Learning Resources

Abstract: Using a case study, this article describes a method by which higher education institutions construct and use multiple future scenarios and simulations to plan strategically: to create visions of their futures, chart broad directions (mission and goals), and select learning and delivery strategies so as to achieve those broad directions. The four scenarios described in this article are written by combining two assumed “external” sets of future trends and conditions with two “internal” sets of institutional policies. Simulation of future college enrollment under each scenario enables planners not only to mitigate uncertainty and explore implications of different numbers of students but also to analyze the characteristics of these students to design educational content and delivery that is learning centered and, therefore, likely to be effective. The simulations also frame fiscal issues for a broad range of future conditions, thereby alerting planners to long-range strategies and options such as distance learning, partnering, and differential pricing, among others, that might not otherwise have been pursued.

Abstract: This case study analyzes the impact of Indiana’s Twenty-First Century Scholars college tuition discount program on the academic self-efficacy of high-risk, low-income students. The program is designed to increase the number of high-risk individuals attending college. The self-efficacy “training” of the program helps instill and reinforce the idea that success or failure coincides with internal effort and not external factors. Surveys were completed by 55 program participants and 42 institutional representatives at different colleges in Indiana. The program increased students’ understanding of the feasibility of attaining a college degree, heightened students’ academic confidence, and improved their overall self-esteem. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this program for academic planners developing programs to help high-risk students succeed in college.

Abstract: In this article, we discuss a method for developing and writing scenarios for a college or university. We begin by reviewing the general literature on scenarios; we then detail a scenario development project at Arizona State University. This project, conducted in 1988–89, was Arizona State University's first institution-wide, futures-based planning and scenario development effort. The focus of the project for Arizona State University was planning and programming for affirmative action. An outside consultant facilitated the group-process portion of the project and instructed university staff in scenario development. Staff in the university's Office of Institutional Analysis then developed and wrote a set of three scenarios to guide the university's affirmative action programming and planning during the decade of the nineties.

Abstract: Among the many reforms currently sweeping higher education is the growing demand that formal educational opportunity be opened to adults. The result has been expansion of traditional continuing education and extension programs as well as a plethora of new and experimental programs aimed at the adult student. In an attempt to bring some order out of the resulting chaos, Jane Lord, a researcher for Educational Facilities Laboratories, and Ronald H. Miller, project coordinator for the New York City Regional Center for Life-Long Learning at Pace College, have reviewed the literature on adult education to produce this article, discussing the trends and the options open to institutions of higher education. An extensive bibliography is included.