Expert sense-making, storytelling and facilitation on student success.
Elliot is an expert on student success, and the role that people, academic programs, places, technology platforms, and career paths play. He brings together stories, stats, and strategies on how to redesign what you offer, how you operate, and how you are organized.
From his consulting work with more than a 100 colleges and universities and books on student success, Elliot understands the issues, and he engages audiences not only with stories and stats but with activities, exercises, and questions that make for interactive experiences that help audiences learn.
Whether you need a conference keynote, a leadership/board retreat speaker and facilitator, a session to develop emerging leaders, or a workshop to get people aligned and inspired, Elliot offers expert sensemaking, storytelling, and facilitation on student success. No matter the format or audience, Elliot can spark conversations with trends and examples, help you envision and plan for the future, and build consensus and excitement to get there.
The Connected College
Instead of silos and separations, how can colleges and universities help all students feel a sense of belonging, create courses that lead to rewarding careers, provide students the support they need to succeed, and help everyone work better together to make this happen? In this talk based on The Connected College drawing from Elliot’s work more than 100 leading colleges and universities, will challenge leaders with its breakthrough ideas, success stories, and practical tactics
You’ll learn how to enable student success across key function areas in higher education: senior administration, academic affairs, student affairs, athletics, assessment, advancement, career development, libraries, facilities, technology and governing boards. You’ll understand the key demographic, technological, and cultural trends, learn inspiring case studies of connected colleges and universities, and apply tactics to enable student success. This talk can also include an activity to assess the connectedness of your institution or department and/or create the roadmap to improve it.
Space and Student Success
What role do spaces like classrooms, libraries, and residence halls play in student success? How do the support services offered in these spaces enable student success? How can staff best be structured to collaborate on providing these services? How can technology systems best be configured to help students find and use spaces as well as access services? How can these come together to help students find their places, people, and path?
In this talk based on my books and work with 100+ colleges and universities, you’ll learn what the evidence shows about the role that spaces play in supporting the key activities that help students succeed, activities like interactive learning in the classroom, finding a mentor, experiential learning projects, getting involved and belonging to a community and more. You’ll also learn the organizational and operational best-practices to make these spaces work. This talk can also include an activity to analyze your campus experience for the future and/or create the roadmap to improve it.
Future Workforce, Future Workplace
Who are today’s students, how are they learning, and what does this mean for the future of work and the future workplace? How will students’ expectations for technology and support services shape their views on the workplace? What will today’s classroom/career connections through speakers, projects, and internships mean for their future employee experience? How will the spaces they learn and live in today inform where, how, and why they work in the future?
Based on Elliot’s work with 100+ colleges, national surveys he’s led, and conversations with thousands of students, you’ll learn about today’s college experience and how you can design tomorrow’s employee experience – and the workplace, technology, and services that will shape it. You’ll hear the trends changing how we learn, live, and work and see bleeding edge examples that provide a window into the future, a future that anticipates AI and focuses people on the creativity, collaboration, and community that complements it. This talk can also include an activity to assess your employee experience and/or create the roadmap to improve it in the short- and long-term.
How to Get the Most Out of College
How can students get the most out of college? Not by seeing it as a maze to “get through” but rather as something they design and create for themselves, using evidence on how students succeed to guide them. Design is about understanding people, thinking holistically to make connections, trying things out, and learning along the way. When they take ownership and follow the research, students can feel connected and supported, find their program and career path, and take full advantage of what college has to offer.
You’ll learn evidenced-based tips and student stories from his book to help students and parents make better decisions about not just where but how to go to college – decisions about where to live, what courses to take, what to do a class project on, how to seek support, how to find belonging, what to major in, and how to explore career paths. This talk can also include an activity to create a college experience roadmap so that students can get the most out of it.
