Is higher education preparing our students for a world that is increasingly complex and volatile, and in which they will have to contend with uncertainty and ambiguity? Are we addressing the concerns of employers who complain that graduates do not possess the creative, critical thinking and communication skills needed in the workplace? In the face of the evidence that our colleges and universities are failing to do so, this book harnesses what we have learned from innovations in teaching and from neuroscience to change how we deliver and create new knowledge, and indeed to transform our students, and develop their capacities for boundary spanning. Starting from the premise that our current linear, course-based, educational practices are frequently at odds with how our neurological system facilitates learning and personal development, the authors set out an alternative model that emphasizes a holistic approach to education that integrates meditative inquiry practice with self-authorship and the regulation of emotion as the cornerstones of learning, and demonstrates how these align with the latest discoveries of brain science. This book presents the science that informs the practice of compassion and peace - the science that explains the very real benefits of an intentional movement and meditative inquiry; and demonstrates its application to the classroom, to the co-curriculum, and its implications for administrative leaders who make the decisions that impact student learning and development and the environment within which faculty, administrators, and students reside. Experts in neuroscience, learning and development theory, and health practitioners outline their research and insights into how providing seemingly unintellectual learning and development opportunities for students actually stimulate portions of the brain that are needed in order for them to become problem-solvers, creators of knowledge, and effective social collaborators. The book closes by offering practical ideas for implementation, showing how simple refinements in classroom and out-of-classroom experiences can create foundations for students to develop key skills that will enhance critical thinking, creativity, overall wellbeing, compassion, and ultimately world peace.

This book introduces the reader to the principles of assessment of student learning outcomes in the context of program review, and illustrates how to implement a sustainable outcomes-based assessment program review process based on over 30 case studies of exemplary practice across a range of institutional types. Since publication of the first edition just over a decade ago, the landscape of higher education has been transformed. With the emergence of competency-based education, the questioning of the value of a post-secondary degree, the explosion of neuroscientific research, the emphasis on metacognition, as well as demographic changes in who is going to college and why, new questions are being asked and new methods of collecting data have multiplied. This new edition retains the goals of the first, which is to inform institutional self-reflection of how well the organization is achieving its intended purpose, in a manner that is reflective, adaptive, and collaborative, but which recognizes today's changed environment. Among the new topics Marilee Bresciani Ludvik introduces in this edition is how to appropriately connect outcomes-based program review (OBPR) to performance indicators and predictive analytics and develop meaningful new performance metrics to inform our understanding of the student experience. She also addresses the intersection of OBPR with competency-based assessment, introduces the reader to new concepts and terminology, and demonstrates the implications of neuroscientific research for learning and development and how that influences OBPR design. All the cases, a signature feature of the first edition to illustrate best practice, have been replaced for this edition. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik postulates the importance of developing institutions as learning organizations where OBPR is designed collaboratively between student services, academic services, business services professionals, and faculty. Each chapter concludes with key learning points as well as questions for organizational leadership to promote ongoing professional development as institutions implement OBPR practices that are appropriate for their specific contexts.

This book introduces the reader to the principles of assessment of student learning outcomes in the context of program review, and illustrates how to implement a sustainable outcomes-based assessment program review process based on over 30 case studies of exemplary practice across a range of institutional types. Since publication of the first edition just over a decade ago, the landscape of higher education has been transformed. With the emergence of competency-based education, the questioning of the value of a post-secondary degree, the explosion of neuroscientific research, the emphasis on metacognition, as well as demographic changes in who is going to college and why, new questions are being asked and new methods of collecting data have multiplied. This new edition retains the goals of the first, which is to inform institutional self-reflection of how well the organization is achieving its intended purpose, in a manner that is reflective, adaptive, and collaborative, but which recognizes today's changed environment. Among the new topics Marilee Bresciani Ludvik introduces in this edition is how to appropriately connect outcomes-based program review (OBPR) to performance indicators and predictive analytics and develop meaningful new performance metrics to inform our understanding of the student experience. She also addresses the intersection of OBPR with competency-based assessment, introduces the reader to new concepts and terminology, and demonstrates the implications of neuroscientific research for learning and development and how that influences OBPR design. All the cases, a signature feature of the first edition to illustrate best practice, have been replaced for this edition. Marilee Bresciani Ludvik postulates the importance of developing institutions as learning organizations where OBPR is designed collaboratively between student services, academic services, business services professionals, and faculty. Each chapter concludes with key learning points as well as questions for organizational leadership to promote ongoing professional development as institutions implement OBPR practices that are appropriate for their specific contexts.

Is higher education preparing our students for a world that is increasingly complex and volatile, and in which they will have to contend with uncertainty and ambiguity? Are we addressing the concerns of employers who complain that graduates do not possess the creative, critical thinking and communication skills needed in the workplace? In the face of the evidence that our colleges and universities are failing to do so, this book harnesses what we have learned from innovations in teaching and from neuroscience to change how we deliver and create new knowledge, and indeed to transform our students, and develop their capacities for boundary spanning. Starting from the premise that our current linear, course-based, educational practices are frequently at odds with how our neurological system facilitates learning and personal development, the authors set out an alternative model that emphasizes a holistic approach to education that integrates meditative inquiry practice with self-authorship and the regulation of emotion as the cornerstones of learning, and demonstrates how these align with the latest discoveries of brain science. This book presents the science that informs the practice of compassion and peace - the science that explains the very real benefits of an intentional movement and meditative inquiry; and demonstrates its application to the classroom, to the co-curriculum, and its implications for administrative leaders who make the decisions that impact student learning and development and the environment within which faculty, administrators, and students reside. Experts in neuroscience, learning and development theory, and health practitioners outline their research and insights into how providing seemingly unintellectual learning and development opportunities for students actually stimulate portions of the brain that are needed in order for them to become problem-solvers, creators of knowledge, and effective social collaborators. The book closes by offering practical ideas for implementation, showing how simple refinements in classroom and out-of-classroom experiences can create foundations for students to develop key skills that will enhance critical thinking, creativity, overall wellbeing, compassion, and ultimately world peace.