In navigating the current climate of higher education in the United States, university faculty and staff are increasingly tasked with doing more with less. In this article, we explore the value of micro-credentials as a way to benefit both students and universities. We include an account of the successful creation of several graduate certificate…

"Stackable" credentials offer opportunities for college students to start by earning short-term credentials in vocational and technical fields, then stack additional credentials as they progress in careers, building skills in the classroom and in the workforce. Stackable credentials come at a cost: colleges expend resources in developing…

A high school diploma is no longer the path to financial stability; a person needs at least a postsecondary degree or credential to earn a median income (Carnavale, et al. 2019). Community colleges need to work to create opportunities for all students, including those that may enter school as an adult, and not straight from high school, to attain…

This article highlights specific approaches to developing leadership identity in college students within an academic curricular context. The authors examine curricular contexts such as majors, minors, and certificates with an emphasis on leader and leadership development, as well as specific course activities used to engage students in developing…

In the United States, some professions are anchored by certifications and licensures to demonstrate an individual is qualified to practice in that professional domain. Broadly speaking, licensures are non-academic credentials required by federal or state law for individuals to practice in that field (Gilmore and Williams 2007). In contrast,…

Tuition-free college programs are gaining momentum as policymakers address rising college costs and workforce readiness. Despite their growing adoption, limited research examines how workforce-focused eligibility criteria impact student outcomes beyond enrollment. This pre-registered study employs two within-study quasi-experimental…

Purpose: Recent research on graduate students' diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) socialization found that graduate colleges play a role in supporting graduate students' DEI professional development (Perez et al., 2020), but more studies are needed about how graduate colleges facilitate DEI socialization. One graduate college at a large,…

Short-term certificate (STC) programs at community colleges represent a longstanding policy priority to align accelerated postsecondary credentials with job opportunities in local labor markets. Despite large investments in developing STCs, little evidence exists about where and when STCs are opened and whether community colleges open new programs…

The landscape of developmental education has experienced significant shifts over the last decade nationwide, as more than 20 states and higher education systems have transitioned from the traditional prerequisite model to corequisite remediation. Drawing on administrative data from Tennessee community colleges from 2010 to 2020, this study…

Structuring a degree is a common activity for course developers. Analyzing appropriate subjects and year levels, establishing pre- and co-requisite, and benchmarking against similar degrees are common academic activities. However, the degree structure itself has not had significant changes until now. A degree often lacks flexibility and cohesion…

University-based certificate programs for students with intellectual disabilities have grown in number since the passing of the Higher Education Opportunities Act (HEOA) in 2008. The Comprehensive Transition Program (CTP) designation and Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities (TPSID) grant were created…

Cloud computing has grown to become an integral part of information technology (IT) infrastructure. Organizations are increasingly utilizing cloud services to deliver a variety of applications and services in conjunction with their on-premise data center environments. As such, students pursuing careers in information systems and computing need to…

In this naturalistic design-research study, we tracked 172,417 learning journeys of students who were interacting with an online resource, the Indiana University Plagiarism Tutorials and Tests (IPTAT) at https://plagiarism.iu.edu. IPTAT was designed using First Principles of Instruction (FPI; Merrill in Educ Technol Res Dev 50:43-59, 2002,…

The Chemical Engineering program at the University of Toronto has been in existence since 1904. In this first statistical study of graduating student performance, 10 years of student data have been analyzed. Data for more than 1100 graduated students were evaluated in the core mathematics and engineering science courses. There are no gender-based…

A third of the 2- and 4-year undergraduates beginning college in 2011-2012 changed their major in the first 3 years of enrollment. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of major switching on student outcomes, particularly in community colleges. Major switching can delay or impede college completion through excess credit accumulation, or it…