This document provides an overview of a presentation for new learning center directors on forging successful learning centers. It discusses critical considerations like programs and services, use of technology, assessment and evaluation, professional development, and budgeting. Participants will gain knowledge on evidence-based best practices and utilize a work plan to develop actions and timelines for center improvements. The document includes discussion questions to involve participants.

1. Forging Successful Learning
Centers: Critical Considerations
and Evidence-Based Practices
for New LC Directors
NCLCA 2021 Annual Conference
Past Presidents Council

2. Here is the link to the PowerPoint for the participants!
https://ballstate-
my.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/jhaley_bsu_edu/EQG
1ek01KjxGm5S23qosmUwBK5FBBQLJrVTZSY9Z_t39
Gg?e=ofRSk9
Email jhaley@bsu.edu for the link;
that is probably easier than trying to
write this down!

3. Introductions
Lindy Coleman Lisa D’Adamo
Weinstein
Laura Sanders
Jenny Haley Geoff Bailey

4. Learning Objectives
1. Participants will gain knowledge of evidence-
based best practices regarding learning center
programs/services, utilization of online tools and
technology, assessment and evaluation,
professional development, and budgeting and
revenue generation
2. Participants will utilize a work plan (provided) to
develop specific actions and a timeline for center
improvements

5. Programs and Services

6. Programs and Services
• What Did I Inherit?
• Keep it or Toss It?
• How to Keep It? (and make it my own)
• How to Toss It? (and not hurt feelings)
• What Is Missing?
• Does it exist somewhere else? Can we partner?
• What’s My Vision for My Center?
• What Do I Want?
• Why Do I Want It?
• How Am I Going to Get It?

7. My Inheritance--For Better or
Worse!
What Have YOU Inherited from the
Previous Occupants of YOUR
Center??

8. What Did I Inherit?
● Inventory of Programs and Services
○ When did it start? (Historical institutional
significance)
○ Who started it? (is that person still around?)
○ Who does it serve? (is that cohort still active/do
they still need it?)
● Should It Stay or Should It Go?
○ Go!
■ Give it some time
■ Be sensitive to the past
○ Stay!
■ Give it a reboot
■ Make it more relevant to the era
Do You Have an Inherited Program
or Service that could Benefit from
an Intrusive Investigation??

9. What Is Missing?
• How Do I Know if a Service or Program is Needed on
Campus?
• Surveys (your own or collected from campus partners)
• Keeping track of student requests for services
• Assessment Data--Check reports for years past for learning outcomes
• LRNASST --The Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals
• NCLCA Professional Development/Networking Opportunities:
• Conference
• Affiliates
• Webinars
• M3s
• Before Breaking Ground on Something New…
• Is it being offered elsewhere on campus? Can you support/partner?
• Avoid the Lone Ranger model--who else needs to buy in? (with $$ or other
support?)
Is there a Program or Service that is MIA
from your Center? Do you have a Plan
to Bring it to Life?

10. My Vision, My Center!
What Do You Want?
Why Do You Want It?
How are You Going to Get It?

11. My Vision, My Center!
• What Do You Want?
• New Programs
• Demonstrated Need
• Partners/Buy-In
• $$
• Space
• Staff
• Existing Programs
• Changes/Upgrades
...what else?

12. My Vision, My Center!
• Why Do You Want It?
• Does it Fulfill your Center’s Mission?
• Does it Fit the Strategic Plan/Core Values of
your Institution? Does it Match with your
Assessment Plan?
• Does it Match your Student
Population/Needs?
...what else?

13. My Vision, My Center!
• How Are You Going to Get It?
• Timeline
• Partner/Team/Supervisor Buy-in
• Survey Interest/Need
• Marketing
• Implementation
• Assessment
• Budget
• Staff
...what else?

