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 →
RA Training for Residential Curriculum: Involving RAs and Generating Buy-In
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. Â 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 →
RA Training for Residential Curriculum: Tone Setting and Basics
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 →
RA Training for Residential Curriculum: An Overview
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 →
Utilizing Existing Campus-Wide Assessments and Measures in Your Curricular Approach
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 →
Are You Organizationally Ready To Take On a Curricular Approach?
Because a curricular approach is revolutionary as opposed to evolutionary, it is necessary that you think about organizational culture and organizational change processes before undertaking this journey. For many, this shift in approach requires the development of a learning-centric organization. An organization that moves beyond "exposure" through program attendance, and towards "learning" (Kerr & Tweedy,... Continue Reading →
4 Tips for Developing Buy-In for Curriculum from RAs, Student Staff Members, and Student Leaders
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 →
Utilizing National Competencies and Standards to Develop Your Curricular Learning Goals
Although each residential curriculum or curricular approach to student life should be contextualized to an institution, there are a number of non-profits and standards bodies within higher education and student affairs that can be useful in the development of learning goals and outcomes. Many of these associations provide sample statements, rubrics and other materials that... Continue Reading →
Roompact’s “Residential Curriculum/Curricular Approach Explainer Video” for Partners and Staff
Roompact doesn't just sell software, but strives to advance the field of residence life and student affairs as a whole. We often hear from our campus partners how they struggle to explain the curricular approach to staff members and stakeholders. Recognizing this need, we have worked over the past few months to develop the following... Continue Reading →
On-The-Ground Assessment of Student Learning Out of the Classroom
Moving to a curricular approach calls upon us to become better at assessing student learning. Although it may be common on a campus to have students respond to short surveys providing feedback about a program or service, it is often less common to assess student acquisition of knowledge and skills as a result of an... Continue Reading →
Why I go to the Institute on the Curricular Approach… And keep coming back every year
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 →
Breaking Down Curricular Learning Goals into Learning Outcomes
Continuing down the cascade of your curriculum, one becomes more specific in the learning objectives one hopes residents will achieve. In this way, the cascade functions as nested structure includes successively more specific statements as one moves towards the level of practice. One’s educational priority is the broadest statement of learning one hopes students will... Continue Reading →
Recapping Day 3 of the 2018 Institute on the Curricular Approach
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 →
Recapping Day 2 of the 2018 Institute on the Curricular Approach
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 →
Recapping Day 1 of the 2018 Institute on the Curricular Approach
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 →
Onboarding New Professional Staff to a Student Affairs or Residential Curriculum
Student Affairs offices, particularly those within residence life and education, typically see a steady turn over of professionals year-to-year. When building and maintaining a curriculum, it can sometimes be a challenge to onboard new staff members who (1) may not be familiar with the model at all or (2) are not familiar with your institution's... Continue Reading →
How To Developmentally Sequence and Map Student Co-Curricular Learning
One of the hallmarks of curricular approaches to student learning outside the classroom is that learning is scaffolded and sequenced to follow a student's journey through their time in college. After educators identify their learning objectives (cascading from Educational Priority, to Learning Goals, Narratives, Rubrics, and Outcomes), the next step in the process is to... Continue Reading →
Who, Where, and How to Engage Partners and Stakeholders in a Residential Curriculum
Educational and curricular efforts exist in context. Furthermore, residence life and education departments do not exist on an island. When developing a campus or residential curriculum, it is important to identify partners and stakeholders early on and include them in the curriculum design process. This inclusion can include stages from planning to implementation, and throughout... Continue Reading →