Symphony through Collaboration
Lisa Bloom, Professor of Special and Gifted Education
Sharon Dole, Professor of Special and Gifted Education
Description of the QEP Pre-Proposal:
The theme of this Quality Enhance Plan (QEP) is creativity, innovation and symphony.
The idea is to engage students in real world problems, projects and inquiry, to promote
critical and creative thinking and symphony, that is, the ability to take unrelated pieces
and put them together to see the big picture. It builds on our previous QEP of synthesis
and intentional learning as well as our strategic initiatives such as community
engagement and service learning.
The goals of this QEP proposal are as follows:
1. Develop critical/ creative thinking and symphony in students through engagement
in collaborative inquiry-based learning, project-based, and problem-based
learning. There is a growing body of research that shows that these teaching and
learning models lead to deeper, more sustained learning that transfers to new
situations and problems (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008; Thomas, 2000).
Inquiry-based learning involves asking challenging questions to motivate learners
to delve deeper to find the answers. Project-based learning involves authentic
activities designed to answer a question or solve a problem. In problem-based
learning, students connect disciplinary knowledge to studying real-world
problems. All three teaching/learning models are similar in that they involve
collaboration toward the answering of questions or the resolution of problems. To
achieve the goals of the QEP, we propose the following activities:
a. Provide faculty development in inquiry, project, and problem-based
learning and strategies for promoting creative thinking.
b. In each major, identify opportunities for inquiry-based, project-based, and
problem-based learning.
2. Create opportunities for students to collaborate with cross disciplinary and
external partners in authentic problems, projects and inquiry-based learning in
regional, global and professional communities.
a. Identify regional, professional and global areas for authentic
problem/project and inquiry engagement.
b. Identify opportunities for cross-disciplinary problem/project based and
inquiry learning.
c. Create a “maker space” in Hunter library or in each college for
collaborative, creative and innovative thinking that is cross-disciplinary.
3. Provide audience for student work.
a. Hold a regional creativity/ innovation seminar.
b. Use the graduate and undergraduate research symposia as sources for
disseminating student work.
c. Use blogs and other social media where students and faculty can “journal”
about their ongoing work on authentic problems, projects, and inquiry
activities.
Rationale:
As we encounter political, educational, economic and environmental issues, we
hope that our graduates who inherit these problems will be well equipped with the kinds
of brain power that will bring a brighter future. In addition, technology and the way we
do business continue to change at a rapid pace requiring of our graduates a different set of
skills than college graduates of earlier decades. According to Pink (2006), jobs in the
American economy that have traditionally utilized American middle class workers use
skills that are routine and require little creative thinking. Hence, American workers are
easily replaced by automated devices and/or individuals in other countries who are
willing to perform routine jobs for much lower wages. Like the problems on standardized
tests, middle class jobs have typically involved known solutions and standard procedures
to complete the work.
The kind of problem solving that will confront our societal and global problems
and are in high demand in the job market require symphony which, according to Pink
(2006) is one of the important activities of the creative mind. Symphony involves seeing
relationships, connecting the dots and using newly integrated information for creating
new ideas and solutions. To be competitive in the job market, our college graduates will
be required to do work where answers and procedures are fluid and ambiguous and where
innovation and creativity will be highly sought (Wagner, 2012; Zhao, 2012).
Creativity, innovation and problem solving are certainly in high demand for
solving world problems and competing in the job market. However, with the heavy
emphasis on high stakes assessment and increasing commercialization of teaching
practices in the public schools, little room is left in the public school curriculum for
nurturing and enhancing creativity and innovation. At the college level, we may be seeing
a generation of fact absorbers rather than problem solvers and innovators. Studies have
shown that active learning methods leads to higher outcomes than lecture methods
(Freeman, et al., 2014; Weiman, 2014). It is incumbent upon higher education to heed
this message. A focus on creativity, innovation and symphony will take our QEP based
on synthesis and intentional learning to the next level.
The idea would be to encourage our students to use existing information in our
courses and programs and develop creative and innovative ideas for applying that
knowledge. Faculty and students can explore ways to increase innovative and creative
thinking and develop symphony through pedagogies such as problem and project-based
learning and inquiry-based learning. These pedagogies have the further advantage of
engaging students in authentic problems, using the tools of their professions, engaging
with and providing service to their regional and professional communities. This type of
engagement can be highly motivational for students and promote long term retention and
skill development (Stroebel & van Barneveld, 2009).
