The Way Higher Education Should Be · The Way Higher Education (And General Education) Should Be And How We Can Get There . ... general education and the major, Juan’s undergraduate

The Way Higher Education (And General Education)

Should Be

And How We Can Get There

HIGHER EDUCATION

(APOLOGIES TO MAINE)

General Education

Outcomes • To visualize what higher education “should be”

• To confront what higher education often “is”

• To choose in your small group a significant reform related to general and baccalaureate education, e.g., – Explicit degree-level learning goals

– Comprehensive advising

– Improved general education curricular coherence

– Stronger two-way links between general education and the major

– A classroom-by-classroom commitment to liberal education values at every curricular level

• To develop both local (how achieved on my campus?) and national (how achieved at scale?) strategies for achieving this reform

Division of Labor





• To choose in your small group a significant reform related to general and baccalaureate education, e.g., – Explicit degree-level learning goals





• To develop and propose both local (how achieved on my campus?) and national (how achieved at scale?) strategies for achieving this reform

CONSIDER JUAN

“What college would be the right one for me?”

What about . . . ?

NorthEast

Midwestern

State University

Home of the Fighting Wombats

To the website!

BACCALAUREATE OUTCOMES AT NMSU

There’s no mystery to a bachelor’s degree at

Northeast Midwestern. Through a close partnership

between our award-winning Essential Education

program and our wide selection of academic majors,

every student who receives a BA or BS will be able to

demonstrate mastery of clearly defined learning

outcomes in five areas:

Specialized Knowledge

Broad and Integrative Knowledge

Intellectual Skills

Applied and Collaborative Learning

Civic and Global Learning

For clear explanations of these areas, click on DQP. NMSU

subscribes to the national consensus reflected in the Degree

Qualifications Profile.

Looks good! I’ll apply.

Juan completes an online questionnaire and receives a response that (1) maps his preparation and interests to NMSU’s Essential Education and major programs and (2) suggests several alternate curricular pathways accordingly.

All pathways include opportunities for Juan to engage in Signature Work, to demonstrate academic proficiencies, and to engage in co-curricular learning.

Even before admission, Juan has access to personalized overviews of several trajectories he might follow in his undergraduate experience, all organized according to student learning priorities.

Northeast Midwestern

State University

Dear Juan,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Wombat Nation. Your application for admission to the class of 2019 at Northeast Midwestern State University has been accepted.

Within 48 hours, you will be contacted by an advisor who will work with you throughout your career at NMSU. He or she will make an appointment with you for a one-on-one discussion. Through that discussion, you will become acquainted with our interactive digital planner that will track your progress along the curricular and co-curricular pathway you choose.

NEMSU

I and my colleagues look forward to working closely with you to ensure that you choose and pursue a purposeful and coherent curriculum.

Sincerely,

James Rhodes

Registrar

Next . . .

In consultation with his advisor, Juan chooses a provisional curriculum and co-curriculum that will help him develop proficiencies in areas keyed to his interests and at levels of challenge appropriate to his preparedness.

He also creates an electronic portfolio that will document his Signature Work in both general education and the major.

Both Juan’s dedicated advisor and faculty advisors in his possible areas of specialization review the curriculum he has chosen and recommend modifications.

Then, at least once each semester . . . .

Juan meets with his advisors to discuss

• how his Essential Education courses are helping him work toward academic proficiencies required for aware of a baccalaureate degree

• how his EE courses are preparing him for work in a major

• whether his performance and evolving interests suggest possible changes in his curricular plan

Hmmm. I’m doing well, but . . .

At the beginning of the second semester of his second year, Juan decides to transfer to Flagship University in order to continue study toward a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in accounting.

Juan’s electronic portfolio documents . . .

(1) proficiencies achieved and demonstrated through Signature Work developed in connection with Essential Education courses offering increasing levels of challenge

(2) accomplishments through the NEMSU co-curriculum that complement his academic work

Working with Juan’s portfolio . . .

An advisor in the College of Business (COB) at Flagship informs Juan that his work at NEMSU has received full transfer credit.

He compares Juan’s preparation with the expectations of the Flagship COB and recommends any necessary modifications in the pathway Juan is pursuing.

Hence, at Flagship . . . .

. . . . just as at NEMSU, Juan’s pathway will align a four-year, interdisciplinary Essential Education curriculum with the major curriculum and co-curriculum.

The liberal learning proficiencies Juan develops through Essential Education are strengthened through progressively more challenging learning in the major and co-curriculum.

The Flagship

Capstone

Anticipating graduation . . .

. . . with acceptance to Flagship’s master’s program in accounting already ensured—Juan participates in a multidisciplinary general education capstone experience. Juan integrates proficiencies gained through multiple disciplines while demonstrating the institutional baccalaureate proficiencies that have defined his pathway.

Juan’s electronic portfolio clearly and substantively documents his accomplishment of the DQP proficiencies that Flagship has designated as requisite for the baccalaureate degree.

Because of Flagship’s strategic integration of general education and the major, Juan’s undergraduate career has prepared him for graduate study leading to the master’s degree in accounting and to success as a Certified Public Accountant.

No less important, Juan’s general education has opened a pathway to a lifetime of continuing education, civic responsibility, cultural awareness, and ethical reasoning.

YOUR TURN How closely does this ideal correspond to your impression of reality in US higher education 2015? What are important differences between “how things should be” and “how they often are”?

CONSIDER PAT Some background: At 18, Pat began study toward an AS in information technology at Warm Creek Community College. She dropped out after two semesters. Marriage and children prompted her to defer further formal education in favor of an interesting marketing position for a regional distributor.

