CAIR Conference 2022: A Rising Tide for Institutional Research

WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:13.119 Welcome to the Higher Edge, a podcast for the brightest minds and higher education 2 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:18.519 to hear from the change makers and rule breakers that are driving meaningful, impactful 3 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:25.000 change for colleges and universities across the country. From improving operations to supporting student 4 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:30.399 success. These are the stories that give you the Higher Edge. And now 5 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:45.439 direct from California Association for Institutional Research Conference, your host Brendan Aldrich. Hey, 6 00:00:45.479 --> 00:00:49.520 everyone, welcome to the Higher Edge. I'm Brendan old Rich, and 7 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:57.359 this week we're at the California Association for Institutional Research or CARE conference in sunny 8 00:00:57.479 --> 00:01:03.760 Lahoya, California. Out In CARE is an organization that fosters unity and cooperation 9 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:11.400 amongst those interested in institutional research and planning across California's colleges and universities. The 10 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:19.000 annual conference takes place at locations across the state where these individuals and practitioners can 11 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:25.200 gather to network and share information, practices and strategies that can benefit every institution 12 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:29.400 and its students. One of my favorite quotes from President John F. Kennedy 13 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:34.239 is when he said no American has ever made better off by pulling a fellow 14 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:38.760 American down, and every American has made better off when any one of us 15 00:01:38.959 --> 00:01:42.760 is made better off. A rising tide raises all boats, and nowhere is 16 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:49.359 that more true than at a conference, especially for institutional research. The collaboration 17 00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:55.599 that's in play here is fantastic, where researchers and practitioners are sharing thoughts and 18 00:01:55.719 --> 00:02:00.840 ideas and studies and programs to help really raise higher education for every institution in 19 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:07.879 California. Recorded live from the floor at the CARE conference will be diving deep 20 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.639 into the world of institutional research. We'll be talking with Don Everhart, who 21 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:16.000 as the vice president of CARE this year, as well as talking with attendees 22 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:22.520 about the conference itself and work at their own institutions. So let's jump right 23 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:25.039 in and join Don, who, by the way, is also the senior 24 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:30.039 director of Institutional Research for the AMDA College of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, 25 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:37.000 California. So I'm here with Don Everhart, who is the vice president of 26 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.719 of CARE, the California Association for Institutional Research. Don, welcome on the 27 00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:43.639 show. Thanks, it's great to be here. So Don, first of 28 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:45.680 all, if you wouldn't mind for our listeners, could you tell them a 29 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:51.479 little bit about CARE the organization. Certainly, so this is an association that 30 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:57.960 promotes the professional development of institutional researchers in California and folks interested in promoting the 31 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.080 same. That's fantastic and for a lot of people who might not be in 32 00:03:00.120 --> 00:03:07.039 California, California really has an amazing system of higher education. There's I believe 33 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:12.080 there's a hundred and fifteen California community colleges, the twenty three California State universities, 34 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:15.479 of course the University of California system. And that's also not including the 35 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:20.879 a I c SEU, the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities. So 36 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:24.400 a ton of higher education and a ton of institutional research that's going on here 37 00:03:24.400 --> 00:03:29.479 in the state of California. Is that right? That is both correct and 38 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:34.599 detailed. And one of the reasons that that I personally participate in care and 39 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:40.719 and have volunteered my way up to being vice president is because as as a 40 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:46.800 person who works in institutional research at an independent college here in California, it 41 00:03:46.919 --> 00:03:52.400 provides the opportunity to work with that whole community. Sometimes I think that folks 42 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:55.199 from from those larger state systems have a few more opportunities to network and learn 43 00:03:55.240 --> 00:04:00.879 from one another and it's great to be able to both meet with them and 44 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:04.560 to try and get a little more of that going for independence with the organization 45 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:09.199 as well. In my experience, it's probably the best way I have as 46 00:04:09.280 --> 00:04:14.560 an independent college representative to be able to meet with people and find out what's 47 00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:16.560 going on in our field and find out what's going on in the state. 