Through participation in ICA, you will have the opportunity to:

• Apply the 10 Essential Elements of a Curricular Approach
• Design, implement, and assess a Curricular Approach
• Learn from other institutions implementing a Curricular Approach through Showcase presentations
• Get feedback from Institute faculty about your Curricular Approach through Faculty Consults

A Curricular Approach is a paradigm shift from traditional educational approaches to an intentional, developmentally sequenced one, defined by institutional mission and purpose. Staff members using a Curricular Approach first identify clear learning goals and outcomes grounded in the history, culture, mission, and purpose of each institution. Then staff members identify student engagement strategies that can provide opportunities for students to achieve these learning goals and outcomes. Goals are sequenced, pedagogy rooted in scholarship of teaching and learning, and campus partners incorporated from throughout the institution. A Curricular Approach uses assessment to inform a process of continuous improvement.

Shifting to using a Curricular Approach is not superficial nor is it simply utilizing learning outcomes to guide programming. A curricular approach utilizes the 10 Essential Elements to think about student learning and a refined leadership mindset.

Institute Features

This learning experience is an institute and not a conference. Sessions are organized and sequenced to meet the needs of professionals and organizations at different places in their journey. Each session is also sequenced with learning outcomes to create an integrated, developmentally sequenced, experience for the participants. Showcases are also offered from a variety of institutional sizes and types to give concrete examples of how a Curricular Approach can be implemented consistently across campuses but also tailored for each unique campus context.

Whether it is your first Institute or your twelfth, you will leave inspired with new insights, new collegial connections, new examples and innovations, and new energy. We have representatives from all sizes and types of institutions who have benefited from the Institute experience. 

REgistration information

Team Registration

Consistently, some of the best feedback we receive from participants is from those who attended as members of an institutional team. While individual attendance is perfectly fine, if you can register as a team, we encourage it so you can learn together in real time and build or advance your Curricular Approach together.

Demographics of institute participants (based on 2023 Institute evaluation data):

In order to qualify for member rates for the ACPA’s Institute on the Curricular Approach, membership with ACPA must be valid through 21 October 2026. You must have your own individual membership. ACPA Members who purchase an Institute on the Curricular Approach Registration understand their membership needs to be active through 21 October 2026. If it is not active prior to the start of the Institute on the Curricular Approach you will not be provided with your Institute on the Curricular Approach Event credential unless you renew your membership or pay the difference between the non-member and member registration cost.

Registrations can be paid by check, VISA, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. All fees must be prepaid. Purchase orders are not accepted. Refunds will be given for cancellations, received in writing at ACPA by 18 September 2026. Registrations can also be withdrawn by registrants using the event registration system through 19 September 2025. After 18 September 2026 there are no refunds. ACPA reserves the right to charge a service fee of US$50 for returned checks. Registrations are non-transferable. The conference may be cancelled or postponed due to insufficient enrollment or other unforeseen circumstances. In this case, the fees will be fully refunded; however, ACPA will not be responsible for other additional costs, charges or expenses, including cancellation/change charges assessed by airlines and/or travel agencies.

Hotel information

The host hotel for the 2026 Institute on the Curricular Approach is the Hilton Costa Mesa. All ICA related programming and events will take place in this hotel, so we encourage all registrants to book their space at a discount using the group rate booking link which will be available soon.

Schedule-at-a-Glance