Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration in andragogical education offers significant enhancements to the learning experience for adult learners. By utilizing AI-powered platforms, instructors can provide personalized learning paths that adapt to the unique needs, interests, and goals of each individual. These systems can analyze performance data…

What needs to be done to strengthen U.S. democracy, to make it work the way it should? Each generation of Americans asks some version of this question, but this book offers an answer that recognizes the heightened urgency and hopefulness in the way individuals are asking the question today. At the heart of the debate is a conviction that…

Policy analysis is a two-stage process of (1) diagnosing the problem and (2) unraveling the parts in it played by the policy issue, environment, factors affecting implementation, and proposed alternatives. In higher education, this requires a thorough understanding of the unique higher education environment. (MSE)

Describes the Educational Opportunity Program of Northern Illinois University's adaptation of an administrative planning decision making program called the Delphi concensus seeking process. (MD)

Solutions to common problems of college and university alumni boards and their meeting effectiveness are offered. Recommended are developing diversity in board membership, setting goals, making service meaningful, trying for turnover, balancing the work burden, planning for dignified departures, and fostering member involvement. (DB)

Once a college or university has chosen a consultant, details of the relationship may need negotiation, and a contract protecting both parties must be drawn up and signed. A range of contract options is available, depending on the nature, cost, and sensitivity of the work to be done. (Author/MSE)

Various schools of thought on conflict management in academic institutions are explored in the article. A significant change from the traditional administrative attitude toward conflict is to view conflict as a means to healthy change and growth. Specific conflict-management techniques are discussed. (DF)

Argues that objectives-based planning, the most common and most institutionalized approach to college and university planning in the United Kingdom, is inappropriate for complex or large-scale planning. Presents 10 specific criticisms of this approach, and offers problem-based planning--formulating problems and seeking to find the impediments to…

A mechanism for using personal computer spreadsheet software to generate unique laboratory and problem assignments in optics for each student and provide corresponding solutions that can be checked quickly is described. The method minimizes some students' tendency to inspect others' solutions without solving problems themselves. Another…

The key to the success of decision support systems will be the way that institutional researchers integrate the variety of specific and personal systems into a viable and coordinated institutionwide system. (Author/MLW)

Before committing to the expense of consultancy, the college administrator needs to consider several basic questions: "what is the problem?" and "what is keeping the staff from solving the problem?" Certain kinds of problems are more likely than others to benefit from consultant expertise. (MSE)

From its start in Japan after World War II, the Quality Control Circle (Q.C.) approach to management and organizational operation evolved into what it is today: people doing similar work meeting regularly to identify, objectively analyze, and develop solutions to problems. The Q.C. approach meets Maslow's theory of motivation by inviting…

While microcomputers may be easy to acquire and put into use, advance consideration of some pertinent issues will ensure that they are used successfully for planning and management support. (Author/MLW)

Interviews with 12 senior administrators (8 college, 2 business, 2 hospital) who kept a journal for a year or more revealed 3 major journal-keeping functions: sorting through administrative chaos; generating solutions to problems; and documenting the past by recording details of decisions, personal data, responses to situations. Implications for…

Consultants and higher education clients have worked together for many years. The rapidly changing landscape of American higher education has produced continuing evolution in consulting practice and in the areas consultants serve. To use consultants effectively, institutions must learn about themselves, the consulting process, and available…