Digital Learning R&D: Making Space for Participatory Leadership

With rising costs for a college degree and an emerging ecosystem of alternative learning and career pathways, there is increasing skepticism about the value of the residential liberal arts experience. It has become essential to articulate this distinctive value.

Research plays a significant role in a time of change. The systematic study of new models and methods examines our value assumptions while deepening our understanding of learning in the digital age. As higher education continues to go digital, experimentation and research can help us articulate (with evidence) the value of a residential liberal arts education.

Participants will learn why R&D investment is a strategic direction for the current inflection point in higher education; how R&D projects can inform decision making from the bottom up; the foundations for action research and why this approach is an effective form of participatory leadership; and the principles and goals that have the greatest potential impact on reimagining the digital liberal arts.