2026 Institute on the Curricular Approach™

Join student affairs and higher education colleagues on a journey equipping you to lead organizations toward a curricular approach to learning for all on your campus at the Institute on the Curricular Approach (ICA)! This learning experience is dynamic and valuable. Participants will be able to explore how to lead, design, and implement a curricular approach. ICA Faculty will offer learning opportunities including large group keynotes, smaller sequenced sessions, faculty consultations, institutional showcases, and more. Wherever you are in your journey individually and organizationally toward a departmental or divisional curricular approach, this institute is a straight-forward way to obtain clear direction from higher education and student affairs professionals experienced with a curricular approach. Through participation in ICA, you will have the opportunity to: Apply the 10 Essential Elements of a Curricular Approach; Design, implement, and assess a Curricular Approach; Learn from other institutions implementing a Curricular Approach through Showcase presentations; Get feedback from Institute faculty about your Curricular Approach through Faculty Consults. A Curricular Approach is a paradigm shift from traditional educational approaches to an intentional, developmentally sequenced one, defined by institutional mission and purpose. Staff members using a Curricular Approach first identify clear learning goals and outcomes grounded in the history, culture, mission, and purpose of each institution. Then staff members identify student engagement strategies that can provide opportunities for students to achieve these learning goals and outcomes. Goals are sequenced, pedagogy rooted in scholarship of teaching and learning, and campus partners incorporated from throughout the institution. A Curricular Approach uses assessment to inform a process of continuous improvement. Shifting to using a Curricular Approach is not superficial nor is it simply utilizing learning outcomes to guide programming. A curricular approach utilizes the 10 Essential Elements to think about student learning and a refined leadership mindset. This learning experience is an institute and not a conference. Sessions are organized and sequenced to meet the needs of professionals and organizations at different places in their journey. Each session is also sequenced with learning outcomes to create an integrated, developmentally sequenced, experience for the participants. Showcases are also offered from a variety of institutional sizes and types to give concrete examples of how a Curricular Approach can be implemented consistently across campuses but also tailored for each unique campus context. Whether it is your first Institute or your twelfth, you will leave inspired with new insights, new collegial connections, new examples and innovations, and new energy. We have representatives from all sizes and types of institutions who have benefited from the Institute experience.