Learning Resources

Book Review: Stories from the Educational Underground

The New Frontier for Learning and Work

By: Jeffery L. Wilson, PhD, Reginald L. Stroble, EdD, and Gerron Scott, M.Ed

From Volume 50 Number 2 | January–March 2022

Abstract: Stories from the Educational Underground: The New Frontier for Learning and Work
by Peter Smith
Kendall Hunt Publishing: Dubuque, Iowa: 2021
148 pages
ISBN 978-1792472930

Planning Types: Academic Planning
Tags: Student Experience, Student Life / Student Affairs, Teaching and Learning, Underserved Students

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Partnerships Promote Inclusion

A university and a secondary school collaborate to decrease dropout rates and increase college enrollment

By: Vibhavari Jani, MA, and Tim Murrell, EdD

Intentional planning and a competency-based, personalized learning model empowers graduate students from the architecture discipline to assist secondary students in becoming knowledge seekers and design professionals.

From Volume 50 Number 2 | January–March 2022

Abstract: American industries, professional organizations, individual companies, and higher education institutions continue to struggle to attract employees from underrepresented populations. Future-forward thinking is required to ensure a multicultural workforce. The authors, a design educator at a predominantly white, Midwestern university, and a high school principal at a multicultural urban school district, developed an intentional collaboration—partnerships between secondary and postsecondary institutions—to bridge the gap. In this article, they share strategies they developed for recruiting and retaining underrepresented students through intentional planning and design of competency-based, personalized learning models.

Institutions Mentioned: Kansas State University
Planning Types: Academic Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Active Learning, Attracting and Retaining Underrepresented Students, Collaborative Design, Design Thinking, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Experiential Learning, External Collaboration / Partnerships, Fine and Performing Arts Education, K–12, Student Success, Teaching and Learning, Workforce Development

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Book Review: Broke

The Racial Consequences of Underfunding Public Universities

By: Karen Merritt, PhD

From Volume 50 Number 1 | October–December 2021

Abstract: by Laura T. Hamilton and Kelly Nielsen
The University of Chicago Press
294 pages
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-60540-1 (cloth)
ISBN-13:978-0-226-74745-3 (paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-74759 (e-book)

Institutions Mentioned: University of California-Merced, University of California-Riverside
Planning Types: Strategic Enrollment Management Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Attracting and Retaining Underrepresented Students, Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Enrollment Management, Funding, Governmental Policies and Regulations, Public Institution, Racial Equity, Underserved Students

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Space Jam

How to Accommodate Campus Events and Meetings This Fall

By: Chris Morett, PhD, MPP

Much of the conversation around the return to campus this fall has focused on academic courses. But other events and meetings will also need to be accommodated.

From Volume 49 Number 4 | July–September 2021

Abstract: This article discusses an approach for campus meetings and events, such as study sessions, student group meetings, guest speaker presentations, etc., this coming academic year. It also aims to leverage the discussion about near-term needs to generate a more conceptual and flexible understanding of programming, space use, and virtual interaction within higher education.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Facilities Planning, Informal Learning Environments, Landscape / Open Space, Space Management, Student Life / Student Affairs

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Keep on Keepin’ on

Customized Retention Practices Helped Low Income and Single Mom Students to Persist

By: Andrew J. Smith, EdD, and Jennifer Vamvakas, EdD

A support program for low-income and/or single-mother students to improve their persistence and retention was revisited 15 years after it had been launched at Charter Oak State College. Did follow-up with the graduates show that the effort had aided the former participants in obtaining their college degree? Had the collaboration between the institution’s Academic Services, Enrollment Management, and Financial Aid departments—and the support they offered—help the students to persevere? Based on survey results, was the program still of value, and what improvements needed to be made?

From Volume 49 Number 2 | January–March 2021

Abstract: This article is based on follow-up survey research from a doctoral case study that highlighted effective retention practices for low-income and/or single mothers who were students within the Women in Transition (WIT) program at Charter Oak State College. The concept of retention in this instance is an enrollment management practice aimed at maintaining a student population while aiding the institution in sustaining organizational success. Emphasis is placed on the retention concepts of social and academic integration that enabled the specific population to persist and succeed.

Institutions Mentioned: Charter Oak State College
Planning Types: Academic Planning
Tags: Assessment / Analytics, Attracting and Retaining Underrepresented Students, Measuring the Plan, Original Research, Student Retention, Student Success, Student Support Services, Underserved Students

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Universal Design in the Age of COVID-19

Changes Are Demanding That Campuses Include All Learners

By: Greg Havens

Demographics on campuses have changed, expectations for accessibility have increased, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to provide inclusive experiences for all learners. Thirty years after the ADA was signed into law, much has been achieved; however, there is more to be accomplished at colleges and universities if we are to provide inclusive experiences for all learners. A renewed approach to campus planning and design, informed by the principles of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning, and with a commitment to delivering hybridized online and in-person models of educational delivery, is needed now.

