Higher Education Response To Exponential Societal Shifts

Based on a structure developed centuries ago, higher education systems are being challenged to alter their landscape and culture. With a rapidly changing knowledge base, job market, and societal and community needs, it is imperative that higher education systems remain adaptive and responsive. However, critical changes must still occur within the higher education system in order to accommodate these new societal needs. Higher Education Response to Exponential Societal Shifts is a critical scholarly publication that provides cutting-edge research on the facilitation of professional growth and commitment to lifelong learning and empowers leaders to be change agents who creatively solve leadership challenges. The book promotes the development of leaders who are committed to service, fairness, equity, and cross-disciplinary collaboration in diverse communities and the global venue and prepares them with the vital knowledge and skills needed to become effective leaders in today’s complex world. Featuring a wide range of topics such as faculty development, accreditation, and higher education, this book is ideal for teachers, deans, chancellors, provosts, academicians, administrators, policymakers, curriculum designers, researchers, and students.

American higher education has served to prepare students to be active participants in a democratic society. During a time of great civil upheaval following the tumultuous elections of 2016 and 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and mass demonstrations following the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, higher education may be the only institution left to be both responsible for and responsive to society at large. Public trust in the federal government is at near-record lows, but confidence in higher education has decreased more than any other U.S. institution since 2015. In a time where public opinion is quickly changing for the better or the worse, higher education must respond to this decline in trust in it as an institution, but also the decline in the belief that a college degree is worth the time and cost. Higher education was founded on the idea that colleges would prepare citizens for a life of public service, but they have quickly changed to a business model that largely puts profits over people. Practitioners of higher education must respond to this lack of trust and the pressures of preparing a 21st century workforce while battling the threats of a pandemic, declining enrollment, budget destabilization, and increased regulation. The Proper Role of Higher Education in a Democratic Society reexamines the purpose of higher education during rapidly changing times, offers practical advice and best practices to reclaim higher education’s most fundamental mission, and argues that if higher education is called to prepare students to serve a government by the people, the people must be prepared to govern effectively. This book provides resources and suggestions for restoring the public faith in higher education by connecting the educational experience with civic engagement outcomes. Diverse perspectives presented in this book challenge traditional notions that civic engagement is handled by one office on a college campus and is only discussed during a presidential election. Covering everything from civic engagement to diversity perspectives, this book is ideal for higher education practitioners and those interested in promoting civic engagement and democratic participation, improving assessment or accreditation standards using a civic engagement perspective, and infusing civic engagement to diversity conversations on campus.

In a time of worldwide turmoil and pervasive social displacement, universities and communities have come together to meet these urgent challenges in order to support the academic and social development of displaced young people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. It is crucial to understand and review how institutions, as well as individuals and collaborative groups, have worked together to expand institutional culture and practice in a process of cross-institutional expansive learning. A Cultural Historical Approach to Social Displacement and University-Community Engagement: Emerging Research and Opportunities focuses on university-community collaborative engagement as a strategic response to widespread social displacement and its implications for the educational and social development of underserved young people from displaced communities. Using a cultural historical perspective, the book offers a comparative study of collaborative engagement in multiple programs involving university and community partners in long-term efforts to address the social displacement and educational development of local young people. Specifically, it examines University-Community Links (UC Links), an international network of partnerships between universities and communities that has been addressing the educational implications of social displacement for over 20 years. This book is ideal for school faculty, students, university administrators, local community leaders, community-based organization leaders, local political leaders, teachers, and school partners, as well as researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders interested in discourse on university-community engagement in higher education, K-12, and local and state decision-making arenas.

For the last decade, virtual reality has been utilized in diverse fields such as entertainment, medicine, and industry. Recently, virtual reality has been applied in educational settings in order to transform student learning and experiences through such methods as building prototypes using digital devices or exploring new cultures through immersive interactions. Teachers who can incorporate virtual reality into their classrooms can provide their students with more meaningful learning experiences and can witness higher engagement. Current and Prospective Applications of Virtual Reality in Higher Education is a cutting-edge academic research book that provides comprehensive research on the integration of virtual reality in education programs and establishes foundations for course design, program development, and institutional strategic planning. The book covers an overall understanding and approach to virtual reality in education, specific applications of using virtual reality in higher education, and prospects and issues of virtual reality in the future. Highlighting a wide range of topics such as gamification, teacher training, and virtual reality, this book is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, academicians, program developers, administrators, educational software developers, policymakers, researchers, education professionals, and students.

