Learning Resources

Abstract: We live at a time when increasing numbers of Americans consume food prepared away from home. This trend, along with poor dietary choices and lack of access to healthy, sustainably sourced food, contributes to a reduced quality of life and the onset of preventable disease.
The Culinary Arts and Sustainable Food Systems curriculum recently approved by the Kalamazoo Valley Community College trustees reflects the college’s belief that best practices in urban agriculture, the latest developments in culinary and food production research and technology, and the transformative power of education will improve the health and well-being of our citizens and help sustain our communities. The college believes that culinary and food professionals can serve as positive change agents in society.

Abstract: Much like routine dental exams, accreditation reviews can create anxiety and generate short-term institutional activity that simulates long-term healthy habits. Authentic, ongoing planning and assessment aligned with accreditation standards reduces anxiety and produces successful results through holistic, efficient, and sustainable efforts. This session shares how one institution efficiently integrated and aligned planning and assessment activities with accreditation standards and cycles. We'll discuss how you can adapt a similar process at your institution so your institution can avoid redundant activities while achieving optimal institutional wellbeing.

Abstract: Although belonging is a key element of college student success, little is known about how campus spaces, particularly the residence hall, affect the development of student belonging. Through qualitative analysis of interviews and student-created photo journals and maps, two key findings were identified as particularly useful for campus designers to consider: (1) students need spaces for personalization and privacy, not in ways that isolate but rather in ways that promote individual well-being and belonging; and (2) residence hall design needs to be continuously assessed and aligned with residence hall programming to most effectively facilitate meaningful student interactions. When campus planners and architects, university administrators, and residence hall staff work collaboratively and feedback is solicited from students, residence halls can become spaces where students feel as if they belong.

Abstract: Student demographics, national trends, and technology have changed dramatically over the past 30 years to the point where colleges and universities must envision a future very different from the past and adjust their plans accordingly. Some of the most dramatic changes pertain to the kinds of students who now typify college-goers; the ways in which technology impacts pedagogy; and the political, financial, and regulatory landscape governing higher education. For campus planners, these developments can be daunting. In the modern university, libraries as physical places for research are less and less relevant; classrooms are being replaced by mobile devices; and dormitories, though fine for the most traditional of college-goers, no longer work for the new majority of students.

Abstract: University libraries nationwide are changing dramatically, and those at the University of Michigan are no exception. While this article focuses on the renovated Health Science Library, many other of the 19 U of M libraries are included in this piece. The Health Science Library boasts everything from futuristic décor and visualization workstations to a virtual cadaver, inviting students from across the campus.

Abstract: Student success analytics promise to dramatically improve our capacity to increase student success across the entire spectrum of the student life cycle and throughout the student experience. Institutions will move beyond institutional accountability statistics to improve performance at the level of student success processes, practices, and interventions. Ultimately, these new processes, practices, and interventions promise to enable institutions to reinvent and personalize approaches to success.
By leveraging analytics and data science, leading-edge institutions “optimize” student success for individuals and cohorts by making student success a mission-critical, overarching institutional strategy. “Student success science” is a critical ingredient in reimagining higher education. This article provides a road map for institutional leaders on how to raise their analytics IQ so that they can leverage these practices to better serve their students, improve performance, and demonstrate value.
The use of analytics is potentially a key ingredient in sense making and decision making in all aspects of institutional performance and is critical in improving student success. Enlightened higher education leaders are committing to analytics and data science that deliver active interventions that improve student success.