ACHE 85th Annual Conference and Meeting - October 16-18, 2023

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The Hamilton Holt School has roots in the 1950s when it first offered adult courses for returning WWII veterans. Over the next 70+ years, the school's name has changed but has never strayed from its mission of providing adults affordable access to a liberal arts education. However, today’s competitive market for adult learners and their expectations for affordable options that accommodate busy schedules, have required the school to reinvent itself to remain relevant. That work has been even more challenging given that the Holt School is housed at a traditional liberal arts school with a reputation of being expensive, residential, and exclusive.

The presenters will share these changes, the need for new approaches, the obstacles faced and overcome, and what we have left to accomplish to provide affordable access to an academically excellent degree. Participants will be invited to share their own experiences, successes, and models of best practice.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

While the pandemic forced institutions and people to meet virtually, many adult students have been favoring that format for a long time before 2020. As institutions return to normal operations, it is important for them to consider whether some movements to the online format should stay. This presentation will examine how creating virtual groups and celebrations outside the classroom can create a community and a sense of belonging for adult students who find it hard to visit campus. The presenters will share examples of virtual events and communities and will lead a discussion on the impact that virtual programming can have on hard-to-reach populations.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This presentation will discuss the establishment of the College of Interdisciplinary and Continuing Studies at Morgan State University and the approaches used to develop admissions and application systems that expand access to higher education for adult learners. The session will explore revisions to admissions criteria, processes, and academic offerings to provide additional pathways for adult learners.
Attendees will gain insights into the challenges and successes encountered in creating a new college and the need to widen access to higher education for underrepresented populations. This presentation will highlight initiatives such as non-degree options, certificates, and prior learning assessments, aimed at providing more opportunities for adult learners to pursue their education.
The session offers practical ideas and strategies for attendees to implement in their own settings. Attendees will gain a better understanding of how to establish and improve admissions and application processes, promoting greater access to higher education for adult learners.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The future of higher education is definitively “non-traditional”, but executing on that vision will require a new—more central and strategic—role for continuing, professional and online education. After all, establishing this new vision will require leadership in building more diverse credentialing models, creating accessibility to audiences that are traditionally underserved, and collaborating across typically siloed parts of the university. In this session, we will reflect on the characteristics of future-ready universities and share insights into how CE leaders can play a more central part in its realization. Perspectives will be shared from three leaders coming from distinct backgrounds—a provost, dean and an analyst offering three distinct, yet overlapping perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of continuing ed in the future-ready university!

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The whole student mentality entails that for a student to be successful in their educational journey all immediate needs must be met. This is especially true for students who are working to pay for school and/or have families and other responsibilities. This applies for students who are taking short-term courses and students who are pursuing degree programs.

According to the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there are 5 levels starting at the bottom: physiological, safety, love and belonging needs, esteem, and self-actualization. Addressing these needs is imperial to offer the student the best chance at success. In this workshop we will talk about strategies to address these needs, and the importance of community partnerships to accomplish this goal. We will also discuss three specific programs (a grant partnering a community agency with a school, a case manager approach, and a department which is solely tasked with addressing student needs).

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Access. Impact. Innovation. The goal of every educator and university member who seeks to engage historically academically-disengaged populations. We set out to fulfill a need in our student-athletes- whose non-traditional roles desperately require the skillset of communication, a transferable skill to their career aspirations and role as leaders on campus, but often have preconceived notions about what the major means. Public speaking. Writing. Reading.

This presentation will lay out the process for meeting the communicative needs of these nontraditional students. It connects to the conference themes with its innovative and practical approach. The audience will receive handouts and participate in the hands-on activities used during the student workshops.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Equal access to education is an important issue. Removing barriers that hinder an inclusive experience for all users of remote proctoring is important. Using real case studies we will explore the accommodations available to provide an inclusive experience and also new features that will improve the testing experience.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The college experience is a major life transition point for individuals and many find the experiences unfamiliar, frightening, or even traumatic. Helping students transition to college is vital to their success in the university environment. Thus, it is critical for higher education (HIED) institutions and their staff to recognize the need for the many types of supports that may assist students during the transition. These supports can aid students in their growth as adults and help to develop lifelong learners who can effectively adapt to changing environments. Using personal narrative, Schlossberg’s Transition Theory (1981), and perspectives on adult development, we hope to share several best practices that support the student to productively manage their academic experiences. This session will use Schlossberg’s Transition Theory as a framework to better understand how to work with students new to college, the transfer student, those students who are re-entering college, and the non-traditional student.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

In an era of rapid change and evolving educational landscapes, EAB’s conference presentation delves into the critical topic of shaping the future of graduate and adult education. As traditional models give way to dynamic, learner-centric approaches, we explore innovative strategies to enhance access, recruitment, and success.

