People remember information that is important to them--because it is fundamental to their well-being, or because it matters to them in some other significant way. This is all one really needs to know about unlocking student learning. People learn and remember information that matters to them. So what matters to students? That is a complicated…

When making decisions that impact student learning, college educators often consider previous experiences, precedent, common sense, and advice from colleagues. But how often do they consider theory? At a recent state-level educators' meeting, the authors of this article asked 50 student affairs educators about the use of theory in their practice.…

In this article, the authors argue that successful learning communities are built on the stakeholders' clear understanding of how a learning community model is fundamentally different from traditional curricular approaches and cannot simply be overlaid onto traditional pedagogy. Especially in difficult economic times, well-functioning learning…

College instructors are more than teachers; they are also observers, and the observations they make can teach them much about their students--both who they are and what motivates them. As a college instructor and a certified ropes course facilitator, the author has had the opportunity to observe her classes and those of her colleagues at the ropes…

With the advent of the new post-9/11 GI Bill, many colleges and universities have seen significant growth in the numbers of veterans and other military students on their campuses. Along with this increased population has come a growing recognition that while these students share many of the same struggles as other students, their service in the…

For years, the authors have heard the pleas of students, administrators, staff, and faculty to be able to write more personally--for publication, course assignments, theses, and dissertations. They have heard educators throughout the United States talk about the value of personal narrative writing as a way to take a different in-depth look at an…

The number of studies conducted on college-student attrition is overwhelming. But few examine the impact of adding an early-intervention assessment tool to existing retention programs. Too often, colleges and universities conduct initiatives with similar purposes as disconnected efforts; retention programs in particular can benefit from a more…

Students making the transition into college typically come face to face with increased independence and decreased external structure. This may be especially problematic for students with learning disabilities who may be less capable of managing in times of change than others. The outcome is often chronic procrastination, absenteeism, and…

In this article, the author shares her "When pigs fly" story to initiate a discussion about how educators might broaden their understanding of "learning." She shares the lessons she has learned from her son who has Asperger's syndrome. As professionals in higher education, educators adjust organizational and educational structures to accommodate…

Remedial courses and programs are typically treated in isolation from the core mission of the college or university, an institutional quarantine. The author sees the remedial function as interconnected with foundational concerns: what does it mean to enter higher education in America? What truly is the relationship between the research and…

An ally, as defined by dictionary.com, is "a person, group, or nation that is associated with others for some common cause or purpose." Therefore, allies are people whose orientation is "outside" of the oppressed group. An ally is often a person who recognizes her privileges and works in alliance with members of oppressed groups to stand against…

Since the 1990s, the University of Connecticut has made several shifts in its culture and practice that have resulted in improved educational quality and greater success rates for students from traditionally underrepresented populations. Damon Williams shares his institution's approach. (Contains 4 notes.)

Those educators who work with academically high-achieving college students have long known that these individuals face challenges along with their less scholastically prepared peers. Recently, the author and her colleagues at Miami University were reminded of this fact when they discovered that 80 percent of their honors students were exiting the…

A multiyear effort to understand and improve the practice of learning communities across North America has revealed encouraging trends and areas in which work should continue. The authors asked fifty-six educators involved in the work to write and talk about the state of learning communities. The authors wanted to learn how learning community…

In some organizations, coming to a consensus about what members' work is collectively about might be fairly straightforward. At a comprehensive public university serving more than thirty thousand students, reaching such a consensus is, more often than not, a real challenge. A tradition of faculty and staff autonomy, full schedules, competition for…