Big Questions, Urgent Challenges

Big Questions, Urgent Challenges: (Re)mapping Liberal Learning

Across the Curriculum

Visioning for Excellence: Symposium on the Future

of Integrative, Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences

University of Baltimore December 4, 2012

Overview

1. Definitions and Contexts

2. Purposeful Liberal

Learning

3. High Impact Practices

4. Intentional, Integrative,

and Adaptive Liberal

Learning

Contexts:

Changing Designs for

College Learning

The Nineteenth Century College

The Twentieth Century University

A Common Core Curriculum

(All learning is both ―general

and liberal education‖)

Breadth + Depth

(Breadth = General Studies;

Depth = Majors; ―liberal education‖

becomes synonymous with ―general

education‖)

A Curriculum in Transition:

Rethinking educational purposes and

practices to better prepare students for

• Innovation in the Economy

• Global Interdependence

• Healthy, Democratic, and Just Societies

Contexts:

The Twenty-First Century

Academy

2000-2005 – Greater Expectations –

A National Dialogue About Purposes and

Effective Practices in College Learning

2005-Present – Liberal Education and America’s

Promise (LEAP)

A Signature Initiative to Advance

Intentional and Integrative

Learning for All Students

How Do We Prepare

Students for

Twenty-First Century Realities?

The Core LEAP Insight:

The World Itself is

Demanding More from

College – Much More

Connecting College Learning

With Societal Needs

Economic Challenges

Civic and Global Challenges

College Learning for

the 21st Century Economy

What Employers Seek:

They want and seek many more college-

educated workers

They also seek much higher and broader

levels of learning in those they employ,

retain, and promote

Economic Pressures:

Volatility and Complexity

Rapid scientific and technological innovations

are changing the workplace and demanding

more of all employees

Global interdependence and complex cross-

cultural interactions increasingly define

modern society and the workplace and also

call for new levels of knowledge and capacity

The Growing Demand for Higher Order Skills Source: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index

Employers Are Raising the Bar

88% of employers say that “the challenges their

employees face are more complex than they were in the

past.”

88% of employers agree that “to succeed in their

companies, employees needs higher levels of learning

and knowledge than they did in the past.”

91% of employers say that they are “asking employees

to take on more responsibilities and to use a broader

set of skills than in the past”

Source: ―Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the

Economic Downturn‖ (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2010)

Higher-Level Skills, Broader

Learning – Why?

In a globalized knowledge economy, the

capacity to drive INNOVATION is the key

strategic advantage

To Drive Innovation,

Employers Seek Employees

Who Can ―Think Outside

the Box‖

A ―360°Perspective‖

Employers Do Not Want

People Who Can Only See

Things From One Point of

View ―You cannot retreat to a cave and work in isolation until you

like the solution.‖ – Frank Levinson, Managing Director,

Small World Group, Singapore

―[T]he reason that Apple is able to create

products like the iPad is that we’ve always tried

to be at the intersection of technology and

liberal arts, to be able to get the best of

both…And it’s the combination of these two

things that I think has let us make…creative

products like the iPad.‖

Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Apple Inc.

Thinking Across

Disciplines

Employers, In Sum, Are

Looking for Graduates Who

Are Highly Skilled in Cross-

Disciplinary, Integrative,

and Adaptive Learning

The Modern Workplace

Needs More Liberal

Learning – Not Less

Connecting Learning

With Societal Needs (cont.)

