Learning Resources

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: Planning for a division within a university can be difficult; you must align to the larger institutional plan while also considering your division's unique mission and challenges. This session will describe the strategic planning process for a college within a university. We'll describe how we included more than 500 stakeholders, discussed enrollment declines and the upcoming demographic changes that will impact most colleges, and how we focused the plan on mission and innovation. You will leave with a blueprint for the planning process we used, from self study to training facilitators to final plan release.

Abstract: Higher education’s resource situation is not good and is not expected to get better in the foreseeable future. Elite and wealthy institutions are relatively immune to these pressures, but the overwhelming majority of other institutions are continually struggling to match resources to mission. Several actions, though difficult and painful, would help reduce the gap between available resources and those needed to meet stakeholders’ needs. This session focuses on the need to employ a coordinated and aligned approach to planning, resource allocation, and assessment. It goes on to describe a proven practice for utilizing all three to match resources to mission—strategic resource allocation. Finally, it offers suggestions for initiating the conversation on your campus.

Abstract: Many institutions are engaged in concurrent, overlapping institutional change initiatives. Being able to plan and align improvement efforts while including all stakeholders without duplicating effort requires new tools and skills. We will share how Olympic College used the planning for a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to design improvements in our student-facing systems. You will practice different techniques and tools to visualize institutional processes and identify alignment. We will discuss the use of traditional business management tools to map institutional structures, create cross-departmental capacities, and guide cross-functional teams.