Bringing Theory to Practice

Objectives and Strategies

Available below is information on BTtoP's Objectives, Strategies and Framing Documents.

Objectives

I. To explore the connection of forms of engaged learning to the health of students with the objectives of increasing the full and healthy development of each learner, fostering productive interrelationships among the elements of liberal education including learning, individual realization, and the forming and sustaining of a civic society.

II. To increase the number of institutions that effectively address campus issues in order to achieve these outcomes, to provide resources to help them do so, and to assist campuses as they consider additional ways to prevent or intervene in responding to incidences of student mental health-related problems and abusive behaviors.

III. To encourage greater utilization of the fundamental academic strengths of institutions to support healthy student development. To encourage cross-campus discussions and the valuing of the interdependency of student affairs and academic affairs.

IV. To increase the involvement of faculty in changing the practices of culture of the academy to focus on teaching and learning methods that contribute to students' success as well as their health and civic development.

V. To increase the involvement of students in bringing about these changes - on campuses and in the communities that they affect.

VI. To increase institutional attention and commitment to the linkages the Project addresses and to create systems of support, reward and maintenance that value them, and to thereby institutionalize the means that can be determined to promote the learning, the well-being, and the civic development of students.

Strategies

Campus Action Research and Projects

BTtoP provides resources and support to colleges and universities that are exploring how the goals they hold in common with the Project can be realized. More than 300 colleges and universities are connected with the Project. In addition, more than 100 colleges and universities have received grant support provided by BTtoP.

Demonstration and Intensive Sites

Institutions were chosen for our Demonstration and Intensive Site programs through a competitive grant proposal and selection process. These institutions are working to advance the goals of the project and provide multi-year data and replicable models for others in higher education. During BTtoP's 2004-2007 and 2007-2010 funding period, a small set of campus-based demonstration projects were designed, implemented and sustained. During the 2007-2010 period BTtoP also funded BTtoP is currently supporting an additional round of demonstration projects within the 2010-2012 funding period.

Commissioned Research

The BTtoP cost study identifies costs related to resources, personnel and programming employed by colleges and universities as they address the various symptoms of student disengagement. The study compares such costs and related trends over a five-year period among a limited sample of colleges and universities of different categories and sizes. The results provide benchmarks for institutional comparison.

Sponsored Conferences and Workshops

A National Annual Working Conference is held in conjunction with AAC&U's Annual Meeting. The themed conference provides information, access to resources, awareness, and training for campus teams to initiate or sustain relevant programmatic activities on their campus.
Regional conferences take place in areas where BTtoP grantee institutions reside. Bringing together area institutions allows for the sharing of common issues and challenges without the expense of traveling to a national conference. The significant benefits of the regional gathering are the increased likelihood of sustained interactions among those from different campuses, as well as the reliable use of models or insights gained from colleagues.
Student conferences occur every two years. Participants are generally those on grantee campuses, but the conferences are open to all college and university students. The Student Conferences are a useful vehicle for BTtoP to gauge the true character of current college and university campus cultures, by preserving the student voice within the Project, allowing students to speak from their perspective on the Project's work as it relates to their mental health and overall well-being, as well as their commitment to civic engagement.
Retrieval conferences and specific workshops are designed for our grantee campuses to provide access to colleagues and peers at other grantee institutions, allowing them to discuss the most current and challenging issues faced in implementing their own BTtoP grant-funded projects and research.

Framing Documents

Below are documents that will provide a better understanding of BTtoP's past and future and its model and vision for change in higher education.