Curricular Approaches
Keith has facilitated or co-facilitated workshops to help more than 80 campuses design, implement, and assess their curricular approach. He has done these as two-day in-person retreats as well as a series of virtual workshops spread out over four half-day sessions.
If you are looking at moving your curricular approach forward a virtual curricular retreat is transformative. It will also help refocus your thinking of how to do this curricular learning model with your students.
This virtual format is the place to start your journey. It is structured intentionally and to be very helpful. People will feel that this meets their needs and allows them to not take so much time away from your position–in a 2 day retreat. This format better allows participation.
This virtual workshop was engaging and interactive and broken into four 3-hour chunks. The pace was quick but we were still able to cover everything our university was looking for. Definitely a great option.
Keith has been one of the leaders in developing curricular approaches to learning beyond the classroom in higher education.
He is co-author of this new book on the curricular approach released in June 2020.
He regularly serves as a faculty member for ACPA’s Institute on the Curricular Approach (formerly Residential Curriculum Institute). He chaired the Institute in 2009 and co-chaired in 2018 & 2019.
He is co-author of this peer reviewed article on designing, implementing, and assessing curricular approaches.
Keith also offers on-going curricular support for campuses he has worked with via monthly campus calls and group calls as they develop their approach, whether they are in year one or year 10.
The sessions have been tremendously insightful and helpful. This is truly one of the most impactful professional development opportunities we have had for Student Affairs as a division. What has been the best part for me? Applying curricular structure to our own areas. Attempting to actually translate the ideas to an action plan helped the ideas crystallize in really powerful ways.
Keith was a fantastic facilitator and guide as we began our journey toward a curricular approach to our work. He empowered us to discover learning goals and outcomes unique to our campus and left us well equipped for our journey toward this new approach.
Vice President for Student Affairs at the University of St. Thomas
It was really helpful having Dr. Keith Edwards come to campus to help us understand and implement the curricular approach. The Plenary and workshop sessions provided the staff with the foundations and tools they needed to feel more comfortable and approach this new direction with more focus and enthusiasm.
Director of Residence Life, University of Texas at Austin
I don't know if I can express enough how much you helped us down the right path to creating and implementing a true residential curriculum. When people ask, I honestly tell them to bring you to campus, but get the right stakeholders in place and follow your guidance! You are well worth the investment and I would say, more cost effective than anything else we have ever tried in regards to student learning!
Assoc. Dir. of Residence Life, North Dakota State University
Working with Keith Edwards was a tremendously positive experience for the University of Dayton. Keith was able to assist my staff and me in clarifying and strengthening our educational priority, learning goals and learning outcomes, which in turn allowed us to develop educational plans that aligned with our institution's vision for integrated learning and living. Designing and implementing a residential curriculum can initially feel overwhelming and daunting. What appeared to be a difficult task was far more manageable as a result of Keith's guidance and expertise.
Assistant Vice President for Student Development & Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life, University of Dayton
Keith is awesome! Keith led us through a 2-day retreat to jump-start our curriculum. In two days with Keith we were able to do what would have taken us months to complete. Easy, streamlined, and no tears were involved.
Assistant Director of Residence Life, Smith College
Keith stepped in and helped us pave the way for our future work with a curricular approach. Our sessions with him helped to demystify the process and allowed our teams to get hands-on with the work. Even in a virtual format, you could see the lightbulbs clicking on for folks as Keith guided through the workshop series. The curricular approach quickly went from an idea supported and understood by a few pockets of professionals, to something we can all unify behind.
Associate Director of Finance, IT, & Assessment, James Madison University
Working with Keith provided our campus the clarity needed to solidify our curricular approach. We’d been moving in that direction and his feedback on our learning outcomes was invaluable. Additionally, the keynote and workshops provided the foundation and frameworks that our campus needed to better understand the why and how to shift to a curricular approach. Keith has a unique ability to take complex information and distill it into digestible information that resonates with student affairs and academic affairs alike.
Associate Director for Student Life, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.The virtual retreat Keith led for us helped the department get to where we needed to be for Fall 2020 and has set us up for future success as we continue to pivot and further develop our curriculum. His ability to help staff find their role within the curriculum, move our department forward on our curricular journey, and push us to examine our work critically has helped us to strengthen the student experience and further student learning.
Associate Director – Learning Experience, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Keith has been instrumental in preparing our professional staff to launch the residential curriculum at UGA. His passion for this work is contagious, as he is able to communicate what a curricular approach is and why it is important while providing a clear and simple path to get there. Keith’s enthusiasm and expertise resulted in staff buy-in, which contributed significantly to our success.
Director of Residential Programs & Services, University of Georgia
Keith is truly an exceptional presenter and facilitator. I contacted him immediately after seeing him at a conference and knew he was the one to help our campus. He certainly did not disappoint. With his skill at facilitating, coupled with his deep knowledge and understanding of the curricular approach in student affairs, he worked with our team to accomplish in two days what would have literally taken us months. He engages everyone in the room with his great sense of humor, probing questions, and focused approach while tackling sometimes very difficult subject matter. What I most appreciated is at the end of our two days with Keith is that we had a final product that was completely ours developed by us, but made so much better with his timely suggestions or probing questions. He really pulled the very best out of our team.
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Texas A&M University at Galveston
It was empowering for individuals and brought us together as a team in ways I couldn’t have imagined possible. Although you came to teach them about the curricular approach, which you did incredibly well, what many can’t stop talking about is what you reminded them about gratitude. One person got teary-eyed just talking about how powerful she thought you were with this message and described going home and having really wonderful conversations with her son and her husband that she believes she will have lasting impact.
Assistant VP and Dean for Student Life, Roger Williams University
I can’t believe you did this to me at the end of my career. You are not supposed to get me more excited and motivated to do my job than I’ve ever been as I’m thinking about retiring!
Director of Health Education & Alcohol/Drug Prevention Coordinator, Roger Williams University
Over two days, Keith guided us through a process that managed to clarify our strategic direction, reaffirm our commitment to this process, and foster collaboration across areas of the College toward the goal bringing a curricular approach to orientation.
Manager, Co-Curricular Student Learning and Development, Centennial College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Our work with Keith brought change in perspective, attitude, and collective purpose. He is an incredibly gifted facilitator.
Associate Director, Academic Counseling and Support, University of St. Thomas
The two day retreat assisted our whole department to understand what a curricular approach could look like in residence life department. Our facilitators were intentional and developmental in their approach. Our staff is excited about the possibility of how we can tangibly live out our values and educate students.
Associate Director of Residence Life, University of Oregon
This two day experience catapulted us from conception to action, and provided revelatory insights into previous barriers for success. In addition to the progress made, we simply had motivational fun that strengthened our overall team.
Director of Residence Life & Educational Initiatives, University of Oregon
Keith brought a supportive approach towards working with our department in the development of our residential curriculum. He utilized his expertise to provide a high level of feedback and scrutiny that helped push us forward and arrive at strong outcomes. In working with the department to facilitate our training, Keith was responsive to our needs, mindful towards the process, and attentive to our goals. I would highly recommend working with Keith- our work is stronger as a result of our partnership with him.
Director of Residence Life at Fashion Institute of Technology
Working with Keith was the best decision we've made in a long time. Keith helped to give our entire division the basics of the Curricular Approach and get them started with immediate tangible results. As a leadership team we've struggled to motivate our teams to develop and measure student learning outcomes, and now we're all aligned on where we're going and staff are seeing themselves as educators first.
Associate Dean for Student Integrated Learning, Maryland Institute College of Art