Now 28, with considerable practical experience in marketing, Pat decides to pursue additional formal education. She will seek a baccalaureate in marketing—eventually, perhaps even an MBA.

She sees a billboard advertising NEMSU’s “welcome mat” for “experienced learners.” It promises “liberal education you can use to get ahead.”

Those are just the prompts she needs to pique her interest.

To the website!

The website specifies the university’s baccalaureate outcomes (keyed to the DQP) and shows the alignment of its general education curriculum with these outcomes. Pat realizes that she may need to make up some ground through general education courses that will address gaps in her preparation—but she can infer as well how her earlier study and employment experience may qualify for academic credit.

I’m applying!

(1) She completes a questionnaire that records her academic priorities and compares her educational experience with outcomes defined by the DQP.

In response, she receives . . .

(1) A tentative assessment of the general education proficiencies she may be able to demonstrate and the gaps she may need to address

(2) a curricular plan linking her general education objectives with study in her intended major

(3) an estimate of time to degree and total costs

3 weeks later . . .

“Hello, Pat? First of all, congratulations. I want to welcome you to NEMSU. “I’m an advisor in the Experienced Learner Program at NEMSU. I’d like to discuss how you can seek college credit for your great work experience.

“I’m also going to recommend that you consider retaking some general education courses focused on essential writing and computational skills. You’ll need strong skills in those areas for the work you’ll be doing. “Finally, can we get together on campus? I’d like to set you up for your electronic portfolio and start the process to get you your credit.”

In her morning on campus, Pat (1) creates the template for an electronic portfolio (2) uses this portfolio to seek six hours of credit by documenting her work experience in the context of the DQP (3) makes curricular choices both for the semester just ahead and for the full span of her college career

“Hello, Pat? You have received the credit for your work experience and for most of your work at Warm Creek CC. Congratulations! “And I’ve shared your curricular plans with Professor Smith in Marketing. He has made a couple of small changes. We think you should do really well.” “Can’t wait to see you this fall.”

Pat finds at NEMSU a logic and intentionality her experience enables her to appreciate. She completes a curriculum that has clearly stated objectives at every level—the classroom, the program, the degree.

Integrating general education, the major, and the co-curriculum, Pat’s undergraduate career has prepared her for admission to her chosen MBA program.

THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE

THE WAY THINGS SHOULD BE

ALL TOO OFTEN, THE WAY THEY ARE

Far too often . . .

• There’s a “haphazard character” to the general education many students undertake (AAC&U 2005, 6)

• Too many students do not persist

• General Education often a curriculum “to get out of the way”

• “Too few students are leaving colleges and universities with the skills, knowledge, and dispositions that prepare them for work, life, and responsible citizenship” (5).

Mark Bauerlein

A prestigious institution may proclaim a compelling “core curriculum” on its website but in fact offer its students little more than a smorgasbord of unconnected electives, or, in catalogue language, “an array of intellectual approaches and perspectives.”

“Let’s be honest about how it appears to 19-year-olds. They see such an ‘array’ as merely a bunch of random, disconnected courses outside their major. The courses they finish don’t cohere into a ‘core’ or a ‘common experience.’ They’re just a bunch of heterogeneous hoops to pass through” (2009).

A potpourri of views on what higher education IS

YOUR TURN (A more difficult question)

Would your institution serve Juan and Pat as well as NEMSU and/or Flagship? Do these “how it should be” stories suggest any reforms your institution might consider? What happens in this room—stays in this room.

You Can Do Something About It! 1

Discuss in your small group how “the way things should be” differs from your understanding of “the way things (often) are.”

(10 minutes)


Choose in your small group a significant reform related to general and baccalaureate education, e.g.,

– Explicit degree-level learning goals

– Explicit program-level goals





– Curricular pre-planning with input from institutional and disciplinary advisors

– Inviting opportunities to claim college credit for work experience

(10 minutes)


You are a consultant.

Solemn State University asks you to propose for its consideration a strategy for the adoption and implementation of the reform your group has chosen.

Using your own experience as a point of departure, develop a proposed strategy that suggests means of engaging faculty and students, possible revisions in the reward structure, a communication plan, any necessary procedural or protocol changes, etc. There is a template at your table.

(30 minutes)


Deliver your proposal in a report to the university’s president’s cabinet and faculty senate executive committee. Be sure to explain why the reform is necessary, what benefits you believe will result, and how the reform is to be implemented.

(8 minutes per presentation)

Please move to . . .


Choose in your small group a significant reform related to general and baccalaureate education, e.g.,

– Explicit degree-level learning goals

– Explicit program-level goals





– Curricular pre-planning with input from institutional and disciplinary advisors

– Inviting opportunities to claim college credit for work experience

(10 minutes)



You are now a consultant.

Solemn State University asks you to propose for its consideration a strategy for the adoption and implementation of the reform your group has chosen.

Using your own experience as a point of departure, develop a proposed strategy that suggests means of engaging faculty and students, possible revisions in the reward structure, a communication plan, any necessary procedural or protocol changes, etc. There is a template at your table.

(30 minutes)



Deliver your proposal in a report to the university’s president’s cabinet and faculty senate executive committee. Be sure to explain why the reform is necessary, what benefits you believe will result, and how the reform is to be implemented.

(8 minutes per presentation)

The President’s Cabinet The Faculty Senate Executive Committee

Are now in session and prepared for your presentation

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The Way Higher Education Should Be · The Way Higher Education (And General Education) Should Be And How We Can Get There . ... general education and the major, Juan’s undergraduate