48 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:21.399 And collaboration is such an important part of the CARE event. And speaking of 49 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:26.959 which we are actually recording live from the floor here at the CARE conference in 50 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:30.639 Lahoya, California, or at the beautiful Hyatt Regency hotel here in Lahoya, 51 00:04:31.079 --> 00:04:38.040 and the conference itself, how how were things over the course of the pandemic 52 00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:41.439 when it was certainly more difficult to meet in person. We we had a 53 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:46.759 few different versions of the CARE conference since and uh I I started being involved 54 00:04:46.759 --> 00:04:51.480 as a volunteer with the Careboard when we were setting up a virtual conference for 55 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:57.920 a fall and we had to delay and otherwise change some things around to make 56 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:01.319 sure that we could maintain our commitment too. Beautiful hotels like this one. 57 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:08.040 Uh speaking of this one, this is one accommodating venue. They shifted the 58 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:12.879 contract for us to have this conference to this year. UH so that we 59 00:05:12.959 --> 00:05:17.040 could hold an in person event of our close to our usual size this year, 60 00:05:17.399 --> 00:05:21.600 and this is the first in person care since the beginning of the pandemic. 61 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:27.839 We've had one in between, so in we had a virtual conference which 62 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:32.160 went pretty well considering the circumstances. In one we had a conference in Lake 63 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:36.560 Tahoe that was I would say only for the brave, but we still had 64 00:05:36.720 --> 00:05:41.439 a wonderful community of folks turn out for it. Well, that's fantastic. 65 00:05:41.480 --> 00:05:44.360 Well, and it seems like it's been a great event so far. Congratulations 66 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.639 on yet another successful care event. We'll look forward to talking with and connecting 67 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:50.600 with a number of the people that are walking around here at care and here 68 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:54.360 more from their experiences. But thanks for coming on the show. Done terrific, 69 00:05:54.360 --> 00:05:58.800 Thanks for having me. The California Community Colleges are the largest system of 70 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:04.399 higher education the world, with nearly two million students enrolled at the colleges within 71 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:10.600 the system. As you can imagine, the system contains both larger and smaller 72 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.079 colleges across the state. And our next guest is from Imperial Valley College that 73 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:20.560 is a bit more in the middle. Let's talk with Oliver'szmbrono. So, 74 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:24.319 Oliver, you've been here at the CARE conference. What's one of the things 75 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:28.720 that you really enjoy about this conference? Well, this is my this is 76 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:31.639 actually my third CARE conference. One of the things that I really enjoy is 77 00:06:31.720 --> 00:06:35.160 that I come from the institutional research department. We're a small department and we're 78 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:41.120 just two individuals, the Associate Dean of Institution and Effectiveness Scario and myself the 79 00:06:41.279 --> 00:06:46.839 research analyst. And sometimes, uh, we want to gage ourselves of our 80 00:06:46.839 --> 00:06:50.199 college. So I think that coming to CARE is a great opportunity to gage 81 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:54.839 yourself as a college, to see where your stand. Uh. Sometimes we 82 00:06:54.959 --> 00:06:58.000 think that we're not doing so well, but it's not one until we get 83 00:06:58.079 --> 00:07:01.120 here that once we start seeing what our colleges are doing, we realize that 84 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:05.199 we're not in such a bad standing, but we also realize that there's still 85 00:07:05.240 --> 00:07:11.319 a lot more improvement that could be done in our areas well and Imperial Valley. 86 00:07:11.399 --> 00:07:14.399 A lot of people who are not in California may not know that the 87 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:17.920 California Community college system is the largest system of higher education I believe, in 88 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:23.319 the world, but it's made up of colleges that are smaller colleges and much 89 00:07:23.399 --> 00:07:27.240 larger colleges. Can you mention a little something about Imperial Valley. Yes, 90 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:31.920 So Imperial Valley, we're a one district, one college. Uh. For 91 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:39.279 we're roughly about ten thousand to eleven thousand students per year our false semester, 92 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:43.240 which is usually our highest enrollment. We're currently about anywhere between seven thousand, 93 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:47.800 five hundred to eight thousand, five hundred students. Population is usually about ninety 94 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:53.839 one percent Hispanic students. Because of the population around us where what you would 95 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.600 consider a border town, where twenty minutes away from the U. S. 96 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:01.680 Mexican border, and for many of our students in our in our local high 97 00:08:01.680 --> 00:08:07.319 schools were usually their first option, and the reason for that is because there's 98 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:11.920 not really too many options around that area. Imperial County has a population of 99 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:18.360 about a hundred and eighty thou individuals and the only higher education institutes there are 100 00:08:18.399 --> 00:08:22.959 Imperial Valley College or the extended campus for some daye state. So unless they 101 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:28.639 travel out from Imperial usually we tend to be their first option. That's fantastic. 