Webinars, In-Person and Virtual Conferences

SOC organizes and participates in a variety of events designed to help college campuses find community around High-Impact Practices and experiential learning. 

Below, you can see a schedule of our upcoming in-person and virtual events as well as explore resources and recordings of past events.

Can’t find what you’re looking for, or have an idea for a webinar we can organize?

Webinars

Upcoming Webinars

Free Weekly Product Demos

We organize free weekly public demos of our platform where we share some of the key features of the SOC platform and an overview of our products and services for both Honors/Undergraduate Research offices, and institution-wide scaling of High-Impact Practices. 
Please use the link(s) below to register, if you would like to attend.

SOC for Honors and Undergraduate Research

Every Thursday at 4:30 PM Eastern

SOC For Institution-Wide High-Impact Practices

Every Wednesday at 4:30 PM Eastern

Past Webinars

Experiential Learning in the Socially Distanced Classroom

Part 1: July 21, 2020
Part 2: July 29, 2020

Are you unsure how to engage students while teaching online or in a HyFlex environment? Do you want to ensure that your teaching is still experiential, equitable, and high caliber? If so, join us to learn about strategies you can use to increase engagement with your students in the remote classroom, including active learning, experiential learning, and High-Impact Practices.

Funding, Enrollment, and Finance
What’s next for higher education?

June 24, 2020

Dr. Cavanaugh and Dr. Jacobson have over 50 years of experience in positions such as provost, president, state chancellor, and director  at various universities, state system offices, and national higher education organizations.

View the slides, citations, and resources from last week’s webinar on the current financial realities facing higher education. Topics included:

  • The COVID-19 Acceleration of Change  
  • Enrollment Trends (pre- & post-Covid)
  • State Funding Trends (pre- & post-Covid) 
  • Responding to External Pressures 
  • Remaining Mission-Centered in Times of Change

Navigating Honors and Undergraduate Research Budget Cuts

May 28, 2020

Our Year-End Survey for 2020 was conducted at the end of April. In this special report, we’re highlighting the following key learnings:

  • Staff and faculty report they are saving significant time matching students to opportunities
  • More external funding for students lowers the financial burden on the institution
  • Saved time = saved resources
  • More student access = more participation in experiential learning
  • SOC’s marketing efforts lessen the burden on administrators

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, staff and budgets are being cut, enrollments are down, and experts agree they are not coming back. As a crucial retention and student success tool, this inevitable transition requires we provide more experiential opportunities to students, with less time and resources to make it happen. Higher education will be required to find much-needed efficiencies to do more with less.

Join us to learn more about some of the key insights that came out of our annual survey, and how campuses have begun to do more with less using the tools SOC provides.

Introduction to High-Impact Practices (with George D. Kuh)

April 21, 2020

George D. Kuh is Senior Scholar at the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment. He is the Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at Indiana University, the founding director of the widely used National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and nationally recognized thought leader and researcher on High-Impact Practices. This informational session included the following overview information on experiential learning and high-impact practices:

  • History of HIPs
  • Foundational research
  • HIPs impact on various student success metrics
  • HIPs for underrepresented populations
  • Current state of HIPs in the U

Moving Your Student Conferences Online

April 2, 2020

SOC is working with colleges and universities to help move previously planned in-person conferences/student research symposiums online.

This service includes:

  • Online “Conference Meeting Rooms”
  • Online “Poster Sessions”
  • Custom website with schedules, abstracts, and speaker info
  • Attendee Reports
  • 24/7 support from SOC Team

SOC will set up and help you manage your conference site from start to finish. Curious? Join our webinar to learn more.

Leading Institutional Change and Leveraging Innovative Technology to Scale Experiential Learning at VCU (with Dr. Erin Webster Garrett) 

March 24, 2020

Established in 2017 as a presidential directive, Virginia Commonwealth University’s (VCU) Relevant, Experiential, and Applied Learning Initiative, or REAL, guaranteed students high-quality, transformative, career-building outside-the-classroom activities. Erin Webster Garrett was hired as REAL’s founding leader in 2018 and engaged her campus to define REAL in terms of student experiences, pedagogy, and learning.

This session covered the work VCU REAL has undertaken and the innovative use of technology via the SOC technology platform to facilitate accomplishing these goals. 

Specifically,

  • Giving administration a clear picture of opportunity participation from siloed on-campus sources and previously inaccessible external websites/databases
  • Allowing students/faculty/staff to find and manage all opportunities in one place
  • The panel and subsequent Q & A session will reflect on the opportunities and challenges in leading an institution-wide initiative in a newly created position at an urban anchor institution