Media Projects
- Bill Taft -
“We must ensure our system of higher education offers world-class quality for a world-class economy."
Academic Works
CCHE 687 - Professional Development Seminar
This course allowed me a leadership opportunity! Each student in the course was tasked with creating a plan which would assist in decreasing student loan debt. The kicker? We were to work in groups of five to complete this project. At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish this because I had no previous expereince working in a group setting in an online platform. However, I was determined to make it work.
I volunteered as the group's leader. We created a group contract which kept each individual accountable for specific sections of the project and determined that we would meet online three times a week through online environments such as Slack and Google Docs to work on the project. I was responsible for keeping each member accountable and ensuring that we continued to move forward even when faced with challanges.
The following link will take you to video summary of our plan to decrease student debt for dental hygiene students as they appear to leave college with higher amounts of student loan debt.
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Papers
CCHE 670 - Adult Learners
I felt that I was able to grow my research skills the most in this course. One of my favorite things to do is learn something new. This is a daily occurance in my job and I was delighted to continue this after the work day was over.
For the main project, we were required to write a paper and create a presentation which we would share with our classmates on a demographic that had an adult learner population. The goal of the project was to determine if a specific demographic was meeting the needs of the adult learner population. I decided to focus on Finland as my demographic, as I had heard from a co-worker that Finland was one of the top leaders in education.
This presentation (which I recently turned into a video) provides and overview into Finland's education system and how it can be more compatible with the adult learner population.
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The Debt Decaying Partnership
Finland's Education System
The Leadership Interview
CCHE 600 - Leadership Skills
This course taught me about the kind of leader I wanted to be. The course was designed to outline and discuss different leadership methods, philosophies, and styles through readings, discussions, and outside exploration. The final assignment for this course required each student to interview someone in a leadership position within higher education. This was my favorite part of this course because I had the opportunity to sit down with my supervisor at the time and learn from her. After the interview I had a better understanding of how she got to her current position, what her management styles were based on her previous experiences, what experiences shaped her philosophies on leadership, and what advice she would give to me on my journey to become a leader.
This interview affected me in more ways than one. During this course, I had not yet had full-time leadership experience. One year later, I'm responsible for supervising four employees and have used what my previous supervisor taught me duirng our interview and what I learned in this class to be the leader I am today.
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CCHE 680 -Higher Education in the United States
This course kept me up to date with current news happening in higher educaiton. One of the most memorable parts of this course was reading a news article about how Starbucks had partnered with Arizona State University to cover tuition for thier full-time and part-time employees. This was fantastic stride for higher education and for Starbucks, which is further outlined in this paper.
Additionally, this partnership was mentioned at a staff meeting our office had and I felt overjoyed to share what I had learned from the videos and articles I had read about in my class. It's important to keep on top of news in higher education as we use that knowlege in decision-making processes, conversations with others, and for future planning.
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Discussion Post 3
CCHE 600 - Leadership Skils
Selecting the last paper to share with you was difficult. After some time for deliberation, I decided I wanted to share one that hit close to home (literally) as I worked for a previous institution which was on accreditation probation due to unethical enrollment practices. In this assignment, each student read about Pima Community College's probation with the Higher Learning Comission as a result of some questionable actions made by senior leadership. The part that I enjoyed most about this paper was creating a short-term action plan for the college and what would need to happen before any transformation could occur. This experience is a very real possibility any institution can go through. In fact, I believe this paper allowed me to think like a crisis manager, which has brought me to the realization that anything can be overcome.
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Case 3.2
Final Paper
CCHE 690 - Master's Seminar
This is the final paper for my master's program. For this project, I had been tasked by a senior administrator to develop an official statement to present to the institution. This official report required me to address the challenges of decreasing student enrollment and dropping graduation rates as it relates to the increased price tag of higher education. This report will explain the current issues related to costs, how technology can decrease those costs, and my idea to introduce "Platform" to the institution. Platform is a web-based app which will streamline the admission, financial aid, advising, and student support aspects of the institution and it's meant to meet the needs of the new technologically savvy generation.
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Statement Paper