Opportunities & Obligations Among Faculty
Leaders at Public Liberal Arts Colleges
A Participatory Keynote Address
COPLAC Conference
UNCA, June 9, 2005
By Professor David G. Brown
Chancellor UNCA (1984-90)
Interim President GC&SU (Fall 2003)
Coordinator ACC-IAC (2000-now)
http://www.wfu.edu/~brown
brown@wfu.edu
Why I Might Have Come to
this Conference
• Opportunities to Strengthen
my university’s distinctive
mission.
• Opportunities to Enhance
Teaching Effectiveness
COPLAC at Founding
1982
• The success story in American undergraduate
education has been the small private liberal arts
college.
• Since the 1950’s, the % of students enrolled in
such colleges had plummeted from 40+% to 15-%!
• There was a set of small public colleges poised to
do a “comparable” job.
• This set needed more identity, recognition, funding,
self confidence, and opportunities for sharing.
How the “COPLAC Identity”
Adds Value
• Enhances How We View OURSELVES!
– Self Respect/Trust/Courage/Morale (PLU)
– Especially among our students & faculty
• Enhances How OTHERS View Us!
– Legislators/Foundations/Community/Boards
– USN&WR. IHE colleagues.
– Prospective Students
• Enables Us To BE BETTER!
– Affinity Learning (e.g. this conference)
– Shared Work (e.g. lead college, joint purchasing)
The Attributes That Differentiate
Public Liberal Arts Colleges
From the “Compass” Universities
Your Turn to Work
Write down 3-5 attributes!
The Attributes That Differentiate
Public Liberal Arts Colleges
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Your answers
The Attributes That Differentiate
Public Liberal Arts Colleges
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Small (less than 5000 students)
Statewide (< 25% home county)
Undergraduate (<5% graduate students)
Selective (above SAT/ACT average)
Liberal Arts Emphasis
Extensive Co-curricular Programming
Highly Interactive/Collaborative
Q#1: Upon returning, what can YOU do to
enrich/enhance one of these differentiators?
Q#2: How can you help your
colleagues anticipate the future of
teaching and learning?
Reasons 150 Professors
Redesigned Their Courses
1. Communication-Interaction
2. Collaboration-Teams
3. Consultants-Adjuncts
4. Customization-Diversity
5. Controversy-Debate
www.ankerpub.com/books/brown.html
www.ablongman.com/professional/catalog/academic/product/1,4096,0205355803,00.html
Communication-Interaction
•Muddiest
•One Minute Quiz
•Team Editing
New “Student” Mentality
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Learn by Trial and Error (Nintendo)
Expect Immediate Feedback, ..the world
Accept Multi-Tasking & Channel Changing
Use Keyboard More Than Pen & Pencil
Keep In Touch Everywhere with Everybody
Demand High Quality Multi-Media
Provide just-enough & just-in-time learning
Insist upon courses that match personal learning
style
• Think in bulleted lists & sound bites
New Faculty Roles
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Become scouts, analysts, strategists, coaches
Provide Interactive & Group Learning Experiences
Guide & Sequence Individual Learning Strategies
Rate and Certify Learning Resources
Expect Second Opinions & Open Classrooms
Manage Corps of Adjuncts & Course Assistants
Teach Collaboratively
Give over control of learning to students
Build and sell chunks
New Course Formats
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More Interaction, even in the Classroom
More Projects, much like early K-12 years
More Asynchronous Learning
Web Presence for every course
Flexible Classrooms and Seat Time
Hybrid Pedagogy (The 80-20 Rule)
Studio Teaching is spreading from RPI
Chunk Learning (Sold & Bought)
Trans-Disciplinary
Different Strokes for Different Folks
Future of
Universities
• Bright because—
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Right values
Right size
Right funding
Right cost
Right faculty
Right leadership
• Good Luck in the days ahead!