Educational Development in an Age of Change

Charting the future of educational development and Centers for Teaching and Learning.

Over the past two decades, educational development has become central to how colleges and universities pursue teaching excellence, student success, and institutional change. In Educational Development in an Age of Change, Mary C. Wright, Tracie Marcella Addy, Bret Eynon, and Jaclyn Rivard present the most comprehensive survey of US educational developers to date, tracing how the field has evolved and where it is headed next.

Based on responses from 550 educational developers and senior leaders across a wide range of institutional types—including community colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions—the book revisits and extends landmark national studies from 2006 and 2016. Tracking change over time, the authors examine who educational developers are, how centers for teaching and learning are structured and resourced, what initiatives they prioritize, and how they assess their impact. They give particular attention to strategic vision and theories of change: How do educational developers understand their role in advancing student learning? How do they navigate political pressures, shifting priorities around diversity and equity, the rise of generative AI, and ongoing questions about the value of higher education? Keeping issues of systemic inequity clearly in mind, they ask: Where are centers flourishing, where do gaps persist, and how can campus and system leaders better support these important resources? Combining longitudinal data with analysis of emerging trends, the book documents both continuity and transformation in the profession. It identifies signature programs, growing areas of emphasis such as community building and peer review, and the organizational conditions that enable educational development to influence campus-wide change.

Essential reading for center directors, educational developers, senior academic leaders, and scholars of higher education, this book offers a detailed map of a profession that now plays a pivotal role in shaping the future of colleges and universities.