1. Pre-Conference Workshop 5
Beth E. Barnett
Scott E. Evenbeck
Sara B.Varhus
AAC&U General Education and Assessment 3.0:
Next Level Practices Now
March 3, 2011
Chicago, Illinois

2. Contacts Beth E. Barnett Scott E. Evenbeck Sara B. Varhus
Provost and Academic Vice President
President
Ramapo College of New Jersey
The New Community College
505 Ramapo Valley Road
The City University of New York
Mahwah, NJ 04730
101 West 31st Street, 14th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Sara B. Varhus
Vice President for Academic Affairs
Nazareth College
4245 East Avenue
Rochester, NY 14618

3. Sponsored by the American Conference of Academic Deans
Contexts for Collaboration and Support of Student Learning: The Roles of Deans and Administrators
Deans and other administrators are partners with faculty in the design, implementation, and assessment of general education; the articulation of learning outcomes; and the development of curricular and cocurricular connections. This workshop will use multi-institutional case studies to focus on the role deans and other administrators can play in fostering innovative practices and policies to enhance student learning. Participants will contextualize approaches to their own campus contexts.
Sponsored by the American Conference of Academic Deans

4. Presentation Welcome and Introduction Ramapo Nazareth College
New Community College
The Role of Deans and Administrators
Lessons Learned
Discussion
Resources

5. Ramapo College
Beth E. Barnett

6. Ramapo College Curricular Enhancement Project
Move to a 4-credit-course curriculum (need to redesign all program curricula)
Redesign general education
Align with refreshed mission statement
Incorporate suggestions from AAC&U – LEAP
Provide foundational skills in the liberal arts
Make additional use of the FT faculty
Teaching load adjustment

7. Ramapo College of New Jersey Mission Statement
Ramapo College of New Jersey is a comprehensive institution of higher education dedicated to the promotion of teaching and learning within a strong liberal arts based curriculum, thus earning the designation “New Jersey’s Public Liberal Arts College.” Organized into thematic learning communities, Ramapo College provides academic excellence through its interdisciplinary curriculum, international education, intercultural understanding and experiential learning opportunities.

8. Ramapo College All College Learning Goals
Mission Pillars
Interdisciplinary Analysis
Experiential Learning
Intercultural/International Perspectives
Skills
Critical Inquiry
Communication
Knowledge
In-Depth Knowledge (major)
Understanding of the World in Which We Live
Values and Responsibilities
Awareness
Engagement

9. LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Personal and Social Responsibility, Including
Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts
Civic knowledge and engagement— local and global
Intercultural knowledge and competence
Intellectual and Practical Skills, Including
Ethical reasoning and action
Inquiry and analysis
Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
Critical and creative thinking
Written and oral communication
Integrative and Applied Learning, Including
Quantitative literacy
Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies
Information literacy
Teamwork and problem solving

10. Structure of General Education at Ramapo College
Required Courses
First Year Seminar (100 level)
College English (100 level)
Social Issues (100 level)
Readings in Humanities (200 level)
Categories
History (100 level)
Mathematical Reasoning (100 level)
Science with experiential component (100 level)
Intercultural North America ( level)
International Issues ( level)
Topics: Arts and Humanities/Topics: Social Science ( level)
Major Capstone Course (400 level)

11. Challenges
Conflict between “Public Liberal Arts College” designation and mission classification as a comprehensive institution.
Focus on outcomes (student learning) vs. inputs (courses).
Projected staffing of courses.
National model vs. home grown model.
Time, leadership, and governance.

