Reflective Leadership By Selected Community College Presidents

Code Blue addresses the capacity challenges in healthcare training. This pilot, grant funded project, focuses on a holistic approach to selecting and educating career ready and capable students and training them to be confident and competent healthcare workers. Lessons learned from this project will be assessed and reviewed for replication.     

Creating case studies of practice through Appreciative Inquiry

Taking a positive view is a fruitful way to prompt educators to reflect on and to develop their practice. Teachers, teacher educators and children bring a wide range of ideas that provide a powerful basis for developing understanding of the complexities of classroom practice. Using appreciate inquiry the authors show how they developed their understanding of professional development as they worked with groups of teachers who investigated their science teaching practice with young children and produced case studies of practice. The authors also show how the roles and ideas of themselves as university tutors were challenged and emerged to suit the range of contexts involved. Their view of Continuing Professional Development was influenced by the lived experiences of the teachers and themselves. They worked to systematise learning through identifying commonalities of experience and reflection along four dimensions: creating spaces for growth; working with emergent purposes; action research as rhizomatic growth; and collaborative and collective action. The rich variety of outcomes shows the value of creating space for growth for children and for adults. The energy and enthusiasm liberated motivated the participants to explore their worlds in ways that were difficult to predict at the start of the project.     

Participative Leadership: Perspectives of Community College Presidents

This grounded theory study addressed the issue of how community college presidents foster active, broad-based participation in campus decision-making processes. This study was based on in-depth interviews with nationally recognized community college presidents selected on the basis of their work in implementing participative governance within their respective institutions. The findings of this study are presented according to the emergence of four axial categories, and a core category is described and explained. Participative leadership is highly interactive and dynamic. Perhaps most importantly, participative leadership is a developmental process for building environments for broad participation. The core category, Visioning Participative Environments, reveals the centrality of the visioning process throughout each sequence of the participative leadership process. This model identifies and explains key participative leadership practices that flow from the theoretical cornerstones.     

Positive Perspectives on the Profession: Reframing through Appreciative Inquiry

Change theories and Organization Development strategies have long followed the problem-solving approach of looking at organizations, identifying the weaknesses and introducing interventions to “stop doing the wrong things.” In its simplest form, this approach has been successful in a variety of situations and has a popular following. Consultants or internal reviewers look for the problems, identify the cause of the problem, and introduce the intervention (new rule) to eliminate the opportunity for the repetition of the “problem.” Problem-solving is a popular perspective through which change is initiated in politics, academia, and in social media. Eliminate the “bad” and pay attention to what we have been doing wrong to improve. This article first reviews the problems posed in past Hanna lectures to some major themes: (a) the need to address societal concerns, (b) the need to reduce sub-disciplinary fragmentation, (c) the problems inherent on university campuses as a result of politics and the economy, (d) the need to re-examine the over-reliance on the scientific research paradigm at the cost of phenomenological understandings, and (e) the framing of problems to be solved by professionals in our field. The introduction of Appreciative Inquiry and is then provided as an alternative approach to examine current contextual setting with the primary emphasis away from “What problems are you having?” and toward “What is working around here?”. This alternative suggests that in all organizations there is some positive force that is moving the organization forward, and the identification of that force (what works) can lay the ground work for doing more of “what works.” Finally, three examples of Appreciative Inquiry opportunities in action from our discipline are offered for consideration.     

网络时代大学英语研究性学习探讨

本文首先分析了研究性学习的5个特征,接着探讨了大学英语教学改革的趋势,然后分析了利用网络资源学习的特点,最后提出了利用网络实施大学英语研究性学习的策略,为大学英语教学改革提出了新的设想.     

Creating a New University-Based Community College Leadership Program

The author describes the process for developing a new Community College Leadership (CCL) curriculum for a certificate, master's, and doctoral degree in adult and higher education. The article details the research strategy in learning about Oklahoma's community colleges, existing national community college leadership programs, relevant courses needed for a leadership emphasis, and the desired methods to deliver such courses. The author describes the additional steps undertaken to create a relationship with Oklahoma's community colleges and their leaders. A qualitative study was conducted to learn from the community college presidents what challenges, knowledge, and skills future leaders needed to possess. The overarching theme that emerged from the study was the political nature of community colleges and leadership. This political theme placed all other themes secondary to the necessity of leaders being cognizant and skilled at being political beings. Even the theme of inadequate funding was linked to politics. The article concludes with detailed information on the new curriculum and future research and practical application.     

Nature and Status of Community College Leadership Development Programs

This study was conducted because of the paucity of research on community college leadership development programs. A mailed survey was used to gather data from a national sample of incumbent community college presidents with 286 out of 389 responding for a return rate of 74%. Of national and regional programs, the Chair Academy, the Executive Leadership Initiative, and the Future Leaders Institute had the highest percentages of participation by top-level community college administrators. Nearly 70% of presidents believe that there is a need to expand in-house development programs.     

