This part of the exercise demands a future orientation. After tallying group responses, the entire group should review which themes best describe your institution and serve your students, which themes have no supporting evidence, and which themes need improvement. The results To date,I have conducted several of these workshops. Each time,the groups have impressed me with their spirit and with the enormous progress they made in a short time. Trustees, administrators, and to some extent, the faculty agree on how accurately to describe your institution.
All groups have a clearer sense of where the institution is moving.
The themes may not be new ideas, but agreeing on them provides a path on which your institution can walk with confidence. Each member of the various constituencies gleans knowledge and understanding of the institution. For example, trustees hear firsthand from students what goes on at the institution. Administrators find that faculty members are eager to step outside their disciplines and discuss the greater good of the college. Everyone learns that explaining the institution to prospective students is not as easy as it appears.