May 5, 2020
 
If We Build It, They Will Come
 
I’ve been thinking about Field of Dreams lately. You may remember the 1989 Kevin Costner movie in which he builds a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield. Everyone thought he was crazy. At the end, he finds himself, and the community discovers the importance of connection as car after car is seen driving to the ball field.

Now more than a month into the pandemic, the conversation in higher education has shifted from, “Can we make the remote teaching pivot?” (answer: we can and did) to “How will we be different coming out of this?” Questions swirl on matters such as what will drive student institutional selection going forward, instructional delivery approaches during and after transition, and here in New Jersey, will “stay close to home” or “go away” prevail in the minds of students and their families given how hard the pandemic has hit our state?

Whereas dreams or hopes alone do not bring about a result, focused effort at demonstrating value does. Here’s what makes me optimistic for our future:
We launched WP Online on April 21 . This model of graduate program delivery, with coursework offered in 7-week terms year-round in the fields of nursing, business, and education, is ideally positioned to attract students seeking accessibility, consistency, and work/academics flexibility. In the first 48 hours, 20 applications were received. Within 5 days, 173 persons across 11 states, including New Jersey, made contact expressing interest. The learning that came from the valuable work by IRT and faculty on this project begun last fall has informed a set of new tools to assist all faculty teaching online this summer, and potentially this fall if circumstances require. It also includes tools to help students be successful in an online course. More to come on this.
Admissions held its first virtual Accepted Students Day on April 25. The Admissions staff did a great job of exuding confidence, positive energy, creative approaches to engage attendees, and answering questions that reinforced our institutional values of community and connectedness. There were 549 students and parents that attended, and this was only the first Accepted Students Day. Have a look at how Admissions has shifted to deliver a critical program remotely through this link . Among the upcoming events is a Virtual Open House scheduled for Saturday, May 9.

Advisors and program coordinators are working actively to connect with students about summer and fall enrollment. There is nothing more important than this task right now. Whereas our fall enrollment is down about 8 percentage points from last year at this time, that percentage fell from being 20+ percentage points down a few weeks ago. Freshmen retention, however, is up and summer enrollment is up among students who are enrolled full time, a promising sign. Yet, these remain uncertain times, so everyone’s efforts to assist students to finish the semester strong, and to stay on track via summer and fall enrollment, is crucial. Each percentage point difference in fall enrollment translates to roughly $1 million in revenue for the University. Advisors, the data you are receiving weekly, combined with the email flags on your students, is hopefully helping you to efficiently and quickly understand the broader circumstance of your students’ status. Proactively reaching out is critical at this moment.
Examples abound of faculty doing extraordinary things in the virtual classroom in a difficult circumstance . President Helldobler and I have been invited to “drop in” to some classes, in part to boost spirits and in part just to see how folks are doing. Both of us also get unsolicited insights from faculty, chairs, deans, and students and we are seeing and hearing examples of Will. Power. in action. Whereas the pivot has been both challenging and energy-consuming, the insights we are receiving, combined with a recent survey of WP faculty and students about remote teaching and learning, revealed ways that chat rooms, discussion boards, open education resources, and the principles of the flipped classroom, among others, have been used creatively to enhance student engagement and content interest.

Active engagement by administrative and faculty leaders on possible fall term scenarios is underway. No one has a crystal ball on what the pandemic will look like this fall, nor has there yet been specific state guidance to inform it. However, scenario reflection is essential, and is happening, so proactive planning and communication can occur. Furthermore, you should know that all summer courses, both Summer I and II, will be online.
The above actions and indicators lead me to feel that we are building it and signs are that they will come if we remain united in our efforts to deliver value. As I said in my March campus communication, here are ways you can do so:
1) practice empathic listening; 2) be well-versed on resources to help students; 3) be patient but share what you are learning; 4) think ahead; and 5) know that you are not alone.

