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CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION

The benchmark studies included in this report are offered as exemplars of the processes meeting the design specifications for 21st century two-year institutions of higher education (TYIs) as described in New Designs for the Two-Year Institution of Higher Education (Copa & Ammentorp, in press). They are meant to be illustrative rather than definitive in showing how TYIs are meeting student and community needs in new, cost-effective ways. The studies also illustrate the use of benchmarking (Boxwell, 1994; Camp, 1995) as an organizational transition process--a means toward envisioning more concretely what is desired and the way it can be realized.

New Designs Process

This section provides an introduction to the project, New Designs for the Two-Year Institution of Higher Education (NDTYI), conducted during calendar years 1995 and 1996. Sections of the chapter will address the purpose of the project, its focus in terms of institutions and motivations, and the research and development process used to achieve its purpose.

Project Purpose

NDTYI had three purposes. First was to develop a design process that was sufficiently powerful to overcome traditional approaches and responses to designing TYIs. The second purpose was to develop a set of design specifications for an effective 21st century TYI. The resulting design specifications were to serve as the criteria for new TYI models--a way to stretch thinking and stimulate responsible critique of current practice. The third purpose was to develop and/or identify and describe new designs for TYIs that met the proposed design specifications referred to above. The new designs were to make the design specifications very real and concrete for use in dissemination, training, and implementation. The final report (Copa & Ammentorp, in press) for NDTYI addressed these three purposes. The first two purposes are addressed at length in the NDTYI final report; however, the scanning for new designs was abbreviated and the descriptions very brief. The purpose of this report, therefore, is to scan for sites exemplifying new designs in a more comprehensive and systematic way and describe selected sites in a more thorough manner than in the NDTYI final report.

Project Focus

The work of the project was focused in two different ways--(1) by type of institution and (2) by motivation for considering new designs. First, the project focused only on TYIs and not four-year colleges and universities. TYIs include technical institutes and colleges, community colleges, and private proprietary schools. TYIs offer a wide variety of programs culminating in certificates, diplomas, and associate degrees. Comparable European educational institutions are colleges of adult and further education, the latter years in higher-level vocational schools, and the earlier years in polytechnic institutions.

The project also focused on a particular target audience in terms of motivations for considering major changes in the above-mentioned institutions. Three specific groups were of interest: (1) administrative leaders responsible for designing entirely new institutions; (2) administrative leadership responsible for major restructuring (i.e., merger, reengineering, downsizing) of institutions; and (3) policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels responsible for policy, regulations, and funding for TYIs.

Project Process

This section of the report will briefly describe the design process used in developing specifications for a future-oriented TYI. Detailed information on each of the design elements and design specifications for each element is provided in the NDTYI final report. Each of these components of the process is a product of the project in the sense of providing a strategy or "roadmap" for design in a particular institutional setting.

The design process was made up of ten design elements, executed in a particular order referred to as "designing-down." The design process is shown in Figure 1. The design elements were addressed in this particular order so as to get careful alignment among the design elements and to get "first questions first." The idea is to ensure that the design fits the needs of the situation and proceeds in a logical order from aims to actions to supporting structure, culture, and environment. Each of the design elements will now be described.

Figure 1
New Designs Process

Learning Context

Learning Signature

Learning Outcomes

Learning Process

Learning Organization

Learning Partnerships

Learning Staff and Staff Development

Learning Environment

Learning Finance

Learning Celebration

(Copa & Ammentorp, in press)

Learning Context

Each design for a TYI must meet the needs of a particular context or situation. The context is described in terms of assets to be kept a part of the new institution, problems with current institutional operation, opportunities to be taken advantage of with a new institution, and aspirations to be sought after in the new institution. Studying and analyzing the learning context results in a set of design criteria used to guide and monitor the accomplishments of the other design elements.

Learning Signature

Learning enterprise designs are given direction and energy by the symbols and metaphors representing the hopes and expectations of policymakers, educators, and their students. An effective design process must first try to elicit and understand these hopes and expectations as a way to give coherence and focus to learning design. Often the signature takes form through symbols and metaphors (e.g., words, pictures, people, stories, objects) representing a deeply shared perspective on the learning enterprise.

Learning Outcomes

Globalization and its associated complexity demand that TYIs have a clear idea of the value to be added by the learning enterprise as a starting point for program improvement. In short, TYI leaders must clearly know the competencies, standards, or results they want to produce for and through the learners. At the same time, students must be able to see what TYIs can do for them in terms of their personal development.

Learning Process

Learning outcomes are accomplished through the design of an appropriate learning process, traditionally viewed in terms of the language of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Too often in higher education, the attention is to teaching in contrast to learning and to subject matter (curriculum) at the expense of instruction and assessment. Most faculty in higher education are not required to study the learning process--instead, they center almost solely on subject matter. If TYIs are to address the learning design challenges and opportunities of the future, they must have a working language and knowledge of the learning process with foundations in human development.

