Systemic Progress

ELI is no longer actively pursuing this topic. This page is provided as an historical resource; it is not being updated or actively managed.

Definition and Importance

EDUCAUSE makes an annual Award for Systemic Progress in Teaching and Learning (see previous award winners here). This award embodies the philosophy of theEDUCAUSE National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII), and was designed to encourage development of new collegiate learning environments that harness the power of information technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning, contain or reduce rising costs, and provide greater access to higher education. The application process is, in itself, intended to be educational, and can be the basis for fruitful self-evaluation whether or not an institution applies for the award or receives the award. Systemic institutional transformation is a key area of NLII research, toward enabling education that is active and learner-centered, dynamic and lifelong, collaborative, cost-effective, high-quality, and accessible.

NLII Research and Analysis Questions

Important questions under this key theme include:

1. What are some meaningful definitions for "transform teaching and learning" and "learner-centered"? What makes them meaningful, and how are they derived?
2. Considering the definition(s), what are helpful case studies of transformative institutional initiatives?
3. What changes contribute to the success of transformative initiatives, including consideration of institutional planning, collaboration among campus constituents, training and marketing, technology architecture and infrastructure, organizational adjustments, support, policies, funding, and assessment mechanisms?
4. In what ways do institutions make technology "invisible" so as to allow a focus on improving teaching and learning, including such elements as evidence that teaching/learning goals drive technology development and implementation? What is the degree to which technology and training resources are accessible to both the student body and faculty? What is the system capability and reliability?
5. How can initiatives be evaluated, considering such elements as faculty understanding of new learning environments and staff support; accommodation of different learning styles and needs of non-traditional students, interactive learning, and promotion of student initiative and responsibility; business processes; and institutional measures of levels of student participation and learning outcomes?
6. What are the key barriers to transformation at institutions of higher education, and what contingencies are in place to address them for long-term sustainability of initiatives?
7. What evidence serves as an indicator that an initiative is scalable and replicable at another institution?

NLII Projects and Activities

Many of these questions relate to the projects the NLII has undertaken with regard to strategic planning and alignment, and transformative assessment. For more information, see the Transformative Assessment Key Theme page, and the Strategic Planning and Alignment for Transformation Key Theme page.

Resources and Readings

Online Articles and Papers

"Winning Systems," 2003 NLII Annual Review. [PDF 662 KB] and HTML format

David Cohen, "Course Management Software: Where's the Library" [PDF 166 KB]

Presentation at EDUCAUSE 2002 Annual Meeting

"Systemic Progress in Teaching and Learning: Common Elements That Support Campus-Wide Innovation," A. Michael Berman, Dorothy Frayer, Christine E. Haile and Andrea Nixon

Presentations at NLII 2003 Annual Meeting

"Where's the Library for this Course?" Moving the Library to Where the Students Are

Ubiquitous Distributed Learning and Global Citizenship