Traditionally, internationalization efforts in higher education have been rooted in (neo)liberal transactional models that restrict or compromise the space for meaningful exchanges of socio-cultural capital. Recently, researchers and practitioners in the international education field have taken issue with programming and practices in education abroad; international student recruitment; and internationalization of the curricula that perpetuate systems of imbalance, fossilize prejudices, adversely impact host communities abroad, and limit student learning to the confines of the Western epistemological traditions. As a result, scholars and practitioners are creating new paradigms for engagement and exchange. People-Centered Approaches Toward the Internationalization of Higher Education is an essential scholarly publication that examines the praxis of internationalization in higher education with empirical research and relevant models of practice that approach the topic critically and responsibly. The book innovates and (re)humanizes internationalization efforts, including education abroad, international recruitment, international scholar and student services, and internationalization of curriculum, by focusing on the people and communities touched, intentionally and unintentionally, by said efforts. It is ideal for higher education faculty, education professionals, academic advisors, academicians, administrators, curriculum designers, researchers, and students.

Canada has become one of the most popular destinations for international students at the higher education level. A number of complex factors and trends, both in Canada and globally, have contributed to the emergence of Canada as a destination for international higher education. However, more research is still needed to better understand the experiences of international students in Canada considering the rapid growth in numbers as well as the social, political, and linguistic singularity of Canada as a destination. Multidisciplinary Perspectives on International Student Experience in Canadian Higher Education is an essential scholarly publication that explores international students' experiences in Canadian colleges and universities. It seeks to explore the various factors, aspects, challenges, and successes that characterize the international student experience in Canadian higher education from the perspective of international students and the academic communities to which they belong. Featuring a wide range of topics such as information literacy, professional development, and experiential learning, this book is ideal for academicians, instructors, researchers, policymakers, curriculum designers, and students.

As esports is one of the new and rapidly growing sports programs at the collegiate level, today’s campus leaders are increasingly asked to navigate the complexity of esports. This practical volume helps higher education professionals understand the expanding role of collegiate esports, describing the ecosystem of college esports and the experience for college players, as well as the connections between gaming and career preparation. Chapter authors offer an overview and practical look at the main structures and issues facing collegiate esports programs, athletes, and administrators. Chapters address the needs of the campus gaming community, building gender and racial inclusivity, athlete health, amateurism and the esports athlete, the role of the technology industry, governance, career paths, and coaching. This cutting-edge volume offers information to support campus leaders and practitioners in building and expanding collegiate esports programs in the quickly growing and changing aspects of both online and face-to-face campus communities.

Innovation in higher education is a process of institutional adaptation to changes in the environment that enables higher education institutions to improve their existing practice and to be innovative at different levels and in different forms. Moreover, innovativeness is also related to internal characteristics of higher education institutions. Innovation in higher education can be observed as a result of the changing contexts in which higher education institutions function. Adjacently, a comprehensive approach to considering innovativeness is needed in order to enable the examination of different elements of innovativeness in higher education, that is, to identify the key factors that (de)stimulate innovations and affect their interactions with other relevant stakeholders at the national level and beyond. The Handbook of Research on Enhancing Innovation in Higher Education Institutions is a critical scholarly book that examines innovativeness in higher education and its complications and diversity. Starting from the view that higher education is currently confronted by global forces that require new research ideas, the publication suggests that comprehensive understanding of innovativeness is imperative for higher education’s institutions in the 21st century. Analyzing the recognized trends within the publication and concluding which aspects should be taken to improve innovativeness in higher education, this reference book outlines quality and innovation in teaching, innovative university-business cooperation, institutional framework and governance of higher education institutions, knowledge management, and leadership and organizational culture. It is ideal for curriculum designers, administrators, researchers, policymakers, academicians, professionals, and students.