Integration, Innovation, and Internationalization: General Education and Mission Alignment

Promising Practices Session: AAC&U Network for Renewal

General Education and Assessment: New Contexts, New Cultures

New Orleans, LA

February 25, 2012

Session Facilitators:

David Griffin, Dean of Academic Affairs, European Programs

Melissa Mecham, Vice President of Admissions and Student Services

Elizabeth Fountain, Associate Faculty

Session Outline:

What drives the need for a new undergraduate curriculum model? (15 minutes)

City University of Seattle’s model: An overview (15 minutes)

How can this model apply to your institution? (30 minutes)• Small group discussions

Questions and answers, synthesis of discussion (15 minutes)

What drives the need for a new undergraduate curriculum model?

• Increasing diversity in student populationsAge, academic experience, nationality, languages

• Increasing demands for accountability for student learningLearning outcomes assessment, total cost of college education

• Increasing need to prepare for professional success and provide a foundation of liberal learningIndustry needs for specific and “soft” skills

• Increasing need for multiple pathways to degree completionFreshmen entry, transfer students, returning students

City University of Seattle’s new undergraduate curriculum model: An overview

Mission and international character of CityU

• “Anyone with the desire to learn” – open opportunity• 6000-7000 students worldwide, eleven countries• Professional-oriented programs in business & management,

technology, education, psychology, and communications• In the U.S. – primarily adult returning learners, with a new

freshmen population; in Europe, Mexico, and Australia, primarily traditional-age undergraduates

City University of Seattle’s new undergraduate curriculum model: An overview

CityU’s challenge: Design an undergraduate curriculum model that is –

• Congruent with the mission and coherent academically;

• Links theory to practice;

• Serves multiple populations of students with various needs; and

• Removes unnecessary obstacles to completion.

Multiple pathways design: How it works at CityU

Foundations:

• Research in knowledge management – scaffolding of experiences to successfully transmit knowledge

• Lumina Foundation’s Degree Qualifications Profile – outcomes and standards for each degree level, using common components

• AAC&U’s Value Project Rubrics – means to determine levels of student achievement

Multiple pathways design: How it works at CityU

Steps:

• Define learning outcomes at the associate’s and bachelor’s levels (DQP, VALUE)

• Articulate clear curricular sequences and pathways with various entry points (freshman and transfer)

• Construct theory-to-practice opportunities at each step in the curricular sequence

• Determine means of assessing student achievement of learning outcomes

Undergraduate curriculum model

Complete undergraduate degree (freshman through senior year)

Degree completion (junior and senior year)

“Pivot point”Infuse applied & performance-based learning, best practices in scholarship and

teaching

How can this model apply to my institution?

Small group discussions

Questions and Answers

Synthesis of Discussion