Economic Challenges

Civic and Global Challenges

THE CIVIC AND GLOBAL

CHALLENGES WE FACE

ARE DAUNTING

Global and Civic Challenges

Poverty, War, Suffering…

Sustenance and Human Dignity

Illiteracy and Its Effects…

Education for Opportunity

Energy and the Environment…

Sustainability Research and Innovation

Terrorism and Fear…

Law, Justice, Self-Determination, and the

Future of Democracy

We Must Graduate Students

Who Are Prepared and

Inspired to Take

Responsibility for Solving

Urgent Problems – At Home

and Abroad

A Crucible Moment: College

Learning and Democracy’s

Future (AAC&U, 2012)

Written in Concert with Campus

and Civic Leaders from All Parts

of Higher Education

www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/documents/crucible_508F.pdf

A Crucible Moment

Recommends That All

Disciplines Identify the Civic

Inquiries Most Urgent to

Explore and Infuse Civic

Learning Across the

Curriculum

The National and Global Discussion

About the Quality of College

Learning—and Whether Graduates

Are Actually Prepared for 21st Century

Realities—Is Accelerating

LEAP Frames That Dialogue

The Good News:

From a Decade of Analysis,

the Key Elements for 21st Century

Liberal Learning – with a Central Role

for the Arts and Sciences – Now Are in

Hand

Essential Aims and Outcomes

Practices That Foster Achievement and

Completion

Practices That Move Integrative Liberal

Learning to the Center

Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—

the Level of Students’ Learning

The Key Elements for 21st

Century Liberal Learning

T The LEAP Essential Aims

and Outcomes

Knowledge of Human Cultures and

the Physical and Natural World

Intellectual and Practical Skills

Personal and Social Responsibility

Integrative and Applied Learning

Narrow Learning Is Not Enough!

Employers Strongly Endorse

the LEAP Essential Learning

Outcomes – and Urge More

Campus Emphasis on Them

And—Most Important—

the LEAP Essential

Learning Outcomes Mirror

Campus Priorities for High-

Quality Student Learning

The LEAP Outcomes Outline

Goals for All Majors

and a Catalytic

―Big Questions‖ Role for the

Liberal Arts and Sciences

Helping Students Achieve

Essential Learning

Outcomes



Completion







High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to

Them, and Why They Matter by George D. Kuh

(LEAP report, October 2008, www.aacu.org)

High Impact Practices

First-Year Seminars and Experiences

Common Intellectual Experiences

Learning Communities

Writing-Intensive Courses

Collaborative Assignments and Projects

―Science as Science Is Done‖/Undergraduate Research

Diversity/Global Learning

Service Learning, Community-Based Learning

Internships

Capstone Courses and Projects

NSSE Research Shows That:

Higher Levels of Participation in High Impact

Practices (HIPs) Correlate with

• Higher Retention

• Higher Grade Point Average

HIPs Offer ―Compensatory Benefit‖ for

Students from Less Advantaged Backgrounds

and/or with Lower Entering

Scores

Five High-Impact Practices:

Research on Learning Outcomes,

Completion, and Quality

Lynn Swaner and Jayne Brownell

(AAC&U, 2010, www.aacu.org)

This Commissioned Review of Extant Research Shows that

High Impact Practices DO Help Students Achieve Many

―Essential Learning Outcomes‖

http://www.aacu.org/

How HIPs Work:

Common Features

Substantive interaction with faculty & peers

Frequent feedback

Engagement with difference

Engagement with higher-order thinking

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Application

Significant time on purposeful questions

Capacity to be ―life-changing‖

National Survey of Student Engagement



Completion







AAC&U’s Recommendation:

To Foster Essential Learning Outcomes—

Including Integrative and Applied

Learning—Faculty Should Map

Appropriate High Impact Practices

Across-the-Curriculum – and Link Them

Directly to ―Big Questions‖ and Students’

Own Role in Helping to Solve Urgent

Problems

Four Principles of

Excellence for

Integrative Liberal

Learning

Engage the Big Questions

Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation

Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action

Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning

For Broad Knowledge –

and that ―Big Picture‖

Perspective

1. Engage the Big Questions

Teach Through the Curriculum to Far-Reaching

Issues – Contemporary and Enduring – in

Science and Society, Cultures and Values, Global

Interdependence, the Changing Economy,

and Human Dignity and Freedom

Introduce ―Big Questions‖ in First Year

General Education Programs

e.g. What is a Good Society?

