2010 Greater Expectations Institute
Leadership to Make Excellence Inclusive
June 15-19, 2010 |
Vanderbilt University |
Nashville, TN
Institute Curriculum
The Institute emphasizes active participation in a relaxed
environment that fosters open communication within and across teams and
with Institute faculty members who are nationally recognized scholars and
practitioners. The schedule features:
- daily team time to work on developing a campus action plan;
- plenary sessions, seminars, and semistructured interactions with
other campus teams to discuss research, effective practices, and hallmarks
of successful institutional change; and
- ndividual team consultations with Institute faculty to address specific
challenges your institution faces in developing learning-centered
environments.
Themes addressed in the advance readings, the presentations, and the discussions
will include:
- raising expectations for student learning;
- closing achievement gaps among various student populations;
- nurturing students’ cognitive complexity, intercultural learning, and
education for personal and social responsibility;
- examining student performance and high-impact practices;
- creating new designs for academic excellence and effective assessment;
- making excellence inclusive and engaging diversity as an educational
resource and catalyst for institutional renewal;
- building faculty capacity for student-centered teaching and learning and
high-impact practices; and
- garnering financial resources for leading comprehensive educational
change and involving students, faculty, and staff in widespread change
efforts.
What do Campus Teams Accomplish?
Campus leadership teams come to the Institute to advance a specific educational change project. The Institute helps campus teams develop and strengthen learning environments and align their specific project with their institution’s mission. While at the Institute, teams may clarify desired outcomes, create a comprehensive vision for change, refine planning and processes, and work to build a culture of high expectations for student learning and for institutional effectiveness. The Institute’s framework rests on two beliefs: that a high-quality, practical liberal education should be the standard of excellence for all students, and that diversity and intercultural competence are essential elements of a contemporary liberal education. AAC&U is a national resource for campuses seeking to create and sustain diverse and effective learning environments. The Institute focuses on developing the collaborative leadership needed to do so.
Institute activities are designed to help each team create an action plan to
implement significant educational change on campus. Individually, each
team works to refine its own project goals and strategies. Collectively,
participants build their leadership capacity to strengthen and sustain
change efforts over time. To accomplish these goals, the 2010 Institute
provides in-depth study, analysis, and resources in three areas.
Area One:
Building Campus Capacity to Advance Educational Change
While campus projects will vary, all Greater Expectations Institute
campus teams work on increasing the quality of learning for all students.
The Institute will be particularly helpful for campuses interested in
AAC&U’s work related to Greater Expectations, Liberal Education and
America’s Promise (LEAP), and Making Excellence Inclusive. Examples of projects from past Institutes include:
- reforming a first-year program to deepen the level of academic
challenge and support, and engage all students with diversity and
civic responsibility;
- integrating curricular and cocurricular learning to increase student
engagement and success;
- structuring reaccreditation efforts around a comprehensive set of
student learning outcomes; and
- reframing an institution’s approach to diversity so that it enhances
both student and organizational learning.
Area Two:
Engaging Diverse Campus Cultures and Priorities
Understanding campus cultures enables teams to more effectively
design and implement successful, comprehensive initiatives. Prior to
the Institute, teams will be asked to review current institutional goals,
programs, and resources, and analyze how they contribute to student
inclusion, engagement, and success. Once in Nashville, teams will
explore the ways in which their own campus cultures may both nurture
and impede their work.
Area Three:
Aligning Educational Priorities with Institutional Practices and
Structures of Support
Teams work on ways to connect their projects to institutional mission
and practices, to use campus data for organizational learning and
decision making, and to ensure that campus structures support newly
proposed actions or programs. The Institute helps teams leverage existing
knowledge, programs, and resources; enhance communication; and
identify potential collaborators to create powerful educational environments
for all students.
More than 250 teams representing all types and sizes of higher education
institutions have participated in past Institutes. Overwhelmingly, they report
that the experience offers significant assistance in planning and managing
educational change. Once back on campus, teams regularly utilize Institute
resources to build shared commitment for their educational change efforts.
Some teams have developed their own leadership seminars and faculty retreats
based on the Institute’s curriculum, while others have established comprehensive
assessment efforts. Many teams have combined isolated projects into coherent
structures of support to improve underserved student success.
See the sidebar to review materials from past Institutes or contact Nakia Bell at 202-387-3760 x. 407 or bell@aacu.org.
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