Academic Strategy and Learning Innovation (ASLI – pronounced “Ashli”) brings together three core units: the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), Office of Assessment, and the Institute for Global Higher Education (IGHE). ASLI drives initiatives that support and enhance teaching, learning, and curriculum development at DKU.
ASLI fosters a dynamic academic culture rooted in continuous improvement and innovation. By supporting teaching excellence, student learning, and curriculum design, ASLI strengthens DKU’s distinctive educational identity and advances the university’s global mission.
Our work cultivates collaboration among faculty and enhances teaching effectiveness, creating richer learning experiences, a flexible and high-quality curriculum, and a campus-wide commitment to evidence-based innovation. These efforts also reinforce DKU’s external partnerships and highlight its unique contributions to higher education.
ASLI collaborates closely with faculty committees, administrative units, and students, with a particularly strong partnership with Curricular Affairs. This collaboration ensures robust systems for curriculum development, assessment, and faculty support, promoting high-quality teaching and learning across the university.
The five strategic priorities outlined below represent ASLI’s core areas of focus. They reflect and shape the main strategic initiatives of CTL, Assessment, and IGHE.
System Building:
Strengthen cross-functional alignment and coordination to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness.
Approach:
Articulate strategic priorities; clarify and execute policies; improve communication; and foster collaboration within ASLI departments and across DKU’s academic ecosystem to support a more integrated approach to curriculum, assessment, and teaching and learning.
Teaching and Excellence:
Elevate teaching standards by cultivating a culture of teaching excellence and continuous faculty development.
Approach:
Support ongoing faculty growth through differentiated training, targeted support, peer engagement opportunities, and incentives.
Quality Assurance:
Systematically review and enhance the quality of DKU’s core academic model.
Approach:
Systematically evaluate curriculum, assessment, and teaching practices in close consultation with faculty and with input from students. Identify areas for improvement and implement targeted, evidence-informed refinements to further advance DKU’s distinctive academic identity.
Educational Innovation:
Identify and address critical needs by integrating key innovations to advance DKU’s core educational model.
Approach:
In close consultation with faculty and students, carefully select evidence-based and research-informed innovations and integrate them into DKU’s educational model in a purposeful, coordinated, and phased manner that responds to needs and changes.
External Engagement:
Expand DKU’s strategic partnerships and extend its influence.
Approach:
Leverage IGHE to pursue an external engagement strategy that deepens and extends DKU’s partnership with Duke University, and strengthens DKU’s relationships, reach, and influence across the Chinese higher education ecosystem and with global universities and networks.