Institutional Effectiveness — Driving Innovation and Success
Why?
Why are these three leaders embracing innovation to help their institutions? To provide solutions to some of the largest challenges and opportunities facing institutional leaders today and in the future.
Select each panelist to learn more about their role and background.
Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness
Baker University
Baldwin City, KS
Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs
University of North Texas
Denton, TX
Digital and OER Coordinator
Alamo Colleges District
San Antonio, TX
Dr. Andy Jett
In his current role, Andy leads the strategic planning efforts, data collection and interpretation, institutional research, accreditation coordination, and support of Baker University assessment efforts.
He’s been at Baker University for 15 years where he has held various leadership roles, including: vice president of strategic planning and chief information officer. Andy recently completed his doctorate in Higher Education Leadership.
“[L]ike many other small institutions, we need more students — so we need to make sure we had whatever tools to get more students and to keep students...we have included them from the beginning...It’s important that the students understand that we are focusing on them — that their experience is a priority to us...”
Dr. Mike Simmons
Mike leads the University of North Texas “Career Connect” project, which is the university’s effort to help students collect, connect, and showcase the important skills they attain through participation in high-impact experiences activities, such as internships, volunteer work, research projects, community service, study-abroad trips, research, performances, etc.
Mike received his undergraduate degree in history from King University, his MPA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a doctorate in public administration and urban affairs from the University of Texas at Arlington. His previous opportunities at the University of North Texas included: project leadership with course redesign, learning technologies, assessment, accreditation, community engagement, and online learning initiatives. Mike has over 20 years of teaching experience and continues to teach as an online adjunct faculty member to keep his focus on students and learning.
“Find an excuse...they are opportunities disguised as excuses to get people’s attention...and can be excuses to innovate...The potential success for this scale of innovation is directly and proportionately related to the size of the excuse.”
Phillip Anaya
Phillip has been in education for over a decade, ranging from elementary to higher education. He has served in the classroom as an instructor, as well as in institutional advancement, and now in higher education administration. He’s truly a lifelong learner and always strives to put students first.
As part of the Alamo Colleges District, Phillip has led the implementation of “IM Direct”, their inclusive access program and “AlamoOPEN”, Alamo’s true zero-cost instructional materials program. These two programs have saved students nearly $10 million in instructional material costs since 2015.
“Once we identified the champions...we could actually do bigger impactful events. We’ve impacted over 150,000 students since we started...Like everyone else — we are trying to keep and get students. Retention has always been a big part of everything we do.”
What?
What challenge/s did you and your institution face that drove your innovation?
Select each panelist to learn their response.
“The need for more students and tools to retain them drove strategic planning with the entire Baker community.
“We set three primary goals: provide an exceptional experience for our students, curriculum that’s innovative and current, and to create a sustainable and growing institution.”
— Andy Jett
“We’ve found that students don’t make good connections between the experiences they have in college and marketable skills unless given cause to stop and pause and really pay attention.
“The number one reason students go to college is to get a job; however, not all faculty think like that, so there’s a gap — hence our Career Connect program.”
— Mike Simmons
“Retention is always our #1 driver. Our focus was, and is always, on creating an engaging experience so students complete a credential or transfer to a university.
“When textbooks started to cost as much as a three-credit course, we realized we needed to look at other options, including open source and electronic textbooks.”
— Phillip Anaya
Key takeaway: All opportunities revolve around the student: recruiting, retaining, making sure they are career-ready — so the final test of any innovation should be how much it helps students.
Who?
Who did you have to get on board and how were you able to accomplish it?
Select each panelist to learn their response.
“Ours was a board mandate, but we spent over a month meeting with every faculty/staff member, both in small groups and individually, finding champions within each department.”
— Andy Jett
“We needed to get everybody on board: faculty, students, staff, employers, our community, and partners, as this was an obligation of the accreditation process. But — we also saw this as an opportunity to innovate.
“It was easy to get them on board, but harder to make them do it, so we needed to show that it was not an additional workload. Also — get help from external partners, like Pearson.”
— Mike Simmons
“We needed board buy-in, but we also needed to identify chair/dean champions as well as faculty champions, while moving out from under the Distance Ed (online-only) umbrella.
“We went through a lot of data and met with faculty members one-to-one, which was a most advantageous use of our time.”
— Phillip Anaya
Key takeaway: Find and align with champions!
How?
How have these innovations/initiatives impacted your students, faculty, and institutions?
Select each panelist to learn their response.
“Student leaders have been included from the beginning and understand that they are our top priority.
“Also, it certainly has helped people think from a data perspective versus anecdotal conclusions so they can see the change that has occurred.”
— Andy Jett
“It’s helped cause change in the conversation regarding marketable skills.
“Building skills is now embedded in the curriculum/co-curriculum, and all students/graduates have access to the portfolio system. We’ve issued 5,000 skills badges this year alone!”
— Mike Simmons
“It’s impacted more than 150,000 students and 6,700 courses, and now we’re sustaining/building on that, albeit at a slower rate.”
— Phillip Anaya
Key takeaway: Be direct and specific about what's needed, and clarify how your audience will be impacted.