14. Technology and Learning Centers

15. 2020 Horizon Report
https://bit.ly/EducauseHorizonReport2020
“Any action plan we formulate today is
based on assumptions about what is likely
to happen tomorrow. But if we lock our
action plans too firmly to a specific set of
assumptions, what happens if the future
turns out differently, and those assumptions
are not realized? Should that happen, then
we may be pursuing a course of action that
is out of sync with actual events and might
even work against our interests” (p. 32)

16. At the beginning of the pandemic…
“Higher Education is undergoing
a mass migration from
classroom-based to virtual
learning this week. To most of
our partners, it feels like drinking
from the fire hose! Both faculty
and students need support to
ensure that they get through
this, that we, as a learning
community, maintain quality in
teaching, and ensure that all
students complete their courses
successfully.”
SOURCE – O’DONNELLlearn
Early Spring 2020

17. “For this year’s Teaching and Learning Horizon
Report, the COVID-19 pandemic loomed large in
our expert panelists’ discussions on the larger
trends shaping higher education. Indeed, it is
nearly impossible to overstate the effects the
pandemic has had and will continue to have on
every facet of our lives, including education. No
matter the topic of discussion—our social lives, our
dependencies on technology, or the economic
outlook of our future—the pandemic’s tendrils have
wrapped around all of it. It is rather remarkable,
then, that many of the trends identified for last
year’s Horizon Report (developed prior to the onset
of the pandemic) are also the trends this year’s
panelists believed to be the most important. Mental
health. The digital divide. Funding for higher
education. These trends were important before the
pandemic, and they remain important today and
likely will be tomorrow.”
https://bit.ly/EducauseHorizonReport2021
2021 Horizon Report

18. Up until now higher education has, for the most part, been evolving its way
forward— sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes hesitantly—in its adoption of
online and blended course models.
But the pandemic delivered a seismic jolt that greatly accelerated this
evolution, forcing higher education to become inventive and create an
array of new course models to cope with a truly unique situation.
Especially challenging was the fact that often the hybrid models crafted over the
summer of 2020 had to be modified almost on the fly, according to the ebbs
and flows of the pandemic.
The result is that higher education now uses a wide and diverse spectrum
of course models…
Whatever names one might use for these course models, it is clear that higher
education has diversified quickly and that these models are here to stay.
Source: Educause 2021 Horizon Report: Teaching and Learning
Early Fall 2021

19. https://nclca.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Publications/TLAR/Issues/25_Special.PDF

20. Finding the right technology balance…
Your
Learning
Center
Your
Students
Programs &
Services
Professional
/Student Staff
Funding
Advertising
Your Institution

21. Successful Academic Support Services
Include…
• Proactive interventions,
• Supportive environments,
• Personalized support systems,
• Small group tutorials,
• Development of students’ basic learning skills,
• Teaching of study skills and learning strategies in the context of
academic content courses,
• Opportunities to interact in informal settings and develop personal
relationships with faculty, and
• Opportunities to experience success.
Adapted from:
Maxwell, M. (1997). Improving Student Learning Skills. Clearwater, FL: H&H Publishing.
Casazza, M. E. & Silverman, S. (1996). Learning Assistance and Developmental Education. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Keep these best practices in mind as we
look at best technology practices

22. Taking stock of the present:
Where are you with technology?
What kinds of technology are you
currently using?
What kinds of technology are your
students using?
What do you have to support tech
at your institution?
 You programs &
services
 Your students
 Your institution

23. Assess Your Tech Current State:
Pick a Program or Service
Learning
Center
Programs
and Services
Resources-
Physical &
Virtual
Budget
Assessment
& Evaluation
Advertising
&
Networking
Staffing
Students’ Skills & Needs
Mission
&
Goals
• IALIGNMENT
• BENEFITS/CHALLENGES
• to LEARNERS
• to LEARNING/TUTORING CENTER STAFF
• to DEPARTMENT/INSTITUTION

24. Technology Enhancing Learning
What you should consider …
Pedagogy & student
needs should be the
DRIVER for technology
use in academic
support programs &
services not the other
way around.

25. Strategic, Operational & Tactical
These are
evolving and
somewhat fluid
right now
What goals do you have for enhancing student learning through/with technology?

