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 Baltimore December 4, 2012

Overview 1.Definitions and Contexts 2.Purposeful Liberal Learning 3.High Impact Practices 4.Intentional, Integrative, and Adaptive Liberal Learning

Contexts: Changing Designs for College Learning The 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

– 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 21 st 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 Skills Source: 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

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 21 st Century Realities—Is Accelerating LEAP Frames That Dialogue

The Good News : From a Decade of Analysis, the Key Elements for 21 st 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 21 st 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 21 st 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,

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 Quality Lynn Swaner and Jayne Brownell (AAC&U, 2010, 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 & peers  Frequent feedback  Engagement with difference  Engagement with higher-order thinking  Analysis  Synthesis  Evaluation  Application  Significant time on purposeful questions  Capacity 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 21 st 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 Questions  Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation  Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action  Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning

For Broad Knowledge – and that “Big Picture” Perspective 1. Engage the Big Questions Teach 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 Reflections  Expect 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 Research  Collaborative Assignments and Projects

To Develop Intellectual and Practical Skills 2. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation Immerse 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 often In early AND advanced General Education In Major Programs Connecting “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-Solving  Research with Community Partners  Culminating 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 Learning Emphasize 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 21 st 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 experiences  Common intellectual experiences  Guided 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 21 st 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 Students to 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 21 st Century Challenges and Realities, An Integrative, Liberal Education is What Every Student Needs