Long before the pandemic took hold, the terms online, hybrid, and HyFlex learning were growing in popularity in higher education. Institutions have been evolving for years to meet the needs of today’s students, and the pandemic seemed to accelerate this transition.
One question we have all asked ourselves at one point or another is “How do we define student success?”
In a world of flexible learning, where students (and faculty) want to learn and teach where and when they want, what can we do as higher ed professionals to rise to the challenge and ensure students succeed in their studies?
Dr. Jeff Borden, Chief Academic & VP of Academic Affairs at D2L, talks all things student success with our special guests Dr. Tim Renick, Executive Director at the National Institute for Student Success, Elizabeth Burns, Senior Success Coach at Sinclair Community College, and Rachel Clapp-Smith, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Purdue University Northwest.
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Presenters
Dr. Jeff Borden
Chief Academic & VP of Academic Affairs, D2L
Dr. Borden is currently the Chief Academic Officer at D2L, a Professor of Communication and Education, a Davis Scholar in Residence awarded by the Akilah Institute, and a speaker / consultant / leader across higher education. As a former Chief Innovation Officer, Academic Research Director (“Think Tank”), and lifelong advocate for effective eLearning, Jeff has spoken to educators at every level, from professors to politicians to presidents to principals, in 38 countries and 49 of 50 U.S. states. A passionate teaching and learning expert, Dr. Borden is generating and communicating the best possible ideas, strategies, and philosophies to transform learning at scale. Through award winning “learning ecosystem” creation, brain-based education strategies, large scale alternate reality games for education, and other creative endeavors, Dr. Borden has implemented effective learning techniques for thousands. Having written academic anthology chapters, academic journal articles, editorials, blogs, and given interviews for dozens of academic and popular media, as well as having presented to more than 5,000 audiences in 20 years, Dr. Borden will provide practical, researched, intentional strategies for changing learning.
Dr. Tim Renick
Executive Director, National Institute for Student Success
Timothy Renick is the founding Executive Director of the National Institute for Student Success and Professor of Religious Studies at Georgia State University. Between 2008-2020, he directed the student success efforts of the university, overseeing a 62% improvement in graduation rates and the elimination of all equity gaps based on students' race, ethnicity, or income level. For six consecutive years, Georgia State has graduated more African American students with bachelor’s degrees than any other not-for-profit college or university in the nation. Dr. Renick has testified on strategies for helping university students succeed before the U.S. Senate and has twice been invited to speak at the White House. His work has been covered by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, and CNN and cited by former President Barack Obama. He was named one of the Most Innovative People in Higher Education by Washington Monthly and one of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine. Dr. Renick was the recipient of the Award for National Leadership in Student Success Innovation and was awarded the McGraw Prize in Higher Education. A summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College, Dr. Renick holds his M.A. and Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University.
Elizabeth Burns
Senior Success Coach, Sinclair Community College
Elizabeth graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from The Ohio State University and completed her Master of Education in Student Affairs in Higher Education – Administration at Wright State University. Elizabeth has worked in various roles at Sinclair over her 6 years with the college, including as the online testing coordinator, online program coordinator, online academic coach and now as a success coach.
As a success coach, Elizabeth works closely with students in the FlexPace program (Sinclair’s competency-based education program) as well as the faculty who teach the course and the instructional designers who create and revise the courses. This collaborative partnership has created a unique, wrap-around experience for the students, faculty & staff in the program. Her favorite aspect of being a coach is watching students who didn’t believe they could be successful go on to achieve their academic goals and usually surprise themselves with their resiliency and hard work.
She enjoys traveling with her husband & children, playing volleyball, reading and DIY house projects.
Rachel Clapp-Smith
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Purdue University Northwest
Rachel has devoted her research to understanding how experiences in a variety of contexts impact the process and content of leadership development. As such, she has conducted research on how the whole person develops as a leader, looking at multiple life domains beyond just work, as venues of leadership identity development. She has also explored the impact of cross-cultural experiences in developing global leadership capacities such as global mindset and cultural self-awareness.
During the academic year 2016/2017, Rachel was a visiting scholar at the Toulouse Business School in France. She has conducted leadership seminars in Budapest, Hungary; Dublin, Ireland; and Toulouse, France; and provided leadership coaching for a number of managers across Europe and the United States.
Rachel has published articles in journals such as the Academy of Management Review, The Leadership Quarterly, Organizational Dynamics, International Journal of Leadership Studies, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, and Human Resource Management. She has also published a number of book chapters in volumes such as Advances in Global Leadership and The Role of Leadership in Occupational Stress.
Rachel received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at the University of Nebraska, MBA in International Management at Thunderbird, the School of Global Management, and BA in History and German at Bowdoin College.