Higher Ed

After recently posting “What’s Most Important? – The Student Experience,” in which I discussed High Point University’s unique approach to building student engagement, I’ve received intriguing questions from folks curious about what I see in the different sectors of higher ed: How does the importance of impacting student engagement vary from public schools to private schools, and from two-year–focused institutions to terminal degree institutions?

Pondering these questions, two campuses immediately came to mind to cite as examples of very different approaches higher ed institutions are taking to achieve similar outcomes in the provision of great student experiences: Harvard University and Sinclair Community College.

In just two weeks, BbWorld ’07 will begin in Boston.  Each year a group of Blackboard client institutions participates in the annual users conference as co-hosts.  This year two higher ed institutions and one K-12 school are involved: Framingham State College, Phillips Academy Andover and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Representatives from these schools recently compiled for conference attendees a helpful and humorous list of sites to visit and activities to do in Boston.  So, with a drum roll, please, I present the Boston Host Committee’s . . .

Top Five Reasons Why Boston Is the Place for BbWorld ’07!

#5 – The most colleges and universities per square mile
Where else can you paak your caa’ in Haavad Yaad?  Or, in other words . . . Park your car in Harvard Yard.  Be sure to read the “Wicked Good Guide to Boston English” to learn to speak like a Boston native before the conference!

Greetings from Edmonton, Alberta.  I’m here for the 5th Annual Canadian E-Learning Conference, which is hosted by the University of Alberta.

The conference, which involves about 180 people, lasts two and a half days, and the program theme is “Learn, Teach, Inspire.” Previous conferences have been fantastic, so the excitement level was high as we prepared to dive into the presentations and panels yesterday.

A “Barney partnership”—that’s the way to describe a relationship that may sound positive and start productive, but soon becomes fluffy and empty.

For those who don’t have small children, Barney is a large purple creature who sings songs with lyrics like “I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family,” which sound just as fresh and entertaining the 100th time you hear them.

Many partnerships in higher education though, like in any sector, quickly degenerate into Barney partnerships.  It’s hard enough to coordinate one organization towards a common goal, let alone two or more.  And in education, the common goal of better educating students is so compelling that it motivates many partnerships.

I’ve come to realize, however, that education organizations have more to gain from partnering than almost any other organization.  The missed opportunity lies in what I would call “insight partnerships”—partnerships that provide a learning organization with greater insight to inform ongoing improvement of its learning effectiveness.

Some 30+ years ago, while sitting in various smoke-filled board rooms for hours at a time some, I had no idea how campus discussions about the “Student Experience” would evolve during the ensuing three decades.

I recall my first effort at addressing the Student Experience.  During that specific campus meeting, the topic was food service, and I was being grilled as the new kid on campus.  In attendance were the school president, all the vice presidents, members of the College Council, the student newspaper editor and what seemed like a supporting cast of thousands. 

Students were tired of being served liver, mystery meat, boiled lamb shank, Old Medford fruit punch (if you went to camp in the ’60s, you drank this by the gallon to cover the taste of sulfur water from the well) and a plethora of other bizarre foods not fit for mass consumption.

Everyone in attendance agreed the food being served on campus was awful, and it was my job to get it fixed, cut staff, reduce cost of goods, and keep the students happy so they’d stay on campus and not transfer to another college.

That was my introduction to addressing the Student Experience.