out of my shell I quickly realized that these were some of the most dynamic, down-to-earth, outstanding millennial mothers that I have ever encountered. These mothers are making their mark on the internet and are impacting how corporations are marketing to the millennial consumer. I look up to all of these millennial mom bloggers, they inspire me to be a better blogger and mother.

Millennial Mothers Leaving Their Mark on the Workplace
Millennial mothers (and other categories of millennials) will leave their mark on the workplace through their ingenuity and creativity, support for diversity, and their energy (among other factors). Most Millennials in the workplace have the following qualities and values...

1 - An increased support for open communication (Dowdy, 2015) CNBC Article

2 - An increased support for workplace flexibility (Gillenwater, 2015) Entrepreneur Article

3 - An increased value for professional development (Papas, 2015) Fortune Article

4 - An increased value for workplace and environmental sustainability (Bridges, 2015), Co.Exist Article

5 - An increased value for mentorship and networking (O'Connell, 2015) Huffington Post Article.

These qualities help will help millennials determine their worth, their impact, and their future in the the workplace.

Thinking Ahead
As the older millennials (especially the mothers) enter the middle portion of our careers, we have a few items to determine - How do you we to be remembered? As a millennial mothers, millennial fathers, and all other types of millennial professionals, how will we make positive contributions to the community, the state, the country, and beyond?

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Data Display 101: Using Excel and Slicer Tool to Create Fabulous Dashboards" on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 2pm

If you are interested in higher education institutional research, make plans to attend this free Excel Webinar titled, "Data Display 101: Using Excel and Slicer Tool to Create Fabulous Dashboards" on Thursday, September 24, 2015 at 2pm. This event is hosted by the South Carolina Association for Institutional Research. Register here to see the time zone - http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EC50D78185463A

This looks like a great, FREE opportunity for anyone interested in making their data more "digestable" for the average person. Anyone should be able to understand the data that your office/center provides and dashboards/infographics enable YOU/YOUR OFFICE to provide this data for the general population (internal and external to the university/college).

Here's the description of the webinar from Ryan S. Otto, Ph.D. Board Member, South Carolina Association for Institutional Research:

This webinar will use Microsoft Excel 2010 (or newer) to easily produce an updatable, user friendly grade distribution dashboard. We will design a couple of different views (i.e., by course, by instructor) and create one or two calculated fields (i.e., overall success rate, overall success rate without W’s). We also will discuss the ease of the updating process. Example data will be available for any participants wishing to actively participate and build a dashboard.

Presenters:

Dub Green,

Director of Institutional Research, Office of Institutional Research

Trident Technical College

Donna McHugh,

Research Analyst, Office of Institutional Research

Trident Technical College

I will see you there! :)

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram/Periscope - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Dorm Room Tours, Dorm Room Hauls, and Student Success

When I lived on the third floor at Steen Hall, I had a dorm room to myself as a Resident Assistant and I loved decorating the room in red and yellow (cardinal and straw) because those were the colors of my sorority (Chi Omega). I wish that I still had pictures, but I want you to know that my room was NOTHING compared to the rooms that you will see in the dorm room tours at the end of this post. All of the videos are focused on dorm room decorations!

If I had a room similar to these rooms, I would never leave! These rooms are truly like home for these students. As a higher education professional, our task is to make the day and evening activities attractive enough for students to venture our of their residence halls.

Love, love, love the summer dorm room halls and the finished product...the dorm room (residence hall) tours!

Here are the dorm room tours!

College Dorm Tour 2015 - Lilly Pulitzer Inspired Kaitlyn Mekel

One of my favorite (and very organized) bloggers - At Home With Nikki's College Dorm Room Tour

Veri Keri (another amazing vlogger)'s Dorm Room Tour

As you can see, decorating a dorm room (residence hall room) is not an easy feat. Also, it will not be an easy feat getting these students out of their residence hall rooms to attend residence hall programming (or programming for student life). Let's make our programming (and classes) appealing for these students and remain student centered this fall!

Here's my disclaimer, I am one of those odd professors who will call students and send them direct messages on Twitter if they are late to class or if they did not attend class (or turn in assignments).