On the personal front, my daughter had moved back in with me in Little Falls in mid-March. We recently needed to go to her apartment in New York City to pick up some items. May that city that never sleeps rise up again, and I hope you find inspiration from the Fearless Girl statue as I did. And a shout out to Ms. Jackson from WP who kindly gave me the most amazing unicorn face mask!
Academic News

Among the array of news on the Academic Affairs front are these:

  • Important programs to the WP future are now at the state level for review—a BS in medicinal biochemistry and an EdD in leadership. The MS in applied math recently received its approval at the state level. Important changes to the MBA program have also just been approved by the Faculty Senate and will help us be additionally competitive in the marketspace. Other program changes are in the pipeline, particularly value-adding certificate opportunities.

  • We are in the “season of criticality” for Middle States accreditation preparation as one year remains before the visit in Spring 2021 and a self-study that is due this fall. Essential assessment work and the tool for its collection, Campus Labs, continues, and I ask that all departments complete their spring tasks before departing for the summer and follow up with Sesime Adanu in Institutional Effectiveness or Sandy Hill in Academic Affairs as you need.

  • Two important Institutes are planned for the week of May 20-22—one focused on teaching and learning and the other on advising. We have switched them to online. The former features Dr. Christine Harrington, nationally known author on student learning and success, particularly with respect to working with students at regional state universities like William Paterson. More detail on the two Institutes is coming shortly.

  • The Faculty Senate has received a proposed revision of the WP Retention, Tenure, and Promotion (RTP) Policy from the committee charged with this task. Co-chaired by the Chair of Faculty Senate and the Provost, the committee of faculty representatives from each college, an AFT representative, and a dean had been deep at work on this task all spring and look forward to engaging with the Faculty Senate about it at the meeting this Thursday.
Facts & Figures

What WP faculty and students are saying about the remote teaching and learning experience from two recent surveys : 

Faculty:
  • 46 percent of faculty have never taught online before.
  • For those teaching synchronously, 62 percent are using Blackboard; the majority of the remainder are using Zoom. For those teaching asynchronously, 85 percent are using Blackboard; others are using a mix of tools (e.g., self-created YouTube videos, Google Classroom, website build).
  • Top pedagogical challenges confronted: Lack of or uneven student participation; not sure how to translate face-to-face teaching strategies to online.

Students:
  • 40 percent have never taken a fully online class before.
  • Top technical challenges confronted: Instructor lack of familiarity with online teaching; difficulty with streaming video.
  • Top learning challenges confronted: Difficulty with stress and multiple responsibilities; difficulty focusing or paying attention; difficulty with lack of interaction.

  • Thanks to the staff of the Center for Teaching Excellence, Instruction & Research Technology, Information Technology, Academic Development, the Library, and the many others who have and continue to support students and faculty with distance teaching and learning.
Quotables
“We’re making headway focusing primarily on the 3D printing of face mask straps which reduce strain on ears making it more comfortable to wear the N95 masks. To date we’ve delivered about a bit shy of 1,000. ” – Michael Rees, Professor of Sculpture and Digital Media using Power Arts equipment to aid healthcare professionals in our area

“Now hiring nursing students. Great place to work and learn. Flexible schedules to work around your academics. Learn from the best!”
– Flyer sent to WP from St. Joseph’s Health of Paterson and Wayne

“There’s a good chance the nurses taking care of you are immigrants. Let’s clap for them, too .” – Leo-Felix Jurado, Professor and Chair, Department of Nursing, in an April 12 oped in the Star-Ledger , shared 5,700 times and counting on social media

“I made the marimba track first, to 80 bpm, and then asked the students to contribute whatever they wanted, so long as it was dialed in exactly to 80 bpm, then they sent me the files and I dropped them all into my video editing software (Adobe Premiere) and I made the piece from there.”
– Payton MacDonald, Professor of Music and visionary of the extraordinary YouTube video made by his percussion class
The Provost’s Office is Meg, Lissette, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
We may be working remotely, but we are accessible to you! 
Office of the Provost | 973.720.2122 | provost@wpunj.edu