Learning College Summit at Hilton Anatole in Dallas

June 24-27, 2007
Hilton Anatole
Dallas, Texas
Hosted by
Dallas County Community College District

Registration is under way for the League’s 2007 Learning College Summit, to be held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. All Summit events will be held at the Hilton Anatole, and the Summit is hosted by the Dallas County Community College District.

Summit Registration. The Learning College Summit registration fee provides participants with access to all Summit symposia, forums, salons, and conversations about learning, as well as the opening reception on the evening of Sunday, June 24; continental breakfast, Monday, June 25, through Wednesday, June 27; and lunch, Monday, June 25, and Tuesday, June 26. Evening meals are on your own. The Anatole has several excellent restaurants, and the Summit will provide free shuttle service for participants to Dallas restaurant areas on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings.

Celebrating its fifth year, the League’s Learning College Summit will be hosted by Dallas County Community College District. Plans are fully under way for this exciting gathering, which brings together educators from around the nation and the world who are committed to a deliberate, powerful focus on learning at their institutions. As an integral facet of the League’s Learning Initiative, the Learning College Summit is designed to benefit colleges that are beginning the journey toward becoming more learning centered as well as veteran learning-college institutions that are well on their way.

The 2007 Learning College Summit will serve as a working retreat for college teams or for individual representatives from colleges to connect with colleagues and to share experiences, discuss issues, and explore strategies for overcoming obstacles and meeting challenges. This gathering of community college educators is designed to foster networking and collaborative opportunities among colleagues, and is a vehicle to investigate ways colleges have successfully undertaken significant organizational transformation to improve student learning.

The 2007 Learning College Summit offers participants opportunities to explore in depth five pressing topics in community college education as they relate to the Learning College concept in action:

• Quality Enhancement;
• Learning Outcomes and Assessment;
• Learning Environments;
• Student Engagement; and
• Professional Development.

Each topic is the focus of deep examination during its own morning or afternoon session. Each session features a symposium, forums, salons, and conversations about learning.

Symposia. Each half-day session begins with a plenary symposium focused on the topic for that session. Each symposium features a discussion by leaders and practitioners in the specific topic area, followed by a question-and-answer period involving Summit participants. Participants are encouraged not only to ask questions of the speakers, but also to share brief descriptions of ways their colleges are working to make that aspect of their institution more learning centered.

Forums. Held concurrently, the forums for each half-day session follow the symposium and feature a team of two or three participants from one or more institutions presenting successful approaches to achieving educational transformation in the topic area. Presenters provide specific examples of successful strategies and practices used at their college.

Salons. The large number of excellent proposals has led Summit staff to schedule a series of one-hour Salons during the Summit. Held concurrently with the Conversations About Learning (see below), the Salons focus on topics of interest to a distinct group of Summit participants—faculty in a specific discipline or librarians, for example.

Conversations About Learning. Each half-day session ends with conversations about learning designed to provide college teams the opportunity to regroup and reflect on their experiences at the Summit and to begin discussing ways to apply their learning at their college. Teams may choose to use this time to meet with other college teams or individuals. For participants who are the sole representative from their institution, these conversations offer an opportunity to continue symposium and forum dialogues and to discuss challenges, obstacles, and successes with others. Individuals may also choose to use this time for meeting with specific college teams or individuals.

The goals of the 2007 Learning College Summit are to

• Provide a comfortable setting for educators to share the successes and challenges of transforming institutions to become more powerfully focused on learning.
• Increase understanding of the concepts of the Learning College as a framework and inspiration for effecting institutional change to improve student learning, performance, and success.
• Provide a forum for the exchange of innovative processes and approaches to transforming undergraduate education and improving institutional and student learning outcomes.
• Facilitate participant interaction and development of new networks of colleagues who support Learning College concepts.

If you want to learn more about the process of transforming the structures, procedures, and practices of your institution to focus on producing meaningful, successful student learning, the 2007 Learning College Summit will give you an opportunity to hear about ideas, approaches, and experiences from colleagues in higher education. For more information, visit the Learning College Summit website (www.league.org/ls2007) or contact Cynthia Wilson at wilson@league.org or 480-705-8200, ext. 238.