Learning Resources

Abstract: A fatal flaw in accountability programs is that they leave academic departments-the units most responsible for results-out of the performance loop. This article ties together institutional priorities and departmental performance through a limited list of common departmental indicators. It also links institutional aims and departmental aspirations through a planning process using institutional and departmental feedback loops, which convey performance information but also create new knowledge through dialogue on performance. This planning approach fixes a fatal flaw in accountability programs; a similar process at Florida International University shows it works in practice.

Abstract: Many sectors in American postsecondary education are experiencing rapid growth, largely due to the maintained and increased need for educational services, research capabilities, and public outreach, community service, and civic engagement opportunities. The factors shaping the institutional responses include demographic changes, pressure for increased accountability, higher expectations, and greater competition. These factors, among others, compel institutions to rethink their present structures and activities and to envision a future designed to meet the demands of an increasingly heterogeneous group of stakeholders. This article discusses how these changes are causing academic and institutional planners to reconsider the traditional perspectives in the face of emerging concepts in the delivery of educational services. Particular attention is paid to three topics that are key to the rethinking of service delivery. First, students should be considered learners who participate actively in their own learning. This, in turn, implies that teaching practices must be reconceptualized as learning processes. In addition, educational goals must be reconceptualized to meet the needs of individual and professional goals. The implications of these emerging views for strategies for institutional planning are discussed.

Abstract: The commonly-used expression “going to college” affirms that higher education is still rooted in place. Our institutions have three cultures in which learners physically immerse themselves: collegiate culture (a generational culture); academic culture (an intellectual culture); and campus culture (an institutional culture). Other agents—the armed forces and the work place, for instance—also acculturate young adults, but colleges and universities alone nurture academic culture. For this reason, the design of campus places as learning spaces becomes a critical issue. We must be endlessly inventive in creating and celebrating the cultures of place in academic life.

Abstract: Current building projects on college and university campuses tend to be planned and funded according to commercial needs and opportunities. Often planning is done without faculty knowledge or advice. The result can be a distraction of the institution’s mission from its core values of service and community. Campus planners can avoid this distraction by making sure that faculty governance has its say before projects begin.

Abstract: In an era of state budget cuts and a tight economy, distributed learning is often seen as a way to address the needs of colleges and universities looking for additional revenue sources. Likewise, budding virtual universities, consortia, and corporate partnerships are now providing new ways for institutions to share resources across campuses. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the relevance of learning objects contained within digital repositories as they relate to institutional policy with regard to new distributed learning environments. This article describes how institutions of higher education have come to embrace the learning object model and what should be considered as they plan for further development in this area.