Higher Education Project prt 3

Course Project Overview: White Paper

Throughout the history of many institutions, an unhealthy separation between academic and student affairs had developed and needed to be addressed. In your role as a higher education professional, you will have the unique opportunity to bridge the gap between academics and student affairs to significantly improve student learning. For your Course Project, you will prepare a proposal for a new student support program at your institution that blends academic and support services to foster student learning and development. The project will have several components: collecting background information to analyze prospective new programs, identifying outcomes and sources of evidence, conducting a literature review, analyzing the resource implications, and providing rationale for your proposed plan.

Part 1: Collect Background Information—Week 1

Before you design and develop your new student support program at your own institution, you will have the opportunity to analyze the programs offered by other institutions to facilitate student learning and development (e.g., new student orientation, first-year experience, academic advising services, tutoring services, learning communities, and capstone experiences). In Week 1 of this course, you will conduct research on three or four institutions and the types of programs they have available for students. You will complete an analysis of the programs to help you determine which type of program you might want to adopt at your own institution.

Part 2: Choose a Type of Program— Week 2

For this part of the project, you will identify one type of program you would propose to adopt in your own institution. As you progress through the course, you will fully develop a proposal, but in this portion you will identify the type of program you want to adopt and describe the goals or outcomes you expect for this program. You will also identify how you will assess the need for the program, how you will monitor the progress of the program, and how you will measure the ultimate success of the program once it has been implemented.

Part 3: Review the Literature— Weeks 3–4

You will perform a review of the literature related to the type of program you selected in Part 2 and prepare a paper summarizing the results of your research.

Part 4: Analyze Resource Implications—Weeks 5–6

In Part 4 of the project, you will examine the financial and human resources required for your proposed program. You will analyze what resources will be necessary to make it a financially viable program at your institution. Once you have identified the resources required, you will determine the specific roles and responsibilities of the relevant staff involved with your proposed program.

Part 5: Prepare the Proposal—Week 7

For the final part of the project, you will prepare the proposal and rationale. Your final proposal can take whatever form you wish (Word document, PowerPoint, Prezi, etc.) but must include a thorough description of the program, the resources required, and how it will be implemented. To provide solid support for your proposal, you will submit an executive memo outlining your rationale for the decisions you made about the program.