Learning Resources

Abstract: Applying design thinking to strategic and academic plan development can help identify innovative priorities and create a sense of ownership at the individual level, establishing buy-in through the planning process. In this session, we'll explore how a regional comprehensive university incorporated design thinking throughout the development of its strategic and academic plans. Come learn how to employ design thinking to actively engage diverse stakeholders in the planning process, creating alignment and laying the groundwork for an integrated approach to implementation.

Abstract: This session will discuss how we used the Living Community Challenge (LCC) to frame master planning for San Francisco State University's Romberg Tiburon Campus. LCC is a next-generation approach to sustainable and resilient planning and design, with aggressive energy and water goals. We will demonstrate how we used an LCC-focused master planning process for a bayfront site to integrate facilities conditions, programming, site analyses, impacts of climate change and sea level rise, and net-positive energy and water for more healthy and productive research and learning environment.

Abstract: Literature points out that big data and analytics (BDA) still fails to positively influence institutional planning—even though it's promoted as a novel approach to improving efficiency and effectiveness. What limits the usefulness of BDA? Researchers point to a lack of conceptual models that translate information into meaningful signals. Nonsense! We're using a metrics-based planning framework that's producing remarkable outcomes. We'll share our framework and how you can apply this concept at your institution.

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: With climate change bringing dramatic demographic, economic, and weather changes, universities and colleges must be prepared for risks to the campus's buildings, landscapes, and infrastructure that could disrupt operations. This session explores the intertwined concepts of risk management and resilience planning. You will learn about best practices in campus resilience planning, and try a simple resilience assessment tool for identifying, prioritizing, and planning for potential risks. You can take this useful Excel-based tool back to your institution to identify the top risks that should be prioritized in campus planning efforts.

Abstract: Designing equitable spaces is an important part of closing the achievement gap between white students and students of color. Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) in facilities planning is a way to step back, reflect, and look for ways our current environments—and the processes used to create them—hinder or discourage students of color. Students leaders and the project coordinator will share how Portland Community College (PCC) has applied CRT and participatory action research to foreground the leadership and insights of students in campus planning and design.

Abstract: FLEXSpace—The Flexible Learning Environments eXchange—and the Learning Space Rating System (LSRS) are tools that can help you plan, design, assess, and improve learning spaces on your campus. In this session, you will learn about the newly released FLEXspace 2.0 along with the LSRS. We'll cover the features and benefits of both tools and how they can be incorporated into the planning process. Come learn how to use these tools to inform designs and support end users from planning through post occupancy.

Abstract: Introverts constitute a large percentage of campus populations, especially in STEM institutions, yet the higher education climate is moving towards an extroverted pedagogy. Much of campus design today is centered on an extroverted conception of engagement and community. How do you design for both personalities? This session will explore the introvert’s voice in creating these shared living and learning environments. Come learn how to plan and design a campus environment that provides a sense of layering—from refuge to public engagement—to address the needs of all students.

Abstract: A new, statewide accessibility policy along with rapidly changing technology spurred Washington's community and technical colleges to develop and adopt a more collaborative strategic planning process. This session will review a statewide technology accessibility planning process, how it was jumpstarted, and demonstrate tools that you can use to lead more collaborative planning processes at your institution.

Abstract: Financial stability is critical to success in college. The new economics of college create conditions of poverty for many students. It’s an outdated assumption that if a young person works hard enough, they’ll be able to get a college degree and be on the path to a good life. That’s simply not true anymore.

Points of entry to higher education are increasingly out of reach. Increased enrollment of lower- and moderate-income students coupled with inadequate employment opportunities and high college prices mean that making ends meet while attending college can be very difficult. In fact, a growing body of evidence suggests that a previously unnoticed challenge has emerged: basic needs insecurity. Goldrick-Rab’s seminal research provides a better understanding of the complexity and the urgency of the crisis that many students face. She communicates a transformational vision for higher education in America that stresses affordability and access for all, especially lower- to middle-income students and first-generation college students.

Sara Goldrick-Rab is best known for her innovative research on food and housing insecurity in higher education, having led the three largest national studies on the subject, and for her work on making public higher education free. She is the recipient of the William T. Grant Foundation’s Faculty Scholars Award and the American Educational Research Association’s Early Career Award, and in 2016 POLITICO magazine named her one of the top 50 people shaping American politics. Her latest book, Paying the Price: College Costs, Financial Aid, and the Betrayal of the American Dream (University of Chicago, 2016), is an Amazon best-seller and a 2018 winner of the Grawemeyer Award, and has been featured on The Daily Show With Trevor Noah. The Chronicle of Higher Education calls her “a defender of impoverished students and a scholar of their struggles,” she is ranked 6th in the nation among education scholars according to Education Week, and in April 2018 the Carnegie Corporation awarded her the Carnegie Fellowship.