NEWS BLOG
What is Information Management?
IM = IT + PM
Information Management (IM) integrates the knowledge, methods, and techniques you will normally learn in the Information Technology (IT) and Project Management (PM) fields.
Information Management comprises the management of people, data & computer systems, management information systems (MIS), business processes, databases, security, telecommunications, hardware, software, people, resources, and the networks an organization use to conduct its business and e-commerce operations in an efficient and effective way.
Information Management encompasses almost every business field—from the healthcare and finance industry to the construction, engineering, manufacturing, configuration management, and service management industries. All enterprises and organizations need information-age workers knowledgeable in the IT & PM areas. And gaining certification credentials in those two fields provide you with added validation of your expertise.
IT & PM Job Training Works!
A recent article in the New York Times titled "Job Training Works. So Why Not Do More?" applauds the success of in-demand career certification training programs, such as Information Technology certification in computers and networking (i.e., CompTIA A+ and Network+), among several others.
The article focuses on the merits of a "Women in Technology" job-training program sponsored by a non-profit organization in New York. The success of job-training programs has been further replicated and validated by WorkAdvance --where a variety of organizations created experimental in-demand training programs spanning from IT to healthcare. This real-life "experiment" demonstrated that job-training participants were able to increase earnings. Further, many participants felt very hopeful about their career path and future earning potential.
So, Job Training Works. But, as the article asks: why not do more?
Job or career training has also been used very effectively to retain employees in their current jobs or to promote employees within their firm. Employees value these types of on-the-job-training as much as their salary & benefits. And employers value the industry-based certification training credentials that participants obtain. So, everyone wins.
But, now, can career training programs also help retain and persistently engage students? In my experience leading and offering in-demand career training, sponsored by the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and private foundations, I have witnessed how these types of job-related, practical training, can improve student retention---even when these extracurricular programs are not generally being regarded as a genuine academic pursuit for faculty.
During the last twenty years, I have been incorporating practical training exercises in my online business courses at Florida Gulf Coast University (from CompTIA A+ and Excel training to e-commerce and webpage development exercises) with great success. Essentially, close to 100% of the participants and students have passed our courses with at least a C+ average and the general class average has been around B+.
I believe it's time to try this practical approach with the general student population, particularly with at-risk students (or courses, where there is a high dropout rate.) In general, I have found that we can retain students by using the following strategies:
Use engaging activities and exercises that mimic real-life (and involve their peers)
Focus on in-demand courses and programs related to what (at-risk) students do well
Provide pre-tests for the content or knowledge area to be discussed as well as tests and post-tests, after students have reviewed the materials and obtained feedback, respectively
Monitor students' progress using technology (such as Learning Management Systems' analytics)
As the system analyzes and uncovers a problem (i.e., missing tests or low performance), seek early intervention (i.e., what's up?; why did you miss the pre-test?)
Provide in-demand practical skills that at-risk students feel they can use to find a future job and improve their financial situation. Relevance is key!
Implement individualized, self-paced career training experiences and programs in the student's area of interest.
If a student is going to drop (or it's being forced to withdraw for a semester or year, due to low grades), provide an alternative short career path, for instance, a one-semester career certification training program. It's a very practical and inexpensive way to keep at-risk students engaged and hopeful about their futures!
Coupling Worldwide Online Internships with Certification Preparation Courses.
Should we couple worldwide internships with project-based online learning?
Should we couple internships with project-based online learning?
“There’s a lot of evidence that project-based learning has a better impact on student learning and readiness for life after high school.”
In short, “a program of education that eschews traditional teach-and-test methods in favor of immersive lessons that challenge students with problems or scenarios that promote self-directed investigation, critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork.”
(The Science of Learning: Our Amazing Brains: Putting Knowledge to Use: Learning at Every Age, 2020)
___________
WHAT WE DO
Coursewell provides worldwide online internships coupled with career certification preparation—better, faster. ©®™
Coursewell faculty simulate real work-environments, where you learn and gain worldwide job-experience (rotating internships) via real-life Business (BIZ), Information Technology (IT), Project Management (PM), and Health Administration Systems (HAS) lessons and work-tasks (i.e., real scenarios, work-tasks & projects provided by business & industry.)
Coursewell.com ©®™ All Rights Reserved by Adaptiva Corp
“There’s a lot evidence that project-based learning has a better impact on student learning and readiness for life after high school.”
In short, “a program of education that eschews traditional teach-and-test methods in favor of immersive lessons that challenge students with problems or scenarios that promote self-directed investigation, critical thinking, creativity and teamwork.”
(The Science of Learning: Our Amazing Brains: Putting Knowledge to Use: Learning at Every Age, 2020)
Coursewell is where work-interns and certification seekers can develop a faster, happier (perhaps), better online career by getting prepared for information-age and emerging jobs!
