The Residential Curriculum Institute defines a curriculum as having 10 "Essential Elements." These are the features and principles that a residence life department's educational program should adhere to if it is to be considered a "true" residential curriculum. In 2013, while in my PhD program, I conducted some research on schools implementing this curricular approach. I wanted to find out... Continue Reading →
The “Residential Curriculum Edition” of our “Student Affairs Training Card” Business Cards
We previously released Series 1 of our Student Affairs Trading Card business cards and it's time for a second series. In honor of Roompact's partnership with the ACPA Institute on the Curricular Approach (formerly RCI), we've designed business cards that pay homage to the original ten essential elements of a residential curriculum. That's right! These... Continue Reading →
Residential Curriculum Element #6: Student Staff Are Utilized in Roles Appropriate To Their Skill Development
In residence life and education, student staff members are some of our most important partners in the educational process. They are our front-line on-the-ground staff and are integral to promoting student learning. As peers, student staff members are often best positioned to help their fellow students in ways that professional staff members can't. There are also some roles,... 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 →