Cluster 4 – NSpire

May 15, 2019 | In Institutional, Institutional Service, Resources, Uncategorized

Invest in IT Resources

Institutions across the U.S. are utilizing data and technology to improve student retention,increase degree completion, boost learning, inform administrative decision-making, and modernize to meet consumers’ expectations. NWC’s IT office this year alone has created several new programs to boost efforts related to student academic success and student well-being. However, NWC staff report that innovative and efficacy-boosting initiatives – in […]

May 14, 2019 | In Classroom, Culture, Departmental / Program, Division, Individual, Institutional, Resources, Uncategorized

Leveraging Existing Areas of Innovation

For a couple of decades, the Honors Program languished as an underfunded afterthought to Northwestern’s academic mission, despite the yeoman work of several past faculty directors. In Spring 2016, this changed when the faculty unanimously passed a major overhaul to the honors curriculum. Among the numerous changes, two aspects of this overhaul were significant: […]

May 14, 2019 | In Culture, Higher Ed, Individual, Institutional, Resources

Reducing Time Constraints

In the survey that the Lab conducted at the beginning of this semester, we asked faculty to rate on a scale of 0-100 the most significant obstacles to innovation at NWC. The runaway winner was “lack of time”: 59% of respondents rated it in the 80-100 range, while only 3% rated it at 40 or below […]

May 14, 2019 | In Culture, Departmental / Program, Division, Higher Ed, Institutional, Resources

Break Down Departmental Silos

When one thinks of silos, the image is of a large cement structure; however, today’s silos are more of an image of grain bins connected by towers and catwalks between a cluster of bins. Perhaps a better way to think of this recommendation is not that we need to break down the silos, but instead […]

May 14, 2019 | In Institutional, Institutional Service, Resources, Uncategorized

Professional Academic Advisors

Northwestern’s students are not distributed equally across all departments, and the resulting disparity in the number of advisees assigned to faculty members is no secret. But this disparity is, at least in part, a structural issue, as well. The Faculty Handbook (6.4.2.A) states, “Faculty members shall serve as the primary academic advisors for all […]