Our presentation begins by addressing the ever-expanding scope of access, embracing digital platforms and alternative learning pathways and modalities. We delve into cutting-edge recruitment techniques that leverage data analytics and personalized marketing to attract a diverse and motivated pool of adult learners and open up more access.

Moreover, we examine the key elements driving student success in this dynamic landscape, emphasizing coordinated support systems, advising programs, and leveraging data and technology to scale. Attendees will gain insights into adapting to changing demographics, workforce demands, and the future of graduate and adult education, leaving with actionable strategies to shape the educational landscape of tomorrow.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Loyola University Chicago’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies has recently expanded its program offerings to include applied and interdisciplinary graduate programs with flexible credentialing. These programs are designed to meet the continued and varied needs of adult students and working professionals seeking workplace development or career change or advancement, with stackable certificates integrated within the degrees for added flexibility and upskilling. This presentation will describe the strategy for developing these programs, the decision-making for offering a Master of Professional Studies degree, the leadership utilized for securing University-wide buy-in and approvals for this new degree type, and the collaborative program development and partnerships that produced the first two new MPS degrees to be offered at SCPS: the MPS in Instructional Design and the MPS in IT Leadership and Strategy. Discussion will include strategies for surmounting institutional obstacles to new program approaches.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

In this session, participants will learn how to train faculty from all programs university-wide in best teaching practices. An outline of topics will be discussed during the session including: research-based instructional models and effective instructional strategies, efficient use of university class time, planning in-person and virtual class instruction, ways to engage and motivate students in classroom settings, making data-driven decisions based on student assessments, and using technology effectively. Participants will leave the session with ideas they can easily implement and use in their own program or classroom. Information gained from this session could be used as professional development training for faculty, implemented as a course for new faculty, or applied to an individual's own university classroom.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

As higher education anticipates the challenges presented by the impending demographic cliff, many institutions have prioritized their institutional strategies on adult students. However, in order to support this growing population of learners, colleges and universities must be committed to unlocking and opening the doors that often serve as barriers to these students’ success. This session will share key strategies taken by one HBCU to align institutional efforts to meet the unique needs of its adult learners. The presenters will share which strategies were prioritized, approaches to data analysis, policy revision, and stakeholder buy-in, and navigating encountered challenges.

Workshop (90 minutes)

This session will outline the strategies developed by the University of Memphis over the last 15 years to reach and support adult learners on their journey to a postsecondary credential. The strategies include robust Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) opportunities, a degree completion program launched in 2013 to reach adult learners who stopped attending just shy of earning their bachelor’s degree, and corporate partnerships that remove as many barriers as possible so that employees can fully utilize their tuition assistance benefits. The presenter will reflect on the evolution of the strategies, outline challenges and significant achievements to date, and look ahead to what’s on the horizon. You will hear real case scenarios and leave with tips on how to incorporate these strategies in both the credit and noncredit divisions at your institution.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

You don’t have to make a Tik Tok, but you will want to pay attention to these online program strategy, marketing, and recruitment trends. In this fast-moving session, with lots of audience participation, we will review what’s new in centralizing and in-sourcing administrative functions, promoting micro-credentials, optimizing communication journeys, and upskilling your teams. Leave with a list of strategies to discuss with your teams when you return to the office.

Workshop (90 minutes)

Mount Saint Mary’s University, Los Angeles will share their journey and process of creating an in-house prior learning assessment program to increase access for their non-traditional students in the Weekend/Evening & Online College department. Collaboration, innovation, and creativity were used to create a prior learning assessment program tailored for non-traditional undergraduate students.

