Sustainable facility development: perceived benefits and challenges

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 601-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Stinnett ◽  
Fred Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Current View ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Campus Recreation ◽  
Sports Facilities ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Recreational Sports ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Education Administrators

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the perceived benefits and challenges of implementing sustainable initiatives in collegiate recreational sports facilities. Additionally, this paper intends to contribute to the evolving field of facility sustainability in higher education. Design/methodology/approach The design included qualitative research methods that allowed respondents to elaborate on perceived benefits and challenges. Respondents consisted of directors of campus recreation departments at National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association member institutions. Content analysis served as the method for analyzing and categorizing the data. Findings Six categories of perceived benefits became distinguishable, including Educational, Environmental, Ethical, Fiscal and Operational. Eight categories of perceived challenges emerged after responses were analyzed, including Administrative, Attitudinal, Commitment, Educational, Facility, and Fiscal. The majority of respondents indicated Fiscal demands as being the top challenge when it comes to implementing sustainable initiatives. Common themes arose from the responses and were sorted within their respective category. Originality/value This paper contributes to the evolving field of sustainability by providing some data regarding recreational sports facilities in higher education. Administrators, particularly those in Student Affairs, Facilities Management and Campus Recreation can benefit from this paper by assessing their respective institution’s current view of sustainability and by proactively determining a strategy to combat the potential challenges identified. Additionally, identifying perceived benefits can help equip facility directors and executives with justification and rationale for moving toward sustainable facility design and operation.

Persistence and engagement among first-year Hispanic students

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-183
Author(s):  
Shaila Luciano-Wong ◽  
Dale Crowe
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Hispanic Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Private Institutions ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Education Administrators

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between engagement indicators and intent to persist of first-year full-time Hispanic students attending public versus private universities. Design/methodology/approach Metadata from the Your First College Year survey from the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) were selected for this study. The approach included using a descriptive correlational design and regression analysis to examine the relationship between engagement indicators and persistence among first-year, full-time Hispanic students and persistence. Purposeful sampling obtained from the HERI data set resulted in a sample size of 1,206 students who attended public institutions and 1,187 students who attended private institutions. Findings Analysis of the results disclosed a positive correlation between first-year Hispanic students’ intent to persist, satisfaction with peer interactions, amount of contact with faculty, first-year programs and sense of belonging. The results of the analysis disclosed differences between public and private institutions. Of the collective variables, satisfaction with amount of contact with faculty and sense of belonging are significant predictors of persistence. Research limitations/implications The sample of the study was limited to the use of archival data and the responses to specific questions obtained from the 2014 YFCY survey. Factors such as insufficient experience at the college students are attending, unwillingness to provide honest feedback and exaggerating specific areas of their behavior or performance may affect students who respond to surveys (Kuh, 2004), affecting the accuracy of the data. Further, 89.7 per cent of the variance in persistence has not been explained. Adding or using different variables and utilizing a more advanced statistical technique may account for additional variance. Cause and effect cannot be determined from correlational analysis, and the possibility exists that an unknown variable may be the cause of a correlation within the study. Incomplete information from predictors, complete separation and overdispersion can lead to SPSS output errors for logistic regression analysis. Social implications It is important for higher education administrators to understand the cultural differences of not only Hispanic students but other ethnic and racial groups. As a global society, public and private higher education institutions are looking for more inclusion of multi-cultural students. Recruitment is obviously important, but to recruit is not enough. It is the responsibility of higher education administrators to do all that is reasonably possible to retain students through graduation. Originality/value Studies have been conducted on academic disparities between Hispanic students and their White counterparts, but few studies exist on the factors associated to persistence among the first-year Hispanic student population. The results of this study may add to the existing body of knowledge and assist with faculty development of programs, decisions on class size, improvements to pedagogy and discussions to improve the campus climate for Hispanic students. Using the resources of HERI, future studies can be conducted involving other races and ethnicities.

Perceptions of Higher Education Administrators regarding the Role of Club Sports in the Recruitment and Retention of Male Students

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony G. Weaver ◽  
Drew J. Forte ◽  
Cara W. McFadden
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Male Students ◽  
Campus Recreation ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Club Sports ◽  
Potential Strategy ◽  
Education Administrators

A current challenge for higher education is the declining trend of men attending college. Because of this downward trend, universities are working hard to attract male students. Club sports are a potential strategy to help recruit and retain male students. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of higher education administrators concerning the role club sports play in recruiting and retaining male students. Using a case study approach, administrators at four North Carolina schools were interviewed. In addition, campus tours and club sports facilities were observed, and document analysis was conducted on admissions, campus recreation, and club sports brochures, pamphlets and webpages. Results indicated that club sports are used at each institution to recruit and retain male students at varying levels. Although challenges exist, administrators acknowledged the possibility for success with a specific male market interested in club sport.

Service branding from the perspective of higher education administrators

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Claudia Braun Endo ◽  
Luiz Alberto de Farias ◽  
Pedro Simões Coelho
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Strategic Thinking ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Value Propositions ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Deep Integration ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide empirical insights about service branding from higher education administrators (HEAs) perspectives and to identify the main factors involved in their strategic thinking in this sector.Design/methodology/approachAdopting a qualitative approach, 22 in-depth interviews were performed in Brazilian HEAs to analyze service branding as a strategic institutional process in this context.FindingsFindings reveal that service branding depends on several factors, e.g., in this case, deep integration between branding and services, leadership involvement, strong value propositions, sharing of strategic guidelines, branding experiences and, finally, credibility and reputation. Excellence of service is considered essential in higher education (HE) and, therefore, service branding faces the challenge of promoting the provision of quality services.Originality/valueAlthough there have been many studies relating to HE and branding, few authors have studied service branding in educational sector and which issues must be observed in a competitive marketplace.