102 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:31.000 And then so in the conference, has there been a session that you've 103 00:08:31.039 --> 00:08:35.919 attended that you found particularly interesting? Yes? Uh, there, there is 104 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.200 quite a few sessions that I find interesting. It's always interesting to attend the 105 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:46.720 sessions that are provided by the Chancellor's Office. There's a lot of new initiatives 106 00:08:46.759 --> 00:08:50.120 are going out there, such as the student funding formula, such as the 107 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.320 A P seven H five, So it's always nice to just come here and 108 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:56.679 get the latest latest opdates from them. I know the Students Center funding formula 109 00:08:56.759 --> 00:09:01.639 has been h sort of top of my for a lot of the campuses around 110 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:07.039 the system, just because it is going to really influence the funding that each 111 00:09:07.080 --> 00:09:11.559 of the campuses and districts receives from the Chanceller's Office. Correct, Correct, 112 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:16.559 I mean I could say that Imperi Valley Colleges has been one of the colleges 113 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:22.240 that we consider herself a majority minority college, so so the funding formula has 114 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:28.000 been really beneficial to our college. But as you mentioned, it is a 115 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:33.000 hot topic currently that and we do foresee changes in the upcoming future as well. 116 00:09:33.399 --> 00:09:35.960 Perfect well, Oliver, thank you for coming on the show. Thank 117 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.960 you for the invitation. Next, I had a chance to catch up with 118 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:46.360 Dr David ou Latte, Executive director of Institutional Research and Planning for the Foothill 119 00:09:46.440 --> 00:09:50.679 d ends at Community College District, located right in the heart of the Silicon 120 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:54.919 Valley. David is fantastic and in fact, he and I co presented at 121 00:09:54.960 --> 00:09:58.759 the conference on shoppers and Droppers, which is an area of research where we're 122 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:05.679 looking to better understand why some students are accepted at community colleges don't enroll for 123 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:09.519 classes, what we call shoppers, and those who do enroll but then drop 124 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.960 all of their classes prior to census date, what we call droppers. All 125 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:18.720 of this being done with an eye towards how we might support these students to 126 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:24.919 become and remain enrolled students. Let's meet David. So I'm here with David 127 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:28.600 Latte, who is the executive director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness with the Foothill 128 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.879 d N's Community College District. Hey, David, thanks for coming on the 129 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:35.600 Higher Edge. Oh, thank you. Great to be here. So, 130 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:39.000 David, how is your CARE conference been. It's been good. You know, 131 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:43.480 that's not my first CARE conference, but I've been to some really interesting 132 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:46.759 sessions and I've enjoyed it so far, like I've enjoyed all the other ones. 133 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.159 Now, you and I were just talking about a was it as one 134 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.639 of the segment meetings that you were at. Yeah, I went to a 135 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:58.440 session specifically on community college enrollment and looking how enrollment has changed, particularly post 136 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:03.240 pandemic. And were there any interesting insights that jumped out of you from the 137 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.840 session. Yes, there was one that really caught my attention, and it 138 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:11.080 was when the presenter, John Heats, works at the state level, and 139 00:11:11.159 --> 00:11:20.759 he specifically called out the need now for colleges in particular to look at how 140 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:26.480 look at the data throughout the registration process and now not looking at necessary enrollments 141 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:31.799 we once courses started, what are the data showing as students are registering and 142 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:37.440 going through that registration process? And I just thought that was really interesting. 143 00:11:37.639 --> 00:11:39.559 It sounds like it. So, and tell us a little bit about Foothill 144 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:43.559 Deonza. So, Foothill Denza. We are a to college district located in 145 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:48.960 the heart of Silicon Valley, so Cupertino and Los Altos. We serve about 146 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:54.399 sixty thou students a year. We have a strong online presence. UM. 147 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.960 Yeah, we've been around for quite some time as well. And I understand 148 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.080 you did a presentation at the conference as well. You've got two presentations are 149 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:03.840 doing at the conference. I do yes, I have one presentation did are 150 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:09.399 focusing on enrollment droppers and shoppers or students who want to register but don't or 151 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.279 do register but then drop all their classes. And then I'm doing another presentation 152 00:12:13.320 --> 00:12:18.480 on budgeting and scheduling. And the reason why circling back to the John Heads 153 00:12:18.480 --> 00:12:24.519 presentation and why that particular statement really stood out to me was because our research 154 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:33.399 