Coursewell offers online career internships & certification preparation in high-demand business, construction, cyber-security, engineering, health administration, and information technology (IT) areas-—as a smart, stackable, fluid, multi-channel experience. Rather than just videos & assessments, participants’ knowledge & skills are reinforced via university faculty interaction in real-time.
From business, construction, project management, and health administration to cyber-security, engineering, and information technology: Everyone can learn & mingle in real-time.
Participants are unhindered by time, place, credits, grades, or admission constraints! That is, participants, don't have to be necessarily registered at a university or college to participate in these online programs. But our instructors are certified, experienced university faculty.
Coursewell’s goals are to (1) enrich participants’ careers & knowledge; and (2) improve the chances of being hired in challenging times. Coursewell seeks to accomplish its goals by providing (a) real-life experiential mentoring using real-time video chats (i.e., Zoom); and (b) comprehensive (deep mastery) online certification training via Learning Management Systems (i.e., Canvas LMS).
At Coursewell, virtual mingling forums are free. To participate, write to walter@coursewell.com.
Below are Coursewell’s benefits & value proposition for:
1. EMPLOYERS & ENTREPRENEURS
: Invest in Human Capital.
: Freely, interact with your potential future employees and faculty-experts during on-the-job training.
: Bridge employees’ soft- and cyber-skill gaps while on the job training.
: Leverage AI and IT to enhance your Company operations & revenue streams.
: Enhance efficiencies & revenues by training your staff for times of disruption and beyond.
2. STUDENTS & LEARNERS
: Socialize, interplay, discuss, and mingle with your peers and faculty!
: Learn from university faculty and peers in real-time (it’s more than forums, videos & tests.)
: Improve your technical, social & communication skills to increase the chances of being recruited and hired.
3. FACULTY & RETIREE-EXPERTS
: Help us grow by offering your best online courses via Zoom and Canvas LMS.
: Have enjoyed, interplay, discuss, and socialize with your students using “social presence” techniques.
: Earn one-third (1/3) to one-half (1/2) of the revenues generated by your real-life courses—depending on the sponsoring university.
COURSEWELL PROVIDES AN ENGAGING, REAL-LIFE, REAL-TIME, F2F*, INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT FROM ANYWHERE, ANYTIME. ONLINE COURSES SPAN FROM AI & CYBER-SECURITY TO DESIGN & PROJECT MANAGEMENT.
*F2F: Face to Face, Online Real-time Teaching and Learning
**F2S, P2P: Faculty to Student, Peer to Peer: Real-Time Interaction with Faculty & Peers—similar to a real-campus without the travel.
“Start from ground zero with real-time, online F2F classes, supported by real-life university faculty supported by a library of thousands of self-paced, individualized, online competency-based courses—including real-time discussions, virtual community forums, short videos, interplay activities, 3-D gamified environments, video chats, and laboratory simulations. Coursewell partners with employers to provide engaging and supportive learning while you work.” W. Rodriguez, Ph.D., PE
During the last four decades, Coursewell’s Founder, Prof. Dr. Walter Rodriguez, PE, has been delivering and teaching “how to use and leverage IT” to improve job-seekers careers—from AI and IT to Project Management and Health Administration at no-cost or low-cost—thanks to his sponsored grants and research projects. Dr. Rodriguez has focused on helping job-seekers meet their career and professional goals—particularly women, minorities, veterans, and financially-distressed individuals. And he has been linking students and participants to their peers, university faculty, and business executives by creating a virtual community of emeritus faculty and retirees as well as working professionals in the field. The latest initiative consists in creating on-the-job training opportunities by matching employers with job-seekers.
Unsurprisingly, more people are finding themselves unprepared for study and work in the business, engineering, information technology and healthcare administration fields, because of shortcomings in communication and technical competencies. Further, job-seekers may also lack the required analytical, computing, systems-thinking, problem-solving, software development, and computer-applications skills.
Coursewell is the result of Dr. Walter Rodriguez’s sponsored projects and initiatives with government and private organizations. For instance, his last project delivered online health administration, and IT courses to thousands of military spouses under the sponsorship of the DoD. His just-in-time video-training content, real-time discussion-forums and 3-D gamified environments help students and organizations reach their career goals while enjoying the learning experience.
“By integrating best practices from the science of teamwork with the latest in mobile learning technologies, Coursewell will revolutionize distributed teamwork and team learning - occurring when workers and learners are geographically dispersed and often interacting at different times.”