In addition, this fall, I am working with an amazing group of students in a living learning community and they have a shared kitchen (which will be their common living space). Exciting opportunity for this faculty member!

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

First-Year Convocation Ceremonies for Incoming Students at Universities Across the United States

The beginning of the academic year always sparks a sense of renewal in my mind and also in the minds of many higher education faculty across the country (and beyond). I always look forward to our university's convocation ceremony, because this first-year ceremony marks the beginning of the students's academic journey at our university.

Here is this year's video focused on our first-year convocation ceremony. This video was uploaded from my Periscope video (where slightly under 70 people viewed the ceremony. Although my arm was shaky, and my mind was focused on the next steps for these students, this video captured the essence of this important moment in the lives of the almost 2,000 first-year students on campus.

While you are enjoying this video (which features some of my most favorite speakers), take a look at these first-year convocation videos as well:

Missouri State University's New Student Convocation Ceremony

Kansas State University's - New Student Convocation Ceremony

Does your college or university offer a similar experience for incoming students? The new student (or freshmen) convocation ceremony enables the students to experience a special event before they have the REAL experience in a four-year time frame. Also, please let me know if you have a video to add to the list. :)

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Vote for Our #SXSWEdu Session - Higher Education Hack Tech Tools for Completion - #55HigherEd

I am very excited to announce that we submitted a proposal to SXSWEdu for a third year! You can vote for our session here! and I am looking forward to (possibly) presenting at the South By Southwest Edu conference in Austin, TX! Here's are several tweets and audience member notes from last year's session:

This was an incredible experience last year and I connected with amazing people from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and also individuals from various educational organizations in Texas as beyond! I left the conference with a wealth of ideas for implementing best practices at our institution of higher education AND also neat research (and social media engagement ideas).

I am especially passionate about this year's #SXSWEdu proposal because it connects several of my professional interests in one proposal: technology, retention ideas, scalable solutions for higher education, and social media. Also, I like the continue the conversation after the conference and this year will definitely enable us to continue the conversation.

Here's our proposal video:

Here are the Learning Objectives for the session!

1 - To identify the MOST COMMON problems encountered by higher education administrators, faculty, staff, and students.

2 - To explore low-cost and higher-cost technological, programmatic, and service-based solutions for addressing the MOST common higher education problems.

3 - To connect with other participants to form two higher education learning communities: 1) teaching and learning and 2) higher education solutions.

***See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/55465#sthash.tNtwU37y.dpuf

Dr. Jennifer Edwards - Taking a selfie in the green room before the #55HigherEd Session

Description:

Higher education administrators, faculty, and staff encounter common problems that negatively impact student success at their early college high school, community college, or university. These common problems usually include: recruitment, developmental education, retention, on-time graduation rates (completion), increasing costs, changing demographics, workplace readiness (marketable skills), and budget constraints.

A picture of our name placards!

Through this session, participants will identify higher education problems, explore low-cost and higher-cost solutions, and connect with others through social media-based, higher education learning communities (on Facebook and Twitter). - 

***See more at: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/55465#sthash.tNtwU37y.dpuf***

When you have a chance, vote for our session on #SXSWEdu's panel picker. If you attended last year's conference, you know that we have a great time presenting and we LOVE engaging with our audience! :)

Thank you!

- Dr. Jennifer Edwards
@drjtedwards

5 Ways to Avoid Discouragement When Writing Grant Proposals (A Tip Sheet for Tenure Track Professors)

My goals for this year include writing a grants for the Texas Social Media Research Institute (@TSMRI). Grants will definitely be important for our success at TSMRI because it will enable us to provide more students with internships.

I know each of these grants will help get closer to our goal, but sometimes you can become DISCOURAGED. :(

5 Ways to Avoid Discouragement When Writing Grant Proposals
1 - Realize each unfunded grant application is a step in the right direction.
2 - Reading the comments will make your next proposal better.
3 - Grant writing builds long-lasting research
collaborations.
4 - Think about providing funding for undergraduate research
experiences for your students.
5 - You can still include unfunded proposals on your CV.

What would you add to the list?