Workshop (90 minutes)

This 120-minute workshop will focus on several aspects of active learning: thinking critically, small group work, videos with guided questions, and promoting a positive, interactive classroom. I will model teaching strategies that demonstrate how to keep your students attentive and engaged through the integration of active learning strategies. Participants will be encouraged to participate in the different teaching strategies that focus on getting students to participate in class discussions and activities actively.

Workshop (90 minutes)

Online programs are growing at a rapid pace across the country. As learners are increasingly spending their college careers physically separated from their peers, faculties, and campuses the question arises how do universities and individual schools within them collaborate to maintain an online environment that supports belonging and meeting psychosocial needs of their remote learners? In this presentation based on the research findings of a systematic literature review, the participants will learn why online learners feel disengaged in the online classroom and with the university, how to support the psychosocial needs of their online learners, and foster a sense of belonging with peers, faculty and the university that the research (which will be reviewed) shows will lead to connection and increased retention. The diverse needs of online learns will be explored and a four-prong approach to practice will be presented to improve access to support services and increase connection/ belonging.

Workshop (90 minutes)

Quinsigamond Community College has developed an innovative strategy to increase access and success among their LatinX, Black, low-income, part-time, and first-generation learner populations, as well as students with disabilities. Our SUCCESS Scholars program combines an intensive case management advising model with a text-based, AI-driven “nudge” support system named “Quinn” and behavioral science-informed student advising. In this session, participants will experience one of the behavioral science professional development lessons designed and led by our partner, Persistence Plus, that helped Quinsigamond reimagine its advising practice and leverage evidence-based strategies for student communication and support. Participants will walk away having practiced how to leverage the “ABC2S” of plan making (Aspirations, Benefits, Challenges, Contingencies, Specifics) to help their students craft evidence-based intentions and follow through on their most important college goals.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing numerous industries, and education is no exception. Particularly in the realm of higher education, continuing education, and lifelong learning, AI's impact is profound and transformative. Here's an overview of the key areas where AI is affecting these educational sectors:
1. Transforming Teaching and Learning Processes
AI has the potential to dramatically change the way teaching and learning occur in higher education and continuing education. For instance, AI-powered platforms can deliver personalized learning experiences, tailoring content to match individual learning styles, speeds, and preferences. This can enhance student engagement and improve learning outcomes.
2. Facilitating Access and Flexibility
AI enables learning to take place anytime, anywhere, thus breaking down traditional barriers to access. AI-powered chatbots can answer student queries round the clock, while mobile learning apps offer flexible study options. This is invaluable in continuing education and lifelong learning, where learners often juggle their studies with work and other commitments.
3. Data-Driven Insights and Decision-Making
AI can analyze vast amounts of data to provide insights into learning behaviors, outcomes, and trends. This information can be used to improve course content, teaching strategies, and student support services. Predictive analytics can also identify students at risk of failure or dropout, enabling early interventions.
4. Promoting Lifelong Learning
As the job market continually evolves due to AI and other technological advances, lifelong learning has become more important than ever. AI can support this by recommending courses based on career goals, interests, and skills gaps. Furthermore, AI can continually update and expand educational content to keep pace with industry trends and demands.
5. Challenges and Opportunities
While the benefits of using AI in education are significant, it's also important to consider the challenges, such as data privacy concerns, the digital divide, and the need for human oversight. However, these challenges also present opportunities for higher education institutions and continuing education providers to lead the way in ethical AI use, digital equity, and human-AI collaboration.

In conclusion, AI is not just a tool for enhancing education - it's a catalyst for reimagining what education can be in the 21st century. By embracing AI, higher education, continuing education, and lifelong learning can better serve learners and society.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

How do we connect with our current graduate students? What tools are graduate students using on a daily basis to advance their academic and professional growth? These are the questions we ask ourselves when reflecting on how to make program changes with fidelity to support our students.

Northeastern Illinois University is the most diverse public university in the Midwest, also a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) serving first-generation college students with nearly fifty languages represented.

Today's graduate students learn, lead and rely on digital tools to communicate and advance for continuous growth. This session will share initiatives that our Masters in Educational Leadership program is leading to provide access and success for underrepresented students.

