The ultimate mission of student affairs work is to advance student learning. Although this occurs across campus, the professionals that work in residence life are uniquely situated in this process given the relatively high level of contact they have with students. Unlike most faculty members, however, the educational environment created by student affairs and residence life educators... Continue Reading →
ResLife Myth #1: Food is Necessary for Program Attendance
Roompact "Perspective" posts are opportunities for individual staff members to work out ideas and provide their individual thoughts and opinions on a given topic. Opinion pieces reflect the views of the individual authors and are presented to prompt discussion in our community. They do not necessarily represent those of Roompact. We've all heard it before: Residents... Continue Reading →
Residential Curriculum Element #4: Educational Strategies are Developed to Advance Learning Outcomes
A well known approach to education in the residence halls is the programming model. Typically, a programming model will involve a menu of different categories that structure and guide programmatic efforts. These categories may be based on a wellness wheel, or they may include broader categories such as "social," "multicultural," or "educational" programming. To fulfill a programming model's requirements, a student staff member... Continue Reading →
What is a Residential Curriculum? Curricular Approach? Residential Learning Model?
More and more, residence life and education programs are moving to a curricular approach for their educational efforts, but what is a "curriculum"? In informal discourse the term “residential curriculum” is used to describe an intentional way of promoting learning in college and university residence life and education programs. A residential curriculum, however, is a very specific... Continue Reading →