Leaders in Online and Professional Continuing Education

The Nature of American Higher Education - January 2022 (PCO 101-1)

  • Registration Closed

Course Facilitator

Dr. Jay Halfond

Cost

This course is offered at no cost to first-time online professional development participants from UPCEA member organizations. Enrollments are limited to one individual per member organization. Approval from your institutional representative required. Qualifying UPCEA members click here to submit registration form by 12/17/2021. 

If you are an UPCEA member but do not qualify for this offer, we invite you to register at the regular member rate of $459.00 by clicking the register button in the top right of this page. Not sure if your institution is a member? Check here.

Non-members are welcome to register at the regular course rate of $599.00. 

Description

What makes higher education so important in the United States? Why are universities often such a mystery and controversy in our society? What are the key roles and power structure in the university? What are the realities, issues, and future prospects colleges and universities face? This course provides a foundation for those pursuing careers in academic administration -- and an opportunity for experienced professionals to appreciate the context and breadth of institutions beyond their personal and professional experience. 

Topics Covered

  • Types of academic institutions in the USA
  • Features of American colleges and universities within a global context
  • Historical development of the modern American university 
  • Evolution of online distance learning 
  • The future of American higher education

Learning Objectives

  • Demonstrate the variety and complexity of academic institutions in the USA
  • Appreciate how colleges evolved in an unplanned, largely unregulated, often confusing way
  • Appreciate the controversies surrounding the purposes of an academic institution, particularly the constantly escalating costs of higher education
  • Understand the evolution of online distance learning and the role it has played in American higher education
  • Understand the role of innovation in influencing which institutions will succeed or fail.

Who should take this course? 

This course is designed for professionals who are either beginning their career in higher ed or professional, continuing, and online education, and for experienced professionals who seek a broader understanding of American higher education. 

Format and Schedule 

This is a four week course consisting of about five hours of weekly course work made up of readings, asynchronous activities, and assignments. Additionally, there will be a total of five 90-minute live class meetings via Zoom. The format of these meetings will be a 35-40 minute larger group discussion after which participants will move into breakout rooms for more in-depth conversations. The schedule for the live class meetings is: 

  • Wednesday January 12, 2022 at 12:00 ET: Course Introduction and Welcome 
  • Wednesday January 19, 2022 at 12:00 ET:  Discussion of week 1 content 
  • Wednesday January 26, 2022 at 12:00 ET: Discussion of week 2 Content
  • Wednesday February 2, 2022 at 12:00 ET: Discussion of week 3 Content
  • Wednesday February 9, 2022 at 12:00 ET: Discussion of week 4 content and course wrap up


Welcome to the Quick Start Guide

This guide is highly recommended if this is your first professional development course with UPCEA. Some tips are provided for navigating the course as well as information about how to obtain technical support. 

Tips for Navigating this Course

  • Content pages need to be acknowledged. Once you have read, viewed, or otherwise completed the content, look for the button at the end to acknowledge you have completed the item. Sometimes, this step is required in order to advance to future items in the course.
  • Future items may be hidden from view. For example, content for the coming week may not be visible until the course facilitator releases it to the class.
  • Some items have prerequisites and do not become available until after you have completed the item it depends upon. Prerequisite items have a grey overlay (making them look translucent) with a lock next to them. When you click on the item, its acknowledgement button will note what item it depends on (see image below for an example).
    image

Tips for Working with Discussions

Discussions will take place in CORe, UPCEA's community forum. When you access a discussion assignment, you will see the prompt and a link that will take you to the discussion thread in CORe. If you are prompted to log in, please use the same log in credentials that you use to access the Learning Center. 

You are encouraged to update you CORe profile with a bio and headshot. CORe is a great place to engage with your classmates during and after the course. 

NOTE: Discussion posts are private and restricted to the participants in this course. Your posts will not be accessible on the public CORe forum. 

Tips for Viewing Videos

  • Some videos may be arranged in a playlist. A playlist will automatically play all videos in the series in order.
  • The playlist will automatically play through all videos after you start the first video.
  • You can view all videos in the playlist by clicking on the playlist icon (see image below where the icon is in a blue circle). You can skip to any video in the playlist by clicking on it.
    image

For the Best Experience

  • Use either the FireFox or Google Chrome browser app for the best experience. The course has been tested to work well with these two browsers. 

Technical Support

  • Email: pd@upcea.edu
  • Hours of Operation: 8:00 am to 4:30 pm EST. Expect a response within 1 business day.

Dr. Jay Halfond

Professor of the Practice Emeritus

Boston University

Jay Halfond, Ph.D., is Professor of the Practice Emeritus at Boston University, where he was on the faculty from 1997 to 2020 and served as Dean of Metropolitan College and Extended Education from 2001 through 2012. Before 1997, Halfond held administrative positions at Harvard University and Northeastern University. Halfond has published over a hundred articles, including regular contributions to the New England Journal of Higher Education and Huffington Post, and, for a five-year period, a monthly column, “On Ethics,” for the Boston Business Journal. He holds a doctorate from Boston College, an M.A. from Brandeis University, and a B.A. from Temple University. Halfond is Faculty Director for UPCEA's online professional development programs.

 

"Jay brings a career's worth of experience and insight to his role as facilitator. I learned a good deal from his perspectives."

 

"Jay is a great resource and I was happy he was facilitating on this topic."

 

"Knowledgeable and great presentation skills, keeping the learner in mind."

 

"The instructors were very knowledgeable on the topics we discussed. I liked the way they discussed their slide shows, which included participation from participants."

 

"The instructors were fabulous!"

Nichole Henry

Director of Admissions & Recruitment at Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Her passion for education is demonstrated in over 18 years of service in the field of higher education, the last 7 in the area of continuing education, where she has become a voice of collegiate education and presenter on the power education provides to shape a community.

As the director for admissions and recruitment through the center for online learning and digital learning at Syracuse University, Nichole’s responsibilities include meeting the challenges of student enrollment and various aspects of student services.  She has had the opportunity to work not only with other academic institutions but with industry leaders in Syracuse and surrounding areas. Her relationship building has enabled her to make connections that increase the awareness of the college and ignite interest in new academic programs.

Prior to joining the University College team at Syracuse University, Nichole was the Assistant Director of Admissions and minority recruitment coordinator at SU College of Law where she worked with faculty and staff on incorporating a solid foundation of programs geared to increase and sustain diversity enrollment, advising and engaging student programming. She has also worked in the area of student affairs where she was instrumental in creating, developing and administering training programs for incoming residence life staff both students and staff alike.

Nichole was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. She received her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and her master in business administration, management from the State University of Oswego.  She is currently pursuing her doctorate degree in Educational Leadership.

See what past participants have said about this course: 

"As someone who just began in Higher Ed Administration, the content was extremely useful."

 

"Jay brings a career's worth of experience and insight to his role as facilitator. I learned a good deal from his perspectives."

 

"Loved the course. Looking forward to the next one."

 

"Thank you for this opportunity to connect with peers and discuss these relevant and timely topics!"

Components visible upon registration.