Sincerely,

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards
- Twitter/Instagram - @drjtedwards
- http://www.facebook.com/millennialprofessor/
- drjtedwards at gmail.com

Periscope as a New Technology to Integrate in Higher Education Classrooms?

Since I joined the faculty ranks back in 2006, my preferred (and the students' preferred communication methods) have continued to evolve. For example...

2006-2010 - The preferred communication method in my classroom was Yahoo Instant Messenger.
*I linked Yahoo IM to my Blackboard courses as an embedded widget.

2010-2012 - The preferred communication methods in my classroom were Twitter and Google Voice for text messages.

2012 - 2015 - The preferred communication methods in my classroom were Twitter, Google Plus Groups, Google Voice for text messages, and Facebook groups (graduate students and undergraduate students).

Fall 2015 (and beyond) -  The preferred communication methods in my classroom will be..Google Plus, Google Voice, and potentially Periscope (a interactive live stream technology for conferencing and establishing social presence).
*I always strive to remain ahead of the social media learning curve (I have to do so for my role with the Texas Social Media Research Institute @TSMRI) and for my retention duties at my university.

It seems that technologies such as Periscope will continue to evolve and gain popularity. I enjoy recieving Periscope notifications and I value interacting with key bloggers (and conferences) through this communication technology. Here's some more information on Periscope.

Huffington Post - "How Periscope is Changing the Game"

Entrepreneur.com - "5 Brands Can Use Periscope and Meerkat"
*I know this link is a branding specific link, but higher education can utilize live streaming technologies for conferences and marketing their programs.

Which higher education (#HigherEd) communication technologies do you integrate in your courses? How do you link these with your university's content management system or your syllabus? How do you introduce and provide training for students utilizing these communication technologies?

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Free Webinar Opportunity from Inside Higher Ed - "Diversity in the Student Body"

If you are looking for a webinar focused on student diversity in higher education, look no further than one of the most important news resources in higher education, Inside Higher Ed. I've been reading this resource since receiving my word magnet from Inside Higher Ed at my first ACPA conference back in 2008!

Scott Jaschik and Doug Lederman will lead this webinar (sponsored by Pearson). 

Register for the webinar here - https://events-na3.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/1002564123/en/events/event/shared/default_template/event_landing.html?sco-id=1592580467&campaign-id=Insider&_charset_=utf-8.

If you attend this webinar, please let me know what you think about the content.

*This blog post is just a resource, it is not a sponsored post. :)

Call for Speakers - University of North Texas Law Conference (March 21-22, 2016 in Denton, TX)

Neat Opportunity from the University of North Texas 

Save the Date!

The 20th annual UNT Texas Higher Education Law Conference will be held March 21-22 in Denton, Texas, on the campus of the University of North Texas. Easter is the Sunday after conference week, and most Spring Breaks are concluded.

We are reading and in many cases acting upon your feedback from the recent 2015 conference. Some announcements about that are forthcoming.

We will begin this summer and fall to focus intensively on the 2016 program, but don't let that stop you from suggesting topics and speakers NOW.  Send to me at Marc.Cutright@unt.edu<mailto:Marc.Cutright@unt.edu> .

Thanks for your continuing interest and support.

PS  About $20,000 in scholarship aid from the conference will be committed this week to roughly 35-40 students.  You make that possible. Thank you.

Marc Cutright, EdD

Associate Professor of Higher Education

Director of the Higher Education Development Initiative

Fulbright Scholar to Uganda 2013-14

University of North Texas

1155 Union Circle #310829

Denton, TX 76203-5017

904-369-7875 (office)

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

55 Higher Education and Social Media Ideas! #55HigherEd from the SxSWEdu Conference!

In March, I was very fortunate to attend the SxSWEdu conference in Austin, TX. I attended sessions hosted by the TAMU system, the Gates Foundation, and several university colleagues from other institutions. This year marks my second year of attendance and I have to tout that this is the best year so far!

This year, we presented a session titled, "#55HigherEd Ideas and Resources" and we had participants from high schools, community colleges, universities, foundations, and associations. The ideas presented in the session were recorded via Twitter and via a Google Document!

