Curricular Approach

Introduction and Overview of the Curricular Approach

Through the Division’s strategic planning process, The Curricular Approach was identified as the framework to evolve the Carolina Excellence Initiative to a more intentional, connected, and integrated learning experience for students where learning progresses as students engage with different programmatic touch points and services across the Division and beyond. The Curricular Approach aligns our work with the institutional mission and uses scholarly literature and national trends to guide the development of learning goals and narratives, outcomes, and strategies that will be used across the Division.

What does the Curricular Approach mean for Student Affairs?

Reframes how we do our work.
Greater intentionality
Leveraging our roles as educators
Increased professional development for writing learning goals, outcomes, strategies, and rubrics
Greater collaboration across the Division and beyond.
Operating more efficiently and effectively
Communicating our impact

What does it mean for students?

Continued use of Heel Life
Select programs based on interest and not the achievement of a competency
Greater integration and connection of learning goals across programs and services
Content and pedagogy are developmentally sequenced to best serve student learning

Ten Essential Elements of a Curricular Approach

Directly connected to the institutional mission
Learning goals and outcomes are derived from a defined educational priority
Based on research and student development theory
Learning goals drive development of educational strategies
Traditional programs may be one type of strategy, but not the only one (e.g., intentional conversations, group dialogues and discussions, shared experiences, and engagement)
Student leaders and staff play key roles in implementation but are not expected to be educational experts
Represent developmentally sequenced learning
Campus partners are identified and integrated into plans
Plan is developed through a review process
Cycle of assessment for student learning and educational strategies

What is an Educational Priority?

“An educational priority is a summative statement of what students will learn by their participation in a curriculum,” (Brown, 2020)

Educational Priority for Student Affairs

Through engaging in educational opportunities offered by Student Affairs, students will develop resilience skills and values congruent behaviors to better navigate college and life’s inherent challenges and uncertainty. They will be engaged community members who serve in collaboration with others to benefit society for all people.

The following learning goal priorities are derived from the Educational Priority:

Resilience

Goal statement: By developing resilience, students will be able to navigate challenges and distress in adaptive ways.
Narrative: Based on the theory of thriving, resilience results from the positive reframing and overcoming of adverse experiences. By developing resilience, students will be able to navigate complex or adverse experiences they encounter relationally and within their environment, in adaptive ways. This will provide them with a range of protective factors including building and maintaining positive networks and relationships and learning to handle failure and disappointment. Students will graduate capable of managing life’s challenges.

Inclusion and Collective Impact

Goal Statement: Students will engage constructively with others across differences to benefit society for all.
Narrative: Students will build skills to recognize, respect, and incorporate diverse perspectives. Students will practice empathy and inclusivity through active listening, thoughtful communication, and adaptability. They will learn to navigate and bridge differences, appreciate varying values and beliefs, and promote practices that bring people together. These skills will empower them to engage constructively across differences, work collaboratively, and contribute to a better society for all.

Values Development

Goal statement: Students will be able to actualize their values through congruent behavior. 
Narrative: Students will be able to further define their values and engage in values-based learning and decision making through their engagement in holistic educational experiences during their time at Carolina. The ability to assess their personal values vis-à-vis those of the campus community allows students to develop a sense of belonging on campus and identify ways in which they can actively contribute to a welcoming and inclusive community. Values-congruent behavior will help guide them in their pursuits of meaningful relationships, learning, communities, and jobs and will empower students to design a fulfilling life and positively contribute to society.

Purpose of a Theoretical framework

Student developmental theory not only informs practice, but it also serves as a framework for the educational content and pedagogy used to support learning goal strategies.

The Theoretical Underpinnings

College Student Thriving (CST)

As a conceptual framework, thriving builds on positive psychology and college student retention literature to broaden the definition of student success. Thriving is defined as a function of student engagement, with a thriving student being one who is “fully engaged intellectually, socially, and emotionally in the college experience” (Shreiner, 2010, p.4). Thriving students succeed academically, perceive a sense of belonging and experience psychological well-being within the college environment (Schreiner, 2010). These factors contribute to persistence, graduation, and students maximizing the benefits of their college experience.

Invitational Theory (IT)

Invitational counseling is founded on the belief that perception and self-concept are the combined forces that guide student development and successful school experiences; starts with the assumption that healthy functioning people strive to be intimately involved in mutually beneficial and caring relationships. Consequently, what most students want is to be affirmed in their present worth, while being invited to realize their full potential.

Intentionality is the keyword of Invitational Theory. No space or interaction is neutral. Based on the degree of intentionality a space can be experienced by the learner as inviting or disinviting. There are four categories. A person, place, policy, program, or process (the 5 P’s) can be either intentionally disinviting, unintentionally disinviting, unintentionally inviting, or intentionally inviting. The best learning environment is one in which conscious attention is paid to the previously stated principles and the 5 P’s to create an intentionally inviting environment (Shaw, Siegel & Schoenlein, 2013).

An Integrated Framework

Each of the theoretical models listed above serve as a foundation from which learning goals, outcomes, and strategies can be developed in support of the educational priority. In the selection review process completed by the Curricular Approach Steering Committee, no one model was able to singularly address all facets of the educational approach. As such, an integrated framework was proposed that pulls in pieces from the Thrive model, which provides the foundation for developing working definitions and narratives for the learning goals, outcomes, and strategies for resilience, inclusion, and values development. The Invitational Theory model serves a different purpose, it will be used at the strategy level in helping to describe how we do our work that is more intentionally inviting.

Conclusion

As Student Affairs embarks on the incorporation of the Curricular Approach. The use of multiple theoretical frameworks to fully support and engage the tenets of the education priority was a necessity. The integration of the theoretical models provides greater opportunity for Student Affairs to unify its approach towards ensuring a meaningful engagement in developing the learning goals, objectives, and strategies necessary to ensure that students “develop resilience skills and values congruent behaviors to better navigate college and life’s inherent challenges and uncertainty. They will be engaged community members who serve in collaboration with others to benefit society for all people.”

References

Brown, P.G. (2020). Developing a co-curricular learning model: Residential curriculum and curricular approaches in student affairs and residence life work (4^th ed.), PDF

Schreiner, L. (2010). Thriving in community. About Campus, 15(4), 2–11.

Shawm D. E..; Siegel, B. L.; Schoenlein, A. (2013). The basic tenets of invitational theory and practice: An invitational glossary. Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, 19, 30-42.