Transformative Student Experiences in Higher Education


Book Description

Transformative Student Experiences in Higher Education: Meeting the Needs of the 21st Century Student and Modern Workplace presents a thorough consideration of the role, use, and implications of transformative and active instructional strategies in higher education. It examines the changing landscape of higher education and serves as a foundational lens and framework for thinking through higher education from both an experiential and transformative instructional context. As instructors and administrators struggle with 21st century challenges, this seminal text serves as a companion resource that presents innovative 21st century techniques in a fair and balanced theoretical context.




Transformative Experiences in College


Book Description

Transformative Experiences in College: Connections and Community explores the intersection of two concepts: transformative experience in college and the communities in which students learn. Emerging from a five-year longitudinal interview study tracking a panel of 75 students through four years at a selective liberal arts college, this book provides a rich depiction of how aspects of the college community (and the relationships developed within that community) create opportunities for transformative experiences that lead to personal and academic growth. Neal Christopherson argues that transformative experiences in college are primarily the results of interactions with other people and with a broader campus community, documenting the ways in which relationships with faculty, experiences in courses, interaction with peers, and the general institutional environment can generate these experiences. Christopherson also touches on extracurricular and co-curricular activities, the importance of a healthy environment for interacting with difference, and how students transition out of the institution. Scholars of education, sociology, and communication will find this book particularly useful.




Learning That Matters


Book Description

A 2022 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention Our society urgently needs education that motivates, challenges, engages, and affirms all students. No matter their previous successes or failures, every student has enormous learning potential and important contributions to make now and in the future. Such meaningful learning experiences don't just happen, they need to be intentionally designed. This book supports those who will undertake this vitally important work. Learning that Matters: A Field Guide to Course Design for Transformative Education is a pragmatic resource for designing courses that engage college students as active citizens. This "work" book provides research-informed approaches for creating learning experiences and developing innovative, intellectually-engaging courses. Whether a novice or a veteran, by engaging with the text, collaborating with colleagues, and reflecting on the important work of a teacher, any motivated educator can become a transformative educator. Every college course has the potential to transform students' lives. Through implementation of critical concepts such as connected and authentic assessments; dilemmas, issues, and questions; portable thinking skills and engaging strategies; and a purposeful focus on inclusivity and equity, readers begin the process of change needed for preparing students who will be able to address the monumental challenges facing our society. Click HERE to watch the book launch. Click HERE to hear the authors discuss their book. Perfect for courses such as: Education Curriculum and Instruction | Design for Transformative Learning | An Introduction to Evidence-based Undergraduate Teaching | New Faculty Orientations | Freshman Seminar Faculty Trainings | Center for Teaching & Learning | Workshops in Course Design




High-impact Educational Practices


Book Description

This publication¿the latest report from AAC&U¿s Liberal Education and America¿s Promise (LEAP) initiative¿defines a set of educational practices that research has demonstrated have a significant impact on student success. Author George Kuh presents data from the National Survey of Student Engagement about these practices and explains why they benefit all students, but also seem to benefit underserved students even more than their more advantaged peers. The report also presents data that show definitively that underserved students are the least likely students, on average, to have access to these practices.




Community-Based Transformational Learning


Book Description

Rooted in the work of community – school collaborations, this text focuses on connecting the rigors of the classroom with the ambiguity of lived community experience. Community-Based Transformational Learning (CBTL) draws on the increasing evidence that course-learning conducted in an applied, community setting, can positively transform students' professional and personal identity and creates new ways of thinking and working in university courses and pre-professional experiences. To illustrate the different ways to successfully implement community-based learning, examples are provided of experiences integrated in courses across multiple disciplines across an American university whose mission is focused on teaching. Topics covered include refugee and immigration transition issues, incarceration and health needs with international examples of community experiences from Jamaica, Korea and Belize. Qualitative and quantitative data depict how these experiences impact students and each chapter presents how community engagement has been established as an effective approach in the different disciplines, including computer science and sports management. The authors demonstrate how CBTL experiences can be transformative when students are provided a chance to connect the academic commitment to community aims, but also provides suggestions for overcoming challenges and pit-falls in developing these experiences.