Here's our tagboard from the session (the tweets): http://tgb.io/55HigherEd/219916

Here are my notes from the audience members attending the session!

1 - Reaching Current Undergraduate Students via Social Media

- Create a hashtag for recruiting students and engaging other departments to communicate with them.

- Place your twitter handle on your email signature line.

- Create professional groups for like-minded students on Facebook.

2 - Recruiting and Retaining Faculty and Staff on Social Media

- Create secondary social media posts of positions to recruit faculty and staff (without publishing on higher education.)

- Focus on faculty and staff members's secondary interests (what they like to do outside of the typical workday).

- Post a video about the staff environment and the benefits/ How they match 401Ks. Two weeks off during Christmas break.

- Utilize Flickr accounts, seeing the attire of the workplace.

- Focus on Faculty Student Success Stories - Faculty will have a different focus.

3 - Student Engagement and Social Media

- Post Lists Focused on Your Community (i.e. - Things to do in Alpine - Going out to the Sul Ross Campaign (students and their parents)).

- Form a Twitter Debate - Two teams. Limited numbers of tweets.Number of favorites within a certain time frame.

4 - University Recruitment and Social Media

- Create Buzzfeed-like videos focused on your university. For example, the top 10 reasons why you should join the teacher education program.

- Connect with Community Colleges via the University Account

5 - The University Classroom and Social Media

- Insert a Twitter Widget on Blackboard

- Creating Instagram account for your department.

- Remember to be more proactive with social media listening.

- Have a social media policy on your syllabus.

- Create expectations of social media posts. Twitter and instagram. Tagboard. Giving students a visual for students and other.

- Post student group projects to LinkedIn. Becoming references to one another.

- Have Pop-Up Sessions from One Class Session to the Next - Group work and generating ideas. Great for problem based learning. Ideas would come through and everyone would have everyone's idea. Other classes could add to that.

6 - University Marketing on Social Media

- Push for a social page on the website to list all of the university's social media accounts.

- Engage the internal departments.

- Ask students how they discovered your university.

- Practice social media listening. Create a search focused on your college or university's name.

- Find student social media ambassadors for your university. They will be the ambassadors to start the #besomebody

Next Year!

When the call for sessions is available, I will definitely submit another session (Vote for the @TSMRI Session)! This was one of the best conferences this year and I hope that I will continue to connect with my colleagues from other institutions and foundations throughout the year.

In June, we will start our #55HigherEd chat on Wednesdays in June at 8pm on Twitter! Join us! 

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

A List of Faculty Issues in Higher Education: A Great Resource for University Administrators and Faculty

As a tenured-faculty member, I am always excited about mentoring new faculty (especially women and new faculty of color). This mentoring relationship is always great for me because I had such wonderful mentors (both faculty and staff) when persisting through the tenure-track process.

This mentoring relationship is very important for tenure-track and tenured faculty who are seeking to become a full-professor. (This is another journey through which I am persisting right now.) Tenure-track and tenured-faculty (especially women and faculty of color) encounter along the journey towards their goals:

Here are some of the current issues and resources for individuals tied to faculty affairs roles at universities and colleges in the United States:

Current Issues focused on Faculty Affairs:

- The growing number of women and people of color in faculty positions.

- Faculty and work-life balance.

- Stopping the tenure clock for faculty who are pregnant or who are new or adoptive mothers (or fathers).

- Faculty retirement and retirement plans.

- Faculty workplace flexibility.

- Faculty involvement on universities committees and work groups.

- Faculty compensation and merit pay.

- Faculty workload (balancing researching, teaching and service).

- Part-time and adjunct faculty workload.

- Faculty Orientation

- Faculty Training 

- Faculty and External Fundraising and Grantsmanship Activities

- Faculty Recognition

- Faculty Recruitment and Retention

- Faculty Workplace Satisfaction

Faculty Affairs Resources:

- Faculty Issues: A Resource by the American Council on Education

- Giving "Voice to Faculty"

- Policy Matters" Faculty Trends and Issues (A Resource from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities - AASCU)

- Analyses of Faculty Issues

- Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (A Resource from Harvard's Graduate School of Education)

- Common New Faculty Issues and Solutions (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Please feel free to tweet, share, and comment below! Let me know if I missed something from the list!

