Inspire Action · Brad Carter

Observations, Ideas & Reflections on Leadership from eSwatini

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Goal Setting in Academic Success

At the beginning of last year, I asked the faculty and senior leadership of African Christian College to join me in going through a goal-setting seminar. We used Michael Hyatt’s Five Days to Your Best Year Ever. We met each morning to listen to Hyatt, then individually completed our workbook setting out goals to make 2015 our “best year ever.”

Hyatt built his system using research-based practices in psychology and business management that support goal setting. He moved us beyond “I want to be better” to imagining our future, setting goals, exploring our motivation, and creating steps for completing and assessing along the way.

Goal Setting

Hundreds of academic and popular articles promote the benefits of goal setting. Established by Edwin Locke in the 1960s the theory has been studied, tested, and applied to many fields, especially organisational leadership.

When the necessary components are present – clear, challenging goals; motivation; feedback – significant improvement occurs.

But, is goal setting a research-based practice for educational settings?

Some limit the definition of “research-based practice” to nine practices identified by Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock in their influential book Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement published in 2001.

But I’m going to use a broader definition: a research-based practice is any practice that has been tested and provides evidence that its use improves results in learning or academic performance.

With that definition, goal setting should be considered a research-based practice in educational settings.

Bridging the gap with goal setting

One example of research on goal-setting in higher education can be found in Schippers, Scheepers, and Peterson’s recent publication: “A scalable goal-setting intervention closes both the gender and ethnic minority achievement gap” (2015, Palgrave Communications). Hat tip to David Gooblar’s blog who alerted me to this research last year.

They reference other research in education settings then share results of their goal setting with first year students in a business school in Europe.

In short, their results “highlight the potential importance of detailed, written goal setting for reducing performance inequalities in higher educational settings.”

They believe the goal setting modified student conceptions of themselves and their futures, overriding “gender and structural socioeconomic impediments.”

So what?

Leading students through goal-setting is low-cost and requires minimal time commitment. It also appears to be an easy solution to bridging the performance gap.

At ACC, I’d like to explore goal setting in my Entrepreneurship class this year. Success in this class already requires self-motivation, and it could be a helpful tool to increase their success.

Goal setting could also be implemented among all incoming students. This could prove beneficial for their overall academic performance, future conceptions, and aid in learning a skill applicable for all of life.

A word of warning

How do we get them to follow-through on goal setting so it will have an impact? The authors of this study add this observation:

“We strongly believe, however, that the probability of students participating in the intervention and completing it was increased by the fact that it was a required component of the first-year curriculum itself, complete with deadlines.”

I failed with the Best Year Ever plan last year. Why? I never finished my assignments – there was no one to make me turn them in. That’s another lesson to apply.

Student Mobility in Africa

Today I received an email from an African Christian College alumnus in Kenya. He’s trying to get his degree certified to continue his education, but is having trouble because the process and standards in his country differ from those we are accountable to follow.

His problem is not unique.

The mobility of African students – where one can go to one country to study and return with recognised credentials to further their studies – is a primary concern of higher education reform. This challenge brings to the surface the issue of harmonisation of quality assurance standards, recognition of degrees, transfer of credits, and participation in globalisation. It also highlights technical issues like border control and student visas.

In “Current Trends, Challenges, and Prospects of Student Mobility in the African Higher Education Landscape” (International Journal of Higher Education, 2015), Woldegiorgis and Doevenspeck point out the importance of student mobility to Africa as a participant in global knowledge flow. But they also highlight the current failure at which Africa is keeping up with a warning about brain drain:

“Unless African higher education institutions develop their capacity to attract and retain both African and international students, international student mobility might lead to overwhelming impact of brain drain in the continent. As Dr Lalla Ben Barka Deputy Executive Secretary ECA stated, ‘African governments have a great responsibility to ensure that brains remain in the continent; otherwise in 25 years’ time, Africa will be empty of brains.’”

Still today, many African students leave the continent to study in the former colonial power. (France being the most popular country for Africans to study.) There’s a history of power connected with this. But today it can also be attributed to the lack of study opportunities on the continent.

In the previous edition of the International Journal of Higher Education, Woldegiorgis with Jonck and Goujon compared Europe’s process with Africa’s: “Regional Higher Education Reform Initiatives in Africa: A Comparative Analysis with the Bologna Process.”

Africa is trying to follow step by step on higher education reform, but with less commitment from the players. To sum up, they wrote:

“Slow implementation in Africa is attributed to factors like poor top-down communication of the policy, excessive dependency on external funding, poor political commitment, fragmentation and duplication of processes, and the less participatory nature of the policy in terms of bringing all stakeholders on board.”

What can African educational leaders do?

Public education leaders must continue to push for commitment, cooperation, and communication among the stakeholders for harmonisation. Private education leaders must also join in the call for progress to be made for student mobility.

At ACC, our response must continue to be seeking pan-African or global accreditation and partnering with institutions outside of Africa that will be recognised within Africa. These efforts provide ways for our students to better side-step the lack of harmonisation.

These issues also highlight the need to develop graduate and post-graduate study opportunities in Africa. We must provide high quality opportunities for them to be educated here.

Implementing Blended Learning Strategies

Our students are increasingly voicing their desire for new teaching methods, practical experiences, and real-life application beyond studying theory. The marketisation of education has also led to increased focus on professional or practical skills for the marketplace.

There is a rise in blended learning practices occurring at all levels of the education system. Blended learning practices provide instructors with numerous strategies for organising the learning programme for their courses, often using online learning systems.

In “Global Blended Learning Practices for Teaching and Learning, Leadership and Professional Development” (2015), Hilliard examines the growth of blended learning and the necessary infrastructure needed for it to thrive.

Hilliard provides a rationale for expanding blended learning and avoids details about practices. Instead the focus is on what is needed for successful implementation. These include:

  • Effective and competent faculty
  • Professional development for faculty
  • Adequate resources and ongoing funding
  • Blended learning tools and strategies updated regularly (within 3-year period)
  • Student learning outcomes linked to real-world experience and application
  • Meeting demands of diverse learners, including those who are not full-time students
  • Policy development – clear on who, what, when, where, why of blended learning (and deciding who gets to decide)
  • Technology considering issues such as operability, mobility, compatibility, back-up
  • Ongoing technology support
  • Software decisions with faculty users
  • Evaluation plan for blended learning

In addition to the list above, I would also add the hurdle of internet access particularly on our campus in Swaziland, but also throughout Southern Africa. At ACC, we now have reliable wi-fi access across campus, but it is limited data which reduces the ability for it to be used heavily.

Why isn’t ACC doing more online?

I appreciate Hilliard’s focus on these important planning pieces to truly be successful in using blended learning. I often receive comments from those outside and within ACC about why we don’t have an online programme yet, or why we don’t use more internet tools in class.

It’s just not that easy. It’s not easy to start. It’s not easy to continue. And, it’s not all about money.

With adequate funding (also a hurdle) we can address the technology and technology support issues in order to implement tools for blended learning. But even with the right tools, an ill-equipped faculty member can do little good.

As an educational leader and faculty member, my biggest concern is with the faculty development and implementation.

Through a partnership with Abilene Christian University in Texas, we are launching a new blended learning Master of Christian Ministry degree this year. This programme primarily uses online courses with a four face-to-face courses held on our campus.

The great thing for us in the context of this post is that the burden of these infrastructure pieces is largely upon ACU and not us. They provide the technology, support, and equipped faculty. We get to see how it works for African students.

Hopefully the lessons learned and partnership with them will help us to better implement more blended learning strategies in our other programmes.