is showing some interesting findings around students when they are looking to register for classes, 155 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:39.240 when do they actually drop all of their classes? And so we then 156 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:43.480 hearing John talk about the need for colleges to look at registration data, I 157 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:52.039 thought to myself, wouldn't it be valuable for a statewide analysis to look at 158 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:58.919 students as they are registering, because now with so many online options available, 159 00:12:58.799 --> 00:13:03.360 to think of a student as a student of one college, I think we're 160 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.399 missing We're potentially missing the boat a little bit. There are a lot more 161 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:09.840 state wide options, especially when you then couple into that, I know with 162 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:13.879 the California Community Community Colleges and you have the cbc o EI, which is 163 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:20.600 the California Virtual Campus Online Education Initiative, which acts as kind of like a 164 00:13:20.679 --> 00:13:26.320 virtual reciprocity or articulation arrangement so that students at one campus can take online courses 165 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:31.440 offered by another college and know that that class will be able to be brought 166 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.039 back into their academic record. That there's a lot of interest now on student 167 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.720 enrollment and registration patterns, as you mentioned, as well as how that may 168 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.159 overlay with what's going on with student enrollments within CBC o e I. Right. 169 00:13:43.799 --> 00:13:48.120 Yeah, So what we are seeing initially is that a lot of the 170 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:52.960 courses in which students are shopping for their looking at and dropping where they actually 171 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:58.919 drop their registration. There's a lot of similarities between what's happening in foothilld the 172 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:05.279 and what's what students are looking for through this CVC o e I of course 173 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:09.720 exchange system. So it lends it to students are statewide students now well, 174 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:13.200 And I think just to throw that in because I thought it really fascinating you 175 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:18.840 had shared in your presentation some information around sort of the top types of courses 176 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:26.039 that we're both the ones most dropped by these droppers students at Foothill Deianza and 177 00:14:26.039 --> 00:14:30.639 and they happened to be the same classes types of classes that were being searched 178 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:33.799 most often within CBC o E. I can you share what the classes with 179 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.759 the class subjects were? Yeah, exactly, Yeah, you're absolutely right, 180 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:43.519 and it was it s was math, computer science, biology, psychology, 181 00:14:43.519 --> 00:14:48.679 and I'm missing one. So all the easy subjects, yes, statistics. 182 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:54.000 Well see right right in that easy Because as a former high school math teacher 183 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:58.960 and a current now researcher and statistician, the fact that math and stats were 184 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:01.679 up there on that list me a little well, David, I don't want 185 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.919 to keep you from the rest of the conference, but thanks for dropping by 186 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:07.159 and sharing some of your thoughts on how things are going. Sure thing, 187 00:15:07.200 --> 00:15:09.759 Thanks Brendon, Hey for everyone listening. Hang tight. We're going to take 188 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.559 a quick break to hear from our sponsor and we'll be back in just one 189 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:20.519 minute. All colleges and universities face challenges in advancing the mission of higher education. 190 00:15:22.279 --> 00:15:26.200 Some problems impeding your progress are known, but others are invisible, hidden, 191 00:15:26.759 --> 00:15:35.200 impossible to address. Invoke learning changes. Everything built on revolutionary technology that's 192 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:39.639 light years beyond anything you've seen yet. Our leading edge data platforms and deep 193 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:46.720 analytic solutions give institutions of higher education some real life superpowers to support the entire 194 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:54.159 student journey. Ask questions you never imagine could be answered. Get unprecedented insights 195 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:58.600 that lead to mission impacting action. What's holding you back today from taking your 196 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:04.399 mission further tomorrow? 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Let's meet Karen Jackson, 204 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:52.960 Associate director of Institutional Research and Nick Barbalesco, Program Manager for Business Intelligence at 205 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.240 u C Davis. I'm here with Erica Jackson and Nick barbal Esco, both 206 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:00.639 from u C Davis at the CARE Conference. How's the show been for you 207 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:06.680 guys? You know, so far, so good. It's just what I 208 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:10.319 really like about CARE is not only that there are a lot of really relevant 209 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:15.359 presentations to I our subject areas from you know, across the map, assessment 210 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.880 and student retention and all the i R subjects. But also that we get 211 