Welcome to the National Center for Academic Transformation.

NCAT was an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the effective use of information technology to improve student learning outcomes and reduce the cost of higher education. NCAT’s website provides a rich array of resources to those seeking proven methods for providing more students with the education they need to prosper in today’s economy. Learn more about NCAT’s history...

NCAT Course Redesign Guidebooks

  • How to Redesign a College Course Using NCAT's Methodology
    A "how-to" guide designed for those who want to improve learning and reduce costs in all sections of a single course in any academic area other than mathematics. This guide describes how to implement NCAT's course redesign methodology to increase student success and reduce instructional costs.
  • How to Redesign a College-Level or Developmental Math Course Using the Emporium Model
    A “how-to” guide designed for those who want to improve learning and reduce costs in a math course and use NCAT’s Emporium Model to do it. This guide describes how to redesign a single math course at both the developmental and college levels.
  • How to Redesign a Developmental Math Program Using the Emporium Model
    A “how-to” guide designed for those who want to improve learning and reduce costs in a developmental math program and use NCAT’s Emporium Model to do it. This guide describes how to redesign the entire developmental math sequence (typically offered at community colleges) rather than a single course.
  • How to Organize a Campus-wide Course Redesign Program Using NCAT's Methodology
    A “how-to” guide designed for those who want to develop a campus-wide course redesign program as a lever to improve learning and reduce costs at your institution. This guide describes how to use course redesign as a means to an end: the transformation of the campus community’s understanding of the relationship between quality and cost.

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Other NCAT Resources

  • New to Course Redesign?
    A list of recommended reading to get you started.
  • Course Redesign Case Studies
    Descriptions of more than 150 large-scale course redesigns sorted by discipline, by model and by degree of success.
  • Redesign Scholars Program
    A program to link those new to course redesign with more experienced colleagues to whom they can turn for advice and support.
  • Monographs
    A series of NCAT monographs about issues related to the intersection of learning and technology in higher education.
  • NCAT Webinar Series
    Recordings of disciplinary course redesign webinars (American and European history, chemistry, college algebra, computer literacy, developmental English and mathematics, developmental math, developmental reading, economics, psychology, statistics, and women's studies) as well as webinars on How to Get Started on Course Redesign, How to Increase Enrollments without Additional Resources, How to Deal with Budget Cuts without Affecting Quality, and How to Organize a Campus-wide Redesign Program.

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NCAT Completed Programs

  • A Summary of NCAT Program Outcomes
    A summary of the improved student learning outcomes, increased completion rates and reduced instructional costs for all NCAT programs.
  • NCAT Program Analyses
    Links to final program reports and cost savings summaries for all NCAT programs.
  • 2006 – 2012, State and System Course Redesign: a program in partnership with states and higher education systems that produced large-scale quality improvements and cost savings with links to statewide course redesign efforts in Arizona, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New York and Tennessee, including descriptions and data from 54 redesigns.
  • 2009 – 2012, Changing the Equation: a program that engaged the nation’s community colleges in a successful redesign of their remedial/developmental math sequences supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including descriptions and data from 32 institutions.
  • 2006 - 2010, Colleagues Committed to Redesign (C2R): a FIPSE-funded initiative that engaged new institutions in large-scale course redesign, including descriptions and data from 28 redesigns.
  • 2004 - 2005, Increasing Success for Underserved Students: an effort supported by Lumina Foundation for Education to assess the impact of the Program in Course Redesign on the success of traditionally underserved students.
  • 2003 - 2006, Roadmap to Redesign (R2R): a FIPSE-funded initiative that produced additional course redesigns using a streamlined course redesign methodology, including descriptions and data from 12 successful redesigns.
  • 1999 - 2004, Program in Course Redesign (PCR): NCAT's seminal program that demonstrated how to redesign courses using technology to improve quality and reduce costs, including descriptions and data from 30 successful efforts.