Laura Ennis,* Information Services, Edinburgh Napier University, Scotland

Abstract

Faculty Learning Communities (FLC) are formal, time-bound, and selective communities that encourage collaborative enhancement of teaching and learning. Based on the model developed by Milton D. Cox (2004), the first FLC at Edinburgh Napier University was founded in 2018 intending to explore the ways in which staff could support each other throughout the institution. This paper reflects on the activities of the FLC participants and uses these to explore potential barriers to successful participation in future FLCs.

Keywords: faculty learning communities, professional development, higher education

*Corresponding author: Email: l.ennis@napier.ac.uk

Michael Kwanashie,* Department of Economics,  Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria

Helen Kwanashie, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria

Abstract

In an attempt to revamp the Adviser-Advisee Scheme at Ahmadu Bello University, a pilot study was conducted to unearth the challenges experienced by Faculty (advisers) and Students (advisees) operating the scheme, as well as suggestions for its improvement. Online search on Academic Advising was undertaken to ascertain best practices across continents. Against this backdrop, the Adviser-Advisee Scheme (AAS) at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) was evaluated using primary and secondary data, obtained via quantitative and qualitative methods. The results identified challenges facing ABU’s AAS and possible solutions, including as these relate to students and faculty transitioning to learning in today’s digital age in an LDC. Despite diversities, conferees were invited to share their institutional and personal experiences of academic advising, and so enriched the strategy that was eventually proposed by the authors as the way forward for the AAS at ABU.

Keywords: academic advising, adviser, advisee, student-faculty collaboration, student preparedness

* Corresponding author. Email: mike.kwanashie@gmail.com

Leda Panayotopoulou* and Irene Nikandrou, Department of Marketing & Communication, Athens University of Economics & Business, Greece

Abstract

In this paper we present the theoretical framework of a training intervention designed for first-year students in their first semester. Our vision was to help them in their transition from a narrow and protected environment (family and school), to a wider, more complex and impersonal environment (university). First, we need to look at first-year students as bio-psychosocial systems, in order to understand the elements that shape their behavior. Then, we identify the skills to be developed. The proposed model is based on the general principles of systems theory and what is called “organized complexity.”

Keywords: Engaging first-year students, student transition, systemic training, organized complexity *Corresponding author. Email: ledapan@aueb.gr

Natesha L. Smith,* Student Affairs Administration, Binghamton University, USA

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a course aimed at developing cultural intelligence among graduate students at an American university. Culturally relevant pedagogy is a frame for developing the cultural intelligence of students preparing for work as student affairs professionals. Student-centered in-class group learning activities primarily characterize the course format, which is further supported by synchronous and asynchronous online activities using the learning management system of Blackboard. Cultural intelligence development, expressed in the form of cognitive, metacognitive, behavioral, and motivational factors were evaluated using digital storytelling and environmental audit course projects.

Keyword: cultural intelligence, digital storytelling, student affairs, instructional design

*Corresponding author. Email: nlsmith@binghamton.edu

Clifford E. Tyler,* School of Education, National University, USA

Abstract

Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) Schools of Education in California are faced not only with the challenge of closing the gap between student expectations on the one hand and the realities of university instruction and the workplace on the other, but three additional new challenges. These are (1) meeting the diverse and rapidly changing needs of students; (2) adequately preparing them to successfully transition from course theory to competent practices to meet the demands school administration; and (3) assuring their success in passing the California state-mandated administrative performance assessment.

This paper will describe these challenges and what can be done to meet them.  Students’ changing needs will be described related to the skills they must acquire to successfully complete their theoretical course content and apply it to their fieldwork/intern experiences.  The paper will also describe the challenges that higher education faces to provide them quality courses and a fieldwork and intern course experience, preparing them to pass all three cycles of the state-mandated California Administrative Performance Assessment (CalAPA), or to remediate failing students at IHE expense.

Keywords:  fieldwork, performance assessment, school administration

*Corresponding author. Email: ctyler@nu.edu