Andrews University’s own Provost, Dr Christon Arthur, hosted the Second Annual Shark Tank competition on Friday, November 17. Dr. Arthur began the program by introducing the two contestant groups after sending out various invites in prior weeks for students and staff to attend the co-curricular event in Buller Hall’s Newbold Auditorium. Two groups composed of faculty and staff members of Andrews University, the James White Library Department and Mathematics Department, presented to the audience.
The James White Library Department presented first with the title “Expanding Access and Facilitating Academic Success.” The representatives of the initiative that gave the PowerPoint presentation and answered questions from the panel of judges, or “Sharks,” were Margaret Adeogun, a Professor of Library Science, and Paulette McLean Johnson, the Dean of Libraries. They were also accompanied by Seminary Librarian and Associate Dean Terry Robertson, who provided moral support. Their initiative seeks to provide a stipend and professional development support to faculty who develop Open Education Resources (OERs), literature for classes that are made publicly available, making them available to students online anytime. OERs help reduce costs for textbooks and other class resources from approximately $300 (via a cited report by Florida Virtual Campus in 2022) a semester to being close to or completely free. OERs are often of as good quality or better than traditionally rented or bought textbooks.
This project, were it to be successful, comes into direct confrontation with Andrews University’s Bookstore’s partnership with Barnes and Noble and their “First Day Complete” system. When asked about this confrontation, Johnson shared that OERs can provide “an alternative” instead of completely doing away with First Day Complete. Dr. Arthur added that “the effectiveness of both systems would be evaluated,” and future steps would be taken to address what would be most practical and beneficial for the university. Another question that was brought up by one of the Shark panelists is how the development of OERs would take away from tuition costs and possibly hurt Andrews’ bottom line. However, Adeogun argued that the reduction in tuition costs for students would lead to “a greater enrollment and also retention [of students] as well.” Bridging the economic gap that keeps many from starting and/or finishing higher education was a key goal of the OER initiative.
The Mathematics Department gave the second presentation, which was entitled “Access to Math and Higher Education.” Department Chair Lynelle M. Weldon and Assistant Professor of Mathematics Instruction Amanda Umlauf represented the initiative and delivered a passionate PowerPoint presentation. Weldon and Umlauf began the presentation by pointing out how there seems to be a common plague of struggles for students across the United States in mathematics and its subtopics. Some racial and geographic demographics face inequitable circumstances due to either institutionalized issues or various unfortunate scenarios. Many college students are delayed or prevented from graduating because math is a requirement that they cannot meet. The potential solution that the Mathematics Department wants to pursue with the Sharks’ grant money is building a partnership with the Student Success Center and the Counseling and Testing Center on Andrews’ campus to provide various extra resources to students, free of charge. These resources include aligned options for developmental courses, tutoring by trained peer tutors, counseling and coaching support, a math concierge, and ongoing improvements in content and pedagogy.
The presentation ended with the Mathematics Department asking the audience to take a survey via QR code in their slides, as well as answering a few of the questions the Sharks had. One question from the Sharks asked strongly why the practices that Weldon and Umlauf sought to adopt had not been enacted in the past. Umlauf answered that although she was unsure why certain things had not been practiced in the department before, she was sure that with them being practiced now, the department will see “increased success rates, increased graduation rates, and more positive attitudes.” Weldon also added that the department would “likely be modifying existing programs [with their proposed initiative], but we’re open to adding new ones.”
While the judges deliberated, Dr. Curtis VanderWaal, a professor and Chair of the Department of Social Work, and Gunnar Lovhoiden, a professor and Chair of the School of Engineering, gave updates on how their projects from last year’s Shark Tank had fared after winning some of the award grant money. Dr. VanderWaal shared how infusing trauma education in faculty training and curriculum has been taking place and shared a three-year plan to keep this initiative going strong in his department. Lovhoiden detailed briefly how the grant money his department received went to adding more to the Engineering curriculum and modifying and upgrading the student work space for those in the program.
The James White Library Department came into the event seeking $50,000 for their initiative and ended up being awarded $25,000 by the sharks. With significant growth and development with OER access and usage, Dr. Arthur stated that Johnson, Adeogun, and their team may be eligible for a full $100,000 grant for next year’s Shark Tank. The Math Department and their presentation ended up the biggest victor of the event, being awarded a full grant of $100,000 for their initiative.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.