Paths to the Future of Higher Education

Edited by:
Brian L. Foster, University of Missouri, Columbia
Steven W. Graham, University of Missouri System
Joe F. Donaldson, University of Missouri-Columbia

A volume in the series: Education Policy in Practice: Critical Cultural Studies. Editor(s): Rodney Hopson, American University. Edmund Hamann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Published 2021

The rapid change that higher education is undergoing is impacting all of the core mission elements: teaching and learning, research, service, and engagement with the external world (e.g., community engagement and health care delivery). Navigating this environment requires understanding of the underlying dynamics, with particular attention to how the issues are affecting the directions higher education will take. The main focus of the book is on teaching and learning (Section 3), with Sections 1 and 2 providing important context for understanding dynamics affecting how we can achieve our goals in teaching and learning. The section on “Institutional Culture, Structure, and Public Engagement” addresses issues such as promotion and tenure, interdisciplinary collaboration, dissemination and archiving of research outcomes and data, student engagement with community development, and evaluation of research projects. Section 2 on “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” goes far beyond the usual “diversity discussion” to include addressing faculty racial disparities, intersectionality, and “parity in participation.” Then, Section 3, “Teaching and Learning” focuses on out-of-the classroom teaching and on technology enhanced learning, all with many connections to Sections 1 and 2.

The intended audience includes both academics and professionals (e.g., faculty and students in departments of higher education, anthropology, and education policy). Higher education leaders, administrators, governing board members, and many others will find the book helpful in providing insight into the future of higher education, especially as it concerns instruction and learning. The book will also be of use to professionals outside higher education who work on policy issues, on meeting the needs of employers, and on preparing students for applying knowledge in their personal lives.

Praise for Paths to the Future of Higher Education:

"Higher education in the United States is currently undergoing a transformation as a result of unprecedented pressures. Disruptive forces such as rapidly evolving technology, eroding financial support for public universities, proliferation of forprofit entities, changing expectations of students and employers, our country’s reckoning with its history of racism and white supremacy, as well as the politicization of higher education demand changes in systems hundreds of years old. The recent COVID epidemic has forced a radical change in the delivery of higher education – will we ever return to our old ways?" Daniel L. Clay, PhD, MBA Dean and Professor, College of Education, University of Iowa

"One of the great challenges facing higher education today involves the changes that are necessary in the fundamental activities of teaching and learning to respond to changing social factors such as diversity, internationalization, the rapid evolution of technology, and unpredictable social needs (e.g., COVID 19). Brian Foster and his colleagues have assembled an important collection of papers on this subject, the future of teaching and learning at the higher education level, in part from an anthropological perspective, but also within the important context of our changing world. As such, the book provides a valuable insight into the perspectives that both faculty and their institutions need to address the changes in their most fundamental roles in providing teaching and learning for future generations." James J. Duderstadt President Emeritus, The University of Michigan

CONTENTS
Preface, Brian L. Foster. Introduction: Active Learning Is Our Future, Brian L. Foster and Steven W. Graham. SECTION I: INSTITUTIONAL CULTURE, STRUCTURE, AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT. Churning Forces in Higher Education: Are Nonprofits Becoming More Like For-Profits? Joe F. Donaldson and Steven W. Graham. Promotion and Tenure Rituals: Where They Have Taken Us and Where We Are Going, Brian L. Foster. Barriers to Research and Scientific Collaboration at Universities, Therese Kennelly Okraku and Christopher McCarty. Complexity, Collaboration, and Culture: Interdisciplinary Research Addressing Society’s Challenges, Karen E. Downing. Archives, Libraries, Museums and Scholarly Publishing in an Age of Anxiety, Alex W. Barker. Rapid Ethnographic Assessment in Clinical Settings, Heather Schacht Reisinger, John Fortney, and Greg Reger. SECTION II: DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION. Motivators and Influencers on Graduate School Enrollment for Undergraduate Students in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, Alissa Ruth and Janae Landers. Research at a Crossroads: The Need for Intersectionality in Higher Education Today, Jyl Wheaton-Abraham. The Problem with Parity in Participation: Representation is Both Culture and Practice, Monica D. Griffin. SECTION III: TEACHING AND LEARNING. When One Teaches, Two Learn: The Value of Student Collaborated Research, Toni Copeland. How Personal Experiences of Teachers Affect Urban Students in Science Education, Kristen Vogt Veggeberg. Intended and Unintended: Transformative Learning in a Tanzanian Field Program, David Kozak. The Future Is Now? Methodological Approaches to Understanding the Implementation of Technology-Enhanced Learning, Lauren Herckis. Conclusion: Cultural and Structural Dynamics of Active Learning: Pros and Cons, Brian L. Foster and Joe F. Donaldson. About the Contributors.