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Abstract

ing, or persuasion required. The key is identifying which variables will have the desired influence.</p><p id="fe96">I will now share 5 independent variables that, when worked on, will positively impact student outcomes and achieve higher education results.</p><h2 id="b265">The Curricular System</h2><p id="4a03">Students and faculty expect to follow a curriculum structure. This framework is an opportunity to fill in as many learning experiences as possible. Even if something seems like it should be extra-curricular and optional, build it in as a safety net if you think it is critical. This way, you will underwrite all the learning you want the students to have.</p><p id="dabd">Some excellent examples that I have seen in the colleges I have worked with are

A social internship for all students
Service as a part of the curriculum
A credited course for international project or experience
A credited course for an industry project
Cross-disciplinary learning at every level
Industry mapped into the classroom
Extra credits for national and international competitions and initiatives</p><p id="b8cf">When the curriculum has these ideas embedded, you will find that the initiatives are more positively looked at and adopted by the students.</p><h2 id="d144">Make It Their Idea</h2><p id="53a6">Increased ownership for work projects or learning tasks comes when the students and faculty see the task as their idea and initiative. There is much less interest in doing something thrust on them. Create committees that include students and faculty, brainstorm, and develop suggestions. They will often come up with recommendations similar to what you had in mind. Don’t be keen to take credit. Let it be their idea. Always stay aware of student needs and strategic benefits. You can find ways to set the context to influence the outcomes.</p><h2 id="934d">Employability Every Day</h2><p id="7f64">When a student comes into college, it is for learning and experience. Still, through the journey, he is developing himself for the destination. Employability skills are the skills required not only to get jobs but also to progress within a career. These skills are necessary to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to the company’s strategic direction. Thus employability is not task or job related but rather linked to a graduate’s capacity to perform, negotiate and advance their careers for maximum success. Technical skills are not just the focus for this — those will get taught. But students need to develop their communication skills, ability to understand and answer brief, critical thinking skills, ethics, positive attitude, leadership, self-reflection, etc. It is too late to work on these in the final year or when students are ready for their job interviews. Therefore there has to be a plan to give students the exposure and opportunity to develop employability skills

Options

right from day zero.</p><h2 id="4176">Career Mentoring</h2><p id="785a">There are many paths a student can take on graduating from college. Students need support and mentoring to make conscious decisions about what they would like to do. Many may want jobs and need to identify the kind of company they would like to work in and their skills for the roles they aspire to have.</p><p id="64c0">Others may want to study further and need support in the decision process. Others may want to start a business of their own or freelance in today’s gig economy. As discussed previously, each of these paths needs exposure to different people and experiences built into the curriculum.</p><h2 id="17c0">Passion and Physicality</h2><p id="dfb1">Create opportunities for students to find and explore their passion, primarily where groups work together and use their bodies and minds. Sports, theatre, social work, dance all are fertile ground for growing collaboration, leadership, ethics, inclusion, and passion.</p><p id="d5af">When people come together to be on one team with one goal and physically do something together, the feeling is exhilarating. If this could be something they are passionate about, the results could be fantastic. Whether a small series of matches or a competition, sports, theatre, and other similar activities can ensure people engage, solve conflicts and inspire.</p><p id="0b9f">Put these activities as a part of the curricula plan and allow students to gain extra credit. For example, some colleges choose sports, dance, social work, or theatre as compulsory credit-bearing electives.</p><h2 id="1d69">Authentic Influence will Lead to Improved Student Outcomes.</h2><p id="6cb0">Some university leaders either lay down strict rules from a position of power, and others spend their time persuading students as to the best choices for them. A more strategic way is to influence what they do and why. But this has to be done authentically, with the main interest focusing on the benefit of the student.</p><p id="9ad6">Authentic leaders have five characteristics: purpose and passion; values and behaviour; relationships and connectedness; self-discipline and consistency; and heart and compassion. These characteristics are all from a ‘power-with’ instead of a ‘power-over’ one. An authentic influence will allow you to make the shifts you want to create improved outcomes innovatively. All along, clear communication about why decisions are in the best interests of the students and the university is essential. And creating an ecosystem where one has strategically made shifts to impact can be very powerful.</p><p id="e2a0">Use ideas to influence the learning journey of your students. You can start with these and continuously look for more innovative ways, always keeping in mind the strategic strength of the ‘power-with’, and watch your students succeed wherever they go.</p></article></body>

5 Ways To Innovate and Improve Outcomes in Higher Education

Create impact through influence, not power

Everything in higher education we say is about the student and what they learn in their years at university. But, they are coming to us for different reasons, and each student may have different sets of priorities. So as an academic leader, whose preferences do you take into consideration? Do you struggle with this?

Also, everyone talks about student-centred learning. But do students know enough about what is essential to make all the choices? Can they direct their learning? If questions like these cross your mind, this post is for you.

I have worked in higher education for the last 21 years. Continuous research, reflection, and engagement with my colleagues have helped me gain insights about developing higher-order thinking, agility, and learning skills in students.

