Navigating Institutions Through Integrative Learning Paradigms

1. Navigating Institutions Through Integrative Learning Paradigms Larry Roper Oregon State University

2. Session Goals • Share Oregon State University’s process for gaining alignment and creating more integrated learning across campus • Share challenges and possibilities • Share leadership-related learning gained from pursuing partnerships

3. Context According to AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation, Integrative Learning includes: • Connecting skills and knowledge from multiple sources and experiences; • Applying theory to practice in various settings; • Utilizing diverse and even contradictory points of view; and, • Understanding issues and positions contextually.

4. Selected Integrative Learning Experiences at OSU • First-year Experience • Footsteps • Group-specific Odyssey sections (e.g., Disabilities, 25+, Polynesian, African-Am.) • Transitional Learning Communities (TLC’s) • Austin Entrepreneurship Program (AEP) • Disciplinary learning communities • Service-Learning opportunities • Applied learning projects (e.g., DPD) • Intercollegiate Athletics

5. Commitment to Professional Development and Leadership • Investment in assessment-related learning • Investment in enhancing knowledge of student learning • Investment in practical application of faculty learning (institutes, workshops, planning sessions) • Funding experimentation and pilot activities

6. Key Concepts at Play • Learning and shared background of understanding are essential • Learning and growth sustain energy • Collaboration builds and sustains culture • Productivity inspires and energizes • Choice works better than force

7. Learning Declarations • Learning relationships are rooted in care – for the condition of the mind, spirit, life circumstance, and future journey of the learner. • Learning is a generative activity – it connects faculty and students as living links in our history and our destiny. • The scope, condition and permeability of our learning environment are the most profound expressions of our commitment to our mission. • The strength of our collaborations is a powerful indicator of the sustainability of our efforts. • Learning serves to heal, repair and reconcile social ills by empowering individuals and groups. • Stories provide potent evidence of the strength, power and substance of our learning environment. • Teaching is an act of responsibility, facilitating learning is an act of social justice, assessing learning is an act care and accountability.

8. Partnership Imperatives Essential for the Promotion of Student Learning • Nurturing a perspective that student learning emerges through a partnership among students, faculty and staff; • Student affairs and academic colleagues working together to share perspectives concerning what constitutes “learning” – an on-going conversation where agreement may not necessarily be achieved • Student and academic affairs colleagues sharing responsibility for scanning the environment to identify opportunities for collaboration and partnership to promote and measure student learning • Academic and student affairs colleagues sharing responsibility for convening those conversations that are essential to address student learning and campus assessment issues

9. Partnership Imperatives Essential for the Promotion of Student Learning • Translating campus incidents into learning opportunities – seizing opportunities to place the university’s mission, educational objectives and commitment to learning at the center of problem solving situations • Placing the academic/educational mission of the university at the center of the student affairs enterprise and using the mission as the basis for thinking, planning, acting and assessment • Embedding the mission components of teaching, research and service into the life of the student affairs culture and pursuing partnership opportunities in all three areas • On-going dialogue and assessment with prospective and enrolled students so that we have clarity about the different (and evolving) ways that students define and pursue learning

10. Next Steps • What learning enhancing areas are most ripe for new partnerships between academic and student affairs colleagues on you campus? • What approaches to student learning and assessment can be used to uncover the depth and complexity of students’ learning on your campus? • Where do opportunities exist to collaborate across your campus to enhance integrative learning? • Who is best positioned to convene conversations to explore those possibilities?

11. Our Process and Progress • Spring 1996 - Student Affairs Campus Compact process identified assessment as one of 5 key initiatives for the SA Division • Spring 1996 - Creation of Student Affairs Assessment Committee with charge from Vice Provost of Student Affairs • 1997-1999 SA sends committee members to on-going assessment training conducted by NASPA • 1997-1998 SA Assessment Committee created brochure outlining assessment practices for SA departments

12. Our Process and Progress • February 1999 SA Assessment Committee creates and distributes best practices booklet for assessment in the Division • February 1999 SA Assessment Committee brings Dr. Gary Hansen, Assessment Director at U of Texas-Austin for one-day workshop for faculty and staff • May 2001 SA Assessment Committee hosts OSU Assessment Showcase—one-day on-campus conference presenting multiple methods and processes • August 2002 SA created Office of Student Affairs Research and Evaluation

13. Our Process and Progress • November 2002 SA Assessment Web Site goes live January 2003, SA publishes first edition of OSU Perspectives—quarterly newsletter, distributed campus-wide • March 2003 - forms Student Affairs Assessment Council with new charge from Vice Provost for Student Affairs • October 2003 All SA departments developed and submitted assessment plans for review by consultant, Dr. Marilee Bresciani, Director of Assessment, North Carolina State University

14. Our Process and Progress • November 2003 SA Assessment Council brings Dr. Bresciani to OSU for 2-day assessment workshops and consultation • November 2003 SA Assessment Council develops assessment learning agenda based upon consultant’s feedback • December 2003 SA Assessment Council adopts standard format and language for submission of Assessment Plans • April 2004 SA sends a team of 12 to NC State Symposium and Invited half day seminar • November 2004 OSU Symposium on Student Learning and Assessment—planned and hosted by the Student Affairs Assessment Council

15. Our Process and Progress • May, 2005 Dr. Lori Vogelgesang provides information to the campus and the Student Affairs • Assessment Council on the research she is conducting at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA • June, 2005 Student Affairs Assessment Council Retreat—Purpose to develop division-wide learning goals and a structure for implementation • October, 2005 Presentation of Student Affairs Division-wide learning goals by SA Assessment Council at the annual fall division meeting