Administrative Perceptions Regarding Supervision of Online Teaching and Learning

Deans, associate deans, and department chairs in higher education institutions manage not only their departments’ course offerings but also faculty and students who teach and learn both in person and online. Possessing a good understanding of how to plan, supervise, and evaluate online degree programs for maximum efficiency, optimum student learning, and optimum faculty support is imperative for these professionals. The purpose of this study was to investigate administrators’ perceptions, attitudes, and experiences managing various online learning environments. A basic qualitative research design was applied to this study. Current and former administrators were invited to participate in individual in-depth interviews that were transcribed and analyzed for emerging themes. Results indicated that administrators need multiple levels of support, including supervisor’s support as well as instructional and technology support, among others. It is concluded that administrators find themselves in “a continuum” in terms of the need for different types of support. Implications for further research are discussed.

Common pathways to Dean of Medicine at U.S. medical schools

Purpose We sought to evaluate common leadership experiences and academic achievements obtained by current U.S. Medical School Deans of Medicine (DOMs) prior to their first appointment as Dean in order to elucidate a common pathway for promotion. Methods In April-June 2019 the authors requested a curriculum vitae from each of the 153 LCME-accredited U.S. Medical School DOMs. The authors abstracted data on prior appointments, demographics, and achievements from CVs and online databases. Differences by gender and institutional rank were then evaluated by the Fisher’s exact and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Results CVs were obtained for 62% of DOMs (95 of 153), with women comprising 16% of the responding cohort (15/95). Prior to appointment as DOM, 34% of respondents had served as both permanent Department Chair and Associate Dean, 39% as permanent Department Chair but not Associate Dean, and 17% as Associate Deans but not permanent Department Chair. There was a non-significant trend for men to have been more likely to have been a permanent Department Chair (76% vs 53%, p = 0.11) and less likely to have been an Associate Dean (48% vs 67%, p = 0.26) compared to women. Responding DOMs at Top-25 research institutions were mostly male (15/16), more likely to have been appointed before 2010 (38% vs 14%, p = 0.025), and had higher H-indices (mean (SD): 73.1 (32.3) vs 33.5 (22.5), p<0.01) than non-Top-25 Deans. Conclusions The most common pathway to DOM in this study cohort was prior service as Department Chair. This suggests that diversification among Department Chair positions or expansion of search criteria to seek leaders from pools other than Department Chairs may facilitate increased diversity, equity, and inclusion among DOM overall.

EXPRESS: Faculty Research Incentives and Business School Health: A New Perspective from and for Marketing

Grounded in sociological agency theory, the authors study the role of the faculty research incentive system in the academic research conducted at business schools and business school health. The authors surveyed 234 marketing professors and completed 22 interviews with 14 (associate) deans and 8 external institution stakeholders. They find that research quantity contributes to the research health of the school, but not to other aspects of business school health. r-quality of research (i.e., rigor) contributes more strongly to the research health of the school than research quantity. q-quality (i.e., practical importance) of research does not contribute to the research health of the school but contributes positively to teaching health and several other dimensions of business school health. Faculty research incentives are misaligned: (1) when monitoring research faculty, the number of publications receives too much weight, while creativity, literacy, relevance, and awards receive too little weight; and (2) faculty feel that they are insufficiently compensated for their research, while (associate) deans feel they are compensated too much for their research. These incentive misalignments are largest in schools that perform the worst on research ( r- and q-) quality. The authors explore how business schools and faculty can remedy these misalignments.