This session will highlight steps in designing a liquid syllabus through the equity lens to automate courses within our program. We invite our audience to discuss their successes, engage in sharing best practices, and provide feedback.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This session is designed for educators who want to enhance and grow by including stackable credentials via technology skills badging and certificates for all levels of learners. The presenters will identify free digital technology resources available for everyone to use, how a change management initiative regarding implementing embedding stackable technology credentials into curricula worked, and strategies utilized to encourage faculty, staff, and students at the University of Louisville to move forward in the age of digital transformation and stackable credentials.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Via this session, we present preliminary results from a study that integrated the Explore Construct, and Demonstrate (ECD) instructional approach (IA) in a business and management course that’s part of an adult degree completion program at a Master's Comprehensive University in the southeast region of the US. The ECD IA was used specifically to help ALs in the program gain intrinsic motivation and develop agency in their learning. This is so they could build their knowledge base and gain the self-confidence necessary to strengthen their technical and problem solving skills while at the University. Participants will engage in discussions and idea sharing pertaining to the pilot ECD-IA implementation presented to them. Following that, the presenters will summarize comments and feedback received and articulate lessons learned that participants can take back to their home institutions for the development and implementation of curricula changes related to adult program offerings.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

USC Palmetto College opened eight free Apple computer labs in rural communities around regional campuses to create digital oases for local residents in broadband deserts. The new iCarolina Labs offer reliable broadband internet access, continuing education and programming certification for citizens and students alike. This presentation will share the real-world perspectives of the leadership, innovation, organizational, programmatic, and marketing issues in developing, implementing, and sustaining this project that is vital to bridging the digital divide in pockets of rural South Carolina. It also provides best practices for replication in other states and regions across the United States and internationally.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Retention in online learning has often been cited as a challenge for students and universities. One contributor to poor retention is that learners feel isolated in online classrooms. This session will present prior research on the use of Intelligent Agents in higher education and in teaching as one strategy to reduce student isolation and increase the instructor’s social presence. The presenters conducted research on the use of Intelligent Agents in their online classes in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 and will report the results of their study as well as share how faculty can implement this approach in their own online classes with or without the use of an intelligent agent. Administrators who oversee online degree programs can also benefit from learning about this strategy as a retention technique.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This session focuses on best practices for leading CBE cultural change, and introduces innovative and creative initiatives that help make these practices more tangible for university leaders. We discuss our experience with CBE rollout at a small regional comprehensive university, including our concerns about faculty and staff adoption, and then share tips and lessons learned from our strategic process for creating an intentional and positive culture for the adoption of CBE. Specifically, we share successful initiatives employed across the areas of communication, building competency for change, and incentivizing adoption, in order to help other campuses create and sustain a positive culture for the adoption of CBE.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This presentation will how the Bachelor of Applied Science: Applied Leadership (BAS: AL) program has been designed and is being delivered to meet the learning needs of contemporary learners. Specifically targeted to those who have completed some college however had the appropriate opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree program, the BAS: AL is designed for learners who are constrained by time, place, and other responsibilities from enrolling in a traditional on-campus, full-time, degree program. We will share how we have taken the best of adult learning theory and practice, along with specific feedback from adult learners, to develop a flexible bachelor’s degree program delivered in an online asynchronous format.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Every wonder how your college or university could provide more effective and empowering learning environments for Native American students?

As a public university and Native American Serving Non-tribal Institution (N.S.N.T.I) located on federally designated Choctaw Nation Reservation land, very near the Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations, Southeastern Oklahoma State University (S.E.) is a leader in, and change agent for, Native American student success. At S.E. we engage Native American students everyday implementing the concept of Constructive Indigenization: applying uniquely Indigenous cultural values, world views, and perspectives to create equitable and empowering learning experiences for Native American students. This session shares Southeastern Oklahoma State University programs, practices, and partnerships that contribute to increasing Native American student retention and graduation rates; and presents a research-based self-assessment tool for benchmarking and improving institutional readiness and enhancing Native American student success in your college or university.

