Creating a Value Added College Environment

Abstract

This chapter explores how colleges and universities have struggled to define who they are and what they are responsible for doing. From the understanding that society increasingly equated educated with employed and highly compensated, the discussion traces the formal and informal education student receive on a college campus. Extending the idea of a formal curriculum to the ‘hidden curriculum,' that is, the unintended learning and experiences students encounter on campus. The hidden curriculum can play an important role in the student development process, and in many cases, has become the de facto value-added experience on campus. College policy makers and leaders can use the hidden curriculum to their advantage in working with students, but must first take the step of creating expectations for this curriculum and align their activities with their projected outcomes.