Yes, you should have annual departmental reviews. Here's why.
Academic program and departmental reviews take many different shapes—from pure, qualitative descriptions of accomplishments and goals to detailed reports on contributions to the discipline. But what do most have in common? They are time-consuming. They are arduous. And despite all of the effort required, they often fail to connect the dots between how the program…
It matters who is teaching your 101 classes—and how
High failure rates in critical gateway courses are one of the biggest (and often under-prioritized) obstacles to student progress. It’s not just a matter of repeating one class—failing an essential introductory course can lead to student attrition or increase time-to-degree for hundreds or thousands of students at a single college or university. And while student…
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MoreHow to identify (and respond to) the data denier
College and university leaders have a growing imperative to consistently use data to inform decisions about faculty resource allocation, course offerings, costs, new programs, and others. But with the introduction of data comes anticipated resistance from all sides, primarily stemming from the fear that data will tell a different, possibly unfavorable, story about unit-level performance.…
These instructional capacity metrics are outdated. Here's what to use instead
The science of measuring instructional capacity was built on decades of steady growth in higher education, reflecting long-held quality standards and the assumption that adding resources is the only way to maintain or improve quality. Many of these measures were built into rankings like the U.S. News and World Report, despite minimal pedagogical research on…
Yes, you should have annual departmental reviews. Here's why.
Academic program and departmental reviews take many different shapes—from pure, qualitative descriptions of accomplishments and goals to detailed reports on contributions to the discipline. But what do most have in common? They are time-consuming. They are arduous. And despite all of the effort required, they often fail to connect the dots between how the program…
3 mistakes you're making in pursuit of growth
In an environment of increasing competition, radical shifts in student demand, and growing cost pressures, academic portfolio review and strategic growth planning are more important than ever. Academic leaders need to be equipped with the right market insights to achieve enrollment and revenue ambitions. However, higher education leaders face a number of challenges to identify…
5 most common higher ed data quality challenges—and solutions
“There are two interesting moments in the lifetime of a piece of data: The moment it is created and the moment it is used. Quality, the degree to which the data is fit for use, is judged at the moment of use,” writes Dr. Thomas Redman in the Harvard Business Review. Higher education offers no exception to…
Secrets to successful influence
At an institution as vast and complex as a university, senior leaders can’t possibly do everything themselves. Nor can they effect a major change initiative with the wave of a magic wand. Being in any type of leadership position requires influencing others to act—to get people to do the things you need them to do,…