Reimagining the Purposes of Higher Education in a Dis-integrative Age:
Implications for Researching Classroom Practice
Randy Bass (Georgetown University)
CUNY Community College Research Grant WorkshopJanuary 10, 2018
Dis
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tegrativeInclusive Excellence
Exclusive Excellence
Dis
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Exclusive Excellence
Integrative
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The great tension of our time in education is between integration and dis-integration
.
How do we make a robust and meaningful education equitably available to everyone?
From unbundlingto rebundling
Randy Bass, GeorgetownBret Eynon, LaGuardia Community College
Two paradigms of education
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Curricular & co-curricular as part of a whole
Knowledge, skills & dispositions
Connections & integration
Design of learning experiences for whole
person development
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Two paradigms of education
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Data Analytics / Adaptive Learning
Skill-based Learning
Open Online Courses
The Onrushing
Digital Revolution
Scale
Automate
Reduce instructional
costs
Two paradigms of education
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Two paradigms of education
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Curricular & co-curricular as part of a whole
Knowledge, skills & dispositions
Connections & integration
Design of learning experiences for whole
person development
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Educating the whole person?
“formation”
Dispositions: Learning to learnCritical thinkingCreativity Curiosity Resilience EmpathyHumility Ethical Judgment
Striving to cultivate a balanced person, with intellectual, affective, imaginative and reflective capacities.
Knowledge + Skills + Dispositions (+ Values)
“HARD SKILLS”
• Design environments where they are more likely to be cultivated.
• Unscripted contexts, guided inquiry and experience.
• “High-impact practices.”
Levy and Murnane, Dancing with Robots.
Purdue-Gallop Poll on Engaged Work and Flourishing
Two most important predictors of success:
1) Adult mentor who cared about you
2) Sustained project
Two paradigms of education
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Curricular & co-curricular as part of a whole
Knowledge, skills & dispositions
Connections & integration
Design of learning experiences for whole
person development
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Rebundling: Toward a New Synthesis
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Curricular & co-curricular as part of a whole
Knowledge, skills & dispositions
Connections & integration
Design of learning experiences for whole
person development
Disintegrative in service to the integrative
Examples of Rebundling
Statway at LaGuardia Community CollegeHabitable Worlds at Arizona State
Examples of Rebundling
Cafeteria College to Guided Pathway College
Examples of Rebundling
Cafeteria College to Guided Pathway College
Four Key Elements of Guided Pathway Colleges:
o Mapping pathways
o Student Goals and Strengths
o Monitoring Progress
o Quality learning
Rebundling: Toward a New Synthesis
Disintegrative (unbundled):
Design of discrete or granular learning experiences
Elementary and discrete competency-based learning
Learning decoupled from formal boundaries
Analytics that track narrow or micro learning
Integrative (bundled, holistic, coherent):
Curricular & co-curricular as part of a whole
Knowledge, skills & dispositions
Connections & integration
Design of learning experiences for whole
person development
Disintegrative in service to the integrative
Dis
-in
tegr
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e IntegrativeInclusive Excellence
Exclusive Excellence
Inclusion, Diversity , Equity (access but experience and outcomes)
Qualified and Prepared studentsRich holistic environments
Liberal arts colleges and universities
open access and public institutions
Startup, disruptors
“REBUNDLING” Minerva University
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
Design always begins with tensions
Remediation v. integrated support
Acceleration v. Outcomes
Access v. Rigor, Excellence
Career skills v. Broader lifelong outcomesCommunity Colleges
Connect what has
typically not been connected.
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
Advising (IPASS)Curriculum First Year ExperienceStudent AffairsFinancial AidCareer Services
Provide students the tools and scaffolding for integrating their learning.
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
ePortfolio Initiatives Make Student Learning Visible
ePortfolio initiatives support reflection, social pedagogy, and deep learning.
ePortfolios hels students reflect on
and connect their learning across
experiences. Advancing higher order
thinking and integrative learning, the
connective ePortfolio helps students
construct purposeful identities as
learners.
Addressing the Whole StudentPurposeful Self-Authorship
Advisement & Academic Planning
Connecting w/ Faculty & Students
External Audiences
Learning Across Disciplines
Learning Across Semesters
Formal Academic Curriculum
Co-Curricular & Lived
Experiences
Students’Integrative ePortfolioPractice
ePortfolio as a high-impact practice
Ensure that assessment and analytics empower everyone.
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
Assessment and Analytics that
empowers everyone
Student level (empowerment)
Faculty & Designers(interpretive)
Institutional(empirical)
Ruth Deakin Crick and Simon Buckingham Shum
Design and measure for the greater purposes of higher education.
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
ConscientiousnessGrowth mindsetBelongingWell-being
Provide students the tools and scaffolding for integrating their learning.
Ensure that assessment and analytics empower everyone.
Connect what has typically not been connected.
Design and measure for the greater purposes of higher education.
What might it mean to design for the first quadrant?
Integrative
Inclusive
Z-axisQuality
Outcomes assessment
Pedagogical research
What might it mean to research learning and practice in the first quadrant?
What might it mean to research learning and practice in the first quadrant?
– What are the effective practices for embedding academic support into coursework?
“We are giving them a bridge to successfully finish their degree through contextualized math content and exposure to psychological interventions that improve their attitudes towards math and learning.”