Learning Organization

For the learning process to be successful in reaching the learning outcomes in a manner called for by the learning signature, a learning infrastructure or organization must be put into place and continually improved. The learning infrastructure is made up of the organization of learners, learning time, learning settings, subject matter, staff, technology, and learning environment. It is here that new designs for TYIs are most clearly visible. Familiar physical and organizational forms of higher education are unlikely to be responsive to the needs of students and the changing nature of society and its lifeplaces (e.g., work, family, community).

Learning Partnerships

The link between higher-education institutions and their communities takes the form of learning partnerships among public and private sector organizations. TYIs can no longer "go it alone"--they have neither the resources nor the knowledge to be set apart from their surroundings. Instead of the "ivory tower" of the past, higher-education institutions of the future will be ever more closely integrated with their communities and will bear increasing responsibilities for the quality of life of those who support and benefit from its work.

Learning Staff and Staff Development

The changed perspective suggested above mandates parallel development of teachers, administrators, and support personnel ready to adapt TYIs to new realities. Higher education will need to identify, train, and support leaders who can shape curricula and student experience in forms indicated by ever-changing learning expectations and processes.

Learning Environment

The driving force for higher education has shifted from the traditional--static--subject matters to a dynamic view of knowledge and its use. Information technology has been and will continue to be a pivotal force in this development; it has redefined the process of knowledge creation, transmission, and application. Learning technology has become one of the major considerations in any new design for the learning environment for TYIs. After consideration of the design elements noted above, consideration should shift to the physical and social environment of the institution. New designs will not be constrained by architectural forms, nor will they be limited to traditional educational practices; they will be motivated by the dynamic integration of higher-education institutions with their students and communities. Learning environments will include consideration of settings such as home, workplace, community, and school.

Learning Finance

This element of the NDTYI process concerns both the cost and revenues for higher education. Key strategies concerning cost include cost containment, improved efficiency, re-engineering, and alternative sources of services. On the revenue side, strategies include institutional development, new products and services, partnerships, and new markets.

Learning Celebration

The NDTYI process is integrated by the cultural symbols and practices of all those associated with the TYI. Learning experiences and their applications are continually reinforced through celebrations whereby the community confirms the relevance of the work of higher education.

While the design elements are presented in linear, downward order, the process also involves moving upward and among the design elements to ensure close alignment and internal consistency and coherence. Close alignment of the design elements is needed to realize quality and efficiency in the operation of the TYI. (See NDTYI final report for further information on each of the design elements and design specifications developed for each element.)

Benchmarking Process

Benchmarking plays a central role in NDTYI. It recognizes that many design elements exist in other institutions and it is not always necessary to "reinvent the wheel" in order to make productive changes in TYIs. Benchmarking is "the process of identifying, understanding, and adapting outstanding practices and processes from organizations anywhere in the world to help your organization improve its performance" (American Productivity & Quality Center, 1997, p. 1). The key words in this definition are "identifying," "understanding," and "adapting"; they set in motion a process to search for excellent practices and processes, study them in detail, and adapt those best suited to the TYI of concern.

The driving force motivating benchmarking is a quest for quality and feasibility in new designs. New ideas and practices do not guarantee the success of a new design. Instead, the worth of any new design is measured by the increment of quality it adds to the work of the TYI (Lewis & Smith, 1994). In this sense, benchmarking is a key component of the strategic thinking that motivates the NDTYI process (Copa & Ammentorp, in press; Watson, 1993). Put another way, benchmarking gives tangible form and proven ways to implement design concepts and helps to link new designs to the day-to-day activities of students and staff in TYIs.

Benchmarking has another, more immediate effect. It can point to specific activities and processes which can be implemented to materially reduce cost and increase quality. Benchmarking studies have been used to bring these benefits to all aspects of organizational activity in higher education (Coate, 1990). As benchmarking becomes a familiar activity, it can help all members of the TYI community reflect on what they do and how their work can contribute to increases in all aspects of organizational quality (Seymour, 1992).

In the NDTYI, benchmarking activities focus on particular design elements. That is, we set out to discover benchmark processes related to each of the steps in the design process advocated in NDTYI. These processes were selected using the design specifications associated with the design element in question. In this way, the resulting benchmark studies preserve the integrity of NDTYI and their discoveries can be readily implemented in a comprehensive process of organizational change.

Information regarding each benchmarked site was gathered from a number of sources. These sources included interviews with key informants, observations on-site, and materials gathered during site visits (e.g., brochures, articles, and reports).

Summary

In the pages that follow, five benchmark studies are presented in detail. They deal, respectively, with the design elements of Learning Process, Learning Partnerships, Learning Staff and Staff Development, Learning Technology, and Learning Finance. Each study is organized to discuss the following:
  • The rationale for selecting the benchmarked process in terms of the design specifications associated with the design element in question.

  • The objectives underlying the benchmarked process and how they are defined and communicated in practice.

  • The key features which make the benchmarked process unique and how these are related to the design specifications.

  • The impact realized by the benchmarked process.

  • The future directions planned for the benchmarked process.

  • The design implications or lessons learned that we see in the benchmarked process.

  • The contacts for further information about the benchmarked process. The contacts include the author of the benchmark study report and contacts at the site of the benchmarked process.

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