12. The Ramapo College Case
Scope of the Project.
Shared Governance.
Generalized concerns vs. unique concerns.
Take away …

13. Nazareth College
Sara B. Varhus

14. Core Revision from the Perspective of the VPAA

15. 2013 Core Reflects College Mission and Vision
Incorporates national best practices
Provides for connection between LAS and Professional Study
Connects academic learning to experience
Is intentionally integrative

16. (Structure of Core) Foundations Perspectives/Enduring Questions
Integrative Studies
Reflective Portfolio

17. http://www. naz. edu/academic-affairs/documents/Approved. Master. doc
Can also be found on the Academic Affairs web page, under “For Faculty”

18. Challenges Organization of higher education institutions
Faculty expertise and experience
Characteristics/history of the institution
The lens of Bolman and Deal

19. Role of VPAA Inspire and educate Attend to process
Adhere to a few broad goals
Open the purse

20. The Process:
Phase one: Mission and Vision, Strategic Plan, Discovery and Development, Model for discussion
Phase two: Reorganizing the process, Discovery and Development, Student Learning Outcomes approved Spring 2009
Core model approved, spring 2010
Implementation,

21. Studying the Nazareth Case
Credibility of the Process
Faculty Leader
Building Expertise
Broad Input vs. Consensus
Implementation as Program Development
Comprehensive Reform vs. Incremental Change

22. “Such is the nature of strategic thinking in the academic sphere
“Such is the nature of strategic thinking in the academic sphere. As a form of leadership, it moves through conflicts and disagreements to find the shared values and concepts to which people are willing to make commitments.” Richard L. Morrill, Strategic Leadership

23. Scott E. Evenbeck/Tracy Meade
New Community College
Scott E. Evenbeck/Tracy Meade

24. New Community College Model Pre-College & Transition Engagement
Summer Bridge Program
Specialized Outreach
Learning how to learn; Building Effective Teams; Team Project; Math, Reading, Writing & Self Reflection (ePortfolios); Community Building
College Now, At Home in College, CUNY Prep
CBO Partnerships
Other
Recruitment
Transition to College
Programs and schools relevant to each major offered at the NCC have been identified as potential sources of recruitment.
Recruitment (High School Diploma or GED)*
Admissions
NCC will work with CUNY Collaborative Programs to build off of their existing relationships with the New York City public high schools.
Required Information Session & Next Step Meeting
Required FAFSA Completion (for eligible students)

25. New Community College First-Year Program
Required Full-time Enrollment in the First Year
Learning Communities, Contextualize Skills Instruction, Embedded Student Support, ePortfolio
First-year Core Curriculum
City Seminar (NYC-based case-study curricula;12 hours/week)
Statistics (6 hours/week);
Ethnographies of Work (3 hours/week)
Curricular Links to Programs of Study
Curricular Links to Careers
Context & Connections
Theme of Sustaining a Thriving NYC
Office of Partnerships (Experiential & Career Connections to NYC)
Center for College Effectiveness (Faculty Development & Assessment)

27. Indiana university-purdue university
Scott E. Evenbeck

28. Sustaining a Mature General Education Program
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
RISE to the IUPUI Challenge
Personal Development Plans (PDPs)

29. RISE to the IUPUI Challenge
IUPUI developed goals for excellence in:
Teaching and learning
Research, scholarship, and creative activity
Civic engagement
Consistent with those goals, IUPUI is challenging each student to have at least two curricular learning experiences that augment the typical curriculum and that fall within the four areas of curricular excellence that are consistent with the mission of IUPUI

30. RISE to the IUPUI Challenge
Research
International Study Abroad
Service Learning
Experiential Learning
The challenge: Every student earning a bachelor’s degree will complete at least two of the four types of educational experiences which qualify for appearing on the student’s transcript.

31. Why RISE?
RISE emphasizes four critical dimensions of experiential learning that are the hallmarks of an IUPUI degree— integrating important high impact programs into the student experience in an intentional way, while advancing the Principles of Undergraduate Learning.
RISE will brand an IUPUI degree as unique and in touch with “Employer Identified Skills” for new graduates (AAC &U, 2007) and will be an integral part of “My IUPUI Experience.”

33. Personal Development Plan (PDP)
Personal development planning is a process which will enable first year students at IUPUI to understand, implement, and mark progress toward a degree and career goal by creating and following a personalize plan that is open to revision and reevaluation every semester in collaboration with an academic advisor or faculty member.