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:23.200 to sort of network and sort of see people in person, especially after the 212 00:17:23.240 --> 00:17:27.200 pandemic. It's really nice to reconnect with our colleagues and pick up some really 213 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:33.240 great tidbits of you know, advice and best practices and just kind of reconnect 214 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:34.799 with people too, so that we can reach out if we have questions about 215 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:38.720 things in the future. That's fantastic. And then has there been a favorite 216 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:41.799 session so far or something that you remember that jumped out from one of the 217 00:17:41.799 --> 00:17:47.880 presentations, Yes, I think you know, I really enjoyed yesterday's keynote luncheon, 218 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:52.200 which was called I ARE an Assessment Connections in support of Data Literacy for 219 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:57.279 Improvement UM and Natasha Jankowski did a great job of making us all feel like 220 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:03.359 we were seen and that our role as institutional researchers is very complex and that 221 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:07.519 we were both trying to you know, sort of articulate lots of points about 222 00:18:07.519 --> 00:18:12.720 the data but also you know, the advocates for change at the same time, 223 00:18:12.759 --> 00:18:17.319 and that's a difficult dual role. So I really enjoyed her talk a 224 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:19.039 lot. Yeah, I think she identified a lot of the pitfalls that we 225 00:18:19.119 --> 00:18:22.400 typically have with data. You know, we think the job has done when 226 00:18:22.440 --> 00:18:26.519 we've handed it off, and then we get wildly disappointed when the change doesn't 227 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:30.839 happen. But she recognized that and then gave suggestions of, you know, 228 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:33.720 how to make that go a little further than it often does well. And 229 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.359 I've had talks with a number of different people, so it's always very different 230 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:41.400 depending on what type of institution that you work for. You know, are 231 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:45.400 you at a community college, are you at a cal state which operates a 232 00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.279 little bit different from typical you see, or our one research institutions? What 233 00:18:48.400 --> 00:18:53.599 is institutional research like When you're at U. C. Davis. I mean, 234 00:18:53.640 --> 00:18:56.119 it's a really cool job. Like we always say, like none of 235 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:00.640 us, you know, had this as our career goal when we retend um, 236 00:19:00.680 --> 00:19:03.759 But I feel like U. S. Davis, I think it puts 237 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:07.839 us in the middle of a bunch of really fascinating conversations. I think, 238 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:10.640 you know, often in some of these conversations we hear like, oh, 239 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:11.400 how do you go to see at the table? And I think we're really 240 00:19:11.480 --> 00:19:15.160 lucky to have us seat at pretty much every important table. It gives us 241 00:19:15.160 --> 00:19:18.039 the opportunity to say, you know, I see this from lots of different 242 00:19:18.039 --> 00:19:21.839 angles, and here some data that you you might want to use, might 243 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:23.400 not want to use, but you know, you can see the whole place. 244 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.720 I think, are there as you're talking about institutional research, are there 245 00:19:26.759 --> 00:19:32.519 particular trends and institutional research that you see as being particular, key or relevant 246 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.200 at this time that might have been different from a few years ago. The 247 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:40.880 expansion of the focus on achievement gaps and how we're serving all of our students 248 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:44.000 and the responsibility of our institutions to serve the students that we get and that 249 00:19:44.039 --> 00:19:45.559 we have, not just how to get better students and have you know, 250 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.799 better rankings because they have higher SAT scores. You know, that feels like 251 00:19:48.839 --> 00:19:52.839 a big shift to me in the last ten years. And actually, and 252 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:56.759 that ties in there was a news article that actually got published today about Harvard 253 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:03.440 and Yale both deciding to pull back from a particular large ranking system just for 254 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.359 that reason. Indeed, a fascinating article. And we will see the law 255 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:11.720 school, so it'll be interesting to see if the you know, Harvard and 256 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.359 Yale as the overall institutions pull out too. That's very cool. Well, 257 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:17.559 both of you, thanks for coming on the show and sharing a little bit 258 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.400 about your experience here at care this here, Yeah, thank you so much. 259 00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:25.039 Finally, I had a chance to check in with Michael Lee, director 260 00:20:25.079 --> 00:20:30.559 of Institutional Research, Analytics and Reporting at cal Poly Humboldt. Now, if 261 00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:34.839 that name sounds somewhat new, it's because it is Humboldt State University, which 262 00:20:34.920 --> 00:20:41.720 was also previously known as the California State University. Humbold has now become the 263 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:48.000 third polytechnic university within the California State University system. Now, Mike is an 264 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.680 amazing researcher and leader who often brings an innovative approach to his work, and 265 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:56.160 you'll hear a bit about that during this next quick segment. Let's jump in. 266 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:00.720 So I'm here with Michael Lee, who as the director of Institutional Research, 267 00:21:00.839 --> 00:21:06.039 Analytics and Reporting for the new I should say cow Poly Humboldt here in 268 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:07.559 California. Welcome, thank you so much. I'm happy to be here. 269 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:11.960 So Mike you've been Now we were about a day and a half or about 270 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.920 a day and a half into the conference, and how is your experience. 