scholarly journals The Effects Of Different Sections And Students Pre-Course Interest On An Instructors Teaching Evaluations

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Obeua S. Persons
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Teaching Ability ◽  
Education Administrators

This study has identified two important factors, unrelated to an instructor’s teaching ability, which can affect an instructor’s teaching evaluations.  The first factor, which has never been examined in any prior studies, is the section effect.  This study finds that teaching evaluations differ significantly across sections of the same course taught by the same instructor.  This section effect cannot be explained by six student-related variables.  The second factor, which is students’ pre-course interest measured at the beginning of a course, is found to be positively related to teaching evaluations.  These findings suggest that higher-education administrators may want to consider the section effect and the students’ pre-course interest when they evaluate an instructor’s teaching effectiveness for promotion, tenure and merit decisions.

scholarly journals Impacting Networked Technologies on Teaching Practices

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cutajar ◽  
Matthew Montebello
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Teaching Experiences ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Work And Life

Networked technologies are found permeating all work and life activities even in the education realm. Today’s networked technologies are changing the way we interact within the online environment and amongst themselves. Networked technologies have unleashed a plethora of possibilities for educators to take advantage of by employing them as part of their teaching practices. In this paper are presented findings related to how academics are experiencing networked technologies for teaching and their relation to learning. A phenomenographic approach and subsequently a quantitative stance was employed to shed light on the nature and the current dynamic of such practices. This paper recounts the phenomenographic outcome, but it particularly attends to subsequent quantitative findings obtained from consideration of learning experiences against the phenomenographic map of variation in teaching experiences whereby an unexpected clustering trend was exposed. The outcomes of this exploratory research provide crucial and essential insights for higher education administrators and policy makers on how to regulate themselves with regards to the adoption of networked technologies within their institution.

Redesigning Prediction Algorithms for At-Risk Students in Higher Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 232-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Foung
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Academic Writing ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
Classification Tree ◽  
At Risk Students ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Education Administrators

Use of algorithms and data mining approaches are not new to Industry 4.0. However, these may not be common for students and educators in higher education. This chapter compares various classification techniques: classification tree, logistic regression, and artificial neural networks (ANN). The comparison focuses on each method's accuracy, algorithm, and practicality in higher education. This study made use of a dataset from two academic writing courses in a university in Hong Kong with more than 5,000 records. Results suggest that classification trees and logistic regression can be easily used in the higher education context, but ANN may not be applicable in higher educational settings. The research team suggests that higher education administrators take this research forward and design platforms to realize these classification algorithms to predict at-risk students.

scholarly journals Rapid Dissemination of College Food Insecurity Findings in A Multi-Institutional Study Using the eB4CAST Approach

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1646
Author(s):  
Melissa D. Olfert ◽  
Rebecca L. Hagedorn ◽  
Ayron E. Walker ◽  
Rachel A. Wattick
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Prevalence Estimates ◽  
Rapid Dissemination ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
Specific Food

The sharing of college food insecurity data with higher education administrators and stakeholders is essential to increase awareness of campus-specific food insecurity outcomes. This study utilized the evidence-Based forecast C-capture, A-assemble, S-sustain, T-timelessness (eB4CAST) approach to develop campus-specific food insecurity reports for researchers involved in a multi-institutional food insecurity study. eB4CAST reports were developed for each higher education institution (n = 22). The reports were four pages of visual data that included details of the eB4CAST approach and the multi-institutional food insecurity study, campus demographics, an overview of college food insecurity, food insecurity prevalence estimates at all participating institutions, and student use and awareness of campus resources, as well as the campus-specific resources that are available. The interpretation and forecasted use of the reports were evaluated through a 17-item online survey. The survey was completed by 26 content experts and showed a favorable perception of the eB4CAST institutional report. A majority of participants strongly agreed that the eB4CAST food insecurity report was clear to understand (72%), it was easy to read (64%), the statistics were easy to interpret (80%), it shared valuable information (92%), and it was impactful to their work (80%). Further, 84% of participants found the overall information of the report to be relevant and sharable. Participants forecasted disseminating the reports primarily to administration (77%) and with other faculty and staff (85%). These findings highlight the projected usability of the visualized data eB4CAST report across many sectors of college food insecurity research, which may help disseminate rapid findings on this emerging issue and increase awareness.

Comparative study of behavioral mindsets in team decision

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 578-589
Author(s):  
Philip S. Chong ◽  
Ming Chen ◽  
Xuemei Su
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Shared Governance ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Team Decision ◽  
Education Administrators

Purpose – Resource allocation is an important area of strategic planning in any organization, including higher education. In comparing two case examples of a college's efforts in shared governance in allocating budget to its five departments, the purpose of this paper is to show the importance of a college's awareness and understanding of team behavioral mindsets and contextual factors when practicing continuous improvement each time it applies shared governance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose five models that represent five distinct behavioral mindsets. The authors examine the fit of real data based on two case examples, and then identify and compare the behavioral mindsets and possible coalition formed in each case. Findings – The results show the type of behavioral mindset evolves over time, and the contextual factors such as changes in the macro-environment, the composition of decision makers, and their personalities, play an important role in shaping the final outcome. Continuously monitoring and learning, which leads to a more thorough understanding and awareness of the changes in contextual factors, is imperative. Originality/value – Team decision making involving resource allocation is a critical problem in higher education when applying shared governance. A clear understanding of the type of behavioral mindset exhibited in the process and its causes is critical. The paper proposes a model that can help higher education administrators identify the behavioral mindset. In addition, the authors find support from established theories for the evolution of team behavioral mindsets in a college's budget allocation.

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