Organizational Learning Contracts

This book addresses a new concept, the organizational learning contract, a shared agreement among the faculty, staff, and students in an educational institution about what, how, where, and when learning should take place. Goodman, who has pioneered the concept in his work with new and traditional institutions, examines the consequences of strong and weak contracts while bridging theory with practice. In the first section, Goodman develops the concept of the organizational learning contract, builds measures, and looks at the consequences of strong versus weak contracts on student and institutional effectiveness indicators. The second section, which includes the perspectives of two leaders of start-up institutions who have created new organizational contracts, explores issues of design and change in introducing the concept into new and existing institutions.