34. The PDP is designed to foster:
Goal commitment (student commitment to earning a degree)
Academic achievement (through goal setting and planning)
Curricular coherence and meaning in the first-year seminar
Student development for students in the first year and beyond.

35. PDP Components Each PDP will have three components:
Semester in Review – reflection on individual strengths, goals, challenges and strategies for success
Principles of Undergraduate Learning – identification of how the PULs are explicitly connected to academic and career goals
Peak Performance Plan – A plan for specific action steps, courses, and experiential activities leading to the achievement of academic and career goals

36. Your turn

37. Questions before the Process: Understanding the Institution and Building Expertise
How does the mission and vision of the institution “describe” the core educational values of the institution? How few learning goals can we use to address the institutional mission and vision?

38. Questions before the Process: Understanding the Institution and Building Expertise
What national models are available and may any of these be used as a foundation for the new general education? What unique/distinctive characteristics (historic, mission or location driven) of the institution must be incorporated into a national model?

39. Questions before the Process: Understanding the Institution and Building Expertise
What governance structures must be involved in the consultative/consensus building process? In the decision making process? Who will be key players in the process?

40. Questions before the Process: Understanding the Institution and Building Expertise
What external or internal factors will delimit the process or the product (fiscal, human, and capital resources, student recruitment pool, and current faculty experience/expertise)? What resources/support is needed to initiate the process?

41. Questions during the Process: Building a Sustainable General Education Program
Are we discussing courses or learning goals?

42. Questions during the Process: Building a Sustainable General Education Program
Are we creating vertical and horizontal integration?

43. Questions during the Process: Building a Sustainable General Education Program
What resources/ support will be needed to implement the new general education? Can we find these resources?

44. Questions during the Process: Building a Sustainable General Education Program
How will we know if the new program is successful (building the assessment program)?

45. Questions for Implementation: Comprehensive vs. Incremental Change
What impact will the new general education have on each major/minor program?

46. Questions for Implementation: Comprehensive vs. Incremental Change
What time frame will be used for implementation?

47. Lessons Learned

48. Lessons Learned AAC&U is Right Student Learning Outcomes
Principles of Excellence

49. Lessons Learned Student Learning Outcomes
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Intellectual and Practical Skills, including
Personal and Social Responsibility, including
Integrative and Applied Learning, including

50. Lessons Learned Principles of Excellence
Aim High – Make Excellence Inclusive
Give Students a Compass
Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation
Engage the Big Questions
Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action
Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning
Assess Students’ Ability to Apply Learning to Complex Problems

51. Lessons Learned AAC&U is Right Again
It’s often about high impact practices
It’s not about individual courses

52. Lessons Learned
The curriculum and the co-curriculum have to be “of a piece”

53. Lessons Learned
Avoid false dichotomies

54. Lessons Learned
It really is all about student learning

55. Disproportional impact of engaged practices

56. Source: Kinzie & Evenbeck, “Setting up Learning Communities That Connect with Other High Impact Practices,”
Washington Center, Learning Community Summer Institute.

57. Discussion

58. Resources

59. Resources: Managing Gen Ed Reform
Bolman, Lee G., and Terrence E. Deal. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. Third ed. 2003
Bolman, Lee G., and Gallos, Joan V. Reframing Academic Leadership
Gaston, Paul J., and Jerry G. Gaff. Revising General Education—And Avoiding the Potholes: A Guide for Curricular Change
Kegan, Robert, and Lisa Laskow Lahey. “The Real Reason People Won’t Change.” Harvard Business Review. November, 2001.
Morrill, Richard L. Strategic Leadership: Integrating Strategy and Leadership in Colleges and Universities
Schneider, Carol Geary, and Robert Schoenberg. “Habits Hard to Break.” Change. March/April, 2000.

60. Resources: Models and Paradigms
AAC&U
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning
Sullivan, William M. A New Agenda for Higher Education: Shaping a Life of the Mind for Practice. (Jossey- Bass/Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.) 2008.