Changing Understandings of Liberal and Liberal Education COPLAC Summer Meeting Keene, New Hampshire June 20, 2009 Carol Geary Schneider President

The Emerging National Dialogue on American Capability  Two Locations: Campus Faculty and Leaders Employers  AAC&U – Connecting Educators with Employers

– Greater Expectations A National Dialogue About Goals and Effective Practices in College Learning – Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) A Ten-Year Effort to Make Excellence Inclusive Preparing Students for Twenty-First Century Realities

The Essential Learning Outcomes  Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World  Focused on engagement with enduring and contemporary big questions  Intellectual and Practical Skills Practiced extensively across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance  Personal and Social Responsibility Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges  Integrative Learning Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems

The World is Demanding More There is a demand for more numbers of college educated workers. There is also a demand that those educated workers have higher levels of learning and knowledge.

Why Is There a Need for Higher Levels of Learning?  In a globalized knowledge economy, the capacity to drive innovation is the key strategic economic advantage  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 call for new levels of knowledge and capability 6

Productivity Is Now Tied to Learning…  Half Life of Industries, Companies, Jobs, and Skills Decreasing  Today's Students Will Have Jobs By the Time They are 38  50% of Workers Have Been With Their Company Less Than 5 Years  25% Less than 1 Year  Breadth, Depth, & Application of Academic Preparation is Expanding DOL-BLS

Key Capabilities Open the Door for Career Success and Earnings “Irrespective of college major or institutional selectivity, what matters to career success is students’ development of a broad set of cross-cutting capacities…” Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

The Growing Demand for Higher Order Skills Source: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index

In a Knowledge Economy, Liberal Education Has Become the Key to American Capability and Student Success

Employers Strongly Endorse the LEAP “Essential Learning Outcomes” – And They Urge New Effort to Help All Students Achieve Them

National Surveys of Employers on College Learning and Graduates’ Work Readiness AAC&U commissioned Hart Research Associates (first in 2006 and next in 2007) to interview employers (C-level suite executives) whose companies report that 25% or more of their new hires hold at least a bachelor’s degree. Findings are summarized in the following reports: How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy? (AAC&U, 2007) How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? Employers’ Views on the Accountability Challenge (AAC&U, 2008) See:

Balance of Broad Knowledge and Specific Skills Preferred Source: How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed inToday’s Global Economy? (AAC&U, 2007)

How important is it for colleges and universities to provide the type of education described below? This particular approach to a four-year college education provides both broad knowledge in a variety of areas of study and more in-depth 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. Source: How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy? (AAC&U, 2007)

How important is it for colleges and universities to provide this type of education (see previous slide)? Less/not important Fairly important Very important Not sure Business Leaders * 76% of employers would recommend this type of education to a young person they know. Source: How Should Colleges Prepare Students to Succeed in Today’s Global Economy? (AAC&U, 2007)

The Salary Premium for Liberal Education Outcomes From a federal database analyzing qualifications for 1,100 different jobs, there is consistent evidence that the highest salaries apply to positions that call for intensive use of liberal education capabilities, including (random order):  Writing  Inductive and Deductive Reasoning  Judgment and Decision Making  Problem Solving  Social/Interpersonal Skills  Mathematics  Originality Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

Liberal Education and Career Success Students need to know that the marketplace richly rewards graduates who possess high levels of competence in key liberal learning outcomes. Moreover, students who lack the hallmarks of a liberal education will not gain access to paths that require these high level capabilities. Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

Employers Seek Evidence that Graduates Can Apply Their Learning to Real-World Problems

Employers Advise on Where to Focus Assessment Resources One/Two Practices to Which Colleges Should Devote Resources Source: How Should Colleges Assess and Improve Student Learning? AAC&U/ Peter D. Hart Research, 2008

Implications for COPLAC

1. Give Students a Compass – and Educators Too SHARED Responsibility for Essential Learning Outcomes

Goals/Outcomes for All Students’ College Learning Humanities Science Social sciences Global/world cultures Mathematics Diversity in U.S. Technology U.S. history Languages Sustain- ability Writing skills Critical thinking Quantitative reasoning Oral communication Intercultural skills Information literacy Ethical reasoning Civic engagement Application of learning Research skills Integration of learning Among respondents from campuses WITH campus-wide goals, percent saying their institution’s common set of learning goals/outcomes addresses each area of knowledge/intellectual skills & ability Areas of KnowledgeIntellectual Skills/Ability

But Many Students Do Not Understand the Expected Learning Outcomes How many of your students understand your institution’s intended goals or outcomes for undergraduate learning?* * Among members at institutions with learning outcomes for all undergraduates Majority Some Almost all Not many

Current Strategies for Helping Students Understand Intended Learning Goals * Among members at institutions with learning outcomes for all undergraduates In which of these ways does your institution explain intended learning goals or outcomes to students?* Institutional catalog Course syllabi Web site Faculty advisors Orientation program Student advising system Institution’s view book First-year seminar/course 86% 74% 68% 64% 63% 62% 22% 3%

2. Engage the Departments  General Education – Necessary But Not Sufficient  Every Major Plays a Crucial Role in Students’ Achievement of the Essential Learning Outcomes

3. Embed High Impact/ High Effort Practices WITHIN General Education AND the Major

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

4. Show What Students Can Do With Their Knowledge  The Proof is In the Portfolio  Our Students’ Best Work MUST Provide the Best and Most Compelling Evidence – of Students’ Achievement and Americans’ Capabilities

A New Framework for Student Success  Shared Goals – That Build American Capability  High Impact Practices that Support Essential Learning Outcomes  Disaggregated Data – That Shine a Light on Underserved Students’ Progress and Achievement  Students’ Best Work – Sampled and Synthesized For Public Reporting

In Sum: We Need Campus-Wide Commitment—and Capacity—to Foster Essential Learning Outcomes and Liberal Education

This is a Defining Moment… And Making Excellence Inclusive is Absolutely Fundamental to Our Future