271 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.359 Experience has been pretty amazing. It's great to be back here in person. 272 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:22.720 UM. I led the c s U Segment meeting this year, which was 273 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:25.640 was a lot of fun. UM. We have seventy seven people from the 274 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:27.720 c s U segment, so one in five people walking around the conference here 275 00:21:27.720 --> 00:21:33.119 are from from our segment. That's fantastic actually, and I've been seeing people 276 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:37.799 posting about that segment on social media. I understand you ran a special exercise 277 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:41.680 during the segment meeting. I did. Yeah. So we had two different 278 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.720 team building activities this year. So in the years past, we spent about 279 00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:48.519 an hour so introducing ourselves and our teams and talking about issues on our campus. 280 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.160 UM. After the pandemic, I wanted to try something different. UM. 281 00:21:52.200 --> 00:21:56.039 With hybrid meetings and zoom meetings and Slack channels, we have all kinds 282 00:21:56.039 --> 00:21:59.720 of ways to share that information and stay in touch. From Humboldt in northern 283 00:21:59.799 --> 00:22:03.519 cal Wanting to San Diego in southern California. So instead, when we came 284 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:07.000 together, I thought I would do a team building exercises. So the first 285 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:11.720 team building exercise was to get your team to graduate college. UH. So 286 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:15.799 what we did is we set up a twelve by four grid of tape on 287 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.880 the floor. UH. Teams had five minutes discuss their strategy and then they 288 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:25.200 had to work in complete silence and navigate the entire team across UH this four 289 00:22:25.240 --> 00:22:29.119 by twelve grid UH in order to get to success. The thing about this 290 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:33.119 activity was it was actually meant to make them want to collaborate more. But 291 00:22:33.160 --> 00:22:36.119 because they couldn't talk and had the gesture, they were having to hold back 292 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.440 a lot of that that team dynamics. So so this entire activity was about 293 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:44.759 forcing them to do something where they wanted to interact and collaborate to build that 294 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:48.240 tension. So then we did the second activity, which was teams of five 295 00:22:48.440 --> 00:22:53.039 built UM. It's called the Spaghetti Marshmallow Challenge. A spaghetti marshmallow Challenge. 296 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:56.720 Spaghetti marshmallow challenge, Yes, so if you if you google it, you'll 297 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:00.000 find the TED talk about it. UH. In this version, we gave 298 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:03.160 people two sheets of paper, twenty two pieces of spaghetti, a marshmallow, 299 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:07.079 a yard of string, and a yard of tape and they had to make 300 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.559 the highest free standing structure that they could with the marshmallow on top. And 301 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:14.640 they were they allowed to take the marshmallow apart or to had to remain intact, 302 00:23:14.680 --> 00:23:17.240 but that was one of the options. It had to remain intact. 303 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:18.799 Bill folks asked if they could take it apart and use it to stick to 304 00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:25.039 the spaghetting together um with the task teaches you though, and and the people 305 00:23:25.079 --> 00:23:29.319 who get it right or or the most right and build a highest structure are 306 00:23:29.319 --> 00:23:32.799 actually young children. So one of the things that young children do that adults 307 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:37.400 lose is young children prototype. So they from the very beginning incorporate the marshmallow 308 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:41.279 into the structure and keep building and building and building. The rest of us 309 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:44.640 we planned, we tried to strategize how to build the biggest thing. And 310 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:48.960 sometimes there's value in prototyping. And so it's a tada or a moment. 311 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:52.799 So if you don't build the marshmallow in, you start building the structure, 312 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:55.160 you put the marshmallow on top, and the whole thing top was over and 313 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:56.880 it was supposed to be to da, but it ends up being up oh 314 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.200 it And so how any teams did you have that We're working through the exercises 315 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.079 during the segment meeting. So we had sixty people in the segment meeting, 316 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:08.720 so we had about ten teams working on the Marshmall challenge and did the teams 317 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:11.599 give each other names? Or how did you know how to refer to each 318 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:14.720 team? Oh? You know what? So what we did is we just, 319 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:17.839 um, we randomly signed people around the room two numbers, and each 320 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:21.359 of them grabbed to supply and they made uh, they made their own groups. 