Partnerships & Team
Frontier Set
The Frontier Set is a select group of colleges and universities, state systems, and supporting organizations committed to significantly increasing student access and success, and eliminating racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in college attainment. The Frontier Set is made up of 29 colleges and universities and two state systems from across the nation that represent a broad cross-section of higher education.
Frontier Set sites focus on institutional transformation, including the integration of three key solution areas:
- Redesigned Planning, Advising and Student Services,
- Digital Learning and Next Generation Digital Courseware, and
- Developmental Education Reform and Supports for Learning,
while strengthening capacities that enable implementation and integration of the key solutions, including leadership, culture, strategic finance, IT infrastructure, institutional research and data, and policy.
Redesigned Advising Accordion Open
NAU’s centralized advising efforts included consolidation of multiple independent advising organizations into one team reporting to the Office of the Provost. This effort resulted in
- coordinated leadership of several important student success initiatives
- consistent adoption of technology, and
- standardization of job expectations
Phase 2 of the redesign focused on intentional design of the organizational structure which resulted in more equitable caseloads to better scale advising services. This reorganization of personnel, intentionally and deliberately designed, allowed for high-quality service across all student populations.
Phase 3 involves an institutional investment in our academic advisors. The cohort-based Professional Learning for Academic Advisors (PLAA) is designed to develop and support professional advisor skill development and practice beyond transactional advising, with a focus on student support interactions, influencing student progression, and the most current academic advising professional trends.
Digital Learning Accordion Closed
Moving From Scaling to Sustainable: Creating a Culture of Faculty Success
- With support for faculty from both e-Learning Center Instructional Designers and adaptive courseware vendors, more than 25 courses have integrated active and adaptive learning approaches into their course design
- Provided orientation sessions for departments, chairs, program coordinators and faculty about active and adaptive learning and student success to ensure a clear understanding
- Active and adaptive learning builds on a faculty culture of teaching innovation with technology, leveraging enthusiastic learning communities, professional development summer conferences and regular opportunities for faculty to showcase success
- In-semester check-ins with faculty provided continuous support
Challenges and Lessons Learned
- Challenges included role requirements for instructors new to active and adaptive approaches, and some concern about the quality and timeliness of vendor support and need for ongoing instructional design support.
- Systems that addressed these challenges:
- Making resources and contacts available
- Ensuring internal and external faculty support is well designed and seamless
- Communicating that adapting to these changes takes time
- Advocating to retain support of two instructional designers on adaptive courseware team
Developmental Education Accordion Closed
Includes a variety of strategies that accelerate students’ progress toward and through a gateway course (first college-level course) and is an opportunity to provide supports and programs that meet students where they are in their learning and development.
Strategies