The Quad: An Online Interface to the Formative Influence of a Radically Expanded Learning Community beyond the Classroom

Facing the challenges of a changing marketplace for our degrees and increased demand for geographically and technologically distributed classes, we began to ask how much educational formation happens beyond the course content. How can we make that often-overlooked experience more available to our online, commuter, regional, and global students, as well as face-to-face? We will share the user-driven design process we used to create "The Quad," a new platform built on open-source frameworks, exclusive to our community and focused on enhancing student engagement, performance, and formation, and review how the experiment is going, six months in.

OUTCOMES: Learn the basics of an iterative, user-driven design process you can apply to your next project * Learn strategies on seeding and nurturing a positive culture of discourse online * Be challenged by a vision for an engaged student experience that moves beyond information delivery to formative encounter by integrating the learning community