Vision Buffs 2030

Calling All Students!

What might the student experience at CU Boulder be like in 2030?

You’re invited to share your vision for a hopeful learning future at CU Boulder! At a time when the rules of higher education are being challenged by several disruptive forces, we see an opportunity for students to suggest bold alternatives, or rule breakers, to the “traditional” learning experience. The Vision Buffs 2030 call is open to students, both undergraduate and graduate. You may share your vision as an individual or as a group. Up to five visions will be selected for an 18-month funding cycle so that you can explore, experiment and play with ideas for how to make your hopeful learning future a reality. Awarded vision teams will be composed of at least 3 students and up to two faculty or staff members. Read on for more information about Vision Buffs 2030, response criteria, and our selection timeline.

Vision Buffs 2030: Background

Vision Buffs 2030 is supported by the CU Boulder Pedagogical R&D (Research & Development) Initiative, a joint project of the University of Colorado Boulder Center for Teaching & Learning and Division of Continuing Education. Resulting from a year of discovery and sensemaking with CU community members, the Pedagogical R&D Initiative is ready to fuel a hopeful learning future on our campus. Up to 5 visions for that future are eligible to receive $25,000 each for 18-months of exploration, experimentation, and play in pursuit of making your vision a reality. Assembled teams will be provided with additional training and technical support in:

  • Speculative Education Fiction & Hopeful Learning Futures
  • Students as Partners frameworks 
  • Liberatory Design Thinking frameworks 
  • Instructional Design 
  • Project Assessment

Vision Buffs 2030: Response Criteria

Vision Buffs 2030 is curious about how we can build “durable skills” in students during their career at CU. Examples of durable skills, also known as “soft skills” or “human capacities”, include skills like collaboration, curiosity, communication, creative thinking, and learning from failure. If you can think of other durable skills that are critical for student thriving, we want to hear about them in your vision for a hopeful learning future!

If your vision is selected for funding, you will be invited to assemble or join a team that is composed of at least 3 students and up to 2 faculty or staff partners. Students will be compensated for their participation on a team.

To share your vision, submit a response in written, sketched, video, or voice-recorded mediums. We encourage you to unleash your wild imagination!

Regardless of your response medium, each submission must include:
  • Your name(s) 
  • Your year(s)
    • Undergraduates and graduates must be enrolled through May 2028
  • A snappy headline for your hopeful learning future
  • The specific durable skills that your vision will cultivate in learners
  • One way by which your vision may become a reality
  • Submission parameters
    • Written submission: Up to 2 pages
    • Sketched submission: Up to 2 pages
    • Video recording: Up to 5 minutes
    • Audio recording: Up to 5 minutes
  • Is there a medium you’d like to submit in that’s not listed above? Reach out to us so we can talk about it!

Use of generative AI (gen AI): We are looking for unique human-created visions for a hopeful learning future at CU. If you choose to use gen AI to express your vision, we ask that you do so using gen AI as a partner to, not a replacement for, your own imagination. If you use gen AI, please provide additional (to your written, sketched, or recorded submission) documentation of that use by outlining:

  • The gen AI tool that you used
  • The prompt or prompts that you used to engage a gen AI tool as a creative partner
  • A brief, one-paragraph narrative describing the nature of your creative partnership with a gen AI tool 
Selection Criteria
  1. Does the vision break a rule(s) of higher education? 
    We’re looking for ideas that radically break with long-held teaching and learning traditions in higher education and that meet the needs, opportunities, and challenges facing students today and into the future.
  2. Does the vision include one or more durable skills? 
    We’re looking for ideas that can cultivate critical human capacities in students during their career at CU Boulder. Skills that will serve them as they navigate an increasingly uncertain world while deepening their connection to themselves, to others, and to their community.
  3. Does the vision present at least one tangible means by which the idea might become a reality?
    While we welcome wild imagination and bold ideas, we’re also looking for a glimmer of do-ability. Visions should be grounded in a brief description of how you might get to your hopeful learning future.  
Selection Timeline

Call for Visions Opens
October 1, 2026

Community Q&A Mixer
October 13, 2026 at X:00 p.m. in E390

Join us for an informal community mixer where you can:

• Enjoy pizza and soda
• Get your questions answered
• Connect with potential team members if you are still looking to build your team

Vision Submissions Due
November 13, 2026

Selections Announced
December 7, 2026

Questions or Ready to Submit?

Contact Blair Young at byoung@colorado.EDU with questions or to submit your vision.

Vision Buffs 2030: Q&A

Yes! You sure can! If you submit a vision as an individual and it’s selected for funding, we’ll help you assemble a team or pair you with another awarded vision that is closely aligned with yours.

Yes! We know faculty and staff who are excited to support student-led projects into the future. Just let us know that this is something you need help with and we’re happy to assist you in finding a good match.

No. Sorry! Since we know that having a dedicated and consistent team will more likely lead to a vision coming to fruition, we can’t allow projects to be part of a single semester course. That’s why a portion of each award will be allocated to compensating students for their participation on a team over the 18-month funding period.

Each awarded team will receive $25,000 in funding to invest in their project over an 18-month period. A portion of that funding will go toward compensating students for their participation on the project (and possibly faculty and/or staff depending on the nature of their role in the project). Otherwise, we’ll collaborate with you in early spring 2027 to determine how you might use your funds and to create a budget. Since Vision Buffs 2030 is an experimental initiative, we understand that your budgetary needs may change over time. So, your budget will be flexible to meet those emergent needs.

The CTL and CE will assemble a joint selection committee composed of undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff. Committee members will review all vision submissions and rate them against three main criteria:

  1. Does the vision break a rule(s) of higher education? We’re looking for ideas that radically break with long-held teaching and learning traditions in higher education and that meet the needs, opportunities, and challenges facing students today and into the future.
  2. Does the vision include one or more durable skills? We’re looking for ideas that can cultivate critical human capacities in students during their career at CU Boulder. Skills that will serve them as they navigate an increasingly uncertain world while deepening their connection to themselves, to others, and to their community.
  3. Does the vision present at least one tangible means by which the idea might become a reality? While we welcome wild imagination and bold ideas, we’re also looking for a glimmer of do-ability. Visions should be grounded in a brief description of how you might get to your hopeful learning future.

Before the committee makes its final selection, they may want to meet with you (and your team) to learn more about your vision. If we reach out to you for a chat, we’ll work with your schedule to set-up a brief, 30-minute conversation via a modality (in-person or on Zoom) that works best for you.