321 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:25.200 So the um the learning outcome of this activity was about meeting two new 322 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:27.400 people that you didn't know coming into the segment, because in the year's past, 323 00:24:27.480 --> 00:24:30.319 we'd spend an hour introducing ourselves, but you never actually get to talk 324 00:24:30.359 --> 00:24:33.839 to somebody, right, So with this activity number one, we forced people 325 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.839 to want to have collaboration. So then when they got a chance to actually 326 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:41.440 collaborate, they did. That's amazing. And I could tell from all the 327 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:45.119 social media posts that it seemed like everybody had a great time during the exercises 328 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:47.720 as well. That's fantastic. I haven't seen the post yet, so I 329 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:49.519 can't wait to go read them. Good And then the other thing you and 330 00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:53.880 I were just talking about is the value you were talking about in person events 331 00:24:53.880 --> 00:24:56.559 like this and being able to really collaborate with a lot of different peers. 332 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:02.279 Yeah, you get to have those, uh those sidecar restations that really changed 333 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:04.680 the conference for you put a place for you to actually talk to peers and 334 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.480 someone else and say I'm having this problem. Where you having that problem and 335 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.720 you find a little nook, you grab a cup of coffee, and you 336 00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:12.640 had that conversation. You just can't do that in the zoom room. You 337 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:15.279 can try and a breakout room, but it's just not the same. Well, 338 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.480 and being able to work with so many peers from so many different institutions, 339 00:25:18.519 --> 00:25:25.200 because even though we all have individual cultures and and people and and students 340 00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:29.000 that that you're working with, it's the idea of sometimes we come across the 341 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:33.480 same challenge and just knowing how somebody else is or is it or has tackled 342 00:25:33.480 --> 00:25:37.200 that can be really insightful. You are absolutely right. I couldn't agree more 343 00:25:37.559 --> 00:25:38.640 perfect Well, Michael, thanks for coming on the show. I have a 344 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:41.759 great conference. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. 345 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:48.319 Earlier this year, Forbes dot Com published an article called the role at research 346 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.119 at Universities, Why it Matters by David Razowski. Now, there was a 347 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:59.440 part in that article where he said that quote research is essential to advancing society, 348 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.839 strength, sending the economy, driving innovation, and addressing the vexing and 349 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:08.160 challenging problems that we face as a people, place, and planet. In 350 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:15.480 so many ways, institutional research accomplishes this by improving the organizations and supporting the 351 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:21.359 advancement of generations of students across this country. I'm a huge fan of institutional 352 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:25.160 research, and I am sending a big thank you to everyone who attended and 353 00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:30.920 participated in this year's California Association for Institutional Research Conference in La Joya, California, 354 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:37.039 including our guests on today's episode. Don Everhart, vice president of care 355 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:41.079 and Senior Director of Institutional Research for the AMDA College of Performing Arts, Oliver's 356 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:47.839 Ambrono Research Analysts with Imperial Valley College, David ou Latte, Executive Director of 357 00:26:47.960 --> 00:26:52.359 Institutional Research and Planning for the Foothill DeAnza Community College District. Karen Jackson, 358 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:57.039 Associate director of Institutional Research, and Nick barbal esco Program Manager for Business Intelligence 359 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:02.079 at u C. Davis. And finally, Michael Lane, Director of Institutional 360 00:27:02.119 --> 00:27:07.000 Research, Analytics and Reporting for the brand new and exciting cal Poly humbold And 361 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:14.039 for everyone listening, I'm Brendan Aldridge, and we'll talk soon. Thanks for 362 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:17.960 listening to The Higher Edge. For more, subscribe to us on your favorite 363 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:21.720 podcast platform, leave us a review if you loved the show, and be 364 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:26.559 sure to connect with Brendan on LinkedIn. Know someone who's making big changes at 365 00:27:26.599 --> 00:27:30.759 their higher at institution that belongs on this podcast, Drop us a line at 366 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:37.160 podcasts at the Higher Edge dot com. The Higher Edge is sponsored by Invoke 367 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:42.599 Learning in partnership with Westport Studios. Using opinions expressed by individuals during the podcast 368 00:27:42.680 --> 00:28:11.519 are their own. See how invoke Learning is empowering higher education at invoke learning dot com