Historical, Cross-Cultural, and

Personal Reflections

Expect Advanced Students to Explore Their

Own ―Big Questions‖ in Their Majors and in

Advanced Cross-Disciplinary Contexts

High-Impact Practices to

Engage Students with

Broad Knowledge and Big

Questions/Big Picture

Cluster Courses – e.g., Several Courses That

Explore Common Topics Such as Diversity and

Social Power or Sustainability or Poverty

Writing and Research

Collaborative Assignments and Projects

To Develop

Intellectual and

Practical Skills

2. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation

Immerse All Students in Analysis, Discovery,

Problem Solving, and Communication,

Beginning in School and Advancing in the

University

Break Students of the Idea That They Have

Come to the University Mainly to Learn

―What is Already Known‖

Emphasize the Societal and Economic Value of

Research into Emerging Questions –

– Preparation for jobs that are rapidly changing

– Solutions to problems we are only starting to

understand

– Responsibility for a world—local and global—

that we share in common


Help Students Master the ―Arts

of Inquiry‖ and Skills Related

to Innovative Problem Solving

Research questions and assignments early and often

In early AND advanced General Education

In Major Programs

Connecting ―Big Questions‖ with Majors

Field-Based Research and Problem-Solving –

With Employers and/or Community Partners

Culminating or Capstone Projects

To Foster Integrative

and Adaptive

Learning

3. Connect Knowledge with Choices and Actions

Prepare Students for Citizenship and Work through

Engaged and Guided Learning on ―Real-World‖

Problems

Both the economy and society need graduates

who are ready to apply their learning to new

settings and problems—AND, who are

competent in learning FROM experience

So, the goal is to connect both inquiry and

knowledge with action—but, also, to give

students rich opportunities to reflect on

their ―real-world‖ learning and to revise their

assumptions in light of experience


Help Students Integrate

Knowledge with Action

Internships, Practicums, Study Abroad

Service Learning/Civic Problem-Solving

Research with Community Partners

Culminating or Capstone Projects That Blend

Research and Real-World Problems

To Help Students Take

Responsibility for a

World Shared in

Common

4. Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical

Learning

Emphasize Personal and Social Responsibility, in

Every Field of Study

Too often, faculty introduce ethical,

intercultural (diversity) and ethical questions

in general education, but spend little or no

time on them in major programs

A 21st century education should prepare

students to tackle difficult cultural, ethical,

and societal issues, both through general

studies and through major programs


Help Students Develop

Intercultural Competence,

Social Responsibility, and

Ethical Judgment

Diversity studies and experiences, especially when

―intergroup dialogue‖ is included

Global studies and experiences

Common intellectual experiences

Guided ethical reflection—case studies; students’

own experiences



Completion







Assessing Students’ Progress in

Achieving Key Learning Outcomes

―It’s not a multiple-choice world...‖

And Therefore, We Need to:

―Assess Students’ Ability to Apply Their

Learning to Complex Problems‖

-LEAP Principle of Excellence

Programs That Foreground

High Effort Practices – e.g.

Research, Internships,

Capstones – Are Already Poised

to Meet This Standard

Done Well, Assessment Itself

Can Become a High Impact

Educational Practice

The Long-Term LEAP

Goal is to Make Excellence

Inclusive, Not Exclusive, By

Giving Students a

Framework for Learning

and for Their Own

Demonstrated

Accomplishment

In Sum

The Integrative Liberal Learning Curriculum

and Co-curriculum Help Students See What

Matters in Their Studies

Provides Multiple Opportunities for Students

to Meet Expected Standards—and to Do

Their Best Work

Helps Students Prepare to Apply their

Learning—Over a Lifetime—to New

Problems, New Settings, New Challenges

An Intentional Curriculum—

in Short—is the Key to

Students’ Actual Achievement

of Essential Learning Outcomes

and an Integrative Liberal

Education

And, Given the Complexity of

21st Century Challenges and

Realities, An Integrative,

Liberal Education is What

Every Student Needs

Documents

Big Questions, Urgent Challenges