Coursewell seeks to: (1) improve students' retention and persistence (via AI mobile applications, distributed teamwork, and summer/online/mobile preparatory programs); and (2) lower the cost of AI, business, healthcare administration, information technology (IT) and project management (PM) education, training and job-readiness (via online, open source textbooks and very low-cost, adaptive, personalized, self-paced video instructional materials) by:
(I.) partnering with companies and institutions; (II.) leveraging technological innovations and advancements in AI mobile learning technologies; and (III.) gaining from the digital economies of scale derived from AI, automation, block chain, natural language processing (NLP), robotics, and machine-learning technologies.
Coursewell: Advancing AI Mobile Learning
SELF-PACED, JOB PREPARATION CERTIFICATION TRAINING
ONLINE, ON-DEMAND, ON MOBILE DEVICES
Participants will enhance their AI-strategy, computing, systems-thinking, problem-solving, communication, business, finance, marketing, project-management, information-technology, and software-applications' career & job skills; unhindered by time and place constraints! The online career training modules are adaptive, mobile, self-paced and personalized to satisfy your participants' cybersecurity, software programming, project management, information technology, health administration systems, business administration, and many other digital-age pre-college, college and career needs, based on their personality, competencies, abilities and the job opportunities they wish to pursue.
“It was challenging but gratifying! Now, I understand how AI, business & computers can enhance my business and my life. It’s was fun to learn this way! I feel ready for the next phase in my work life.” Dana S.
METHODOLOGY
The process starts with an application and online consultation with one of our faculty advisers to determine your participants' career goals, needs and wants. Then, we create an in-demand career program that responds to their unique abilities & training needs.
Using our Coursewell's adaptive, on-demand, mobile-learning video app, we have trained, assessed, and certified a new breed of information technology and project management specialists who are proactive, knowledgeable, and technically proficient.
Industry values and require PM, IT, business software apps, software developers, healthcare administration, and other career certifications. Our assessments, learning modules, and instructors will help you and/or your staff assess, validate, and earn national IT, business, healthcare admin, and other career certifications from anywhere, anytime! Your participants will be prepared for an information-age IT, business, and other career specializations in 10 to 16 weeks. Contact us today at walter@coursewell.com or complete the form below.
What is Reinforced Certification Training?: Definition
Reinforce your career certification training with real-life instructors (albeit via Zoom in time of disruption), rather than just videos.
Reinforced Certification Training is a way of instruction that couples the best features of online career certification training (i.e., asynchronous learning, prerecorded video lessons, interactive games, self-assessments, online quizzes) with experiential mentoring using real-life certified professionals and university faculty via video conferencing apps (such as Zoom).
Like learning guitar, violin or piano, in reinforced training participants are required to master the content (lessons) before moving to the next lesson. Faculty use live interplay, games, and many of the features of Learning Management Systems (such as an enriched Canvas LMS environment) to support their courses and provide instructional flexibility by design.
Although this human-centered way of learning draws from concepts learned from Artificial Intelligence’s Machine Learning, such as reinforced learning*, the learning processes are actually supervised and managed by real university faculty that are monitoring assessment results and stacking lessons based on the participants’ progress. It’s interesting to note that by studying how AI/machine learning can assist humans to automate tasks, humans (instructors) are learning new ways of teaching by using some of the AI concepts as well as coupling AI and humans in a collaborative, symbiotic relationship.
* To be sure, reinforced learning “is an area of machine learning concerned with how software agents ought to take actions in an environment in order to maximize the notion of cumulative reward. Reinforcement learning is one of three basic machine learning paradigms, alongside supervised learning and unsupervised learning.”
___________
To learn and mingle more, please visit Coursewell.com or email walter@coursewell.com anytime.
Coursewell offers reinforced certification training courses in high-demand business, construction, cyber-security, engineering, health administration, and information technology (IT) areas-—as a smart, stackable, fluid, multi-channel experience. Rather than just videos & assessments, participants’ knowledge is reinforced via interaction with university faculty in real-time.
From business, construction, project management, and health administration to cyber-security, engineering, and information technology: Everyone can learn & mingle in real-time.
Participants are unhindered by time, place, credits, grades, or admission constraints! That is, participants, don't have to be necessarily registered at a university or college to participate in these online programs. But our instructors are certified, experienced, university faculty.
Coursewell’s goals are to (1) enrich participants’ careers & knowledge; and (2) improve the chances of being hired in challenging times. Coursewell seeks to accomplish its goals by providing (a) real-life experiential mentoring using real-time video chats (i.e., Zoom); and (b) comprehensive (deep mastery) online certification training via Learning Management Systems (i.e., Canvas LMS).
Providing Just-in-Time Support for Online Students
Below are a few ways to provide just-in-time support for our online students--via proactive, remedial, and performance-monitoring with human or automated (AI) tools supported by human mentors/experts. Any other thoughts?
• Provide an individual or online group orientation via video conferencing (Zoom, Teams, etc.) before classes start.
• Anticipate requests from students that are lag behind the first day of classes.
• Permit self-scheduling appointments for consultation with an advisor.
• Monitor and report progress daily.
• Schedule outreach at scheduled intervals throughout training regarding their program progress/status.
• Provide both technical and remedial support. And provide a corrective learning plan.
• Be willing to extend the deadlines for a few assignments, in response to the student's request. Everyone experiences a family or personal or work issue from time to time.
For other techniques, please download or read the "Improving Persistence ..." article at https://www.linkedin.com/in/walter-rodriguez-ph-d-p-e-608454/ or check: DOI:10.18848/1835-9795/CGP/v12i03/19-39
Up-skilling and Stacking Your Credentials
A wise colleague, friend & philosopher shared this Fast Company article. At the time, I commented on his posting: "Based on my experience (as both an A/E/C professional and an IT/PM/Business professor), I believe that students can find a niche by upskilling and staking skills without sacrificing their passion. The staking of credentials made a significant difference in both my professional & faculty career. As the article indicates: 'building your skill stack requires following your passion, and it can help you move up the corporate ladder.' Further, the articles say: 'if you want to be unique at (a) broad level, you need to combine skills that nobody else has combined before.' Finally, 'following your passions is super important because most people don't have passions around just one topic. The combination is what makes you unique.' Also, I have seen how my graduates have been able to match and upwardly integrate their skill sets. If you have excellent soft skills, seek to pursue technology micro-certifications and other credentials from your local university. This approach might very well position you for your next job!" Walter Rodriguez, PhD, PE
On Being Ahead of the Curve in Times of Disruption
Some public institutions have been ahead of the online-education curve and at the forefront of responsive curricula! Like Coursewell, FGCU, UMGC, WGU, and others, they didn't have to make any significant changes in their course delivery and student-support systems.
Lesson: In both academia and industry, we must have the foresight, preparedness, and readiness to serve our students and staff in times of disruption--from hurricanes and earthquakes to pandemics and automation.
How? By designing and developing relevant curricula. And, more importantly, by developing state-of-the-art student-support and course delivery systems that respond to the impending future and the individual needs of our students.
We are finding that AI machine learning will have a tremendous impact on everything we do. And our students and graduates must be ready to "collaborate" with AI systems and continuously learn while on the job.
If the university is not offering a particular course, students must be proactive and ready to learn on their own by seeking online programs.
My new article, co-authored with Dr. Patricia Angle, titled "Can Machine Learning Enhance Human Learning?" addresses that need.
Be safe, and keep the good work!
Walter Rodriguez, PhD, PE
Engaging Remote Learners: Student Persistence
How can we improve students’ persistence & retention? We can improve students’ persistence in schools and colleges by analyzing the factors that cause students to start missing assignment-deadlines. And, more importantly, by providing quick, just-in-time, proactive support before the problem worsens.
Overall, graduation and retention issues can stem from several different factors. These factors include lack of adequate academic preparation; personal problems; work-study scheduling; and financial challenges, among many other issues. Below, I discuss some sample issues and practical solutions for online, remote learners, as well as for the student population in general.
Nowadays, most schools use Learning Management Systems (LMS) to support most, if not all, of their course offerings. Even if these courses are taught fully on-campus or in hybrid, blended or flipped (i.e., where students study and engage with the online instructional resources and then attend real-life on-campus sessions to work on individual or, better yet, collaborative activities to deepen the students’ understanding of the content).
One online solution could consist in tracking, identifying and implementing more opportunities for students at-risk of dropping out—including proactive online mentoring and tutoring---based on real-time data derived from the LMS and predictive analytics. These LMS systems record and track every single student outcome, quiz, exams, project and forum discussion. So, faculty can easily identify students that might be struggling in their classes by simply displaying their electronic grade book on the LMS. When they discover anomalies, they can generate an electronic message alerting the student of missing assignments or projects. The first author has used this technique with great results. And, surprisingly, the students in the class have provided evidence that they appreciate the early intervention (within the allowed ethical, privacy, security framework provided by the systems’ tools).
Issues and Solutions for Preventing Dropouts
Academic Preparation
Financial Resources
Work-Study Balance
Problem
Inadequate preparation for the rigor of college, either due to poor high school education or difficulties adjusting to the college workload.
Students and their families may not be able to afford to pay for tuition and books.
Many students are unable to regulate and balance work, life, fun, and study into their schedules. Students may not possess basic time-management skills or are simply working long hours (part-time or even full-time.)
Solution
Offer online tutoring- mentoring (provided by work-study students or retirees); create and offer personalized, and alternative assignments; require to complete prerequisites before each difficult assignment; and offer online/mobile prep learning opportunities for students that may be identified as at-risk.
Increase financial assistance and initiate micro-financing accessible to students from low income families or provide mini-scholarships for work-study students.
Provide online/mobile time management tools and just-in-time tutorials. Also, an interactive application that can assist students manage their time more effectively.
Track and intervene, based on timely data about the students’ progress, performance and outcomes.
Currently, many institutions with low-retention rates do not offer online tutoring and mentoring services for at-risk students, while they might already be providing mentorship programs for athletes and honor students. That is, not all students have access to or are aware of opportunities to have an online mentor. Online tutoring and mentoring can lead to a better feeling of belonging for students. In a study performed by Colvin and Ashman (2010), it was found that peer mentoring was a successful way to make students feel a sense of belonging (Colvin & Ashman, 2010). Peer mentoring was determined to be a motivating factor for students to stay and succeed at a university. In addition, tutoring is an excellent way for students to seek out help from other students who have already taken courses. Having a peer tutor helps students understand topics explained at their level. Both online peer mentoring and tutoring may be delivered cost-free (or minimal cost), as the tutors and mentors might already be compensated with service learning hours, for instance. And more work-study students might be able to participate from anywhere, anytime (even on weekends and evenings).
Whenever possible, university foundations may also help to implement further scholarships and financial assistance for students that are struggling to meet tuition rates. Many schools offer scholarships to students who excel in academics even when those students are less likely to drop out. But students who are struggling academically pose the larger impact on retention and graduation rates. Providing micro-financing tools for tuition payments and textbooks might be developed by partnering with private corporations or non-governmental organizations.
For those students who struggle with academics, the online mentors/tutors previously mentioned could help them submit applications for assistantships. Financial aid is already offered for students who cannot afford college by the university and by the state. Universities should simply make students more aware of the aid that is available and consider partnering with private companies to provide micro-financing when students are unable to qualify for current aid. More importantly, faculty could choose to utilize more open-source content. Rather than requiring expensive textbooks, professors can use online open-source textbooks and instructional materials. This would save students hundreds of dollars per semester and lead to overall improved student persistence and well-being.
TRIO (2018) Student Support Services is a federal outreach program designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and offers many services including academic and career advising, tutoring, peer coaching, workshops, summer bridge programs, and computer lab to name a few. When students are accepted at a university as their college of choice, they receive an email from TRIO SSS stating that they could apply for the program. To be a part of TRIO SSS and use their service one has to either be a first-generation college student, be considered to have low income or have a disability. TRIO student support services include financial literacy, and financial workshops and some students receive a scholarship. The required advising meetings are personal, and the advisors are all equipped with knowledge of the university and are able to answer any questions. Further, they keep notes of the students on the computers and have access to the students’ grades.
Since TRIO SSS is federally funded program, statistics are gathered often, and a report showing the completion rate for student support service participants seeking bachelor’s degrees who were full-time, first-time first-year students at four-year institutions went from 42 percent to 51 percent (Ginder et al. 2015). This increase may not seem significant but TRIO SSS supported 103,691 students at four-year institutions and 101,065 students at two-year institutions, and the fact that these students even through adversity are able to graduate is excellent. With further studies in the program, there should be advancements in continuing to increase the percentage of graduates. Could a similar program be implemented online for all at-risk students?
With adequate funding, a similar program could be implemented online. But the school would have to find an automated way to identify students that fall into the at-risk category (i.e., the danger of potentially dropping out). Fortunately, as mentioned earlier, universities are already using big data and predictive analytics to analyze large amounts of data from former students’ records in order to identify those current students, many from low-income families, who seemed most likely to drop out of school. Although not a simple project, this could be implemented at scale by developing a machine-learning/deep-learning algorithm developed for this purpose. Of course, academic counselors might need to be retrained in order to evaluate their students and implement interventions. Proactive counselor meetings should be required every semester so that the students’ well-being is evaluated in addition to their curriculum pathway.
Of course, the new system would require personnel changes across the university. Since each department at the university may be affected by the others throughout the process, clear communication between stakeholders is essential. As shown in Figure 2, whoever makes executive decisions, usually, the President, Provost or Vice-President for Enrollment Management would have to initiate a restructuring or process re-engineering or develop the new system. Then the appropriate software would need to be developed or procured followed by extensive training. The software would be a large initial outlay of funds. But the cost may be recouped by the resulting increase the graduation rates since many schools are receiving performance-based funding.
Walter Rodriguez, PhD, PE
Faculty of Record and Founding Director
Coursewell.com
walter@coursewell.com
* Based on: Rodriguez, W., Bass, T., Souza, D., Lynch, J., Lystad, M., White, A. (2019). Ubiquitous Learning: Improving Persistence via Student-Support Applications. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, 12(3), 19-39.
Additional Sources:
Adobe XD. 2018. “XD Video.” September 8. https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html#hero-featured-video
Beckmann, E. A. 2010. “Learners on the move: Mobile modalities in development studies.” Distance Education, 31(2): 159–173.
Benson, V., and Morgan, S. 2013. “Student experience and ubiquitous learning in higher education: impact of wireless and cloud applications.” Creative Education, 4 (8a): 1–5.
Bland, T. 2016. “FGCU’s Graduation Falls, Board Disappointed.” The News-Press. April 19. https://www.news-press.com/story/news/education/2016/04/18/fgcus-graduation-rate-falls-board-disappointed/83082730/
Boden, G. T. 2012. “Retention and graduation rates: Insights from an extended longitudinal view.” Journal of College Student Retention, 13(2): 179–203. http://ezproxy.fgcu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/885727626?accountid=10919
Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). 2013. “CIC Online Learning Collaboration: A Vision and Framework.” Champaign, Illinois 61820. http://www.cic.net
Chen, Rong. 2012. “Institutional Characteristics and College Student Dropout Risks: A Multilevel Event History Analysis.” Research in Higher Education 53(5): 487–505. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9241-4
Chronicle of Higher Education. 2018. “The Future of Learning: How Colleges Can Transform the Educational Experience.” https://store.chronicle.com/products/the-future-of-learning-how-colleges-can-transform-the-educational-experience
College Factual. 2018. “Florida Gulf Coast University Graduation & Retention.” March 18. https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/florida-gulf-coast-university/academic-life/graduation-and-retention/#chart-graduation-rate-first-full
Colvin, J., and Ashman, M. 2010. Roles, Risks, and Benefits of Peer Mentoring Relationships in Higher Education. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 18(2): 121–134. DOI: 10.1080/13611261003678879
DeNicco, J., Fogg, N., and Harrington, P. 2014. "Factors of One-Year College Retention in a Public State College System." Center for Civic Innovation. December 31. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1056244.
Faas, C., Benson, M.J., Kaestle, C.E., and Savla, J. 2017. “Socioeconomic
Success and Mental Health Profiles of Young Adults Who Drop out of College.” Journal of Youth Studies 21(5): 669–86. doi:10.1080/13676261.2017.1406598.
Fozdar BI, and Kumar LS. 2017. Mobile learning and student retention. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 8(2):1–8.
Ginder, S.A., Kelly-Reid, J.E., and Mann, F.B. 2015. “Graduation Rates for
Selected Cohorts, 2006–11; Student Financial Aid, Academic Year 2013-14; and Admissions in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2014.” https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015181.pdf
Haynie, D. 2015. “Experts Debate Graduation Rates for Online Students.” https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2015/01/30/experts-debate-graduation-rates-for-online-students
Herrera, S. G., Morales, A. R., Holmes, M. A., and Dawn, H. T. 2012. “From remediation to acceleration: Recruiting, retaining, and graduating future culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) educators.” Journal of College Student Retention. 13(2): 229–250. http://ezproxy.fgcu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/885727470?accountid=10919
Himma, K. E. 2007. “Foundational Issues in Information Ethics.” Library Hi Tech 25 (1): 79–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378830710735876
July Rapid. 2016. “Front End vs. Back End Mobile App Development: Learn What You Need to Know in 5 Minutes.” November 08. https://julyrapid.com/front-end-vs-back-end-mobile-app-development-learn-what-you-need-to-know-in-5-minutes/.
Kazmucha, A. 2014. “Best calendar apps for iPhone.” https://www.imore.com/best-calendar-apps-iphone-2014
Lenz, A. S. 2014. “Mediating Effects of Relationships with Mentors on College Adjustment.” Journal of College Counseling 17 (3): 195–207. doi:10.1002/j.2161-1882.2014.00057.x.
Mashburn, A.J. 2001. “A Psychological Process of College Student Dropout.” Journal of College Student Retention 2(3): 173–190. http://ezproxy.fgcu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/196728231?accountid=10919
McMurtrie, B. 2018. “The Future of Learning: How Colleges Can Transform the Educational Experience.” Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/
Pantages, T. J., and Creedon, C. F. 1978. “Studies of College Attrition: 1950-1975.” Review of Educational Research 48: 49–101.
https://doi.org/10.2307/1169909
Pechenkina, E., Laurence, D., Oates, G., Eldridge, D., and Hunter, D. 2017. “Using a gamified mobile app to increase student engagement, retention and academic achievement.” International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education 14(1):31.
Rodriguez, W. E., Huynh, N. N., Fernandez, A., Royal, J., and Fernandez, V. 2015. “Developing a Mobile Learning Environment: An Axiomatic Approach.” Journal of International Technology and Information Management 23(3/4):45–60.
Savvy Apps. 2018. “How Much Does an App Cost: A Massive Review of Pricing and Other Budget Considerations.” https://savvyapps.com/blog/how-much-does-app-cost-massive-review-pricing-budget-considerations
Schwartz, A., Peterson, D., Rodriguez, W. 2017. “Investigating the Effectiveness of Ubiquitous Learning Environments.” Ubiquitous Learning 9(4): 55–71.
Stevenson, J.M., Buchanan, D.A. and Sharpe A. 2007. “Commentary: The Pivotal Role of the Faculty in Propelling Student Persistence and Progress Toward Degree Completion.” Journal of College Student Retention 8(2): 141–148.
Smith, B., & Bland, T. 2017. “FGCU president says better ‘amenities’ for students may help grad rate. News-Press. https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2017/10/18/state-sen-lizbeth-benacquisto-grills-fgcu-over-dismal-grad-rate/777077001/
Talaviya, G., Ramtekte, R., and Shete, A.K. 2013. Wireless Fingerprint Based College Attendance System Using Zigbee Technology. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.673.9548&rep=rep1&type=pdf
TRIO. 2018. “Fast Facts Report for the Student Support Services Program.” Fast Facts Report for the Student Support. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/triostudsupp/sss-fastfacts2016.pdf
The Condition of Education. 2018. https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2018144
Van Stolk, C., Tiessen, J., Clift, J., and Levitt, R. 2007. “Student Retention in Higher Education Courses: International Comparison.” https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2007/RAND_TR482.pdf
Wischusen, S. M., Wischusen, E. W., and Pomarico, S. M. 2011. “Impact of a short pre-freshman program on retention.” Journal of College Student Retention 12(4): 429–441.
Woods, C. S., Park, T., g Hu, S. and Jones, T.B. 2018. “How High School Coursework Predicts Introductory College-Level Course Success.” Community College Review 46 (2): 176–96. doi:10.1177/0091552118759419.
Walkington, Candace A. 2013. “Using Adaptive Learning Technologies to Personalize Instruction to Students Interest: The Impact of Relevant Contexts on Performance and Learning Outcomes.” http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-31544-001
7 Career Skills You Need to Succeed, in Times of Disruption. And How to Develop Those Career Skills.
by Walter Rodriguez, PhD, PE
Admittedly, for the last five decades, I have been studying self-help books --- as a way to improve both myself and my teaching and entrepreneurship career. In reading those books, I have learned "critical success factors (CSF) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI)" as well as the career skills necessary to succeed in both life and business.
From teaching and interacting with students at a 2-year public community college early in my career; to teaching and research at top graduate schools for several decades, I have learned seven (7) key career skills we need in order to succeed in the information-age. Better yet, I also learned how to develop and teach those critical skills to my students. Below are the 7 key career skill that are essential to our success:
1. Confidence - According to Dr. Ivan Joseph, confidence (or rather, self-confidence) is "the ability to believe in yourself to accomplish any task, no matter the odds, no matter the difficulties, no matter the adversity." Fortunately, self-confidence is a "learn-able" skill. You may develop confidence through consistent participation in sports or hobbies or anything you can become good at or passionate about to persist despite challenges. Reason: Building confidence takes "repetition, repetition, repetition." For instance, if you like to learn how to shoot a 3-pointer, you practice consistently using the 3-point technique. [This is related to what Malcolm Gladwell's calls the "10,000-hour" rule --- which we will discuss in Skill # 7 below).]
2. Collaboration is the ability to "work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit." Anya Kamentez's "How to Raise a Brilliant Child, According to Science" states that "collaboration is everything from getting along with others to controlling your impulses so you can get along and not kick someone else off the swing." Yes, she is referring to kids, but haven't you observed and become frustrated by adults or coworkers or friends behaving a similar manner? I have experienced this at all levels during my long career (but I better stop there before I get in trouble.)
3. Communication includes exchanging data, information, knowledge and wisdom in both verbal and visual form. In the information age, learning how to use productivity office software (spreadsheet and presentation tools) is almost as relevant as: speaking, writing, reading and, more importantly, listening. In fact, listening is an absolutely essential ability to building long-lasting relationships, as further discussed in Skill # 6 below.
4. Systems Thinking (and critical thinking) involves the use of framework and models. This requires a full blog article. But, the video below is a great start!
5. Creative Innovation is absolutely essential to our career growth and development. It is not "the left-brain/right-brain binary that we've come to believe."Fortunately, creative innovation can be learned, since it's essentially a process. It's about being willing to explore tens or hundred or thousands of ideas that may ultimately fail. It involves being willing to seek solutions, after having failed and failed until you find a working idea.
6. Reading peoples's emotions is a key to enduring relationships and successful negotiations, according to Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro ["Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate"]. For instance, "expressing appreciation," that is, finding and showing value in what others say, "think, feel, or do" is a powerful tool. If you meet what seem to be a seemingly stressed-out colleague, ask: What do you think your colleague is thinking? Is it better to leave him alone, or ask him/her if everything is okay? or try to identify what worries him or her, based on what you know about this person and his/her family? How do you think they feel, and will it be better to wait and comeback later?
7. Specialty Content Knowledge - The last (but essential) career skill is the specialty content knowledge; that is, being an expert in your selected career. According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes "10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field."Surprisingly, "natural talent" is not as important--and that's good news for the rest of us. Content knowledge building on the other six skills. Initially, when you start learning a difficult or tedious subject, you/we may feel inclined to abandon. But, ask yourself: How come many other folks in this field really like it. The answer is that they persisted until they became comfortable with the subject and finally love it. A career is like marriage or long-term friendships, you have to be patient and work at it every day, persistently.
Job Preparation and Certification Training Programs Deliver Good Jobs
The Christian Science Monitor (Shekhtman, L., 2016) indicates that "a growing body of evidence is showing promising career results for people who train in moderately technical skills that employers in manufacturing, IT, and healthcare say they desperately need."
Job preparation and career certification training in computer, technical and business skills, particularly, in IT and healthcare is an efficient and effective way to get ready for a good job. Reason: There are not enough technically-skilled workers to fill the many jobs available in the marketplace.
That’s why about half of the states are sponsoring training programs that bridge the knowledge and skills gaps in the local labor markets. This approach is gaining popularity at the regional, national and state level. But these programs are very expensive and cumbersome to manage.
In response to the skill-gap need, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Institute for Technological Innovation has developed a low-cost ($100/year) job preparation and career certification program in partnership with business and industry. This program provides online computer, technical and business skills training and may be viewed on a mobile device or computer from anywhere, anytime. The objective is to reach as many students and other community participants as possible by providing accessible and inexpensive training--including video lessons and self-assessments.
References
ASEE (2016). “ED Announces Pilot Allowing Financial Aid to Innovative Coursework Partnerships.” American Society for Engineering Education. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
Shekhtman, L., (2016). "Training programs promise good jobs without college degrees. Can they deliver?" Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved August 16, 2016.
"Job Training Works." But Can It Also Help Retain At-Risk Students?
A recent article in the New York Times titled "Job Training Works. So Why Not Do More?" applauds the success of in-demand career certification training programs, such as Information Technology certification in computers and networking (i.e., CompTIA A+ and Network+), among several others.
The article focuses on the merits of a "Women in Technology" job-training program sponsored by a non-profit organization in New York. The success of job-training programs has been further replicated and validated by WorkAdvance --where a variety of organizations created experimental in-demand training programs spanning from IT to healthcare. This real-life "experiment" demonstrated that job-training participants were able to increase earnings. Further, many participants felt very hopeful about their career path and future earning potential.
So, Job Training Works. But, as the article asks: why not do more?
Job or career training has also been used very effectively to retain employees in their current jobs or to promote employees within their firm. Employees value these types of on-the-job-training as much as their salary & benefits. And employers value the industry-based certification training credentials that participants obtain. So, everyone wins.
But, now, can career training programs also help retain and persistently engage students? In my experience leading and offering in-demand career training, sponsored by the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation and private foundations, I have witness how these types of job-related, practical training, can improve student retention---even when these extracurricular programs are not generally being regarded as a genuine academic pursuit for faculty.
During the last twenty years, I/we have been incorporating practical training exercises in my online business courses at Florida Gulf Coast University (from CompTIA A+ and Excel training to e-commerce and webpage development exercises) with great success. Essentially, close to 100% of the participants and students have passed our courses with at least a C+ average and the general class average has been around B+.
I believe it's time to try this practical approach with the general student population, particularly with at-risk students (or courses, where their is a high dropout rate.) In general, I have found that we can retain students by using the following strategies:
- Use engaging activities and exercises that mimic real-life (and involve their peers)
- Focus on in-demand courses and programs related to what (at-risk) students do well
- Provide pre-tests for the content or knowledge area to be discussed as well as tests and post-tests, after students have reviewed the materials and obtained feedback, respectively
- Monitor students' progress using technology (such as, Learning Management Systems' analytics)
- As the system analyzes and uncovers a problem (i.e., missing tests or low performance), seek early intervention (i.e., what's up?; why did you missed the pre-test?)
- Provide in-demand practical skills that at-risk students feel they can use to find a future job and improve their financial situation. Relevance is key!
- Implement individualized, self-paced career training experiences and programs in the student's area of interest.
- If a student is going to drop (or it's being forced to withdraw for a semester or year, due to low grades), provide an alternative short career path, for instance, a one-semester career certification training program. It's a very practical and inexpensive way to keep at-risk students engaged and hopeful about their futures!