Brandman’s innovative approaches to its Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership and to improving professional development for adjunct faculty members were the focus of presentations at the 2018 WASC Senior College and University Commission’s Academic Resource Conference.
With the theme “Future Perfect,” the conference centered on the nature and quality of teaching and learning at the university level and showing how that leads to greater student achievement.
Faculty members Jalin B. Johnson, Ed.D., from the School of Business and Professional Studies and Carlos Guzman, Ph.D., from the School of Education shared the data they collected over a four-year span that focused on the confidence doctoral students had in their abilities to complete various tasks before and after taking the prospectus writing course.
WASC conference presenters and Brandman faculty members Jalin Johnson, Ed.D., and Carlos Guzman, Ph.D.
“Increasing the potential for doctoral students to successfully complete their dissertations; a curriculum driven self-efficacy study” found significant increases in confidence for such things the ability to generate a purpose statement, align research questions, establish significance and synthesize the literature.
A second presentation focused on efforts to help adjunct faculty members from four campuses in two counties develop their teaching and technology skills and help students succeed. Johnson, Leticia Rojas, Ed.D., and Nicole Schneider, Ed.D., both from the School of Education presented “Faculty Professional Development; a multi-discipline, interactive faculty training initiative geared towards enriching and enhancing the instructor pedagogy experience.” Lynn Larsen, Ph.D., from the School of Education and Nakisha Castillo, DMFT, from the School of Arts and 
Sciences also contributed to the report.
Jalin Johnson, Nicole Schneider and Leticia Rojas
Among their findings:
- Need for connections to others in the adjunct community is evident.
- Contact with the campus team is invaluable.
- Small working groups produce significant results.
- Professional Development Days have a positive impact on campus culture.
- Better informed adjuncts equal better student experiences.
- Recognition is well received.
They also touched upon how they facilitate the content covered and how they offer career education units, guest speakers, community-based service and student-centered initiatives.