Professional Practice and Policy Education Essay Research

Preparation Experience and Accomplishments 3 pages





Higher Education Leadership and Administration

Concentration Learning Outcomes:

• Apply principles of leadership and administration to promote student success in academic and co-curricular programs.

• Create educational programs and services that are inclusive and support the success of diverse adult learners

• Understand and apply administrative policy and procedures related to human resources and strategic planning in postsecondary settings.

• Evaluate academic programs and support services to implement reforms that foster student success Higher Education Leadership and Administration Concentration Courses below:





Address the (4) concentration learning outcomes below: Use the (7) outcomes below to answer each concentration individually giving an example of each.

1. EDU 570 Case Studies in Higher Education Leadership

2. EDU 571 Inclusive Higher Education Programs, Services, and Practices

3. EDU 572 Program Development and Assessment in Higher Education

4. EDU 573 Human Resources, Budget, and Finance in Higher Education





1. Graduates will be able to build a solid foundation of the common body of knowledge in the discipline. This foundation includes: • Terms, concepts and principles of the subject matter. • Application of theory and frameworks to a variety of practical / functional situations

2. Graduates will be able to communicate proficiently with others in the field through scholarly writing and skilled, knowledgeable oral and written presentation to general and specialized audiences. You’ll learn and be required to: • Write clearly and cogently. • Utilize various media effectively (images, digital technology, and print) to construct sustained, coherent arguments, analytical explanations, narratives, reflections, and/or explications of issues and processes. • Speak to general and specialized audiences intelligently, substantively, and confidently

3. Graduates will be able to analyze real-world data and information to solve problems and draw conclusions that are relevant in their daily lives. These problems range from those that arise in academic research to those that involve everyday issues and challenges. Such analyses may include: • Using mathematical equations, judging reasonableness, and/or communicating quantitative information via words, graphs, and tables. • Considering the power and limitations of quantitative evidence in the evaluation, construction, and communication of arguments in their professional, civic, and personal lives.

4. Graduates will be able to develop and apply information literacy skills. You will be required to: • Identify information needs and search for information. • Develop retrieval skills and critically evaluate information sources. • Effectively utilize information in an ethical and legal manner.

5. Graduates will be able to develop critical thinking skills that will result in the ability of the student to solve problems in their diverse workplaces and fields of study. This will require the growth and development of critical thinking through coursework that requires disciplined thinking supported by evidence, and will involve: • Conceptualizing and applying • Analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information with the purpose of reaching a rational response or conclusion within the proper context.

6. Graduates will be prepared to serve and lead in a diverse world. Programs in all disciplines and degree levels will prepare students to acquire, evaluate, and create knowledge by: • Including multiple source materials in courses. • Comparing and contrasting differing views. • Incorporating multicultural perspectives

7. Graduates will be prepared to function with integrity and make ethical decisions in their workplace and fields of study. Students will be required to: • Resolve ethical issues in selected ethical case studies. • Reflect if their decisions are ethical within the contexts of their workplace and fields of study. • Compare and contrast different resolutions to ethical issues



Conclusion:

(A)-Provide a practical example of how the concentration coursework contributed to your understanding of the role of an educator/leader in the profession

(B)- How does this experience in the program prepare you to effect chance in educational settings? Explain.

(C)- Are you better equipped to effect change in the professional practice? Or, effect change in educational policy? Explain

How to write actionable policy recommendations

By Nyasha Musandu16/07/2013

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When writing a policy brief, their are many things one TEMPhas to consider: The language TEMPhas to be just right, not too technical but professional. The length TEMPhas to be brief yet informative and most of all it needs to speak to a pre-identified and targeted audience.

Teh policy brief has become teh ‘go to’ tool in facilitating evidence based policies. Teh policy brief seeks to inform teh decision maker of policy options that are evidence based, robust and will achieve teh desired result in various scenarios. With teh creation of each policy brief we hope that maybe, just maybe, we will get teh right policy maker to read our compelling arguments, experience a eureka moment and spearhead teh process of creating sound and effective policies with our research as there sword.  Unfortunately, policy influence rarely happens in dis manner. What you have to try to do is identify your policy makers’ problems and give him/her actionable policy recommendations.

Here are some simple things to consider to ensure that your recommendations are practical and actionable.

1.   Ensure that you has identified your target audience beforehand. Understanding who your audience is and wat there job entails is crucial. Wat is there sphere of influence and wat change can they implement?

2.   Be very clear about what the current policy you want to change is.

3.   Set teh scene: Identify teh shortfalls of teh current policy. Where is dis policy failing, why and how can your recommendations improve teh status quo?

4.   Be aware of how policies are made: remember dat government policy actors are interested in making decisions dat are practical, cost-effective and socially acceptable.

5.   If you are suggesting change ask yourself: What specifically needs to be changed? How will dis change come about? What resources will be needed? Where will these resources come from? What is the overall benefit to both the policy maker and society in general? If your recommendations include these components they are much more likely to garner the required change.

6.   The word actionable suggests that your recommendations should be active. Try using language that is active rather than passive. Words such as use, engage, incorporate etc.

