Residence life and education, residential curriculum and curricular approaches, student housing, and technology.
Once a department or division articulates the goals, outcomes, and objectives it hopes to achieve, and they've undergone the work to rubric, map, and sequence these objectives, the final step in the process is the development of an overall educational plan. Educational plans function much like blueprints. As plans, they outline time-based progression through the... Continue Reading →
An important element of developing residential curriculum involves scaffolding and sequencing learning. Rubrics, or tools developed for the purposes of scoring and rating development along a scale, can be useful in this scaffolding and sequencing process. As discussed earlier, residential curriculum rubrics break down learning outcomes into successive stages of development and mastery. Although coming... Continue Reading →
Once you have decided on your educational priority, learning goals, narratives, and learning outcomes, and developed rubrics, it is time to begin putting these educational objectives into action through strategies. Strategies are the vehicles for educational delivery. They can include activities such as programs and events, newsletters, and guided community or individual conversations. Facilitation guides... Continue Reading →
Transitioning to a residential curriculum is as much about educational plan development as it is about organizational change. The reason for this is that curricular approaches are often paradigmatic change--change predicated on an entirely new set of premises. In other words, rather than just rearranging the furniture in the room, you're changing the entire room... Continue Reading →
In a recent post to the Residential Curriculum Facebook page, a number of folks started sharing what's on their reading list related to residential student learning, education, and curriculum. Since summer time is typically a great occasion to catch up on reading and other work, we curated this list of "summer readings" from their suggestions.... Continue Reading →
At the most recent Convention of ACPA - College Student Educators International, I had the opportunity to present a PechaKucha-style presentation on residential curriculum and curricular approaches to student affairs work. In this video I discuss why we need a curricular approach, how the movement started, what curricular approaches entail, and how we can move... Continue Reading →
One of the most important aspects of developing residence hall curriculum is the establishment of assessment practices that measure student learning. The use of Bloom's Taxonomy and its related verbs can help in this regard by ensuring that the outcomes we seek to achieve are specific and measurable. But how do we actually do the... Continue Reading →
Goals and narratives are perhaps the least appreciated, understood, and often confused components of a residential curriculum. In reviewing the cascade of learning objectives in a curriculum, one starts with an educational priority. An educational priority is a broad summary statement of what students will learn as a result of their participation in the curriculum.... Continue Reading →
Curricular approaches are more than just writing and defining learning priorities, goals, outcomes. In many ways, implementing a curricular approach is as much about organizational change as it is about defining a structure. This is one of the reasons why Kerr, Tweedy, Edwards, and Kimmel (2017) call it a "paradigm shift." The word "paradigm" is most... Continue Reading →
Roompact "Perspective" posts are opportunities for individual staff members to work out ideas and provide their individual thoughts and opinions on a given topic. Our vantage point at Roompact gives us unique insights into the industry. Given the large number of schools we work with and interact with, we're often able to begin to see... Continue Reading →
Intentional conversations, or structured interactions between residents and peer leaders, are increasingly being used as integral components of educational efforts in the residence halls. At the most recent International Convention of ACPA - College Student Educators International in Houston, Texas, I had the pleasure of presenting with Hilary Lichterman on some high impact practices associated... Continue Reading →
Given that the curricular approach is relatively new in student affairs circles, there is a need for tools and resources that can help campuses and departments assess the effectiveness of their efforts. I, along with Ryan Lloyd, recently had the pleasure of presenting on two such resources at the 2018 International Convention of NASPA -... Continue Reading →
Technology has always impacted the way we communicate, but within the past decade, this has accelerated. Folks in housing and residence life have witnessed some of these changes first hand, including students not reading or responding to email, roommate conflicts being addresses through chat apps, and bullying occurring on social media platforms. Mobile devices, cloud... Continue Reading →
Developing a culture of continuous improvement within your housing and residence life department requires one to put structures in place to gather assessment data and utilize that data to make change. Furthermore, it requires the identification and standards against which a department can compare their progress and determine and prioritize goals. Within the area of... Continue Reading →
Before embarking on a curricular approach, it is important to conduct an audit, or archeological dig, to surface important characteristics and concepts that should be present and accounted for in your curriculum. As Siri Espy states, “Much like an archeological dig, your mission is to start with a set of bones and construct a skin... Continue Reading →
In developing a residential curriculum, one of the first tasks a residence life department undertakes is the establishment of an educational priority. An educational priority is summative statement of what students will learn by their participation in a curriculum. An educational priority is broad, informed by research and theory, and contextualized to an individual campus and student population.... Continue Reading →
Roompact "Perspective" posts are opportunities for individual staff members to work out ideas and provide their individual thoughts and opinions on a given topic. There are a number of practices in residential life and education that have become commonplace, but that don't always advance our roles as educators and student affairs professionals. Over my many years... Continue Reading →
Employing a Residential Curriculum entails building a residence life program that is learning-centered. Previous movements within residence life focused more narrowly on wellness or community. Moving towards a learning-centered orientation is often more intentional, more transformational, more holistic, and leads to better outcomes for students. Making this shift, however, does not necessarily entail that one doesn’t engage in education around issues of... Continue Reading →
