Residence life and education, residential curriculum and curricular approaches, student housing, and technology.
As a facilitator of residential curriculum and curricular approach workshops, one of the challenges I have is how to explain the process in a way that makes sense to attendees. One of the reasons this is challenging, is that curricular approaches introduce a number of new terms and use those terms in very specific ways.... Continue Reading →
This post is one in a series about integrating Restorative Practices into a model for residential learning. Start with the introduction as a primer and explore posts on other strategies you can utilize with a restorative lens.| Introduction | Roommate Agreements | Floor Meetings & Circles | Curriculum Development | Residential Curriculum | Intentional Conversations... Continue Reading →
A curricular approach is sequenced and scaffolded to follow a student's learning journey through the institution over time. Just as you need to take a 101 course before moving on to a more advanced 201 or 301 course, a co-curriculum follows this same progression. Many institutions that begin developing a curriculum focus on their first... Continue Reading →
The short answer is: none. Facilitation guides and lesson plans are two terms used for the same thing. They are the detailed guides that an educator can use to implement a specific strategy. So, for example, if I were going a study skills workshop, the lesson plan or facilitation guide would list the specific outcomes... Continue Reading →
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a unique challenge for maintaining residential education and campus community in a time of social distancing and abrupt transitions to online and hybridized learning format. The role of residential education, however, is more critical than ever. Aiding students in identifying support networks, making connections with others, and the sharing of timely and... Continue Reading →
This free webinar series, hosted by Roompact in collaboration with the University of South Florida Department of Residential Education, was designed for scholar-practitioners to explore, analyze, and evaluate innovative engagement practices to enhance student success and academic excellence. This four-week series has intentionally scaffolded learning to allow subject matter experts to share strategies, techniques, and... Continue Reading →
We're excited to release the fourth edition of our eBook on residential curriculum and curricular approaches, written by Dr. Paul Gordon Brown and sponsored by Roompact. The content is expanded from the third edition and now includes more visuals and worksheets. As before, it remains freely available for you to download and use. Whether you're... Continue Reading →
Roompact is proud to sponsor of ACPA's Institute on the Curricular Approach. Offered annually to educators and professionals in residence life and education, the Institute is a three day series of sequential workshops and sessions that teach participants how to implement a curricular approach to education in residence life and student affairs. As provider of software that... Continue Reading →
Roompact is proud to sponsor of ACPA's Institute on the Curricular Approach. Offered annually to educators and professionals in residence life and education, the Institute is a three day series of sequential workshops and sessions that teach participants how to implement a curricular approach to education in residence life and student affairs. As provider of software that... Continue Reading →
Roompact is proud to sponsor of ACPA's Institute on the Curricular Approach. Offered annually to educators and professionals in residence life and education, the Institute is a three day series of sequential workshops and sessions that teach participants how to implement a curricular approach to education in residence life and student affairs. As provider of software that... Continue Reading →
When conceiving of programmatic efforts, there can be a tendency to focus on the overall number of programs instead of their quality. For example, within residence life, many program models require that staff members must complete x number of events or programs per semester. Relying on an overall number of programs, however, ignores an important variable... Continue Reading →
The following is part of a series of blog posts addressing a number of areas related to developing a training program for RAs and student staff members working within a residential curriculum model. Posts included in this series are: An Overview Tone Setting and Basics Involving RAs and Generating Buy-In Sequencing and Planning Resources and... Continue Reading →
As one of the essential elements of a curricular approach, assessment should occur at all levels of your curriculum. This includes on-the-ground assessment of individual learning activities, but also broader based assessment of overall curriculum effectiveness. One way of achieving this broader-based assessment is to utilize data collection instruments you may already be using and... Continue Reading →
Transitioning to a curricular approach represents a cultural shift. A department can have well-articulated goals, outcomes, and educational plans, but a residential curriculum will never be successful without the necessary cultural and organizational change that comes along with it. For residence life departments, in particular, this means preparing your student staff members for this shift,... Continue Reading →
Roompact and ACPA - College Student Educators International are happy to announce that they’ve entered a formal partnership agreement. Roompact and ACPA will work together on case studies, software development, educational development, and marketing initiatives. “ACPA is the leader in our field when it comes to supporting and fostering college student learning. Our company and... Continue Reading →
Perspective Roompact "Perspective" posts are opportunities for individual staff members to work out ideas and provide their individual thoughts and opinions on a given topic. I attended my first Institute on the Curricular Approach (then the Residential Curriculum Institute) in 2010. Since that point I have attended 8 of the 12 total Institutes and served... Continue Reading →
Because developing a residential curriculum entails refocusing your departmental efforts towards student learning, it necessarily follows that you must develop a culture of assessment. A culture of assessment is one in which decisions are data-driven and tested through the design, implementation, and review of assessment measures. As Lakos and Phipps (2004) describe it, a culture of... Continue Reading →
Curricular development is a complex process that involves planning and organizational change. It is a process that takes year, not months. Each institution, or within each division or department, there may be unique contextual factors that may influence the development timeline of a curricular implementation. Although it is difficult to develop a timeline that is... Continue Reading →