26. Photo source: http://www.trigonbusiness.com/f-and-a.html

27. Exemplars:
Website & Tutoring Practices
https://tutoring.asu.edu
https://lsu.edu/cas/
Online Tutoring
Association for Colleges for Tutoring & Learnin
Assistance - Online Tutoring Standards
The Academic Senate for California Communit
Colleges - Effective Practices for Online Tutori
Jennifer Brown's EvoLLLution articles from 201
Synchronous Online Tutoring: Tips & Tools to
Start Your Own Program
• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

28. Website that I will continue to update
https://bit.ly/LearningCentersOnline

30. Budgeting Overview
• Purpose of a budget
• Common budgetary models used by colleges/universities
• Primary budgetary considerations for your LC
• Creating a budget
• Opportunities to expand your base budget

31. Purpose of a Budget
• Connect your mission/charge with the key services and
essential staffing levels
• Ensure accountability for expenditures
• Critical for all institutional types / programs (state-funded, private, for-profit,
DOE grants, etc.)
• Evaluate efficiency of expenditures and alignment with center’s
actual needs
• Delineate fixed costs (personnel) versus variable costs (S&E)

32. Common Budgetary Models
• Line item
• Incremental budgeting (most common)
• Make minor changes from the most recent FY budget
• Performance budgeting
• Program funding levels often tied to expected results / goals
• Commonly used by government agencies & some grants
• RCM (responsibility center management)
• Revenue-generating units are wholly responsible for managing
own revenues and expenditures
• Least common (especially for LCs)

33. Primary Budget Considerations for Your LC
• Staffing (typically largest percentage of your budget)
• Supplies and equipment
• Professional development / travel
• Subscriptions and contracts
• Software and data platforms (e.g., TutorTrac, Accutrack, EAB/Starfish, etc.)
• Often shows as a line item in S&E

34. Creating A Budget
• Connect your mission/charge with the key services and
essential staffing levels
• Get trained on your college/university financial system; know
if this offers live views of your budget or a snapshot in time
(e.g., last month)
• Review your budget at least quarterly (preferably monthly)
with a unit budget manager (title depends on institution)
• Budget/encumbrance adjustments, correcting mistakes,
budget forecasting

35. Creating A Budget
• Know your fixed versus variable costs (including those for
staffing levels)
• Fixed: subscriptions, IT/phone charges
• SI or PAL is generally a more fixed cost (i.e., you know
the number of staff, number of hours each week,
multiplied by weeks in the semester)
• Variable: appointment tutoring, supply orders, food
• Balance cost effectiveness with service efficacy (e.g.,
individual versus small group tutoring, drop-in versus
scheduled, etc.)
• Increase FWS awards where feasible

36. Opportunities to Expand Budget Allocation
• Establish revenue and/or gift accounts
• Separate from annual allocation to prevent being swept by central administration
• Advancement/Development activities
• Crowdfunding (e.g., Annual Day of Giving, one-time projects)
• Corporate sponsorships (e.g., supporting signature programs, summer bridge
programs, scholarships, etc.)
• “Naming” rights
• Payroll deduction
• Revenue generation
• Private tutoring (e.g., homegrown, Tutor Matching Service, etc.)
• Grants
• Student fees (e.g., institutional service fee for academic support or tutoring; often
approved by SGA)

37. Opportunities to Expand Budget Allocation
• Tell your story!
• Personalize the impact of your services (e.g., testimonials)
• Show breakdown of investments on services/# of students (e.g., $12 covers 1
hour of tutoring; $1,000 = 4 weeks of summer bridge/student, etc.)
• Showcase key data
• Impact of services on key/target populations
• GPAs, retention rates, graduation rates, closing the achievement gap
• Envision the possibilities
• Scaling your success
• Infusing new technologies purposefully (e.g., enhance services and impact
through data analytics, stream/project from personal devices to large LCDs,
virtual and augmented reality, etc.)
• Expanding to historically marginalized populations / infusing DEI work

38. Identify Your $ Concerns
• What are your primary budgeting concerns?
• Where do you have the biggest discrepancies (between need and
$)?
• How much access do you have to view expenditures, budgetary
reports, and overall balance?
• How do you specifically use data to help advocate for additional
fiscal resources?
• Who are (or could be) your budgeting allies?
• What would you accomplish if you had sufficient funding? (think
big!)

