This short video tells the story of EOA National Best Practices Clearinghouse which is focused on the needs of Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) and TRIO students who are economically disadvantaged, first-generation college attendees, and historically underrepresented in education. No other open-access clearinghouse in the nation is focused on this marginalized student population. Solutions developed for privileged students with social capital often do not meet the needs of these students. We represent the GEAR UP and TRIO community and are the first group of federally funded programs to create their own best practices clearinghouse. Rather than relying on practices developed by others, we created an online program manual of what works with our TRIO and GEAR UP students. Our administrative and educational practices have been evaluated by an external panel of education experts rather than relying solely on data studies from the institution hosting the practice. Another difference is that the EOA Clearinghouse identifies “why a practice works” and “what are the critical components and procedures” that must be followed to achieve similar positive results. This article explores the need for a clearinghouse, definitions for a best education practice, key people involved with the clearinghouse, the history of events in the clearinghouse's life, and finally, lessons learned from the clearinghouse that could be helpful to others who wanted to create their own clearinghouse, and an appendix with information on processes of the clearinghouse to evaluate submissions. While programs in the field may all do essentially the same thing, they often do it differently to meet the unique needs of their students and the education setting. The EOA Clearinghouse honors that ingenuity and shares it with others.
David Arendale’s History of the Integrated Learning Course: Creation, Conflict, and Survival
This short video tells the story how in 1972 the Integrated Learning (IL) course was developed at the University of Minnesota to meet the academic and cultural transition needs of their TRIO Upward Bound summer bridge program students as they prepared to enter college. The IL course was an early example of a linked course learning community. A historically-challenging college content course such as Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology or Law in Society was linked with an IL course. The IL course is essentially an academic support class customized to use the content of its companion class as a context for mastering learning strategies and orienting students to the rigor of the college learning environment. The history of the IL course provides lessons for creating, sustaining, and surviving daunting campus political and financial challenges that could face any new academic or student affairs program. The TRIO program leveraged its modest budget and personnel for the IL course approach which flourished and withstood changing economic and political forces that could have terminated the innovative approach to academic support. Lessons from this history of creation, conflict, and survival could be applied to other programs in a postsecondary setting.
David Arendale’s Leader Identity Emergence of Study Group Facilitators Publication
This short video tells the story of a qualitative study at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, USA, investigated leader identity emergence of study group facilitators. There is a gap in the professional literature regarding study group programs and identity emergence of the student paraprofessionals who facilitate the study sessions. This study built upon previous studies of identity formation by integrating educational theories that help explain the changes that occurred. Peer study group programs are powerful co-curricular experiences. This study provided answers to why and how identity emergence occurs. The Leader Identity Development Model for peer study group facilitators was developed based on the findings from this study and other experiences with study group leaders over the past three decades by David Arendale to help predict this change and the experiences that supported identity formation. Among those catalysts were written reflections by the study group leaders throughout the academic term on what they learned about themselves and about their conversations with other study leaders and the study group program manager. Implications are provided that explain how peer programs can become a more transformative learning ecosystem. Peer learning programs present an untapped personal and professional development opportunity for student leaders that would be even more powerful if it were intentional rather than serendipitous.
David Arendale’s Antiracist Activities and Policies for Student-Led Study Groups Publication
This short video highlights issues of race and marginalization that do not often intersect with publications related to developmental education and learning assistance. They have been spaces that ignored them these issues. This guide to antiracism policies and practices for student-led study groups is based on a careful review of scholarly articles, books, and existing guides. While much has been written about culturally-sensitive pedagogies for K-16 classroom instruction, little has emerged for guiding peer study groups regarding antiracism practices. This guide helps address this gap in the literature. In addition to its use for academic study groups, this guide is useful for faculty members to incorporate antiracism learning activities and pedagogies into their courses. This guide identifies effective learning practices that can be adapted and adopted for use in supporting higher student achievement, closing the achievement gap, increasing persistence to graduation, and meeting the needs of culturally-diverse and historically-underrepresented students.
David Arendale's Personal Faith Statement
As an educator, there is more to me than just scholarship, teaching, and public service or engagement. My personal faith in Jesus Christ provides a powerful motivation for expressing myself in scholarship, teaching, and public service or engagement.
David Arendale's Research and Knowledge Dissemination Statement
This short video my research interests in exploring academic access in postsecondary education and develops evidence-based strategies to increase the success of underrepresented student populations in college. I focus on filling the gap between scholarship that analyzes academic performance problems and proposed solutions to increase student outcomes. Access programs often operate at the confluence of academic affairs, student affairs, and enrollment management. This busy intersection of interests and needs has generated considerable turbulence for these programs. My multidisciplinary academic preparation and work experiences in academic affairs, student affairs, and enrollment management afford me unique tools for this investigation.
David Arendale's Public Service and Community Engagement Statement Video Summary
Engaged service to the community is an integral part of my research, personal faith, and an extension of who I am as a connected member of society. Many of my service activities are directed related to increasing access and success of students in postsecondary education, especially those that are historically underrepresented. Part of my passion for serving students who are the first student in their families to attend college is that I am a first-generation college attendee and graduate. My parents were warmly supportive of my attending college. They did not have the financial resources to pay my board and tuition. Also, they could not provide mentoring for the rigors of college as neither of them had graduated from high school. As with many young people during the Great Depression, the model was to attend high school until 16, get a job, and then get married. I could not have asked for a better pair of parents who cultivated a love of learning and reading. Just as with my classroom experiences, community engagement is a critical grounding element of my research. It also becomes a venue to disseminate my research findings.