Applying Rigorous Analysis to General Education Reform

Eric Ruckh, David Sill, and Michael Palmer

• BRIDGE and AQIP are central to SIUE

• Simultaneous processes

• Culture of rigor in scholarship of teaching and learning

AQIP

• Higher Learning Commission of North Central Association

• Alternative process for maintaining accreditation

AQIP Process

Systems PortfolioSystems Appraisal

Strategy ForumAnnual Updates

Action Projects

Systems Portfolio

• Regularly updated—100 pages

• Overview and nine categories, including:– Helping Students Learn– Understanding Students' & Stakeholders'

Needs– Valuing People– Leading and Communicating

• Systems appraisal every four years

General Education Reform Started with the Objectives Project

• 2003—AAC&U’s Greater Expectations Institute

• 2004—AAC&U’s General Education Institute

• 2005—BRIDGE (Baccalaureate Reform through Integrated Design of General Education)

BRIDGESecretarial

Support

Provost FacultySenate

InformationKnowledge

IntegrationLinkage

CommunicationWriting

Speaking

ApplicationCitizenship

Design Teams

FacultyConversations

BRIDGE 2005-2007

• Phase I—Eleven design teams completed proposals by March 15, 2006

• Phase II—Three design teams (May 2006)– Distribution model– Core curriculum– Learning communities

• March 29, 2007--All faculty meeting

• Fall 2007—Faculty Senate action

Comparison—Systems Portfolio and BRIDGE designs

• Do they reflect the same culture?

• What are the underlying assumptions and frameworks?

• What can we learn from a rigorous analysis?

• Can theory and research improve practice?

Systems Portfolio

Theoretical Frame

Loosely from Michel Foucault

Structure of a text:

• Aims/Purpose

• Order/Relation

• Field/‘Unsaid’

Assumptions

Exercise

• Examine Page from Systems Portfolio– What are its aims? What relations does it

establish? What are its unsaid assumptions?

• Examine Page from a design proposal– What are its aims? What relations does it

establish? What are its unsaid assumptions?

• Comparison--Alignment– What is important or significant?

Report out

• What did you find?

• Were there any surprises?

Theoretical FrameIn Application

• Aims/Purpose

• Order/Relation

• Field/‘Unsaid’

Assumptions

Comparison of

the two texts

Reflective Questions:• What are the underlying assumptions and

frameworks of your institutional culture?

• How do you know them?

• Do your institutional projects align with your university’s culture?