Updates in Academic Affairs: November 16, 2015

Inside Updates: Students can earn skill endorsements in piloted program, time to begin planning for testing accommodation needs, a scholarly academy calls for papers and a workshop teaches students salary negotiation strategies.

Students can earn 'digital badges' signifying specific skills as part of pilot program

In collaboration with the Office of Information Technology, the Haworth College of Business is launching a pilot program next spring that will award students with digital badges representing specific extracurricular skills. The badges also will give employers a view into how a student learns.

The badges, to be awarded by faculty members, are portable and shareable. They also contain information from the college of business specifying what and how students master skills outside of the classroom.

The initial pilot project includes the following badges:

• Business mobile programming: Exhibiting a demonstrated competency, the students who earn this badge must excel in mobile programming coursework beyond the requirements of their major.
• Bronco Connect: Operating as student consultants, those who earn this badge must demonstrate professional-level research, strategy, project management, teamwork and client interaction skills.
• Designed to Lead conference: To earn this badge, students are selected by the business college dean to plan—with their peers—a leadership conference open to all students. Event planning, marketing and fundraising are among the skills students acquire. Students also must demonstrate leadership qualities.
• Externship: The program is exploring badges for students who complete externships and develop professional deportment and insight into a chosen field of study.
• Integrated Supply Management Bronco Force will award badges for students who develop professional skills while working as a team on industry projects. Students develop skills in strategic sourcing, value streaming, data analytics, lean thinking and Six Sigma, among other topics.
• Presenter: Working with business communication faculty outside the classroom, students who earn this badge have attained additional professional presentation skills.

Badges will be available in the WMU Elearning system beginning in spring 2016.

They can be displayed on a variety of platforms, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and the Mozilla Backpack. For more information about badging at the Haworth College of Business, visit wmich.edu/badges.

Individuals who are interested in learning more about badges in general, or who want to launch a digital badges project, may contact Julie Scott, Elearning administrator, at (269) 387-5457 or julie.scott@wmich.edu.

Time to make plans for testing needs with Disability Services for Students

With final exams week drawing nigh, Office of Disability Services for Students officials say it is time to begin planning for testing accommodation needs.

Students registered with the DSS for extended testing time accommodations should use their department as the primary test location with a test proctor or monitor. If this is not possible, the DSS is offering Bernhard Center Room 113 as an overflow testing site during exam week, which begins on Monday, Dec. 14.

The overflow testing site provides space for up to 20 students who require extended testing time accommodation. The site will be available Monday through Thursday during exam week at 8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The DSS office also provides testing accommodation services with a reader/scribe and adaptive technology by appointment during the following office hours:

Mondays through Thursdays:  8 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Fridays:  8 a.m., 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The DSS office and overflow testing locations are not able to accommodate walk-in testing services. Instructors should work with students to schedule a testing time in advance of exam week. Exam materials may be delivered to the DSS office on the main floor of Woodlawn Place 24 hours in advance of the scheduled exam date. Exams also may be faxed to the DSS office at (269) 387-0633 or sent by email to DSS-Exams@wmich.edu.

Instructors should specify the materials students are allowed to use in the testing room. Students are not permitted to take materials into the testing room that have not been documented by their instructor. Exams will be returned directly to the department unless instructors make prior arrangements with the DSS office.  

Instructors interested in volunteering as exam proctors at the overflow testing location in the Bernhard Center should contact Jayne Fraley-Burgett at (269) 387-2120, or at jayne.fraley@wmich.edu .

A call for papers

The Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and, Letters is calling for papers for its 2016 conference set for Friday, March 4, at Saginaw Valley State University.

Organizers of the 122nd MASAL conference welcome paper abstracts of research from faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate students from Michigan’s post-secondary institutions. Conference organizers also welcome papers from research organizations, governmental agencies, public libraries, and K-12 faculty members and administrators. 

The deadline for submitting abstracts is Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. Abstracts presented at the conference will be published in the MASAL journal, the Michigan Academician.

More than 30 disciplines in the sciences, humanities and social sciences are holding programs at the conference. Find more information about the 2016 MASAL conference and abstract submission here.

Inquiries also may be routed to Dr. Gregory Veeck in the Department of Geography at (269) 387-3420 or gregory.veeck@wmich.edu.

Salary negotiation workshop available to students

A Start Smart salary-negotiation training workshop for students is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Career Zone located in 1354 Ellsworth Hall.

These workshops prepare college students to approach the job market with the confidence, knowledge, and skills they need to negotiate salaries and benefits.

Attendees learn:

• how the gender wage gap affects their lives
• how to negotiate a starting salary to narrow the wage gap early in their careers
• how to articulate their value and improve lifelong earning potential
• how to benchmark salary and benefits
• how to develop a personal budget to determine salary needs

According to the American Association of University Women, women earn 82 percent of what their male counterparts earn in the first year following college graduation, and the wage gap continues to widen in the years that follow.

More than 225 campuses across the United States have hosted the Start Smart salary-negotiation training.  Prior to attending the workshop, only 25 percent of attendees said they were confident they could negotiate a salary and benefits package. That figure skyrocketed to 91 percent upon completion of the workshop.

Registration is required for the Dec. 1 workshop. Students should register by Friday, Nov. 27, in BroncoJOBS at wmich.edu/career, or by emailing Lynn Kelly-Albertson at @email.

A spring workshop also will be offered from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, in the Multicultural Center of the Adrian Trimpe Building as part of the Real Talk Diversity Series.