The Future Is Now: Learning, Design, and the 21st Century

Work in Progress at the University of Minnesota

What would a school look like which was designed to be learner-focused, technologically constantly updated, and which was intended, by its very use of space, light, and other architectural elements, to celebrate a sense of the learning community? Researchers at NCRVE's University of Minnesota site are looking at these questions in a new study of two-year institutions of higher education.

Their work builds on two earlier NCRVE activities, "New Designs for the Comprehensive High School" and "New Designs for the Comprehensive High School: Continuing the Visioning".

The study considers two-year institutions of higher education including community colleges, vocational and technical colleges and institutes, and two-year professional schools.

How Should "A 21st Century Two-Year Higher Education Institution" Look?

Researchers are taking a holistic approach, focusing on the technical, occupational, and professional components of two-year institutions. Ideas from around the United States, as well as from other countries are being examined. For example, Tea Tree Gully College of Technical and Further Education, in Modbury, South Australia features advanced technology to manage and deliver learning nationally and internationally, flexible and competency-based learning, open entry and open exit access by students, recognition of prior learning, partnerships with the community to enhance learning resources and contribute to community social and economic development, and decentralized decision-making and authority. The design of the campus is intended to reflect and enhance the learning processes, organizational structures, and learner outcomes.

Focusing on the whole institution forces the syntheses of findings and recommendations from other projects that studied separate components or strategies for improvement. The "new design" will provide a vision to guide longer range planning and policy so that separate elements come together and advantage can be taken of opportunities to put whole designs into place. Suggested design criteria are listed at the end of this article.

The development process for this project follows the pattern used in the very successful NCRVE project, "New Designs for the Comprehensive High School." The "new designs" are developed through a series of phases, each addressing an important desired element:

Each phase involves group process (design group, focus groups), scanning the nation and world for best practices, and research analysis and synthesis. Focus groups, with membership drawn from appropriate stakeholder groups, are being used to raise and clarify issues and potential solutions during each phase of the project. A design group, whose representatives come from all parts of the country, is used to guide the project to consensus at each phase of the project.

The best and most recent thinking, research, and practice relating to two-year institutions of higher education is being incorporated. Thus, new designs can be used to describe and demonstrate the future directions of two-year institutions in an integrated and concrete format for use in developing visions and for directing further research and development, training, and dissemination. At the project's completion the Center will publish a final report describing the educational specifications and supporting rationale for new designs for two-year institutions of higher education.

For more information, please contact the following individuals at
NCRVE, University of Minnesota
1954 Buford Avenue, R-460
St. Paul, MN 55108
George Copa, (612) 624-9284, FAX (612) 624-4720 or
William Ammentorp, (612) 624-1352, FAX (612) 624-3377

Design Criteria

Table of Contents | Next Article | Previous Article