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Curricular Malleability

 Not all aspects of higher education are inherently flexible.  Accrediting bodies place stringent demands on certain departments; proposals for new or modified majors require a rationale, an assessment plan, and supporting documents—including syllabi for courses that may not yet exist; college-wide programs, such as NWCore, may require a faculty vote before changes can be made; […]
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Ensuring NWCore Promotes Success in Today’s World

 & Ideas From Other Institutions A liberal arts degree is intended to develop students into well-rounded individuals who can succeed in their personal, professional, and public lives. NWC’s mission discusses preparing students for both a “successful career” and “leading a faithful life.” A number of higher education institutions are updating their general education requirements […]
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Problem and Experience Based Learning

 It was less than 25 years ago that the shift in emphasis from teaching to learning was dubbed “a new paradigm” for higher education by Barr and Tagg in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning.  Yet the paradigm shift did not merely codify a new normal.  Instead, learning-centered models have served as fertile ground in the development […]
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Core Structure

 Today’s young people will have ‘episodic careers,’rather than one life-long career. Post-graduation, young people will have an estimated four jobs before they even turn 32, often switching into “entirely different industries”, according to a LinkedIn study. Indranil Roy, the head of the Deloitte-backed Future of Work Centre of Excellence, says,“A generation ago, the half-life of a […]
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Core Marketability

 As noted by NWC’s Strategic Planning Committee, based on a report from The Art & Science Group LLC, the value proposition associated with the term liberal arts has decreased among prospective students. This perception follows students into their collegiate experience; many students see general education courses as a “pointless” nuisance they must endure. However, general education […]
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Learning Outcomes vs Human Skills

 Employers think in terms of “skills,” not “learning objectives.”  This snippet from Burning Glass Technologies, an analytics software company focused on bringing together the spheres of education and the labor market, offers a glimpse into the gap between employers and educational institutions. Burning Glass Technologies delivers job market analytics that empowers employers, workers, and educators to […]
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Online Campus Ministries

 As adult, graduate and degree-completion programs continue to increase in enrollment, there is a growing need to explore what online campus ministries could look like. Our current system was designed for the traditional, residential student. Although many adult students already have a church home where they can go for spiritual support and growth, our […]
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Temporary Housing for Part-Time Learners

 Something goes here Ideas from Other Institutions Something goes here Suggestions for Northwestern Something goes here Strategic Plan Goal 3.1 – Pursue strategic enrollment growth – Increase residential undergraduate enrollment to 1,050 by 2023. Goal 3.3 – Pursue strategic enrollment growth – Develop and resource an integrated marketing strategy that enhances Northwestern College’s reputation […]
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Split / Hybrid / Online Classes

Not only can enrollment be increased through transfer students, perceptions regarding online education are changing.  According to the 2019 Online Education Trends Report, 99% of administrators found that demand for online education has increased or stayed the same over the past few years. In 2018, 73% of schools made a decision to offer online programs based […]