Learning Resources

Abstract: Higher education is a kind of game, a challenging journey with a reward at the end. As such, college and university planners should think of their campuses as large, interactive gameboards so as to create future learning environments that students will demand and need in order to be workforce and life ready.

Abstract: Many institutions struggle to promote liberal arts education in today's changing world. Hampshire College provides a model for how resource-limited campuses can leverage their sustainability assets to support curricular and community transformation. Hampshire is reinventing itself for a sustainable future, using its environmental assets (a campus farm and living building) to support a new transdisciplinary curriculum and student experience. This session will help you leverage environmental assets in applied transdisciplinary learning to prepare students for a sustainable future.

Abstract: Discover how the University of Pittsburgh delivers diverse expertise and support to communities in need through an off-campus community engagement center initiative. Colleges and universities have a responsibility to use their expansive expertise and knowledge to assist and inspire community members and to broaden the student's perspective. Through a candid discussion about our collective experiences and lessons learned in this new community outreach effort, we will provide you with a roadmap of the various obstacles you must consider at your own institution.

Abstract: Institutions are managing numerous student success initiatives simultaneously, but they lack the necessary data and infrastructure to evaluate outcomes. They also struggle to clearly link a particular initiative to a specific individual outcome. Using prediction-based propensity score matching (PPSM), a methodology compliant with the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse’s requirements, we facilitated the analysis of key initiatives to measure efficacy, ensuring that outcomes of students participating are compared to control students with similar propensity. The recent work explored in this article helps two institutions understand the impact of their innovation and more precisely scale student support.

Abstract: This article introduces an emerging, innovative practice in higher education: Integrated Planning and Advising for Student Success (iPASS). A research-based iPASS implementation framework is examined through a case study of Guttman Community College (CUNY), which is one year into its iPASS work. This case study, which shares practices and initial findings that include high levels of student, faculty, and staff engagement, is relevant to practitioners and academic leaders considering the use of, or in the early stages of, an iPASS approach, as well as those interested in effectively integrating technology that leads to improved student success and transformative institutional change.

Abstract: As the challenges that students face become increasingly complex and interwoven, student service providers must innovate in order to continue to connect users to their offerings. Moreover, those services must be planned for holistically with an aligned understanding of why, what, where, when, and how they will be delivered. This article draws on brightspot strategy’s work with more than 50 leading universities as an experience design and strategy consultancy as well as best practices from the field to share some of the approaches, tools, and lessons learned in designing services to meet the needs of today’s students.

Abstract: The article discusses the challenges that community colleges face in increasing college degree completion in an era of budget reductions and fiscal constraints. The analysis draws on data collected in the 2011 Survey of Access and Finance in which responses were obtained from all 51 members of the National Council of State Directors of Community Colleges (NCSDCC).

Abstract: Over the course of two years, The New School, a New York City university established in 1919 by philosopher John Dewey and other prominent Progressive Era scholars, partnered with the Stevens Institute of Technology, a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey, founded in 1870. The partnering universities entered—and were selected as one of 20 finalists of—a biannual, international competition among higher education institutions to design and build an energy-efficient house. Typically, the competition draws significant public attention because of its focus on showcasing innovative technologies to advance energy savings. (All 20 finalist houses—this time, including the New School–Stevens “Empowerhouse”—are displayed on the National Mall in Washington, DC.) As well, the competition spurs innovation among students and provides an extraordinary “real-world” educational experience. Five of us who worked on this project discuss the challenges and benefits of an inter-institutional approach that also centered on collaboration with multiple community partners including Habitat for Humanity of Washington, DC, several DC government agencies, and community-based organizations in the DC neighborhood of Deanwood, where the competition house would ultimately be relocated and reconstructed as a two-family Habitat for Humanity residence. The project involved more than 200 students over a multiyear period working on and employing their academic preparation in areas including community engagement, advocacy, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, environmental policy, sustainability management, fashion design, lighting design, organizational change management, urban policy, environmental studies, architecture, and product design.