Keywords: Native American Education, Native American Student Success, Constructive Indigenization.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Explore how our training organization harnessed the power of a learning management system’s full capabilities to revolutionize virtual instructor-led training delivery, making higher education more accessible and automate course delivery operations. Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to maximize the potential of the LMS in the context of virtual instructor-led training, including customization, feature utilization, and integration strategies. Additionally, a continuous improvement framework will be shared for collaboration across multiple departments for ongoing enhancement of the LMS and better student outcomes.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This session will focus on programmatic transformations implemented for improved online course engagement of adult and nontraditional students at Athens State University. Athens State University is an upper-division university in Athens, Alabama, that serves over 3,000 students of junior and senior status with a mean age of twenty-nine. Many students at Athens State are first-generation from nontraditional backgrounds. During the Fall 2022 semester, Athens State’s Health and Physical Education Department began the pilot process to implement a minimal residency requirement for methodology courses using the Active Flex learning model. The minimal residency programmatic model strives to meet the needs of Athens State’s unique student demographic to offer greater flexibility and increase student degree completion chances. This session will discuss challenges and successes experienced over three pilot semesters and offer guidance to the audience members considering minimal residency on their campus.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

What kind of self-directed interventions support the career trajectory of adult learners? How do adult learners describe their career trajectories? These were questions we, colleagues from different academic departments, asked when thinking about how best to support our students, many of whom are first-generation college students and adult learners from underrepresented populations. To cultivate greater confidence and instill a sense of control over the direction of their careers, we developed and piloted an end-of-program self-study project rooted in a constructivist approach to life design that is supported by career construction theory and positive psychology. In our presentation, we share this innovative intervention in its entirety and the results of its evaluation. Mixed-methodology approaches, including surveys and document analysis, were the basis for the evaluation. We invite conference participants to provide feedback, discuss their successful practices, and identify concepts they wish to investigate further.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

You can’t control when prospective students start their decision-making process, but you can be in the right place when they do and help guide their decisions every step of the way. Carnegie and LinkedIn have partnered to deliver valuable insights into the prospective student journey for online program enrollment and the ways in which prospects use LinkedIn and other forms of social media to inform their enrollment decision-making process.
In this session, you’ll learn how prospective students are interacting with colleges and universities on LinkedIn, through search, and on your websites. We’ll share tactics and strategies that utilize LinkedIn’s advertising options, website best practices, and optimizing search results to help your institution drive high-quality leads with strong intent and a higher likelihood to enroll at a lower cost per enrollment.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

These sessions equip participants to improve access and success for students with disabilities in higher education, who now make up nearly 20% of post-secondary students (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Students with disabilities frequently report barriers at all levels (Los Santos et al., 2019), and they drop out more frequently and have longer degree completion times (Lombardi et al., 2012). Consequently, both students and faculty recommend training focused on disability for the entire university community (Sánchez-Díaz & Morgado, 2022). These sessions focus on holistic, research-based supports and practices to support students with disabilities. In these sessions, participants will reframe their understanding of disability and learn how to move from compliance to equity by recognizing then removing attitudinal, classroom, and institutional barriers. Each session will be interactive, and participants will leave with immediately applicable strategies and skills.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This presentation will focus on how faculty and administrators' attentiveness and responsiveness to student needs in the dissertation defense stage of a doctoral degree can lead to innovations that result in university-wide policy changes that align with institutional values of diversity, equity and inclusion, and student support and that are geared toward ensuring student success. Following a case study presentation, the audience will be engaged in generating policy change suggestions that are responsive to unmet student needs via fictitious student case studies. The exercise is intended to simulate the organic process of collaborative problem solving, resulting in policy change that can be applied to students with similar unmet needs. Finally, a discussion for exploring how the proposed policy can be implemented across departments within an institution will ensue. This presentation will emphasize the organic nature of creating and implementing policy changes for advancing DEI, student support, and student success.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This session will present research and ideas based on the book Relationship Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College by Felten and Lambert. Learn about how one department which serves adult students implemented a Faculty Pledge and Professional Learning Community to support faculty interested in this topic. Strategies like "mentoring on the run" will be shared that will help develop faculty and staff relationships with students. Participants will be asked to share the ways they build relationships that foster student success so that we can learn from one another.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

As higher education evolves and increases access, it is important for online learners to have a specific support system built around student success. In the School for Professional Studies (SPS) at Saint Louis University (SLU), we focus on student persistence through collaborative partnerships and care for the whole student. We have built a system that puts student well-being, academics, and financials at the forefront. From Canvas support to financial aid expertise to strategic outreach, our student focused approach has increased adult online student persistence and satisfaction.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

There are five simple steps to getting started on writing that article for the Journal of Continuing Higher Education (JCHE). What do you need to know to publish in JCHE? We'll explore our double-blind review process and the types of articles published. The five steps to getting the article written include developing the topic, search the literature, gather your data, write, revise. We'll run through what JCHE needs and how to prepare your submission. Most importantly, we'll cover your ideas for articles and explore how to shape them into an article for JCHE.

