Getting through to students in the classroom continues to be one of the great mysteries of an educator's life. What will capture their attention, and, more important, what will transform their thinking? Film industry veteran and educator Barbara Tobolowsky returned to her roots in visual media to find answers. Using video clips to introduce a…

The struggles and achievements of today's college students are thrown into stark relief in this fascinating account of how such students make meaning of their lives. Author Mary Grigsby uses the voices of students themselves to discuss how they view, adjust to, and participate in the college student culture of a large midwestern university and to…

Higher education systems, globally, are being called upon to effect changes in terms of widening student access and diversifying a previously homogenous academic staff profile. In South Africa, one of the main forces driving the diversification of academic staff is state policy in the form of employment equity legislation, with racial redress…

Oregon State University (OSU) is located in Corvallis, a community of 53,000 people situated in the heart of the Willamette Valley between Portland and Eugene. Approximately 15,700 undergraduate and 3,400 graduate students, including 2,600 U.S. students of color and 950 international students, are currently enrolled at OSU across 11 academic…

Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC), located in Phoenix, Arizona, is part of the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD). PVCC was founded in 1987 and in the fall of 2007 served 8,739 students in credit courses. Since 1997, PVCC has been on a quest to become a "more learning centered" college. As a result of placing…

California State University, Sacramento, commonly referred to as "Sacramento State," is a booming metropolitan university located on 300 acres in the state capital of California. The university, the seventh largest in the California State University system, enrolls a multicultural student body of approximately 29,000 students. At…

Drawing on interviews with first-generation college students (FGS), the author argues that the students' culture affects college attendance and success. Although FGS often have a vocational perspective to college, the author found that they seek meaningful work with good pay. The author also suggests that good decision making, academic…

Despite their apparent popularity among those seeking degrees and credentials, today's colleges and universities face several interrelated public criticisms and concerns. When these competing concerns about student success, productivity, cost, and educational effectiveness all collide at the campus level, they create an array of campus tensions…

Using a case study approach, this paper considers e-learning project management from the perspective of navigating tension between faculty and instructional design/e-learning expertise, in the context of as the bridging of two distinctive cultures. The diffusion of e-learning in an institution where, historically, faculty have been independent…

Because alcohol and other drugs are involved in most acts of violence on campus, college and university administrators are under increasing pressure to acknowledge this connection and reduce alcohol consumption on campus. But because alcohol alone does not cause violence, campuses must also address other contributing factors. Since research has…

Prevention coordinators have an important role on campus. To be effective, they must demonstrate the right balance of accurate information, clear strategy, and open collaboration with others. A strong prevention program requires understanding the problem, identifying the contributing factors, taking action to intervene, and then evaluating to see…

Is higher education on the verge of a leadership gap? Unless higher education administrators specifically develop leaders capable of meeting those challenges, the coming years present the real possibility of a leadership vacuum in higher education. Those of them who lead, support, and govern colleges have a responsibility to actively cultivate a…

"Building Institutional Capacity for Data-Informed Decision Making" is the third installment of the Cutting Edge series, which aims to help colleges engage faculty, scale successful interventions, and create a strong culture of evidence through use of data to strengthen their institutional change and student success efforts. Though the…

In their article "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," Arthur Chickering and Zelda Gamson suggest that the educator's role is to offer support to students while creating opportunities for them to critically examine and take responsibility for their own experiences. In this article, the authors explore methods for…

Students may select a particular college or university for its location, tuition costs, selection of majors, reputation, and numerous other reasons. Students who are deaf or hard of hearing consider the same reasons as their hearing peers, but are likely to give major consideration also to the type and quality of support services available to…