1. Reflection on AAC&U Conference General Education, Assessment, and the Learning Students Need Baltimore, Maryland, USA 26-28 February 2009 MAK Hoi Wah

2. Themes of Conference What are the Purposes of General Education today? - Philosophy How well do thematic designs really works? - Design How do we support what we say is important? - Role, rewards, and leadership Are we fostering the kinds of learning we espouse for students? - Assessment

3. AAC&U Conference Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) was found in 1915 for the promotion of liberal education in US Over 1150 member institutions Over 550 participants from 266 institutions attended the conference CityU is the only overseas institution participating in the conference In addition to the keynote address, there are 6 pre-conference workshops, 11 poster exhibits, 15 morning roundtable, 3 plenary, and 32 concurrent sessions; with 23 on Assessments and 8 for each other themes

4. Conference Keynote Why General Education is a Problem? Louis Menand (Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of English, Harvard University) -Reviewed the place of liberal arts within American universities -Professionalization resulted in specialization and liberal education has been employed to provide transcendental knowledge and skills and common heritage for students -The Columbia (some books to read)and Harvard (some skills to learn) approaches to GenEd were discussed

5. -GenEd is a problem as it relates to the resources required for its offer as well as the debate on the purposes of university education; -Many stakeholders have different understanding of GenEd; -Departments want to be part of it (for resources), but professors don’t want to do it (less rewarding); -Different models of GenEd programmes: core (GenEd by extra dept.)/distribution(shared by depts.) -By moving away from liberal arts colleges to research universities, students are required to take a major field of study with electives - Being criticized as too narrow and too utilitarian -Modern universities neglect the socialization aspects of students who fail to know the outside world -To develop common heritage, GenEd is the glue -Core programmes: for students to learn how to learn; to expose to contingencies of modern time (Big questions); to develop reason and faith; and practical ambition; and to engage in student activities.

6. GenEd & Integrative Learning Garry Hesser (Professor of Sociology & Metro-Urban Studies), Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Mn Introduced Robert Kegan’s (Harvard) model for reflection: KK, KDK, DKDK – What do you know? Knowledge you Know, Knowledge you don’t Know and Don’t Know you Don’t Know Introduced the “sea change” in Higher ED; the essential learning outcomes to achieve and the principles of good practice in UEd. Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle: Pre-reflection; “Hands on” Experience; Reflection (Mediated learning); Conceptualization /Meaning making; Active Experimentation Peter Ewell’s insight on nature of learning and planning effective teaching strategies Introducing Civic Engagement: Community-based Learning as a more effective learning approach

7. GenEd & Liberal Education AAC&U defines Liberal Education as “an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world(e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in- depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as strong and transferable intellectual and practical skills such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.” General Education is “part of a liberal education curriculum shared by all students. It provides broad exposure to multiple disciplines and forms the basis for developing important intellectual and civic capacities. “ GenEd may also be called “the core curriculum” or “liberal studies”

8. Liberal Education & America’s Promise LEAP is AAC&U’s initiative that “champions the value of a liberal education – for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality” The Essential Learning Outcomes and the Principles of Excellence are developed to “give students a compass to guide their learning, and to make a set of essential learning outcomes the preferred framework for educational excellence, assessment of learning, and new alignments between school and college.” Recently, AAC&U is actively launching the Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility to create learning environments in which all students reach for excellence in the use of their talents, take responsibility for the integrity and quality of their work, and engage in meaningful practices that prepare them to fulfill their obligations as students in an academic community and as responsible global and local citizens.”

9. Role of Assessment in Furthering Student Engagement, Inclusion and Achievement Mary Allen (Consultant in Higher Education) Assessment involves establishing outcomes and verifying that efforts are aligned with those outcomes, assessing impact and “closing the loop” by using what is learned to make improvements. Quality assessment is valid, reliable, actionable and efficient. Speakers use information literacy to illustrate how campus professionals use robust assessment to engage student in learning.

10. Assessing and Strengthening GenED Using NSSE: Lessons from the Field Jillian Kinzie, Indiana University & NSSE Since 2000 the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) was launched to provide information on GenEd outcomes for over 1300 institutions. It show the undergraduate education features integrated learning experiences and opportunities of the students to develop higher order thinking skills. These national results can serve as benchmarks for institutional assessments and outcome refinements. A copy of the questionnaire is provide for reference.

11. Observations AAC&U has regularly organised conferences, workshops and networks for promoting various aspects of liberal education in US The conference has shown that they are also concerned about the common understanding of how GenEd are in relation to major study and its position in university of research orientation. The deployment of staff and the importance given to GenEd also affected its development While institutions are designing appropriate GenEd programmes to facilitate students’ learning, the effectiveness of such efforts are needed to be assessed. While CityU has started developing its GenEd courses from the former Out- of-discipline courses, the philosophy behind it has not been carefully considered and the distribution is more resources oriented. The alignment with the ideal graduate is insufficient refined and individual programmes need to streamline their programme outcomes to achieve the changing expectation of the community. While we have been working on outcome based teaching and learning, the assessment mechanism and their achievement yet has to be demonstrated. Moreover, training is needed for faculty to be fully informed of the technology available in designing and assessing programmes.

12. Q & A Thank You