While we will place focus on South Carolina’s Ascend 60X30 initiative, similar efforts by other states such as Texas, Kentucky, Michigan and others to increase higher education attainment will be highlighted during the proposed symposium. Panelists include:

Dr. Eric Skipper, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, USC Beaufort

Marshall Connor, Dean, Dorchester Campus and Assistant VP, Economic Development and Continuing Education, Trident Technical College

William Floyd, Exec Director of Workforce Development, SC Department of Employment and Workforce

Anicia Stevenson, Director of Workforce Planning & Development, Comporium

Dr. Laura Ullrich, Senior Regional Economist, Charlotte branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Steven Walesch, Director Talent Acquisition, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in online learning, or any environment, can often be seen as unethical or as a form of technology that hinders equity rather than increasing it. However, The use of AI in online learning has the potential to create more equitable and inclusive exam experiences for professionals from diverse backgrounds. To ensure that AI-powered learning tools are genuinely inclusive, it is essential to design technologies sensitive to the diverse learning needs and preferences of different learners. This session will explore AI’s role in promoting equity and inclusion in online learning and will provide practical strategies for designing AI-powered learning experiences, such as automated online proctoring, that are accessible and effective for all professionals. Through thoughtful discourse, this session explores ethical considerations that must be considered when designing these technologies. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in interactive discussions and share insights from their own experience, leaving with a deeper understanding of the AI’s potential to support a more inclusive and effective online learning experience.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

Robust online delivery processes support off-campus students’ access and success while complementing face-to-face offerings to provide sustainable strategies that facilitate comprehensive program enhancement and increase university enrollment. Innovative budget models produce additional general fund revenue for campus-wide initiatives while also supporting new online resource and program development, faculty professional development in online delivery methods, and increased faculty financial support through online revenue sharing for high-enrolled courses. The presenter shares how leadership successes in online delivery at a public university increased faculty understanding of online delivery and support of online programming, and led to improved access and success for students from underrepresented populations and enhanced timely degree progression and completion across the institution through a variety of delivery methods that best meet students’ needs. These integrated strategies better engage both students and faculty, moving beyond an either/or online delivery philosophy toward a more comprehensive educational platform serving the entire university community.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

Whether at a community college, a public, land-grant, HBCU, or private, our institutions should serve the community in which we are located. But there’s often a disconnect between responsibilities for community engagement and the pressures of our day to day work such that community engagement falls farther down on the priority list. Most institutions have a need and a mission- or strategic- driven desire to be relevant in their communities. Examine with us ways in which we can and should continually engage with our communities. We will examine how and why there is often a lack of trust in our institutions within the community. How did we arrive here and how can we create opportunities to ensure that the community benefits from the presence of the local institution? We will focus on strategies to build, grow and maintain trust in our communities.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

Sharing of information related to established cultures of experiential learning with faculty, staff, and administration who desire to learn more about how universities implement methods of engagement with business and industry professionals who interact with college students in the classroom environment and provide guidance related to internship opportunities.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

The Florida A&M University (FAMU) – Bisk Education partnership ventured to develop the cybersecurity workforce by creating an alternative career pathway into cybersecurity. The goal of the one-year project was to develop the cybersecurity workforce in Florida using boot camps and a stackable credential to target individuals underrepresented in this field such as women, marginalized communities, and historically underrepresented minorities. Three cybersecurity boot camps were launched in 2023 providing over 60 grant-funded scholarships for participants. A 16-week stackable cybersecurity certificate was launched in the summer to "stack" into the MS Cybersecurity degree for the College of Science & Technology. This breakout will explore the role universities and industry partners can play in supporting alternative career pathways and how their investment can help broaden participation in STEM.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

There's considerable talk about how social media and news influence our thoughts, but have you ever wondered about the influence on perception when reading academic research and scholarly articles about work, leadership, or DEI on beliefs of career mobility?

