General Education for the
21st Century:Mapping the Pathways; Supporting
Students’ Signature Work
Carol Geary Schneider
President, Association of American Colleges and Universities
2016 AAC&U Institute on General Education and Assessment
Opening Plenary Session
June 4, 2016
Overview
• Liberal and General Education: Clarifying Our Terms
• The Historical and Contemporary Landscape for Curricular Change
• A 21st Century Vision for High Quality Learning and Liberal Education
• GEMs Design Principles—Cornerstone to Capstone—for 21st Century General Education
• Signature Work: Mapping the Pathways to Support Students’ Inquiry Learning
Clarifying Our Terms
• Liberal Arts/Liberal Arts and Sciences
• General Education
• Liberal Education
• Inclusive Excellence
See handout
General Education,
Then and Now
The Nineteenth Century College
The Twentieth Century University
A Common Core Curriculum
(All learning is “general” and “liberal”
education”)
Breadth + Depth
(Breadth = General Studies;
Depth = Majors; for many, “liberal education” becomes
synonymous with “general education”)
The Twenty-First Century Academy
A Curriculum in Transition:
Rethinking educational purposes and
practices to better prepare students for
• global interdependence
• innovation in the workplace
• civic engagement in a diverse
democracy
• complexity and rapid change
AAC&U’s Work on Quality
Learning• 2000-2005 – Greater Expectations –
A National Dialogue About Goals and Best
Practices for College Learning
• 2005-Ongoing – Liberal Education and America’s
Promise (LEAP)
• Campus Action
• Public Advocacy
• Useful Evidence
• The LEAP Challenge (launched in 2015)
A 21st Century Vision for
High Quality Learning—and
Liberal Education—Now is
In View
The Key Elements in a 21st Century
Framework for High Quality Learning
• Widely Expected Learning Outcomes
• High Impact Practices that Foster
Achievement AND Completion
• Evidence on “What Works” for
Underserved Students
• Authentic Assessments That Raise—and
Reveal—the Level of Learning
Learning Aims and Outcomes
80% of colleges, universities, and community
colleges have identified intended learning
outcomes
Learning Aims and Outcomes
There is very broad agreement across all parts
of higher education—2-year, 4-year, public,
and private—on the learning and skills
students need most
The LEAP Essential Learning
Outcomes Express This Agreement
• Knowledge of Human Cultures and the
Physical and Natural World
• Intellectual and Practical Skills
• Personal and Social Responsibility
• Integrative and Applied Learning
The Emerging Vision for
Quality Adapts the Strengths
of Liberal and General
Education for a Global
World and Reaffirms the
Role of College in Educating
Citizens for a Diverse
Democracy
Yes, But What About the
Economy? Students—and
Everyone Else—Think
College is Mainly About
Jobs…
Employers Strongly Endorse
the Essential Learning
Outcomes
And They Urge New Effort
to Help All Students Achieve
Them
HARTRESEARCHA S S O T E SC I A
It Takes More Than A Major:
Employer Priorities for College Learning
and Student Success
Key findings from survey among 318 employers
Conducted January 9 – 13, 2013
for
HARTRESEARCHA S S O T E SC I A
Falling Short?:
College Learning
and Career Success
Selected findings from online surveys of employers and college students
Conducted November 3 – December 3, 2014
for
Employers Say Innovation, Critical Thinking,
and a Broad Skill Set are Key for Meeting
Challenges in the Workplace
• 95% of employers report that their companies put a priority on hiring people with the intellectual and interpersonal skills to help them contribute to innovation in the workplace
• 93% of employers say that candidates’ demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major
• 91% of employers say that, whatever their major, all students should have experiences in solving problems with colleagues whose views are different from their own
Source: “It Takes More Than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013). See more at https://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research
Broad Learning is
Expected—80% of
Employers Say All Students
Should Have Broad Learning
in the Liberal Arts and
Sciences
See more at https://www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research
It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for
Having both field-specific knowledge and skills AND a
broad range of skills and knowledge
Having a range of skills and knowledge that apply to a range
of fields or positions
Having knowledge and skills that apply to a specific field or
position
Narrow Learning is Rejected
16%
29%
55%
Which is more important for recent college graduates who want to pursue advancement and long-term career success at your company?
It Takes More Than A Major – January 2013 – Hart Research for
74%
7%
19%
If you were advising your child or a young person you know about the type of college educationthey should seek to achieve in order to achieve professional and career success in today's globaleconomy, would you recommend they pursue an education like the one described below?
I would
advise a
young person
to pursue
[a liberal
education]
Would not
Depends
Three in four employers would recommend the concept of a liberal education to their own child or a
young person they know
“This approach to a college education
provides both broad knowledge in a
variety of areas of study and knowledge
in a specific major or field of interest. It
also helps students develop a sense of
social responsibility, as well as
intellectual and practical skills that span
all areas of study, such as
communication, analytical, and problem-
solving skills, and a demonstrated ability
to apply knowledge and skills in real-
world settings."