When you don’t know what you don’t know: How two new collections librarians right-sized a collections budget

Due to impending campus-wide downsizing, the Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Libraries projected that a worst-case scenario would result in a 14% cut to the library’s collections budget for fiscal year 2020. In the same year, GVSU Libraries welcomed several new members of its leadership team, including the dean, two associate deans, head of systems, head of collections, business administrator, and a vacancy after the long-time acquisitions manager retired. Budget cuts and staff turnover are tough, but they prompted a much-needed reassessment of roles, culture, and priorities in the library. Different approaches to spending and curating the library’s collections were vital to counteract the budgetary challenges. Cara Cadena, the new head of collections, was charged with building a task force to recommend cancellations and a plan to communicate these changes across campus. Decisions were made based on feedback gathered from teaching faculty, liaison librarians, campus stakeholders, and usage data. Ultimately, the communication plan proved to be the most critical--and challenging--part of the process. In this session, Cara and Marcia will discuss successes, missteps, results, the importance of vendor relationships, and future plans for collection management at GVSU. Attendees will gain insights into leveraging stakeholder buy-in and grasping opportunities amidst constant change (and decreased funding) in order to evolve effectively. They’ll also learn how GVSU Libraries are reimagining the role of the collections team.

Palliative care medical student education: a cross-sectional medical school survey in mainland China

ObjectiveAccording to the 2015 Quality of Death Index, China ranks 71st in terms of quality of palliative care out of 80 countries. Lack of palliative care education for health professionals is regarded as largely responsible. The study aims to evaluate the status of palliative care education for medical students in mainland China.MethodsA list of all medical schools was obtained from the Ministry of Education. A telephone survey of associate deans responsible for medical education at all 282 medical schools in mainland China was conducted in May 2019, following a standardised protocol. Telephone interviews focused on attitudes to palliative care teaching and the extent and manner in which palliative care is incorporated into the curriculum.ResultsAssociate deans from 173 (61.2%) of the 282 medical schools responded. A total of 120 schools (42.5%) completed the interview, while 53 (18.7%) evaded direct questions related to palliative care. Of the responding deans, 92 (76.7%) regarded palliative care education as very important. However, only 11 (9.2%) provided specific teaching on palliative care. A few schools (n=18) integrated palliative care education within required curricula, such as medical ethics and nursing science. The main reason reported for not providing palliative care education was that the medical curriculum dictated by the Ministry of Education does not require it.ConclusionA very small minority of medical schools in mainland China have any formal teaching about palliative care. Clearly, national standards for didactic and clinical teaching in palliative care for medical students and other health professionals are needed.

Lessons for Leaders on the Preparation of Literacy Educators

In this commentary, drawing from reviews of research on literacy teacher preparation, the authors discuss points of leverage in preparation of literacy educators for deans and associate deans. Categories that leaders might attend to include: mediated field experiences, faculty development, and external reputation.

National survey of telemedicine education and training in medical schools in France

Introduction Telemedicine is a remote medical practice using information communication technology (ICT), and has been increasing in France since 2009. With all new forms of medical practice, education and training (ET) is required for quality and safety. To date, implementation of telemedicine ET has not been assessed in France. The objective of this study was to describe the implementation of telemedicine ET and evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of deans and associate deans from all medical schools in France. Methods A cross-sectional non-mandatory, descriptive online survey with a self-administered questionnaire was performed from 15 November to 6 December, 2017. Respondents were accessed through the ‘ Conférence des doyens des Facultés de médecine’. Results There were 48 respondents with a 47.4% response rate among deans. Telemedicine ET was limited in France; 10.4% in 1st year medicine (PACES); 4% in the final 3 years of medical school (D.F.A.S.M.) and 18.8% in medical residency. Emergency medicine, dermatology, radiology, neurology and geriatrics were specialties with implemented telemedicine training during residency. Of all respondents, 90% expressed a need to increase telemedicine ET, among which 75% accepted external support. A highly positive attitude towards telemedicine practice was reflected by 60.4% of respondents, and 56.2% practiced telemedicine at least once. Discussion This study was the first to assess national telemedicine ET implementation in France. Telemedicine was integrated into initial medical education; however, telemedicine ET remains limited despite the positive attitudes of deans and associate deans. Further research would need to be conducted on telemedicine ET implementation and KAP of medical students and residents.