Sincerely,

J. Edwards

@drjtedwards

Student Success Seminars for Student Success and Retention

I am always on the lookout for new student success programs and services that would benefit universities in Texas. Each week, I receive a notification when a new program or service is featured in the press and this one really caught my eye!

The article "Student Success Seminars Aim to Motivate Students" is focused on student success seminars (not just workshops) focusing on different interventions to help students succeed in their coursework and in their life at the university. This is a neat approach focused on the "total student" both in their academic life and in their extra curricular life.

These are some of the topics featured in their series: App Academy, Chill Out, and my favorite "Finish in Four: 640 Days". This is absolutely a neat, informational approach for universities that I look forward to replicating!

Sincerely,

@drjtedwards

Call for Attendees and Proposals - Cisco College Core Curriculum Conference (C5)

Here's a neat opportunity from Texas-based Cisco College!

Cisco College Core Curriculum Conference (C5)

  

Cisco College will again host a conference in the Spring of 2015 dedicated to faculty members and their classrooms, providing educators with a chance to come together and share successful teaching strategies.

 

The Cisco College Core Curriculum Conference is pleased to invite proposals that illustrate best classroom practices and innovative teaching techniques related to the following areas:

 Critical Thinking

 Communication Skills

 Empirical & Quantitative Skills

 Teamwork

 Social Responsibility

 Personal Responsibility

 Assessing the (New) Core

The conference will be held May 21 & 22, 2015, at Cisco College’s Abilene Educational Center in Abilene, Texas. 

The goal of the conference is to provide faculty members with as many learning opportunities as possible to expand their knowledge of teaching techniques. Although faculty members from all public two-year and four-year institutions are welcome to attend, the conference will focus on the special budgetary restrictions and practical needs of faculty at community colleges in Texas.

Conference flyer and registration form are attached.

--

Debra Slaton

Chair, Dev. Studies & Education

Cisco College

101 College Heights

Cisco, TX  76437

254-442-5187 Cisco       325-794-4505 Abilene

Fax:  254-442-5100/Attention: Debra Slaton

Dream  big......work hard!!

The Smart Choice for Your Future!                   

What Does Your #HigherEd Handwriting Say About You?

I am a HEAVY writer and my print is bold and wide. Look at the infographic listed below. How do you think the faculty, staff, students, administrators, and staff perceive your writing? Perceptions exist, but it is always great to know about potential perceptions ahead of time.

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Repackaging Your Web Content for Reaching Target Student Groups - 6 Steps for Effectively Packing Content You Already Have (Ruffalo Noel-Levitz)

One aspect of higher education for which I have recently developed an interest is recruitment of target student groups (and their parents) and social media/new media content marketing. 

The Ruffalo Noel-Levitz blog posted an article titled, "Content Marketing for Higher Education: Six Steps for Effectively Packaging Content You Already Have". These six steps are generally listed on the graphic listed above, but each of them make sense for the higher education environment.

The process seems rigid, but again I am not responsible for content marketing. Each step made sense and I cannot wait to modify this process for our retention model (internal content marketing) for our current students!

Enjoy! - @drjtedwards

A List of Commonly Utilized Communication Theories - Plus My Favorites!

I am always on the lookout for great communication theories to incorporate in my classes (graduate and undergraduate communication classes). Here are some of my favorites:

Attribution Theory

Cognitive Dissonance

Communication Privacy Management Theory

Constructivism

Expectancy Violations Theory

Face Negotiation Theory

Phenomenology

Social Judgment Theory

Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Here's a list of all of the Communication Theories from the "A First Look at Communication Theory" book - http://www.afirstlook.com/edition_7/theory_list.

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

#NASPA15 Revisited - Capturing the Real Time Moments from the Conference!

I always like to revisit the tweets that I posted to the @drjtedwardsTSU account during a conference. This is my first time to create a Storify from my tweets and I am excited to have this archive of my posts. 

I also made these great Quote Cards to capture neat ideas from the conference. Please feel free to use them! Enjoy the posts listed in the Storify at the end of this post. 

Please contribute any comments and ideas below!

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU