News

Conversations That Matter: Approaching the Academic Calendar More Creatively

In one of our recent 7 Second Surveys, we found that: Special sessions are emerging as a key strategy for optimizing enrollment. To learn a little more about the opportunities these calendaring options present, we interviewed Ken Smith, Virginia Tech’s vice provost for resource management and institutional effectiveness, in the following 7 minute podcast. Ken […]

General Education Reform: Unseen Opportunities

A recent national survey conducted by Academic Impressions revealed a surprising and welcome finding that 80% of the more than 300 institutions surveyed have recently completed or are currently involved with reforming their general educationprograms. For years, leaders across all types of institutions have been calling for reforms to general education to improve persistence and […]

Title IX Checklist

The April 2011 Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “Dear Colleague” letter mandated changes for how institutions must handle reports of sexual misconduct. Recently, we conducted one of our informal 7 Second Surveys to learn whether a general sample of faculty and staff across campus were concerned about the changes and their institution’s compliance, we received […]

2 Checklists: Selecting the Right LMS

In last week’s 7 Second Survey, Academic Impressions asked academics to comment on their learning management system (LMS). 184 academics responded. What they told us: We asked Thomas Cavanagh, associate vice president of distributed learning at the University of Central Florida, to comment on the findings. Cavanagh and his team recently underwent an LMS review […]

Conversations That Matter: Copyright, Fair Use, and MOOCs – What To Be Aware Of

Fair use and copyright ownership are complicated enough when we are considering materials for a class with seven or 70 students. But what if you are venturing into the world of the MOOC, where media and written materials may be shared with 7,000 or 70,000 students? How do fair use and copyright considerations change as […]

How to Reach Millennial Donors

The 2013 Millennial Impact Report offers data on millennials’ propensity to give: 83% of millennial respondents gave a financial gift to a non-profit in 2013 (up from 75% in 2012) 52% would be interested in monthly giving In light of this high propensity to give and the significant opportunity this presents to grow the donor […]

Conversations That Matter: Reviewing Your Academic Library’s General Collection

Are you managing your library’s general collection in a way that is responsive to the needs of all of your stakeholders–including faculty and students? Recently, for our podcast series Conversations That Matter, we interviewed Annie Belanger with the Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo and Michael Levine-Clark with the University of Denver Libraries, […]

Higher-Ed Crowdfunding: What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

“Crowdfunding” is the buzzword of the day in higher-ed fundraising. Last week, in one of Academic Impressions’ informal 7 Second Surveys, we asked our readers: “Do you expect to use a crowdfunding tool to raise dollars at your institution in the next year?” 67% said “no.” 33% said “yes.” 140 higher-ed fundraisers replied to our […]

Conversations That Matter: The Next Generation in Student Residential Facilities

Wake Forest University’s new residential facilities–part of the institution’s transition to a three-year residency requirement–are unique in several respects. First, they were designed to mirror the stages of students’ social development. For example, the new facilities offer a more communal atmosphere for freshmen, sophomore assignments based on “friendship groups” that students have formed, and apartment-style […]

Email Advising: Doing it Wrong, Doing it Right

In a recent, interactive online training session, Susan Ohrablo, a doctoral enrollment counselor with the Abraham S. Fischler School of Education at Nova Southeastern University and past advising center director, conducted a detailed critique of a series of examples of advisor responses to students’ email inquiries. Ohrablo reviewed what works and what doesn’t work in […]