Curricular Approach to Learning Beyond the Classroom

“Our work with Keith brought change in perspective, attitude, and collective purpose. He is an incredibly gifted facilitator.”

Keith has helped 100+ campuses launch their curricular approach to learning beyond the classroom.

Most campuses do not lack effort. They lack coherence.

Student affairs divisions are full of dedicated educators who are busy doing all the things, but lack alignment. Orientation, residence life, career center, student engagement, and the dean’s office each carry their own mission statements, goals, and definitions of student success. Staff are busy working hard. Programs are happening all the time, especially in April. Assessment reports get written. And still, the work feels fragmented, the impact is difficult to articulate, and the connection between what we say we value and what students actually experience remains loose.

This is the gap a curricular approach is designed to close.

Launching a curricular approach is not a rebranding exercise or a new programming model. It is a structured approach bringing intentionality, clarity, alignment, and integration to your focus on learning beyond the classroom. A curricular approach shifts a division from a collection of offices competing with each other to an aligned educational system where each staff member understands their role in the bigger picture, every effort connects to shared learning aims, and every initiative is designed to contribute to the learning outcomes the campus has explicitly chosen.

"Keith's visit to campus served as a crucial catalyst for unit leaders, even the skeptics. He helped them understand the relevance and power of the curricular approach for educating the students with whom they interact, and provided teams time to workshop and develop a guiding framework which eventually became department educational plans."

Dr. Kathleen Kerr

VP Student Affairs, SUNY Oswego

Each curricular approach is different because it’s unique to that institution and how they do their work to serve students, but here are some of the common results we see across curricular approaches.

Increased student success
More proactive on student issues
Reduced student conduct
Increased professional engagement
Increased collaboration
Better use of resources
Shifting the role of student affairs
Easier & more effective

What your launch involves

The launch phase brings a division from concept to working framework. Keith guides your divisional teams through the process through a blended sequence of virtual and in-person work:

Foundations of a Curricular Approach. A shared understanding of the why, what, how, and what-if of a curricular approach. Teams begin to see what a curricular approach could look like for their campus.
Learning Aims Development. Your team will co-create the educational priority and learning goals and outcomes that will guide the division’s work. This is where a campus moves from generic aspirations to specific, owned, and measurable learning aims.
Educational Plans. Translating learning aims into the strategies, sequences, and shared language that staff will use day to day in their office or department. This is the bridge between aspiration and action.
Assessing and Leading a Curricular Approach. Assessment can be simple, easy, and highly useful. We discuss approaches and strategies to lead with your curricular approach in the short-term and the long run.

The work is inspiring, purposeful, and transformative. Your teams leave with a clear sense of collective purpose and plans for aligning their actions, so they can start investing more in the most powerful ways to engage students and let go of what isn’t making a difference, finding that magical real estate where things are easier for us and more powerful for students.

"The virtual sessions gave our team a strong foundation, but having Keith with us in person was where the work truly came alive. He was able to respond to questions and concerns in real time, connect the dots for our team, and help move the curricular approach from something conceptual into something tangible and actionable. Our team left feeling energized, excited, and more confident in the direction ahead. Keith struck a great balance of patience, encouragement, and accountability while also offering resources that supported different learning styles and levels of understanding."

Crystal Lay, PhD

Senior Director, Student Housing and Residential Life, Cal State Monterey Bay

"Launching the curricular approach in Eighth College at UC San Diego allowed us to ground our student affairs practice in Eighth College's curricular framework, rooted in Black feminist thought and championing Collective Liberation. It has created a shared educational language that unified the dean's office, student and residence life, academic advising, and orientation around a common mission. This approach has transformed how we see our work, positioning each staff member as an educator whose work reflects and reinforces the values of Eighth College."

Sarah Gallenberg

Dean of Student Affairs, Eighth College, UC San Diego

Why this? Why now?

Higher education and student affairs are operating under real constraints: tightening budgets, rising scrutiny, increasing student needs, and growing pressure to articulate value clearly and credibly. In this environment, fragmented effort is no longer just inefficient. It is unsustainable.

A curricular approach is one of the most effective ways to align resources, foster shared purpose, and work together.

Keith has supported more than 100 campuses through this work. He co-authored The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs, co-authored the foundational peer-reviewed article on the approach, has co-chaired the ACPA Institute on the Curricular Approach, and has co-delivered the institute’s opening plenary for more than 15 years.

Mylon J. Kirksy, Ed.D.

AVP, University of Texas at Austin

"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."

Karen Lange, Ed.D.

VP for Student Affairs, University of St. Thomas

"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."

Sterling Crow, EdD

Associate Dean, Student Wellness and Equitable Learning, Humber Polytechnic

"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 of bringing a curricular approach to orientation."

Lisa Landreman, PhD

VP Student Affairs, Willamette University

"Our work with Keith brought change in perspective, attitude, and collective purpose. He is an incredibly gifted facilitator."

Anna Schmidt-MacKenzie

AVP and Chief of Staff, 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."

Jordan Foreman-Black

Director, Assessment & Learning Outcomes, U of Nebraska

"The virtual retreat Keith led for us helped the department get to where we needed to be 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, and push us to examine our work critically has helped us strengthen the student experience and further student learning."

Getting Started

If your campus is considering or ready to launch your curricular approach, the most useful next step is usually a conversation. Let’s talk through what you are seeing, what you are wrestling with, and what a curricular approach might look like in your context.