NISOD 2019 Part 3

In this post, I am continuing my description of recent conferences I attended.  In May 2019, I attended the NISOD Conference on Teaching & Leadership Excellence in Austin, TX, and I gave a conference presentation about the College Consortium, an online course sharing platform.  In a previous post, I described the keynote presentations by John O’Brien of EDUCAUSE and Saundra McGuire, LSU professor and author.

In this post, I will describe a few interested breakout sessions I attended.

Entrepreneurial Learning Initiaive – Gary Schoeniger

Gary Schoeniger, founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, argued that the 21st-century skills schools and employers are looking for (critical thinking, problem solving, innovation, collaboration, empathy, etc.) are actually “entrepreneurial skills.”  The presentation defined the “entrepreneurial mindset,” and it gave many examples of how students and employees can benefit from instruction on entrepreneurial thinking.

This session was enlightening for me because we (academic administrators) often talk about strategies for helping students and professors become more engaged, and this session described underlying (entrepreneurial) skills that can help boost engagement.  Schoeniger argued that students, faculty, and employees need to have an “entrepreneurial mindset,” which it defined as “an opportunity discovery process.”  The entrepreneurial mindset encourages people to make it “[their] responsibility to figure out how to make [themselves] useful to others.”  With this mindset, employees are empowered to seek problems and offer solutions.  Ultimately, this makes the employee more engaged and the organization more effective.

The session was also enlightening for me because it described a “transformational” learning curve that mapped entrepreneurial skills (such as Inquiry, Experimentation, Problem Solving, Collaboration, Teamwork, and Resilience) onto the curriculum of many business school programs.  The session argued that business schools typically focus on skills that are on the middle and late stages of the learning curve, and they ignore entrepreneurial skills that are at the start of the learning curve, where people are seeking problems and creating solutions.

The session described middle stage skills as management, organization, procedures, scaling up, compliance, and efficiency.  These skills are necessary when the organization is becoming established and formalized and needs management.  Late stage skills include acquisitions, product diversification, in-depth research, known brands and customers, and established channels.  In this stage, the organization is already very large and experienced, but it is now starting to struggle and needs reform.

The ELI is a training institute that helps students, faculty, and employees develop an entrepreneurial mindset.  Their “Ice House Program” runs student/faculty/employee training programs, and they also have train-the-trainer programs.  To learn more, start by reading their foundational text “Who Owns the Ice House?,” co-written by Gary Schoeniger and Clifton Taulbert, about Clifton’s “Uncle Cleve,” an unlikely entrepreneur in the Mississippi Delta.

ELI also has a list of several other entrepreneurial books, case studies (from schools, small and large businesses, and government agencies), blogs, podcasts, and other resources it recommends.  I also participated in a webinar by ELI’s president Rob Herndon; he is a former Air Force pilot instructor and former Associate Dean of Business and Technology at Pikes Peak College.  The webinar gave a similar description about the entrepreneurial mindset, and it provided specific details and examples about ELI training programs.  The full webinar video is on YouTube.  A school/employer that would like to promote student/employee engagement and develop an entrepreneurial mindset and other strategic thinking skills may consider beginning with these self-help resources.

Faculty Professional Development Sessions

Several sessions I attended were on the topic of “faculty development.”

One of these sessions was “Development and Implementation of a Faculty-Led Campuswide Learning Community” by Tara Cole and Terry Hanzel from the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology campus – see the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning.  The session described a faculty-led learning community that included instruction on using classroom technologies.  Much of the session also focused on strategies for building collaborative faculty relationships.  An important take-away point for me was the idea that every academic program develop a strategy for online and distance learning – see examples from Oklahoma State.

Another session was “Creating a Professional Development Program” by participants of the Online Learning Committee at Lee College.  The session described a professional development program called a “Community of Online Teaching and Learning,” and it gave several examples of faculty development activities, such as:

• lessons on how to translate an instructor’s personality into an online environment
• cohort meetings to review progress on online course developments
• writing a reflection paper about a course that can be revised and improved
• peer and instructional designer course reviews
• offering Quality Matters “Teaching Online” certificate

Another session, “Transform the Professional Development Experience at Your Institution” by Sonya McCoy-Wilson from Atlanta Tech and Mary-Kate Najarian from Montgomery County Community College, described micro-learning strategies to promote faculty engagement and professional development.  Najarian described online resources, such as emails, newsletters, and a video collection.  McCoy-Wilson described in-person activities, such as the “privilege walk,” that promote community building and a greater personal awareness.

The last session, “Mentor Adjunct Faculty into Tenure-Track Positions for Student Success and Retention” by Jean Maines and Kathy Carrigan, focused on strategies for helping graduate students and adjunct faculty into tenure-track positions.  Much of the session was discussion based, and there were opportunities for networking.  Strategies included building relationships between graduate programs and local community and four-year colleges that may have open positions for new faculty.

Administrative Leadership Sessions

The NISOD Conference also included a leadership series.  One of the sessions I attended provided recommendations for hiring faculty.  The session was hosted by Deborah Frazier, Chancellor of the University of Arkansas Community College, and Jennifer Methvin, Chancellor of Arkansas State University at Beebe.  Talking points included:

1. “No Hire” is better than a “Bad Hire.”  Find the best person, do not hire simply to fill a position.  A “bad hire” may cause many unintended and irreparable problems.
2. Hire for the Big Picture.  Focus on the complete value a new employee would bring to the team by identifying useful skills and future training opportunities.
3. What should the interview process reveal?  Suggestions included asking about a project in the hope that the applicant speaks of collaborative experience.  Other suggestions included asking about what the applicant has learned from failed projects and what the organization do to help the applicant become successful.
4. Be thorough but listen to your gut.  Thorough decision-making includes checking references and also allowing some informal time for the applicant to meet teams he/she will be working with.
5. Responding to Internal Applicants.  The speakers suggested to hold a search whenever possible (to find the best candidate) instead of promoting an internal applicant.  Recommendations also included to have a serious, open conversation if the applicant is not ready and to offer opportunities for on-going professional development.
6. Hiring is not about filling a position, but about building a team.

I really enjoyed the NISOD Conference.  I learned a lot about Austin, TX and about topics in my professional field.  I also networked quite a bit and met several faculty and academic leaders throughout the country.

Feedback:  Are you enjoying my summaries of conferences I attended?  Have you presented at or attended a conference you would like to share?  Post a comment below or use the Contact link at the top of the page to send me an email.

Lirim Neziroski, Ph.D., MBA is an academic leader and an assessment and technology expert at a liberal arts university in the Chicago area. Contact Lirim directly for additional resources and speaking, consulting, and writing opportunities.