Transforming Higher Education


Book Description

"The theme of the book is that the drive for quality in Britain and elsewhere, and the reform of teaching and learning processes have not been connected, organizationally or in practice: change has been driven by the search for efficiency and by a quest for greater bureaucratic accountability. Harvey and Knight argue that, whatever the merits of these developments, they have not been directly concerned to improve the quality of student learning. They argue not just that student learning ought to be at the centre of discussions about quality enhancement, but that the goal ought to be transformation: transformation of universities with a view to transforming learners."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved




Academic Transformation


Book Description

Much of higher education was originally designed to meet the needs of full time 18-22 year-old students who enter directly from high school. However, the New Majority of our students are older, likely to swirl among institutions, and have significant adult responsibilities outside of the classroom. Academic Transformation: A Design Approach for the New Majority is a call to transform colleges and universities to meet the academic and student experience needs of New Majority students and for adult educators to become advocates, allies, and resources for needed reforms. Book contributors, including faculty, staff and administrators at public, private and community colleges, provide insights for this transformation. Taking a personalized approach based on a wide range of experiences, the contributors provide a framework for cross-campus conversations and collaborations to help stakeholders across the institution to understand New Majority learners’ strengths, needs and challenges within an increasingly competitive educational market. The text begins with a description of New Majority learners, explores enrollment management and student experience considerations, articulates a retention model and adapted high impact practices to support student success, navigates technology considerations, and addresses the impact of academic transformation for New Majority learners on higher education finance.




Transforming Students


Book Description

College has the power to transform students into intentional, critical, and engaged people. The recent trend of trying to measure higher education’s return on investment misses a fundamental point, argue Charity Johansson and Peter Felten. The central purpose of a college or university is to transform the lives of students—not to merely change them or help them mature. This transformation is an ongoing process of intentionally aligning one’s behavior with one’s core sense of personal identity. It is the university’s central role to lead students in this transformation, a process that shapes students into intentional, critical, and engaged individuals. Recognizing the remarkable influence of the college experience on peoples’ lives, the authors offer a guide to how colleges and universities can effectively lead students through this life-changing process. Drawn from extensive interviews with students and graduates, faculty and staff, Transforming Students gathers diverse stories to show how students experience the transformation process, which rarely follows a neat or linear path. The interviews illustrate central themes from the literature on transformative learning and the undergraduate student experience. A sequel of sorts to George Keller’s classic Transforming a College—which chronicled Elon University’s metamorphosis from struggling college to a top regional university—Transforming Students addresses the school’s core educational mission: to shape students into engaged adults who embrace learning as a lifelong endeavor. Given this effect, the college experience is much more than preparation for a career. It is preparation for life.




The Real World of College


Book Description

Why higher education in the United States has lost its way, and how universities and colleges can focus sharply on their core mission. For The Real World of College, Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner analyzed in-depth interviews with more than 2,000 students, alumni, faculty, administrators, parents, trustees, and others, which were conducted at ten institutions ranging from highly selective liberal arts colleges to less-selective state schools. What they found challenged characterizations in the media: students are not preoccupied by political correctness, free speech, or even the cost of college. They are most concerned about their GPA and their resumes; they see jobs and earning potential as more important than learning. Many say they face mental health challenges, fear that they don’t belong, and feel a deep sense of alienation. Given this daily reality for students, has higher education lost its way? Fischman and Gardner contend that US universities and colleges must focus sharply on their core educational mission. Fischman and Gardner, both recognized authorities on education and learning, argue that higher education in the United States has lost sight of its principal reason for existing: not vocational training, not the provision of campus amenities, but to increase what Fischman and Gardner call “higher education capital”—to help students think well and broadly, express themselves clearly, explore new areas, and be open to possible transformations. Fischman and Gardner offer cogent recommendations for how every college can become a community of learners who are open to change as thinkers, citizens, and human beings.




Reflective Teaching in Higher Education


Book Description

Reflective Teaching in Higher Education is the definitive textbook for reflective teachers in higher education. Informed by the latest research in this area, the book offers extensive support for those at the start of an academic career and career-long professionalism for those teaching in higher education. Written by an international collaborative author team of higher education experts led by Paul Ashwin, Reflective Teaching in Higher Education offers two levels of support: - practical guidance for day-to-day teaching, covering key issues such as strategies for improving learning, teaching and assessment, curriculum design, relationships, communication, and inclusion; and - evidence-informed 'principles' to aid understanding of how theories can effectively inform teaching practices, offering ways to develop a deeper understanding of teaching and learning in higher education. Case studies, activities, research briefings and annotated key readings are provided throughout. The author team: Paul Ashwin (Lancaster University, UK) | David Boud (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia) | Kelly Coate (King's Learning Institute, King's College London, UK) | Fiona Hallett (Edge Hill University, UK) | Elaine Keane (National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland) | Kerri-Lee Krause (Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia) | Brenda Leibowitz (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) | Iain MacLaren (National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland) | Jan McArthur (Lancaster University, UK) | Velda McCune (University of Edinburgh, UK) | Michelle Tooher National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland) This book forms part of the Reflective Teaching series, edited by Andrew Pollard and Amy Pollard, offering support for reflective practice in early, primary, secondary, further, vocational, university and adult sectors of education. Reflective Teaching in Higher Education and its website, www.reflectiveteaching.co.uk, promote the expertise of teaching within higher education.