Learning Resources

Abstract: This grounded theory research investigates climate action plan implementation using Cal Poly Pomona as a case study. It analyzes organizational dynamics in climate planning processes, investigates actions that may have been taken without the plan, and identifies the challenges of taking climate action. The results indicate that while most actions could have been taken without the plan, the planning process yielded social, political, and intellectual capital that would otherwise not have been realized. In areas where progress is slow or stalled, there is a lack of effective collaboration, a mismatch between plan strategies and organizational norms, or a perceived or real lack of efficacy.

Abstract: As with all educational institutions, the visual identity of a Christian college results from both a professional’s design principles and users’ own experiences and associations. While the two may be related, they are by no means the same. A logical symbolic center for many Christian campuses, a chapel facilitates religious activity and carries emotional attachments bound up with the community’s sense of place. However, it is not clear how the community members of a Christian college perceive the importance of their chapel relative to the importance placed on it by an architect’s strong campus design principles. Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serves as a case study, offering an example of how a college community might regard the importance of a chapel building over and against its architect’s strong design principles. The chapel building was not conceived as a primary expression of the college’s visual identity and thus was only incidentally associated with the architect’s overarching vision for the campus. This case study asks if the community of Calvin College perceives the chapel as a powerful campus placemarker contributing to the current visual identity of the institution. The results of this study illustrate that a chapel building can work as an institutional symbol for a Christian college, representing the institution’s identity even when it stands apart from strong campus design principles.

Abstract: Will online education render the traditional university campus irrelevant? Is there a there there when it comes to online education? What makes the flesh-and-blood, brick-and-mortar material realm still relevant—even essential—to education? While online education has brought with it radical transformation, bringing people together in physical space is and will be essential for student success. The reasons for coming together, however, are changing; institutions must adapt if they are to remain vital. Institutions need to know where they stand. What is their “there”? What can they do “there” that cannot be done online?

Abstract: Change in higher education is ubiquitous. Accountability, assessment, outcomes, competencies, affordability, and quality continue to be of critical importance to stakeholders, policy makers, students, and communities. A three-part strategy for reinventing the paradigm around student success includes analytics, policies, and politics. As stewards of the future, we all need to be aware of the importance of analytics in developing continuous improvement strategies; the role of policies in supporting the framework that allows us to deliver on the promise of education; and the politics that form the complex environment that must sustain and support new approaches to meeting students’ learning needs.

Abstract: A post-occupancy evaluation instrument was developed and piloted to measure (1) the reliability and validity of the instrument and (2) the effect of evidence-based solutions on student engagement in the classroom. Content analysis synthesized elements of engagement from multiple sciences to form the body of questions. A post/pre methodology compared the “old” row-by-column seating with the “new” classroom designs. A high degree of internal item consistency was reached between all identified factors (α = 0.91, α = 0.93, α = 0.96, α = 0.96), and highly statistically significant differences were found between the “old” and the “new” classroom designs (all p-values < 0.0001). Improvements were found when comparing each of the identified factors, all of which related to active learning and engagement practices in the “old” and “new” classrooms.