The Future of Learning: 2021-2022 University Theme

The world is experiencing a period of rapid transformation. The pandemic disruption, systemic racism, social injustice and unrest, generational shifts, climate change impacts, science denial, anti-intellectualism, and rapid technological advances are among the mega-trends driving significant change. In particular to higher education institutions, cost, demographic, and revenue worries aren’t going away. Individuals, groups, and organizations are already stretched as they struggle to respond to these unprecedented challenges. The gap that was already present between how we are organized, and the needs of the future, is widening rapidly.

WSU will confront these challenges and identify opportunities to transform our campus and community by exploring together The Future of Learning as the 2021-2022 University Theme. This Theme will mesh with institutional planning work that will be occurring from July 2021 through the end of the 2021-2022 academic year. This institutional planning will anticipate probable future scenarios and lead WSU to a preferred future that is equitable, resilient, carbon positive, and regenerative. The desired outcome is a framework to guide our learning approaches, operations, infrastructure, and facilities that facilitates and enables at every level achievement of WSU’s strategic values and our vision for the future of learning.

For this work to be successful, we will need to collectively determine possible futures for the WSU campus from a staggeringly wide range of possibilities. This will require an in-depth exploration of the various forces affecting learning delivery as well as the psychology of learning, student needs and desires, and their connections to spatial and social experiences. We will need to consider mega-trends within the local, regional, national, and worldwide scales and apply these to inform decisions related to the campus’ academic programming, physical facilities, and business and operational models.

Most importantly, we must meaningfully engage an oftentimes skeptical campus around uncertain future-oriented work. By organizing our campus around a Theme of The Future of Learning, we as an institution can develop aspirational but actionable plans that accommodate alternative scenarios to the ideal or probable future and define the attributes of campus and community environments that matter, that inspire, and that create a unique sense of place.

• Nathan Engstrom
• Deanna Goddard
• Jim Goblirsch
• Kendra Weber
• Elissa Alzate
• Jamie Sanders
• Yeejsuab Nahla Lee
• Will Kitchen
• Larry Schrenk
• Charla Miertschin
• Tom Hill
• Ken Graetz