Reflections of a First Time Attendee at ACPA’s Institute on the Curricular Approach

Guest Post by Christopher Trautman, Residence Life Professional, The College of New Jersey This past month in Baltimore, MD, ACPA held their 15th annual Institute on the Curricular Approach (ICA). The Institute teaches student affairs professionals how to design and implement out-of-class experiences for students that facilitate learning in an intentionally designed and sequenced way. I... Continue Reading →

Restorative Practices in ResLife: Prioritizing Connection in Intentional Conversations & Interactions

This post is one in a series about integrating Restorative Practices into a model for residential learning.ย  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 →

5 โ€œDoโ€™sโ€ and โ€œDonโ€™tsโ€ for Student Staff Training Around Intentional Conversations

Though Intentional Conversations are meant to be casual conversations between student staff and their residents, these chats still require some degree of training and preparation. While professional staff members work to create a lesson plan or Intentional Conversation guide that models the goals and desires of their residential curriculum, significant thought should also be put... Continue Reading →

Curricular Approach Q&A: Where Can I Find Peer Institutions To Collaborate With And Benchmark?

Whether you're just starting your journey towards a curricular approach or whether you're looking to improve your current practice, connecting with peer institutions for idea generation, collaboration, and benchmarking can be incredible useful and there are a number of different avenues available to you. One of the easiest places to begin connecting is by attending... Continue Reading →

๐Ÿฆ  ResLife & Corona Episode 5: Are you doing Intentional Conversations? You probably should be.

In episode 5 of Roompact's series on residence life and education during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Paul Brown discusses how intentional conversations as a strategy in your engagement with students can be especially useful during this time. Intentional Conversations are one-on-one meetings between student staff and residents that are guided by a suggested set of... Continue Reading →

Curricular Approach Q&A: Can a Curricular Approach Work on a Campus with a Large Commuter Population?

Yes. A curricular approach to student affairs work utilizes the processes and methods of teachers in the classroom and adapts it to the out-of-class setting. Setting learning objectives and planning strategies and engagements with students works regardless of whether they live on campus or not. You may need to think about your curriculum differently, however.... Continue Reading →

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