Whether or not a college currently offers a Supplemental Instruction program, uses peer leaders in First-year Learning Community, or assigns Peer Tutors to courses, Undergraduate Peer Mentoring Programs will provide educators with concepts, examples, and findings useful for pr...

This book explores the role and importance of mentoring as a form of collaborative learning in higher education. While mentoring has become increasingly popular, the definition itself can remain broad and potentially nebulous, and could be applied to a variety of endeavours. The chapters engage with case studies and empirical research from across the globe that respond to concerns raised within a range of cross-disciplinary fields, providing important clarity as to the role of mentoring within higher education. Offering clarity and precision as well as robust qualitative data, this book will be of interest and value to scholars of mentoring in higher education as well as those engaged in mentoring themselves.

Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in sustainability education in colleges and universities across the United States, with a marked increase in the number of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, research institutes, and centers focused on sustainability. Evidence-based core competencies for interdisciplinary sustainability programs can provide suitable guidance for curricular and program development, research, policy, communication, and pedagogical approaches at academic institutions. They can also serve as a guide for students to select academic programs and potential career options, a reference for employers to understand qualifications of graduates, and the foundation for a potential specialized accreditation for interdisciplinary sustainability programs. The growing demand for well-qualified sustainability professionals within the public, private, and nonprofit sectors also points to the value of developing core competencies. Strengthening Sustainability Programs and Curricula at the Undergraduate and Graduate Levels provides expert insights for strengthening the emerging discipline of sustainability in higher education in the United States. This report describes the local, national, and global landscape related to sustainability education; examines the history and current status of sustainability education programs in the United States and globally; discusses employment prospects for sustainability graduates in terms of the opportunities and the skills that employers seek; and addresses diversity, equity, and inclusion in sustainability-related education and employment.

Veterinary Medical Education: A Practical Guide offers a complete resource to fundamental information on key areas of veterinary education. Provides a practical guide to the key principles of veterinary medical education Takes a real-world approach, with concrete guidance for teaching veterinary skills and knowledge Covers all aspects of designing and implementing a veterinary curriculum Emphasizes key points and helpful tips Offers a veterinary-specific resource for any veterinary educator worldwide

This book explores successful transition strategies to, within and from university for students from around the globe, with Macquarie University, a large Australian university, studied in depth. It addresses the meaning of success taking a variety of perspectives, including student, staff and employer views. The chapters present a series of initiatives that have proven to be successful in assisting students in developing their academic potential throughout university and beyond. The authors of the chapters use a variety of methodologies and approaches reflecting the diverse local contexts and requirements. These international perspectives demonstrate a triumph of practice that has led to the empowerment of individuals and groups. The approaches from twelve universities located in eight different countries stem directly from the coalface and provide many valuable lessons and tools that colleagues in the sector will be able to consider and adapt in their own contexts. Small interventions matter, from a mentor of a nervous student who goes on to achieve greatness, to the use of a curriculum design model that hooks a whole group of students into learning and achievement. This book covers both the small, individual victories and the larger scale strategies that support success. Contributions emanate from Australia, Bangladesh, India, China, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada, USA, Uruguay and South Africa.

Students who participate in scientific research as undergraduates report gaining many benefits from the experience. However, undergraduate research done independently under a faculty member's guidance or as part of an internship, regardless of its individual benefits, is inherently limited in its overall impact. Faculty members and sponsoring companies have limited time and funding to support undergraduate researchers, and most institutions have available (or have allocated) only enough human and financial resources to involve a small fraction of their undergraduates in such experiences. Many more students can be involved as undergraduate researchers if they do scientific research either collectively or individually as part of a regularly scheduled course. Course-based research experiences have been shown to provide students with many of the same benefits acquired from a mentored summer research experience, assuming that sufficient class time is invested, and several different potential advantages. In order to further explore this issue, the Division on Earth and Life Studies and the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education organized a convocation meant to examine the efficacy of engaging large numbers of undergraduate students who are enrolled in traditional academic year courses in the life and related sciences in original research, civic engagement around scientific issues, and/or intensive study of research methods and scientific publications at both two- and four-year colleges and universities. Participants explored the benefits and costs of offering students such experiences and the ways that such efforts may both influence and be influenced by issues such as institutional governance, available resources, and professional expectations of faculty. Integrating Discovery-Based Research into the Undergraduate Curriculum summarizes the presentations and discussions from this event.

An in-depth look at Centers for Teaching and Learning and their profound impact on US higher education. Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) are important change agents on campus with strategies that are unique and impactful—but sometimes unarticulated or misaligned. In this wide-ranging book, Mary C. Wright maps the landscape of 1,200+ CTLs in the United States through a unique approach: by conducting complex web searches to identify and categorize CTLs, then examining the wealth of information that is available on these institutions' own websites. The data she uncovers reveal important insights into CTLs' strategies and operations and offer a fuller picture of the impact these centers are making on US higher education as a whole. Drawing from this web-based methodology, as well as interviews with CTL leaders and staff, Wright provides a broad picture of educational development in the United States and examines trends in what CTLs aim to accomplish, key strategies for reaching these goals, programs and services they offer, and their impacts on campuses. She also explores new organizational mandates for CTLs, including ones involving instructional technology and online learning, assessment, writing, service learning and community engagement, and career and leadership development. In response to increased constituency sizes and expanding missions and mandates, she notes, centers are also incorporating new faculty and student engagement structures. Key chapters focus on goals and theories of change, program types and exemplars, organizational structures, assessment and evaluation practices, and emerging trends. Offering guidelines for effective strategic leadership, Centers for Teaching and Learning documents the growth of this important organizational unit in US higher education and explains the role these centers play in supporting operational needs, strategic aims, and organizational change.

The various chapters of this book have brilliantly provided perspectives on creating conditions for success in higher education from a wide variety of stakeholders within a university environment. The rich content comes from varying fields of study as well as academic development and student affairs directorates within the institution. This is what is exciting about the book. The diversity of focus in chapters makes the book relevant to anyone with interest in higher education matters. From the opening to the closing chapter, students are making a contribution on what the university has done or is doing for them to succeed or what it should consider doing to improve its service to students. This touches on every environment that students find themselves in a university setting, from residences, to the classroom to commuter or off-campus students. The book’s extended use of the capabilities approach and critical social theories has enabled it to provide nuances on not only the success of students, but, more importantly, about how the higher education environment can transform itself to practices relevant for the sector today. The various research studies in this book can benefit similar university contexts nationally and internationally.