Research indicates that all research possesses bias due to the researcher’s interests, assumptions, and beliefs that manifest in an interest in a given phenomenon. The impact is that research and academics can reinforce or create cognitive beliefs about success or suppression, ultimately fostering perception in the mind of the writer and reader, which may manifest in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Gentle Persuasion lays out the interaction of linguistics (word selection), neuroscience (brain processing), and expectation (heuristics) on the learner, career professional, academic professional, employee selection/retention strategist, professor, and so on so, which can result in the manifestation of Pygmalion or Golem effects causing in failure to thrive, attrition, avoidance, or self-fulfilling prophecies.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

This research proposal uses NSSE Engagement Indicator data to better understand the pedagogical differences between Computer Science, traditionally taught in a College of Sciences, and Management Information Systems, traditionally taught in a College of Business. Differentiating MIS from CS has been an ongoing issue since the inception of MIS because both disciplines deal with the creation and use of information technologies. Meanwhile, academia struggles to communicate the differences and issue guidance in career-making decisions to prospective students. However, correctly guiding an individual into the appropriate career path and academic program is not addressed by the basic science / applied science distinction. Matching prospective students to academic programs requires a robust understanding of the core differences between the programs and in the pedagogical processes the students will likely encounter. The correct placement can lead to greater student success measures, such as retention and graduation rates.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

REAL, which stands for Recognize Education And Learning, is a service meant to influence and acknowledge the importance of education, including positive educational news and achievements by scholars of all ages. REAL increases the awareness of education and provides a positive outlook on the opportunities created with education and important national academic information. REAL also intends to increase the appeal of education with a unique approach to education and style of delivery. REAL has a social media presence that includes positive educational strategies, news and achievements by scholars of all ages.

We serve schools and students of all ages, along with sport teams with the approach of applying positive athletic concepts to the classroom. REAL also hosts events catered toward educational success with the purpose of creating positive awareness about education and acknowledging educational success among the students participating. We intend on building a culture that embraces education.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

Recently, the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) launched a new applied learning environment to train essential career skills in a simulated, AI-driven world in which students learn by doing. The Multi-dimensional. Applied. Relevant. System (MARS) provides UMGC students with a seamless digital learning environment for students to access, interact, and engage with one another. Their activity on the platform is analyzed and continuously enhanced with AI and machine learning systems. Faculty members can shadow students simultaneously for instant troubleshooting. The student and faculty response to MARS has been overwhelmingly positive. Students are engaging with material in relevant and industry-specific ways through simulation and hands-on practice. Course outcomes have improved and support tickets have decreased - meaning students are spending efficient time in the environment.

Roundtable (Breakfast Session)

Stackable and alternative credentials create unique pathways into Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS) degree programs. The requirements of a BPS degree provide curriculum flexibility not found in traditional bachelor’s degrees programs. In this workshop, we will share how stacking non-credit and credit certificates, prior military training, and work experience furnish students with an efficient route to degree completion.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Attendees who participated in the Emerging Leaders Institute in August are encouraged to attend this two hour follow up session with two of the dynamic facilitators who led the ELI workshops. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their ongoing professional development and continue their learning experience with a focus on shifting from “Me to We” strategies.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

This session is designed to explore assessment of experiential learning that is translated into college credit via Credit for Prior Learning (CPL). The session will explore various policy and practice at various universities (including HBCUs) designed to acknowledge college level and credit worthy prior learning from outside the confines of the college walls. CPL has the power to entice and engage adult learners to return to finish a program they started last year or long ago.
The session explores programs designed for working adults, and is offered online and/or in class. CPL is used to give credit for life learning in a specialty area that has not previously been awarded credit. This session will explore effective and efficient practices to translate experiential learning into college credit through a relevant, rigorous, and research based approach.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Getting the right technology into your unit is critical in improving performance, processes, and most of all, your student experience. Come learn about the challenges administrators face in implementation, how to judge what you need, and the best way to find out best fit for your unit. Our goal is to get you on a path of fewer redundancies and a much better student journey.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The University of Northern Colorado has worked with other IHE’s in Colorado to create Prior Learning Assessments (PLA’s) for 5 core early childhood education classes that will be implemented across institutes of higher education (IHE’s) in Colorado. This session explains the process that was taken to create these PLA’s. Final PLA’s included a challenge exam questions, essay questions, and a portfolio that would assess the application and analysis of the SLOs. All three methods, challenge exam, essay questions, and portfolio were used to increase the reliability and validity of each PLA.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