From Volume 48 Number 4 | July–September 2020

Abstract: In context of COVID-19, institutions are developing new approaches to online learning at an unprecedented pace. Looking ahead, this great experiment may offer lessons for broadening the definition of accessibility. Three decades after the Americans with Disabilities Act established minimum accessibility standards for the built environment, this moment of accelerated change presents a unique opportunity to utilize hybrid delivery models and universal design principles to rethink accessibility. Sasaki principal Greg Havens examines how continued emphasis on improvements to the physical environment, when combined with hybrid learning and services, could transform the way we plan the human-centered, accessible campuses of tomorrow.

Institutions Mentioned: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania
Planning Types: Campus Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Accessibility, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), COVID-19, Facilities Planning, Learning Environments, Online Learning, Underserved Students

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Telling the Untold Stories

George Mason University Frames the Conversation Around Its Institutional Namesake and His Legacy

By: Cathy Pinskey and Stephanie Wolfgang

Through historical study, outreach, and education, undergraduate students at George Mason University began research that developed into the Enslaved Children of George Mason Project. The goal was to broaden the university narrative, encourage discussion about American ideals of equality and freedom, and transform a complex historical legacy and memorial into an inclusive campus place for reflection and dialogue.

From Volume 48 Number 3 | April–June 2020

Abstract: This article discusses the processes and outcomes of recent efforts at George Mason University (GMU) to acknowledge and celebrate the lives of those individuals enslaved by the institution’s namesake. In an era of intense debate surrounding the legacies of historical figures in the United States, GMU seeks to set the example for one approach to dealing with the conversations: community-fostering dialogue. We discuss the use of sculptural elements to create a new monument that sits in discourse with an existing statue of George Mason IV, highlighting how undergraduate student research efforts can be leveraged to address topics of value to today’s campus communities.

Institutions Mentioned: George Mason University
Planning Types: Campus Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Active Learning, Engaging Stakeholders, Landscape / Open Space, Racial Equity

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Relic or Relevant

Is Stanford University’s Main Quad Still a Place for Community Engagement?

By: Sapna Marfatia, Maggie Burgett, and Margaret Dyer-Chamberlain

The university’s founders specified that the space that would become the Main Quad, along with its buildings, should facilitate human discourse and connection. Has it reached across generations to remain an active place for student life?

From Volume 48 Number 1 | October–December 2019

Abstract: The quadrangle is a medieval-European legacy adapted by American universities during the nineteenth century. Given technological advances and changes in society, is the nineteenth-century icon changing? Will the American campus look different in the future? With a selected group of students, faculty, alumni, and staff, we discussed the relevance—past, present, and future—of Stanford University’s Main Quadrangle—as a venue for discourse and community engagement. Despite it being a relic, we concluded that the Main Quad continues to be the heart of the Stanford campus community.

Institutions Mentioned: Stanford University, University of Oxford
Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Landscape / Open Space

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

If Tuition Rises . . .

. . . Does Racial and Ethnic Minority Student Enrollment Plummet?

By: QianQian Yu

When the cost of American higher education goes up, access to economic opportunity, social mobility, and positive academic outcomes are, subsequently, restricted for students of color. Campus admissions and retention planning professionals are first witnesses to the inequality.

From Volume 48 Number 1 | October–December 2019

Abstract: This article explores the impact of tuition increases on student retention and higher education admission and retention planning for racial and ethnic minorities. Research shows that the racial and ethnic minority student population on campus is negatively affected by tuition increases. Literature is examined for potential impacts of tuition increases on a student’s decision of school choice. And although literature provides little in the way of recommendations for resolving the issues associated with tuition increases, this article offers some suggestions for student retention planning.

Planning Types: Student Affairs Planning, Strategic Enrollment Management Planning, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Planning
Tags: Cost of Higher Ed, Racial Equity, Student Retention, Tuition Pricing, Underserved Students

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Planning for Higher Education Journal

Published
January 1, 2018

College Campus Landscapes Within a Learning Ecosystem

By: Kathleen G. Scholl,Gowri Betrabet Gulwadi

College campus landscapes may help restore student attentional capacity for learning when intentionally viewed as educational resources or integrated with academic content.

From Volume 46 Number 2 | January–March 2018

Abstract: College campus landscapes are touted as symbols of “greenness,” displaying trees, vegetation, and flowering bushes for aesthetic appeal. Features such as a lawn to sit on between classes or a tree to gather under for course sessions may collectively and purposefully enhance student capacity for cognitive functioning and information processing or, simply, “learning.” In a place of learning where virtual environments and campus landscapes coexist, attention is an essential element of perceptual and cognitive operations. A key goal of the study described in this article is to better understand how to leverage regular and purposeful interactions with campus landscapes to help restore student attentional capacity for learning.

Planning Types: Campus Planning
Tags: Landscape / Open Space, Learning Environments

Member Price:
Free | Login

Member-only Resource

Join now to have access

Planning Types

Challenges