40. Assessment Basics to Consider
● What professional standards are you using to
benchmark and review your learning center?
● Why are you assessing your learning center?
● Do you need to create or improve your
assessment
framework? (Mission Statement, Objectives,
Learning Outcomes, etc.)
● How are you collecting data?
● How are you reporting your assessment results?

41. Professional Standards to Guide
Your Learning Center
● Promising Practices for Learning Support Center
By Frank Christ
● CAS Standards and Guidelines for Learning
Assistance Programs
Available for free on the NCLCA homepage.
Self-Assessment Guides Available for purchase on
CAS Website.
● NCLCA Learning Centers of Excellence
Program
Criteria

42. Components of an Assessment
Framework
Mission Statement - Describes the purpose or goal of
a learning center while emphasizing it ongoing
commitment to meeting the needs of the campus
community.
Objectives - Broad statement or goals that describe
what the program wants students to know or be able
to do and how that will be accomplished.
Example: Help students develop content mastery and
critical thinking skills.

43. Components of an Assessment Framework
Learning Outcomes - Measurable Statements that
describe the end results of a student’s participation in
program or organization.
Example: Students will be able to sequence and break
down information/concepts.
Assessment Tools - Techniques used to measure a
student’s academic abilities, skills,etc.
Example: Course grade comparisons for student users
versus non-users.
Data Analysis, Reporting, and the Continuous
Improvement Process

44. Student Learning Outcomes
Definitions
● Goals that describe how a student will be changed
by a learning experience.
● The knowledge, skills, attitudes, and habits of mind
that student take from a learning experience.
● Measurable

45. Student Learning Outcomes
Components
● An opening phrase to indicate who will demonstrate
the learning.
Example: “students will” or tutors will”
● An action word that clearly describes the behavior
to be observed.
Example: “list” or “recite” are action words
that indicate knowledge.
● A learning statement that specifies the learning
that
will be demonstrated.
Example: knowledge of specific
tasks.

46. Annual Report
● Executive Summary
○ Short Overview of Programs
○ Usage including overview charts and graphs
○ Student Learning Outcomes with results
○ Evidence of Student Success
● Budget and Staffing
● Programs and Program Usage
● Student Demographics
● Visits by course, student, majors, etc

47. Annual Report
● Assessment Framework and Results
● Student Outcomes
● Description of Tutor Training
● Professional Development
● Feedback from Stakeholder Groups
● Description of Advisory Board
● Continuous Improvement Process

49. Let’s Do Some Self-Reflection
About Your Professional
Development!
• What professional organizations do you belong to?
• Are there any learning assistance organizations you would like to
learn more about?
• What certifications have you earned?
• Have you given presentations at conferences?
• Have you published an article or book review?
• Have you engaged in committee work on the national level?
• How do you learn about developments and connect with colleagues
nationwide in the field of learning center administration?

50. NCLCA Professional Development
○LCLC
○Institute
○Committees
○Webinars
○M3s
○Podcasts
○Conferences
○TLAR
○Newsletter
○Affiliates
○Awards and Grants
○Members Only
https://nclca.wildapricot.org/

51. CLADEA Resources for
Professional Development
• Vision and Mission
• Member Orgs
• Certification chart
• Brochure
• Members
• Additional
CLADEA
information
• Fellows
• Calendar
• Publications
• Newsletter
• Policy
statement
• White papers
• Essential
readings
https://cladea.info/

52. LRNASST
https://lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html
Fantastic source of learning assistance
discussion with thousands of subscribers

53. LSCHE website
“LSCHE seeks to identify and provide a cornucopia of
ideas, resources, and tools for learning support
professionals in higher education to enable them to create
the best possible learning support centers for the ultimate
benefit of all our students.”
Let’s check it out!
https://www.lsche.net/

54. Take a Few Moments to Make
Some Professional Development
Goals
What is a reasonable professional development
activity you can complete this semester?
What professional development activity can you
complete by the end of this academic year?
In terms of your career, where do you see
yourself in five years?

55. QUESTIONS?
Thank you so much for
joining us today!