Explore Our Courses
Tools, Insights, and Conversations for
Art and Design Institutions
Our online learning series offers engaging, accessible sessions designed for academic leaders, faculty, and staff navigating change in higher education. From data-informed decision-making and curriculum design to GIS mapping, assessment strategies, and leadership best practices, each session blends practical tools with human-centered insight. Join us to learn, question, and build alongside a community of curious, mission-driven educators.
Upcoming Courses
Academic Program
Portfolio Review
Academic program review is often treated primarily as a financial exercise, particularly when an institution is already under pressure, but a thoughtful portfolio review can help an institution understand its academic strengths, respond to changing student interest, identify opportunities for collaboration, and make better-informed decisions about where to grow, invest, redesign, or consolidate.
This four-week working course will guide participants through the development of a balanced, transparent, and mission-centered framework for evaluating academic programs. We’ll consider five interconnected areas: market demand, mission fit, cost and resource use, student outcomes, and strategic relevance.
Participants will leave with practical templates, scoring tools, and the foundation for a portfolio review process tailored to their own institution.
Leading Enrollment at Art & Design Colleges: A Practical Guide for Enrollment Directors
Enrollment leadership at an art and design college comes with its own wonderfully specific set of challenges balancing institutional goals, changing student expectations, portfolio processes, financial realities, faculty relationships, and the deeply personal decision of choosing a creative education.
This nine-session virtual course follows the enrollment cycle, combining practical strategy with honest conversation about the realities of leading admissions and enrollment work. Sessions will address planning, forecasting, recruitment strategy, data literacy, team leadership, collaboration across academic and administrative areas, and the transition from recruitment to retention.
The course is designed for current and emerging enrollment leaders who want useful tools, a trusted peer community, and guidance from professionals who understand recruiting artists and designers.
Mapping Insight:
Spatial Thinking in Higher Education
In an era where institutional decisions must be both data-informed and equity-driven, spatial thinking offers a powerful lens for understanding patterns, gaps, and opportunities across the educational landscape. Through hands-on exploration, real-world case studies, and critical discussion, participants will learn how to use spatial data to visualize access and enrollment trends, make resource decisions, and build predictive models that support mission-aligned planning. For those new to GIS, this course centers human insight alongside technical tools, helping you map what matters most.
The current section has reached capacity. We’re delighted by the response and especially excited to begin working with this first group of participants.
Registration for the November section will open on October 1. If you missed this session, another opportunity is just around the corner.
Building a Research Culture: Developing a Research Curriculum with Existing Resources
Coming Soon:
Many institutions recognize the value of research but struggle to know where to begin. Research is often concentrated in a few programs, inconsistently defined across disciplines, or dependent on individual faculty champions. At the same time, institutions face increasing pressure to improve student outcomes, demonstrate impact, support accreditation, strengthen funding opportunities, and prepare graduates for a rapidly changing world.
This course helps colleges develop a coherent, scaffolded research curriculum using existing faculty expertise, courses, and institutional structures. Participants will learn how to build a research framework that reflects their own mission, disciplinary strengths, and available resources.
Participants will leave with a customized institutional roadmap for integrating research across the curriculum.