The Key Elements in a 21st Century
Vision for High Quality Learning
• Widely Expected Learning Outcomes
• Practices that Foster Achievement AND
Completion
• Evidence on “What Works” for
Underserved Students
• Assessments That Raise—and Reveal—the
Level of Learning
Practices That Foster Achievement
and Completion
• First-Year Seminars and Experiences
• Common Intellectual Experiences
• Learning Communities
• Writing-Intensive Courses
• Collaborative Assignments and Projects
• Undergraduate Research
• Diversity/Global Learning
• Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
• Internships
• Capstone Courses and Projects
When Students Are Engaged in High
Impact Practices, They Are…
• More likely to complete
• More likely to achieve intended
outcomes, with particular benefits for
underserved students
See handout
High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who
Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, by George D.
Kuh (AAC&U, 2008)
Five High-Impact Practices: Effects, Impact, and Research
Challenges, by Jayne E. Brownell and Lynn E. Swaner
(AAC&U, 2010)
Assessing Underserved Students’ Engagement in High-Impact
Practices, by Ashley Finley and Tia McNair (AAC&U,
2013)
High Impact Practices Put Students’
Own Active Learning at the Center
• High Engagement (Peers, Mentors,
Unscripted Questions)
• High Effort (By Students)
• High Reward (Ownership of Learning)
The Key Elements in a 21st Century
Vision for High Quality Learning
• Widely Expected Learning Outcomes
• Practices that Foster Achievement AND
Completion
• Evidence on “What Works” for
Underserved Students
• Assessments That Raise—and Reveal—the
Level of Learning—VALUE
How Do We Help Students
Achieve the Essential
Learning Outcomes?
A New Tool for
Curricular Redesign:
The Lumina Foundation’s
Degree Qualifications Profile
(DQP)
See handout
Degree Qualifications Profile
(DQP)
First edition published in the fall of 2014,
after beta testing on 400 campuses
The DQP Builds From
the Vision that Higher
Education Already Has
Created—And That
Employers Endorse
The DQP Shifts Our
Collective Attention to
What Students Actually
Do: Research, Projects,
Papers, Performances,
Creative Work…Applied
Learning
The DQP Makes HIPs
Expected, Not Optional
GEMs: Applying the DQP to
Liberal and General Education
GEMs—General Education
Maps and Markers:
New Design Principles for
General Education from First
to Final Year
What the DQP/GEMs Recommends
for General Education
• Cornerstone to Capstone
• Proficiencies Practiced and Demonstrated—
Across all Learning Experiences
• Inquiry-Centered Learning
• Clear Connections to Majors and to the Wider
Society
• …And MULTIPLE High Impact Practices
What GEMs Adds to the DQP/Quality
Discussion
• Equity
• Practices That Work for Underserved Students
• Deeper Engagement with Big Questions and Problem-Centered Inquiry
• Digital Innovation
• Expanded Possibilities for Communities of Inquiry and Practice—e.g. Research, Service, and Action
What GEMs Adds to the
DQP/Quality Discussion
Student Agency: Preparing
Students to Take
Responsibility for Their
Learning
What GEMs
Recommends—And Where
General Education Needs
to Go…
Signature Work and The
LEAP Challenge
Making Integrative “Signature Work”
An Expected Part of the College
Curriculum—and the Best Evidence of
What Students Can Do With
Their Learning
Signature Work
Signature Work Should Prepare Students to
Grapple with Complex Questions Where
“The Right Answer” Is Not Yet Known and
Where Students Have to Use All the Strategies
of Inquiry, Analysis, and Collaboration to
Construct a Course of Action and Take
Responsibility for the Results
Preparing Students for Signature Work
• To succeed in designing and executing signature
work, students need preparation and frequent
practice across the multiple years of college.
• And that, ultimately, is the point of the LEAP
Challenge.
• Our designs for general education should prepare
students to integrate and apply their learning—to
questions that matter
Signature Work and General Education
Suppose We Envisioned General Education
as Guided Preparation for Students to
Identify and Work on a Signature Topic and
Related Work—Courses and Projects
Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and
Students’ Signature Work
• The First-Year Experience Should Introduce
Illustrative Questions and Problems
• The Entire Educational Experience Should Build
Capacity to Grapple with Significant Questions
• The Students’ Portfolio Should Demonstrate
Deep Engagement with One or More Significant
Problems—Problems That Matter to the Student
and Problems That Matter to the Wider Society
Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and
Students’ Signature Work (continued)
• Disciplinary Inquiry is Still Foundational
• But Students Also Need Experience in
Connecting Their Disciplines with Other
Perspectives and Voices
• And, Both for Citizenship and for Work, Students
Need Active Engagement in Their Own Inquiry-
Centered Studies and Projects
Critical Questions for Liberal Education
and General Education
• Will We Use the Digital Revolution as An
Opportunity to Flip the Classroom—And Even the
Curriculum?
• More Time for Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary
Projects, Investigation, and Research?
• More Opportunities for Community-Based
Learning?
• More Opportunities to Work with Faculty on
Significant Problems and Questions?
• More Student Engagement with Significant Problems
That Matter to Them and Matter to Society?
Fulfilling the Promise of General and
Liberal Education:
Together, We CAN Teach Students to
Connect Their Learning—Across the
Curriculum and Co-Curriculum—AND
With the Needs of the Wider Society