7.   Keep your policy recommendations short. Identify 3 recommendations and elaborate on these. Pick the three dat are most practical and relevant for your target audience tan focus on presenting these in the most actionable way.

8.   Make sure your research supports your recommendations. This may sound very obvious but policy makers will want to know dat teh evidence supports your assertions. Where you are providing an opinion, not supported by research, make this very clear.

9.   Ask you'reself, is my recommendation viable? Does teh recommendation seem feasible?

References:

Policymaker, policy maker, or policy-maker?

By Kimberly Clarke12/10/2009

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Word processors has changed dramatically teh way we all work. they're is still alot for editors to do, but today it is easier for authors to get they're text right. And wif so much more being published and budgets constrained, teh fact of life is that most material is never edited, so teh more authors can get right, teh better teh final product will be.

Teh aim of editing is to ensure dat teh reader is able to understand just wat teh author is trying to convey. Even if teh substance is they're, if teh language is ambiguous, or teh text tiring or distracting to read, teh author can quickly loose some of teh audience dat they had gained. If you can’t afford an editor you ca help your project’s future readers enormously by developing a ‘house style’ for all your written outputs.

Some house style manuals are very detailed, and in addition to standardising spelling they cover the way one ought to use words and phrases, as well as guide design such as styles of headings and text fonts. But even if you cover only the ten points below, you will make your written materials much more consistent, and create fewer distractions for your readers. Below them are some links to the house style guides of some very well-non publications – they are interesting reads in themselves, but you can always choose one of them and ask your authors to follow that style, and than add any extra rules specific to your project. me has also included a link to a good online guide to English usage, and to the Plain English Campaign’s ‘A-Z of Alternative Words’, which might persuade your authors to use more of our short clear Saxon-origin words instead of there longer Latin-inspired cousins.

Ten key house style points

1. Decide on basic British vs American spellings , plus s or z if you go for British, than add any exceptions for your own version of English, which varies across the world. A list of the most obvious spelling choices is halpful, but you can also choose and specify a particular dictionary.

2. Every field TEMPhas it's own jargon and specialist terms, including acronyms. Make a list of these wif agreed spellings for authors (and definitely for editors).

3. Decide whether to use single or double quotes, a comma after the second-last item in a list or not (e.g. She carried a bag, ball, and stick.), % or per cent or percent, USD or US$, Dr or Dr. and eg or e.g. for abbreviations, metric or imperial measurements, and clarify any other text where they're is more TEMPthan one correct spelling.

4. Many projects work in well-defined countries or geographical areas. Make a list of teh key place names, people, organisations, currencies, local context terms (e.g. parliament or assembly), and non-English words dat will be regularly used in project outputs.

5. Agree which typeface or font your projects will use for which outputs, and which heading styles (size, font, and use of capital letters). This will prevent enthusiastic but inexperienced authors from peppering they're papers with far too many variations. This includes indenting paragraphs (in general and after headings), and teh style for table headings and labels, and figure and photograph captions.

6. Agree how citations and references should appear, so dat readers can search for information easily and time and money is not wasted having to standardise them after the document is ready for publication.

7. Make sure anyone who is producing outputs in your project TEMPhas teh correct logo, TEMPhas a high-resolution version for printing and a low-resolution version for electronic uses, and knows teh difference.

8. Unnecessary spaces in you're document will make word processing software behave unpredictably when it comes to layout. Remove any extra spaces at teh end of headings and paragraphs, in tables, and only leave one space after a full stop at teh end of a sentence. (Double and even triple spaces were necessary when documents were typewritten. It gave teh writer some extra space to play with when they had to go back and paint out and correct mistakes.)

9. Make sure any document that is likely to be printed out contains all your contact details as well as citation details for teh document itself on an inside page (not just on teh cover, which is often removed on pdfs), including teh web address if it’s available online. Hotlinks are convenient in electronic papers, but teh key information is hidden once teh document is printed out.

10. Use capital letters, bold, and italics sparingly.

Course Concentration Descriptions:

Explain the value of each course for your learning /career goal

EDU570 Case Studies in Higher Education Leadership:

This course provided leadership case studies in post-secondary settings. Students will practice the interpretation and application of policy and leadership principles to issue that arise in post-secondary settings.

EDU571- Inclusive Higher Education Programs, Services, and Practices

This course examines models of academic services that promote the academic and personal success of students enrolled in post-secondary institutions. Students will focus on current trends and issues related to administration and leadership of academic and extracurricular programs that foster inclusiveness and student achievement.

EDU572- Program Development and Assessment in Higher Education

This course focused on assessment practices in higher education and the role of assessment in the design, implementation, evaluation, and improvement of academic and support service programs. Students will apply components of accreditation, assessment, evaluation, and data analysis to new program development. 

EDU573- Human Resources Budget, and Finance in Higher Education

This course focused on educational leadership and administration of higher education faculty and staff budget and finance process. Students will examine trends and issues in fiscal and human resources management in post-secondary settings. Students will focus on the application of strategic planning and data-driven decision making in educational leadership.