Learning Resources

Abstract: American higher education institutions have a long, complex history with slavery that shouldn’t be ignored. Reckoning with these historical ties—from slave-owning namesakes to the enslaved laborers who constructed campus buildings—generates difficult questions for colleges and universities:

• How do we honor those who were enslaved?
• How do we recognize our role in the history of slavery as a means of learning from the past to guide our future?

In this symposium, four institutions will share their approaches to these complicated questions and how they’re continuing the conversation around the legacy of slavery on their campuses.

Abstract: Higher education will shape its future through its response to this critical moment: an unprecedented pandemic; rapidly-accelerating climate change; a mobile technology-enabled society; and critical issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. As new values, core issues, and questions continue to emerge, institutions must face these challenges by weighing different impacts and shifting priorities. A panel of three institutions and a learning technologist will offer their diverse perspectives on these issues and how they're influencing the physical and virtual campus environment. Come join the dialogue and adopt an inquiry-based mindset to proactively plan for a more agile and resilient future campus.

Abstract: Panelists Michelle Maheu, Wellesley College, and Rear Admiral Francis X. McDonald, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, shared their insights about developing response processes and the potential outcomes on their respective campuses, especially when making decisions when information is limited and the variables are unknown. This session was moderated by Deirdre Fernandes, a reporter with the Boston Globe, who has authored recent articles related to the impact of COVID-19 on Boston campuses.

Abstract: Wellesley College enabled the revitalization of their largest academic building, the science center, by transforming the way people thought about temporary classrooms—from "breaking bad" to breaking norms. We will demonstrate how advances in modular building delivery are being applied to sophisticated buildings (including BL2 and vivarium) such that users perceive them as an improvement to the current condition. Come learn how to be better a problem-solver and be able to detect flaws-in-thinking before they become flaws-in-doing.