There was a time when teachers could provide students with this advice, and students would listen. But today, students will not be strong-armed into engaging with learning what they don’t choose or see as important. What we know as adults is no longer as important as what they perceive as young people. Likewise, what we tell students is not as relevant as what they feel they want. Educating is no longer a ‘power over’ but a ‘power with’ scenario. This balance between educators and students is challenging, and one has to be careful while dealing with it.

I will tell you simple ways to have a ‘power with’ and create the impact you want to have.

This is where INFLUENCE becomes essential.

Influence is the capacity to affect the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself. The Webster dictionary says ‘to affect or change someone or something indirectly but usually important way’. And the power to change or affect someone or something: the ability to cause changes without directly forcing them to happen.

Influence doesn’t mean convincing someone of something or creating a follower. It means identifying a variable that will impact the outcome considerably in the desired direction when shifted. This is the independent variable. When the independent variable is moved/changed, the dependant variable automatically is impacted. There is no selling, convincing, or persuasion required. The key is identifying which variables will have the desired influence.

I will now share 5 independent variables that, when worked on, will positively impact student outcomes and achieve higher education results.

The Curricular System

Students and faculty expect to follow a curriculum structure. This framework is an opportunity to fill in as many learning experiences as possible. Even if something seems like it should be extra-curricular and optional, build it in as a safety net if you think it is critical. This way, you will underwrite all the learning you want the students to have.

Some excellent examples that I have seen in the colleges I have worked with are 1. A social internship for all students 2. Service as a part of the curriculum 3. A credited course for international project or experience 4. A credited course for an industry project 5. Cross-disciplinary learning at every level 6. Industry mapped into the classroom 7. Extra credits for national and international competitions and initiatives

When the curriculum has these ideas embedded, you will find that the initiatives are more positively looked at and adopted by the students.

Make It Their Idea

Increased ownership for work projects or learning tasks comes when the students and faculty see the task as their idea and initiative. There is much less interest in doing something thrust on them. Create committees that include students and faculty, brainstorm, and develop suggestions. They will often come up with recommendations similar to what you had in mind. Don’t be keen to take credit. Let it be their idea. Always stay aware of student needs and strategic benefits. You can find ways to set the context to influence the outcomes.

Employability Every Day

When a student comes into college, it is for learning and experience. Still, through the journey, he is developing himself for the destination. Employability skills are the skills required not only to get jobs but also to progress within a career. These skills are necessary to achieve one’s potential and contribute successfully to the company’s strategic direction. Thus employability is not task or job related but rather linked to a graduate’s capacity to perform, negotiate and advance their careers for maximum success. Technical skills are not just the focus for this — those will get taught. But students need to develop their communication skills, ability to understand and answer brief, critical thinking skills, ethics, positive attitude, leadership, self-reflection, etc. It is too late to work on these in the final year or when students are ready for their job interviews. Therefore there has to be a plan to give students the exposure and opportunity to develop employability skills right from day zero.

Career Mentoring

There are many paths a student can take on graduating from college. Students need support and mentoring to make conscious decisions about what they would like to do. Many may want jobs and need to identify the kind of company they would like to work in and their skills for the roles they aspire to have.

Others may want to study further and need support in the decision process. Others may want to start a business of their own or freelance in today’s gig economy. As discussed previously, each of these paths needs exposure to different people and experiences built into the curriculum.

Passion and Physicality

Create opportunities for students to find and explore their passion, primarily where groups work together and use their bodies and minds. Sports, theatre, social work, dance all are fertile ground for growing collaboration, leadership, ethics, inclusion, and passion.

When people come together to be on one team with one goal and physically do something together, the feeling is exhilarating. If this could be something they are passionate about, the results could be fantastic. Whether a small series of matches or a competition, sports, theatre, and other similar activities can ensure people engage, solve conflicts and inspire.

Put these activities as a part of the curricula plan and allow students to gain extra credit. For example, some colleges choose sports, dance, social work, or theatre as compulsory credit-bearing electives.

Authentic Influence will Lead to Improved Student Outcomes.

Some university leaders either lay down strict rules from a position of power, and others spend their time persuading students as to the best choices for them. A more strategic way is to influence what they do and why. But this has to be done authentically, with the main interest focusing on the benefit of the student.

Authentic leaders have five characteristics: purpose and passion; values and behaviour; relationships and connectedness; self-discipline and consistency; and heart and compassion. These characteristics are all from a ‘power-with’ instead of a ‘power-over’ one. An authentic influence will allow you to make the shifts you want to create improved outcomes innovatively. All along, clear communication about why decisions are in the best interests of the students and the university is essential. And creating an ecosystem where one has strategically made shifts to impact can be very powerful.

Use ideas to influence the learning journey of your students. You can start with these and continuously look for more innovative ways, always keeping in mind the strategic strength of the ‘power-with’, and watch your students succeed wherever they go.