In December 2017, the Smithsonian unveiled a new Strategic Plan. It expands on the five "Grand Challenges"--Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe, Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet, Valuing World Cultures, Understanding the American Experience, and Magnifying the Transformative Power of Arts and Design--by setting goals…

As part of the post-secondary educational landscape, online education in the form of online programs and courses help institutions reach and enroll more students. To meet the needs of increased enrollments in online education, part-time faculty are often hired to teach online courses. Part-time contingent faculty or adjuncts represent a growing…

Passage of the "Strengthening Career & Technical Education for the 21st Century Act" (Perkins V), which reauthorizes federal legislation funding career and technical education (CTE), brings the opportunity to improve the quality and accessibility of CTE for adults with low incomes; English learner adults; out-of-school youth; and…

The literature indicates that approximately 50% of those who seek a doctoral education complete the degree. Research indicates that persistence is one of the key issues that students struggle with and negatively impacts their ability to graduate. Other factors include the ability to maintain enrollment; topic selection; and ability to maintain a…

The critical path method/program evaluation and review technique method of project scheduling is based on the importance of managing a project's critical path(s). Although a critical path is the longest path through a network, its location in large projects is facilitated by the computation of activity slack. However, logical fallacies in…

This study investigated foreign language teachers' beliefs about the research-pedagogy link by focusing on research-oriented universities. Participants (N = 107) held different roles at their universities: graduate students (n = 17), full-time second language (L2) instructors (n = 69), and language program directors (n = 21). Data were collected…

Universities are under pressure to produce work-ready graduates. This study analyzed 130 job advertisements to identify skills required by environmental science employers in Australia. For degree-related criteria, the most frequently required were content knowledge, a tertiary qualification and experience. Other desired skills were an…

Aimed at Ph.D. programs in German, this article offers a broad framework to discuss the urgent issues facing our programs to stem the tide of (possible or even likely) disinvestment in German in times of fiscal hardship. Many conversations on suitable reforms tend to be held separately by different stakeholders -- teaching-focused faculty or…

This paper builds on student-instructor partnerships by describing how an instructor, students, program coordinator, and members of a research team were involved in the co-design of an open educational resource in a graduate program in education. A four-part open learning design framework was used to guide the course design: (a) clarifying the…

Smart House is a means to involve citizens in inclusive education; an additional education outside of school. In Smart House, especially school-aged children can explore their own potential as well as motivate themselves to achieve a higher intelligence level. In Smart House, there are five centers of education, including the library space with…

This study explores the difference between both active learning and lecturing to teach Scrum project management in a university setting. The goal was to understand if one approach results in higher perceived learning over the other. Additionally, lesson ordering was examined to determine student preference of lecturing prior to or after an active…

Festivals, fairs, and events (FFEs) provide rural communities with economic and noneconomic benefits. For the project described in this article, we conducted a needs assessment of Iowa FFE managers by surveying them about the challenges they face in event management and then used the results of the assessment as the basis for training sessions…

The author's goals in this exercise were to use an Excel project to teach students about the effects of changing states of nature on critical path emergence as well as compare the impact of the PERT beta and triangular distributions on project completion times. Previous research into the PERT (program evaluation and review technique) beta…

Organizational transformation takes time, energy, and patience. An active administrative unit, The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology (called simply, the Hub) engaged intentional change from its inception. The Hub aspires to help Michigan State University (MSU) "reinvent itself as a learning institution" by transforming…

An effective state-level professional development system designed for Nebraska 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21 st CCLC) program leaders should consider both the unique characteristics of the program leaders themselves, as well as the rural communities where the afterschool programs are implemented. Some of these differentiating…