I learned to appreciate the value of an institution history because this can help us identify and understand better-enduring challenges faced in the past, explain how historical events have shaped today's system and help us in the process predict and respond different and perhaps better to new situations and changes in the system, which can affect us now and in the future. We should be able to take advantage of learning from mistakes or successes done in the past and use the information wisely to help make our institutions stronger.

Thanks to the Carnegie Classification ranking, I actually learned to understand how institutions differ from others. It was an eye-opening to become more aware that institutional diversity as much as it can provide advantages, it can also create disadvantages for our communities and the society in general, causing drawbacks within the system.

But probably the biggest and most valuable information learned for me was the IPED's data information available. The opportunity to find out more in-depth about institution's financial revenues, resources, allocation of the money spend, enrollment numbers, attendance, graduation rates, etc. can help us tremendously to understand the priorities and focus of an institution, and better reflect and understand their mission and values, as well as their challenges. After all, finances play the most important role in the many decisions that occur regularly within an institution. IPED's data can also be extremely valuable no just for institutions and the internal personnel itself to help better assist students and to develop new policies and procedures, but also for the students and families to help them identify primary benefits and cost associated with college enrollment.

It also became so much clear to me how much access to higher education is influenced by the quality of high school preparation. This can severely impact students' pathways into college, as well as influence pathways during college due to demographic indicators. I definitely appreciate the opportunity to learn how to use better the APA writing style and had the chance to use the subtitle that I never use in the past.
Overall the course provided me with the great inside of how institutions are run, introduced me to new tools that helped me research and understand better the institution I work for, as well as other institutions. It was fun and much informative.

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