Symposium on Transforming the Postsecondary Experience
Innovation And Design So Every Student Can Graduate
October 31- November 2, 2025
Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk Chicago, IL
Gain New Knowledge to Apply to your Work!
Participants will learn about approaches for transforming various aspects of the undergraduate experience and apply that learning to efforts that help their institutions make sure more students thrive.
- Transfer
- Gateway Course Experience™
- First Year
- Second Year
- Purpose Focused Advising
- Curricular Structures
- AI and Student Success
Drawing on scholarship from the Gardner Institute’s published book, The Transfer Experience A Handbook for Creating a More Equitable and Successful Postsecondary System, as well as more than 15 years of experience helping institutions improve the transfer experience, track participants will deepen their understanding of ways to create and sustain transfer-sending or transfer-receptive cultures at their own institutions. Positive transfer cultures at institutions are essential to the persistence and completion of transfer students. The participants will be guided to apply what they learn during the track to create a set of plans to help transform their institutions to be a place where all transfer students can succeed.
This interactive workshop introduces a comprehensive, evidence-based model for transforming gateway courses to promote student success and equity. Gateway courses, once termed barrier or weeder courses, are, by definition, often foundational (lower-division or developmental courses that serve as a pathway to credit-bearing courses); high risk (courses that yield higher rates of D, F, W, or Incomplete grades); and may have high enrollments within, as well as across, sections (as defined by the institution) (Koch, 2017). During the workshop participants will learn how to implement strategies to help them advance gateway course transformation at their institution.
This workshop explores proven approaches to transforming the first-year student experience to improve the retention of students who are most at risk of leaving before their second year. Participants will be asked to examine the experiences they’re offering first-year students, consider how well these experiences are serving the post-traditional students of today, and where some students might need innovative forms of support to persist. Three guest presenters will join us to provide unique and proven illustrations of how to support particular first-year student populations. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to identify concrete methods for improving specific components of the first college year and have a tentative plan for how they will begin to take action at their own institutions.
Prior to the workshop, participants will be asked to answer a few questions posed by the facilitators in preparation for the session. We invite all educators—faculty, administrators, student affairs, and student success practitioners—who play a role in the first-year student experience and across all levels of prior experience in this work.
The second year of college is often overlooked as a pivotal period in the college success and completion journey. Many educators erroneously believe that once students succeed in the first-year, they have it “all figured out.” However, national research shows that a significant portion of students leave higher education after their second year. This track will provide examples of successful practices from institutions on second-year initiatives to allow attendees to observe the landscape of efforts. Participants will engage in scenario building activities that will help them empathize with the second-year student experience and identify available campus resources or potential gaps at their institution for assisting students. Additionally, participants will leave with tangible first steps to transform the second-year experience to increase student persistence on their campus.
Transforming the Academic Advising Experience will help participants develop an initial plan for implementing a purpose-driven advising approach to transform the advising experience at their institutions. Purpose-driven advising focuses on guiding students in identifying their personal values, academic goals, and professional aspirations, then helping students align their educational paths and experiences with those core principles. Purpose-driven advising draws from Lambert & Felton’s (2020) model of relationship rich education, Tinto’s (2018) contemporary model of student persistence, and current work on helping students find their purpose and develop skills necessary for success after graduation. After learning about exemplary practices in purpose-driven advising from selected 2-year and 4-year institutions, participants will consider how to adapt similar approaches at their institutions. By the end of the session, participants should be able to articulate how purpose-driven advising could operate on their campus and will have a roadmap for garnering support to initiate change.
When considering systems for institutional transformation, one that all students must traverse is the curriculum that makes up a program of study. Curricular complexity tools are used by many institutions to visualize and quantify how prerequisite relationships across courses can create unintended consequences, such as extended time to degree completion, excess credit accumulation, and increased risk of attrition. Participants in this workshop will learn how curricular complexity maps, combined with improvement science techniques, can be leveraged to improve student success through a transformation of curricular structures. By the end of the three-hour workshop, participants will have engaged with colleagues to examine systems, investigated curricular complexity, considered policies and practices related to programs of study, and designed an initial plan for improving outcomes based on evidence.
The workshop allows participants to map the curricular complexity of a program of study ahead of the meeting so they can dive into analysis with expert help during the 3-hour meeting. We encourage teams of faculty and staff from a particular program of study or disciplinary department to register together. Teams that register at least 2 weeks prior to the Symposium will be asked to identify the program of study they would like to investigate during the session so a custom curricular map can be created for them. If you aren’t able to build a map prior to the meeting, we will have time before the workshop and during to help you make progress.
As institutions experiment with AI, the key question is whether these efforts are truly enhancing institutional efforts to improve students success outcomes for all students. Join us for an interactive session where institutional teams of faculty and staff use a structured decision-making framework to evaluate their AI initiatives, focusing on how AI can enhance learning, advising, and student services, and discover new strategies to strengthen your efforts. Participants will reflect on their current AI strategies, examine real-world AI use cases in higher education, and discuss strategies for assessing and refining AI initiatives. Through this process, they will explore a model designed to align AI with foundational student success principles, ensuring meaningful and effective integration into higher education’s core mission to create and sustain conditions that help all students complete their degrees.
Prior to the workshop, participants will be asked to answer a few questions posed by the facilitators in preparation for the session.
Conference Registration Fees –
Register before August 1 for the early bird rate: $795
Regular Registration: $855
Student Registration (graduate and undergraduate): $425
Registrants from Transformation schools receive a 20% discount on the posted fees
Registrants from non-Transformation schools who register for both The Graduate Student Experience and the Symposium receive a 10% discount on the combined fees. Contact events@gardnerinstitute.org for code.
Registration Fee includes: Opening reception, two breakfasts, two lunches, refreshment breaks, and conference materials.
For more information contact events@gardnerinstitute.org
Conference Location Information:
Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, 301 E North Water St, Chicago, IL 60611
Chicago is home to cultural attractions, two scenic waterfronts, and the iconic deep-dish pizza. Chicago has been Voted the Best Big City in the country for a historic eighth year in a row. Enjoy an accessible and diverse city with theater, live music, and more.
Hotel Information:
Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk, 301 E North Water St, Chicago, IL 60611
$205 per night
Reserve here: https://book.passkey.com/event/50895938/owner/2233/home
Symposium Sponsorship
Sponsorship information will be available in February 2025.