VOICES: Variety Of Input Creates Engaged Students™ offers guidance for rethinking course design and implementation for powerful communication. Combining theories of mindfulness, learning styles and universal course design, the goal of this presentation is to offer specific ways that make success the bedrock for all students in all classes.

The VOICES ideas will be shared in an active-learning style where participants get to participate in the mindfulness and assessments portions of the project and then see sample UDL curriculum ideas. They will then get the opportunity to brainstorm options for different programs and how to implement them.

This session is intended for transformational leaders seeking straightforward, pragmatic solutions to improve student success who are looking for implementable strategies to share with their institutions.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

These sessions equip participants to improve access and success for students with disabilities in higher education, who now make up nearly 20% of post-secondary students (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Students with disabilities frequently report barriers at all levels (Los Santos et al., 2019), and they drop out more frequently and have longer degree completion times (Lombardi et al., 2012). Consequently, both students and faculty recommend training focused on disability for the entire university community (Sánchez-Díaz & Morgado, 2022). These sessions focus on holistic, research-based supports and practices to support students with disabilities. In these sessions, participants will reframe their understanding of disability and learn how to move from compliance to equity by recognizing then removing attitudinal, classroom, and institutional barriers. Each session will be interactive, and participants will leave with immediately applicable strategies and skills.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

The good work done in continuing education is only accomplished when you have a talented and dedicated workforce. In today’s job market, keeping and retaining this talent stands as a tall task. Join in on a conversation as the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education discusses its journey to address this concern through developing a career lattice and talent development plan. During the conversation, participants will join in on a walk-through from early attempts to tackle retention, key players involved in the process, the steps and missteps taken, sharing of the final products developed, and a recap of where we stand today one-year post-launch.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

To achieve or to renew accreditation, Educational Preparation Providers (EPPs) must generate a self-study report to the Council for the Accreditation Education Preparation (CAEP), proving that each of the CAEP standards is met. My involvement in the recent self-study report prompted me to engage in action research, conducting an in-depth, multi-faceted exploration of the graduate level literacy program in which I teach. By examining the program through CAEP’s lens an inside-out view emerged, encouraging change with potential to improve access for candidates within the program. Additionally, the changes instituted should make writing future CAEP self-study reports a more seamless process. Specifically, the presentation will examine three lessons learned with viable options for replication as well as a look toward future changes.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Incorporating instructor notes into online courses – notes that are developed and passed on to other instructors in relation to teaching a specific course – is a best practice that can facilitate student success by improving student engagement, instruction, and delivery. Instructor notes can help students learn the content, submit quality work, and find meaning in the course and its larger place within their career path. Examples of instructor notes, which can be targeted to apply to an entire course, a module, or an assignment, may include suggestions for weekly announcements, common points of confusion for students, reminders of relevant teaching best practices, technology-related tips that decrease the instructor’s workload, etc.

Concurrent Session (50 minutes)

Underrepresented adult learners (UALs), specifically those from diverse racial, linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are currently facing an uncertain and uneven employment landscape (Connley, 2021; Hancock et al, 2021). In addition to wage gaps and other labor market inequities, those UALs must often keep up with the demands of a full-time job, juggle day-to-day child rearing responsibilities as a single parent, and at times care for a parent and other loved ones while in school. Given that, higher education institutions (HEI) must take bold and innovative actions and steps to reach the goal of creating and sustaining a more inclusive academic and social experience for students and all campus stakeholders. Via this session, we present and delineate the ways in which the Promoting Learning and Upskilling for Success (PLUS) framework can be used to foster institutional transformation for the purpose of attracting, supporting, and serving UALs.