基于探究社区模型的混合学习效果影响因素分析

混合学习是面对面学习和计算机辅助在线学习的有机结合。为了厘清影响学生混合学习效果的因素及其作用机制,本文基于探究社区模型,界定了混合学习包含教学存在、认知存在和社会存在三个关键要素,同时界定了各要素包含的子维度,以工商管理专业学生为分析对象,运用相关分析、回归分析和结构方程模型解释了三要素对混合学习效果的影响机制。研究结果表明:教学存在、社会存在、认知存在与学习效果间都存在显著的正相关,认知存在在教学存在与学习效果间发挥部分中介作用,认知存在在社会存在与学习效果间发挥部分中介作用。本研究验证了基于探究社区的混合学习模式的要素及其关系,并对其进行了拓展,提出了提高混合学习效果的建议。     

Online Education from the Perspective of Community College Students within the Community of Inquiry Paradigm

This article describes a qualitative inquiry that explored the phenomenon of online learning on a community college campus within the paradigm of Community of Inquiry (CoI). The learning experience of 15 community college students taking fully online courses was examined in-depth for evidence of social, cognitive, and instructional domains identified by CoI as critical components for the facilitation of a meaningful learning experience in computer-mediated environments. Findings conveyed suppressed social, cognitive, and teaching presence; and as a result, a meaningful learning experience was not achieved for the participants. Additionally, first-time online learners manifested a unique learning experience that warrants further investigation. Findings from this study raise questions about the pedagogical soundness of fully online courses for community college students. Future research should examine online learning as a distinct pedagogy and focus more intently on the teaching and learning process.     

大学生弱势群体探析

大学生弱势群体普遍存在于各高校中,了解大学生弱势群体的种类、形成原因及支持策略,采取有效措施给予教育和疏导,是教育者的当务之急.     

在高级英语课程教学中培养学生的英语鉴赏能力

高级英语课是英语专业高年级的一门主干课程,然而目前高级英语课程教学的状况并不令人乐观。应改高级英语课传统的“释义型”教学模式为“鉴赏型”教学模式。笔者从语篇教学、修辞教学以及文化教学三个方面探讨学生英语鉴赏能力的培养问题。     

The Process of Transition for Community College Transfer Students

This assessment considers the sustainability of initiatives begun as a result of participation in the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI). Case studies were conducted at eight community colleges, and quantitative data was gathered from the U.S. Census, the Department of Labor, and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Elements that helped the colleges sustain initiatives beyond the funding cycle are discussed.     

Preparing Reflective Community College Leaders in a Graduate Leadership Course

This study measured the knowledge construction and reflection that occurred in a doctoral course designed to introduce major leadership theories and encourage reflection as a community college leadership practice. At each session, students completed forms reporting new learning and insights they experienced, as well as responding to reflection catalysts. Three themes emerged from the data: reflection on previous internal perspectives about leadership, critical review of personal and theoretical constructs, and embracing relational leadership. By the end of the course, students acknowledged the value of collaborative learning, and demonstrated changed perspectives regarding leadership practices, together with increased habits of reflection. Implications for graduate-level instruction and further research are proposed, based on the conclusion that the New Learning process is valuable for certain types of classes, is beneficial for professional development, and conforms to principles of transformative learning among adults.     

Fostering Community College Leaders: An Examination of Leadership Development Programs

The study reported in this paper identifies leadership development practices within community colleges by surveying North Carolina community college presidents and evaluating an individual North Carolina community college's leadership institute. The results of the study indicate these community colleges indeed have an interest in leadership development activities for its employees, and the examined leadership institutes are quite effective and beneficial for its participants. Based upon these findings, two sets of recommendations are offered for fostering leadership initiatives within community colleges, namely, a focus on more significant topics for community college employees and developing a leadership learning community within a community college.     

Framing the Role of Leader: How Community College Presidents Construct Their Leadership

ABSTRACT

Presidents are one of the most studied of administrative roles, yet little research occurs on understanding how these leaders construct their own leadership. Thus, the question guiding the research reported here concerned how community college presidents cognitively framed their leadership roles. This study involved the interviewing of 9 community college presidents. Findings uncovered 3 themes. The first theme identified how the presidents' underlying mental maps guided decision-making and leadership on campus. The second theme linked the basic cognitive orientation of the presidents with on-going situated cognition in their new work settings. Learning evolved based on environmental factors. The final category highlighted the dynamic and changing nature of the presidents' leadership role. The findings from the research reported underscore that college presidents are constantly learning and adjusting their conceptions of leadership. The foundation of this learning journey was each president's core schema and how the schema influenced the processing of new incoming information, ultimately impacting how the leaders made sense of it. While the college presidents were predisposed to a particular way of processing information and operating within an organization, they learned from their changing contexts.     

Civic Engagement Among Community College Students Through Service Learning

Higher education has been called upon to prepare its graduates to be civically engaged community members. Since the 1980s, faculty have taken up this call. Service learning is a common strategy that educators have adopted to stimulate civic engagement in students. In this study, service learning students and nonservice learning students from eight community colleges were given precourse and postcourse surveys on civic engagement. Results revealed a statistically significant increase in service learners’ civic engagement when compared to nonservice learners. The findings are consistent with other higher education studies that use an expanded definition of civic engagement.     

The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change

This book relates how organizations have been able to engage the whole system (i.e., all of their employees) to enthusiastically participate in bringing about their own performance improvement. It documents the how and why of the success stories that follow the application of appreciative inquiry (AI) thinking and methodology. It explains the source of the transformative and generative power of AI. The application of AI methodology is helpfully illustrated with detailed case studies. The Power of Appreciative Inquiry: A Practical Guide to Positive Change (2010; ISBN: 9781605093284; 303 pages; $32.95 also available in Kindle edition) is published by Berrett‐Koehler.     

欣赏型探究及其对我国教育改革与发展的启示

欣赏型探究是一种聚焦探寻组织优势,围绕优势进行梦想、设计和付诸实施的组织变革理论。基于组织的积极趋向性、意象导向性和信仰动力性的假定,欣赏型探究提出了发现、梦想、设计和实现的过程主张,强调遵循建构论、同步性、诗意性、期望性和乐观性的原则。欣赏型探究对转变我国教育改革与发展的思维观念,推动策略联盟和实现城乡教育一体发展以及发现组织亮点,促成学校变革愿景实现等,具有诸多启迪。