Connected to revised core competencies: o Inquiryo Global Learningo Integration
StatWay implemented at LaGuardia CC
Milena Cuellar, Statway in one termNational Forum Pathways Program. Carnegie Foundation. SF 2014
Dev. Math + College-level Stats ALEKS (adaptive tools) Whole learner Complex problems, such as Food Justice and
Climate Change
What is this case a case of?
Data analytics > adaptive learning
As much about the
affective as cognitive
Alignment with ambitious larger outcomes
Focused on inquiry and integration, not merely skills and completion
“REBUNDLING”
What might it mean to research learning and practice in the first quadrant?
– How can we bridge the traditional divide between workforce skills and broader, liberal education outcomes?
Liberal Education (broad, critical, creative, integrative)
Professional/workforce (skills-based, vocational, technical)
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Oral/Written Communications
Teamwork/Collaboration
Digital Technology
Leadership
Professionalism/Wor
k Ethic
Career Management
Global/Intercultural
Fluency
Career Readiness
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)
Matthew Hora, Beyond the Skills Gap
“These competencies can be summed up as a combination of a strong work ethic; rigorous technical training; the ability to solve complex technical problems and interpersonal dilemmas, engage in teamwork, and communicate effectively; and the ability and desire to continually learn.”
Employers survey of competencies
Matthew Hora, Beyond the Skills Gap
“These are the habits of mind that are necessary for innovative and competent workers that the business community craves; for citizens who can contribute to a healthy democracy; for thinkers who can creatively solve the environmental, social, and economic challenges of the twenty-first century; and for students to have the best opportunities for securing employment throughout their working lives.”
Formal undergraduate
curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Study abroad Undergraduate research
Community-based learning
First-year Seminars
Writing-intensive Capstone courses
Collaborative Assignments
“high-impact practices”
Student AffairsAdvising
Internships
Formal undergraduate
curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Experiential co-curriculum
Accountable talk and thinking
Meet challenges to perspectives and belief, take risks, operate outside comfort zone
Get (and give) frequent and meaningful feedback
Make daily decisions –judgment in uncertainty
NEW ECOLOGY FOR LEARNING
What makes High Impact Practices high impact?
Invest time and effort (time on task)
Opportunity to integrate, synthesize, make meaning
Integrative learning is an
understanding and a disposition
that a student builds across the
curriculum and co-curriculum, from
making simple connections among
ideas and experiences to
synthesizing and transferring
learning to new, complex
situations within and beyond the
campus.
What might it mean to research learning and practice in the first quadrant?
– What forms of authentic experiential learning can deepen learning and serve your population of students well?
Launched in 2016, the Regents Science Scholars
Program provides support for first-generation college
students majoring in biomedical fields.
Regents Science Scholars
Summer before the first year:
Students enroll in a rigorous residential summer bridge program
Summer between first and second year
and second and third year:
Students take specially designed online modules to reinforce knowledge, while allowing students to work and be home with their families.
Regents Science Scholars
In three years, the number of first gen/low income students in biomedical
majors has increased 5x.
>20% of the matriculating class of Biology majors are first-gen,
low-income students
Regents Science Scholars
Glen Manor Feral Wine Project
Professor Heidi Elmendorf, BiologyDirector, Regents Science Scholars Program
Professor Heidi Elmendorf, BiologyDirector, Regents Science Scholars Program
“We covered everything we would have covered just in the context of this project.”
Summer Bridge course on foundations of biology and chemistry.
“They were surprised and daunted that they were the research team. But within one day the most common phrase was, “what would help Jeff?”
Good Morning,I have been thinking about the design of the lab all night. And I think I have an understanding now after reading the material all over again.
My suggestion is to create a experiment with like 20 control groups and tests. I would number the different locations that the microbes are found (on grape, leave, soil, etc.) then organize them into hypothetical dishes. This way hypothetically speaking I will create multiple juices using different combinations of the microbes…This would help me keep track of them, and allow me to distinguish one group from another.
Does this seem possible? Can this lead me to understanding its flavor profile, giving Jeff the best possible taste?
All the best,Nohad W
1&23&4
5&67&8
9&10
11&12
13&14
15&16
1-4: Purcellville-Tankerville Complex, 15-25% slope5-8: Tankerville-Purcellville Complex, 15-25% slope9-10: Myersville Silt Loam, 2-7% slope11-12: Philomont-Tankerville Complex, 7-15% slope13-14: Purcellville-Tankerville Complex, 15-25% slope15-16: Purcellville Loam, 15-25% slope
Identification Procedures
Gram Staining Culture MorphologyGrowth Medium indicators
Gel Electrophoresis Polymerase Chain Reaction
“We covered everything we would have covered just in the context of this project.”
Summer Bridge course on foundations of biology and chemistry. Mesa Community College
Finger Lakes Community College
Queensborough Community College
Del Mar Community College
Southern Georgia State Collegewe
Peer Review, Fall 2015, Vol. 17, No. 4
What might it mean to design and research for the first quadrant?
Ty, Class of ‘21
Provide students the tools and scaffolding for integrating their learning.
Ensure that assessment and analytics empower everyone.
Connect what has typically not been connected.
Design and measure for the greater purposes of higher education.
Inclusive and Integrative
DESIGN RESEARCH
– What are effective practices for embedding academic support into coursework?
– How can we bridge the traditional divide between workforce skills and broader, liberal education outcomes?
– What forms of authentic experiential learning can deepen learning and serve your population of students well?
Thank You!