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

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 BaltimoreDecember 4, 2012

Overview

1. Definitions and Contexts2. Purposeful Liberal

Learning3. High Impact Practices4. Intentional, Integrative,

and Adaptive Liberal Learning

Contexts:Changing Designs for

College LearningThe 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 SkillsSource: 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

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

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 QualityLynn 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”

How HIPs Work:Common Features

Substantive interaction with faculty & peersFrequent feedbackEngagement with differenceEngagement with higher-order thinking

AnalysisSynthesisEvaluationApplication

Significant time on purposeful questionsCapacity to be “life-changing”

National Survey of Student Engagement

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

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 QuestionsTeach the Arts of Inquiry and InnovationConnect Knowledge with Choices and ActionFoster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning

For Broad Knowledge – and that “Big Picture”

Perspective

1. Engage the Big QuestionsTeach 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 ReflectionsExpect 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 ResearchCollaborative Assignments and Projects

To Develop Intellectual and Practical Skills

2. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and InnovationImmerse 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

High-Impact Practices to Help Students Master the “Arts of Inquiry” and Skills Related to Innovative Problem Solving

Research questions and assignments early and oftenIn early AND advanced General EducationIn Major ProgramsConnecting “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

High-Impact Practices to Help Students Integrate Knowledge with Action

Internships, Practicums, Study Abroad Service Learning/Civic Problem-SolvingResearch with Community PartnersCulminating 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 LearningEmphasize 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

High-Impact Practices to Help Students Develop

Intercultural Competence, Social Responsibility, and

Ethical Judgment

Diversity studies and experiences, especially when “intergroup dialogue” is included

Global studies and experiencesCommon intellectual experiencesGuided ethical reflection—case studies; students’

own experiences

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

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 Studentsto 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