About the Webconference
While many faculty see the potential of Guided Pathways to help students progress to degree completion or transfer in a timely manner, an equal number fear that Guided Pathways will shutter important courses and reduce academic exploration for students. Faculty are key players in the creation and implementation of pathways reform. But without the right administrative direction and support, faculty efforts become entrenched in silos, resulting in gridlock and months of wasted effort—further endangering faculty engagement.
In turn, pathways implementation suffers without critical faculty support. Though faculty committees can prove efficient in mapping program sequences, conflicts over committee leadership can pose residual challenges. Faculty tend to advocate for the courses they teach, often without considering the broader aims of the program. They also have a limited understanding of the general education and prerequisite courses included in their program. On the other hand, deans are often unfamiliar with the content knowledge provided by all of the courses within their departments and struggle to optimize program efficiency while maintaining departmental morale.
This resource is part of the Design Student-Centered Guided Pathways to Achieve Strategic Goals Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.
Administrators need to reassess their relationship with faculty when it comes to Guided Pathways to ensure they are treated as involved stakeholders who can enhance learning outcomes rather than as barriers to progress. Pathways-reform efforts present an opportunity to make the schedule more predictable for both students and faculty. Drawing a clear academic plan for students from enrollment to graduation makes scheduling habits easier to predict, allowing administrators to schedule courses further in advance and with greater reliability.
Join this webconference to learn how to ensure that your front-line advocates don’t turn into detractors. Attendees will hear step-by-step guidance on raising individual faculty participation and elevating committee and task force effectiveness in pathways reform. This webconference is meant for presidents, provosts and VPs of academic affairs, and deans.