Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) excel at providing inclusive and supportive environments for Black students--and technology is important to support, not supplant, their strong in-person culture. This report examines the critical role of digital learning infrastructure at HBCUs and its impact on student success. The report…

Background: Traditionally, research examining Black student's mental health has occurred from a deficits-based perspective while failing to acknowledge their fortitude in persevering despite enduring adverse circumstances (i.e. racism and discrimination). However, a growing body of literature highlights the importance of focusing on positive…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented shifts to higher education globally, including Canadian universities. In this paper I utilize an extended photo essay method and narrative response to document the changes seen in my local university environment during the months of April through September 2020. Emerging literature and survey results…

The White House released an executive order to protect free speech on college campuses, appropriately highlighting the issue of ongoing threats to expression in the ivory tower. The President and his Administration exercised restraint with this order by directing federal agencies to stay within the bounds of existing law as the agencies implement…

This article explores how knowledge of institutional ecologies can help build connections across departments of large universities without direct communication. The authors, an instructor and a writing center tutor, consider "inventive collaboration"--impromptu work mediated by student writing--as a way to improve a multilingual…

This article explores how the escalating tensions in the nation are being mirrored on college campuses and how these tensions can profoundly affect the student experience. The current deep political and social divides require educators to respond in ways that are meaningful and necessitate enhanced skills and the ability to engage empathy and…

To effectively lead with our religiously diverse national and global communities, colleges and universities must engage practices and conditions that promote student interfaith learning and development. Recent research highlights seemingly divergent factors that both play significant roles to help prepare students for productive engagement across…

In partnership with the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB), the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) has had an ongoing commitment toward providing support for Illinois community colleges, with the goal of advancing equitable outcomes for students. In pursuit of this objective, OCCRL researchers have worked with…

Over 130 years have expired since William Edward Burghardt (W. E. B.) Du Bois transitioned from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Nashville, Tennessee, to a predominantly White institution (PWI) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Du Bois' HBCU experiences were not always peaceful in the then Jim Crow South, when compared to his…

Student-centered pedagogy shifts the power dynamics, function of content, role of the educator, responsibility for learning, and purpose of evaluation within the classroom. By redirecting student effort toward self-regulated learning activities within a learning management system (LMS), educators can focus on the application of material during…

This paper first introduces self-determination theory (SDT) to retention researchers and higher education professionals. Highlighted are the three basic psychological needs, that when met, are theorized to give rise to intrinsic motivation, which is associated with high levels of human performance. These are the needs for autonomy, competence, and…

Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) is a foundational sequence of courses required for students to complete as a prerequisite prior to admission to a range of graduate health programs and degrees, some of which include medical schools, nursing, occupational and physical therapy, exercise science, cardiovascular technologist, diagnostic medical…

This resource guide is a companion to the report, "Helping Underserved Students at Higher Performing iPASS Colleges: An Exploration of Support Practices." The report details how Black, Latinx, and low-income students are supported at five institutions that participated in the study. This guide describes and provides hyperlinks to useful…

Student persistence to graduation remains a critical measure of institutional success. Degree attainment is not only essential to the personal achievement of students arriving on campus each fall but has become a high-stakes measure for performance-based funding. It is telling, that even now, the pursuit of a college degree is characterized as…

Universities are investing considerable funds in designing and building innovative learning spaces without knowing the positive impact on student learning and their achievement of employability skills for the 21st century. There is a possibility of designing these new generation learning spaces to enable active and deep learning approaches to be…