According to the most recent available data from the National Survey of Student
Engagement (NSSE) and the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) our current QEP put
us on the right track. According to CLA data from 2014, WCU has been performing right
on par the last two years. According to the NSSE data from 2012, in terms of student
perceived level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student faculty
interaction, and enriching educational experiences, WCU compares with peer institutions.
We scored slightly below the UNC System average in Active and Collaborative learning,
and below national data and UNC system data in Level of Academic Challenge. The
current proposal taking the QEP of intentional learning and synthesis to the next level
should enhance these efforts and push WCU forward in the outcomes measured by these
assessments.
Purpose:
The purpose of this QEP proposal is to promote creative, critical thinking, and symphony
through project-based, problem-based, and inquiry-based teaching, learning methods that
engage students in deep thinking that connects what they are learning in the classroom to
the world around them. These teaching/learning methods provide students with
authentic, “real-world” tasks and problems and motivate them because they are working
on outcomes that are meaningful to them. Students work collaboratively and across
disciplines, thus preparing them for global citizenship and employment and building 21st
century skills.
Relationship to WCU’s Strategic Plan:
Our QEP proposal is based on creative/critical thinking and symphony and relates well to
establishing WCU as a “hub of innovation” as outlined in Goal 1.1 of WCU’s strategic
plan. Even more specifically, the proposal relates to Goal 1.2 which is “to integrate
information from a variety of contexts; to solve complex problems; to communicate
effectively and responsibly; to practice civic engagement; and to clarify and act on
purpose and values.” Curricula are often disconnected; that is, they are categorized by
discipline and taught separately. Project-based, problem-based, and inquiry-based
methods connect to Goal 1.3 in that they are interdisciplinary, thus connecting curricula
for deeper understanding.
Scope:
The theme of creativity, innovation, and symphony can inspire broad participation across
the university. Several components of Kuh’s (2008) high impact educational practices
are addressed, including collaborative projects, undergraduate research, diversity/global
learning, community-based learning, and capstone projects. One example of an
interdisciplinary project would be to produce more graduates, especially females, in
STEM fields. Interdisciplinary projects could focus on regional and/or world problems
such as managing outbreaks of infectious diseases, recycling, human rights in the
developing world, racism, poverty, food and water sustainability, climate change, and
alternative forms of energy.
Evaluation:
Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to evaluate the QEP. Preassessment of students on their knowledge of project-based, problem-based, and inquirybased methods can be accomplished using Poll Everywhere or Qualtrics. Formative
assessment can be used to determine students’ understanding of concepts by having
discussions with students using open-ended questions and taking anecdotal notes. For
summative assessment, faculty will be surveyed using Qualtrics on their use of projectbased, problem-based, and inquiry-based teaching and learning methods. The surveys
will be followed up with semi-structured interviews with selected faculty across
disciplines. Students will also be surveyed using Qualtrics on their satisfaction and
learning outcomes. As with faculty, student surveys will be followed up with semistructured interviews with students across disciplines. Authentic assessment may be the
most important type of assessment to use with real-life learning such as occurs with
problem-based, project-based, and inquiry-based methods. For this purpose, students can
create portfolios that demonstrate their work in which they can include videos and photos
as well as text.
Finally, data from NSSE and CLA can be compared with previous years’
results. Specifically, a focus on problem, project and inquiry based learning will capture
what is measured on the CLA by maximizing student engagement, providing enriching
educational experiences, enhancing student-faculty interactions and engaging students in
challenging academic and real world problems.
References
Barron, B., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2008). Teaching for meaningful learning: A review
Of research on inquiry-based and cooperative learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from
http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
Freeman, S., Eddy, S.L., McDonough, M., Smith, M.K., Okorafor, N., Jordt, H., &
Wenderoth, M.P., (2014). Active learning increases student performance in
science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS), 111 (23), 8410-8415.
Kuh, G. D. (2008). High-impact educational practices: What they are, who has access
to them, and why they matter. Association of American Colleges & Universities.
Pink, D. (2006). A whole new mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future. New York:
Penguin. PN
Strobel, J., & van Barneveld, A. (2009). When is PBL more effective? A meta-synthesis
of meta-analyses comparing PBL to conventional classrooms (Abstract). The
Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 3(1).
Thomas, J. W. (2000). A review of research on project-based learning. Retrieved from
http://www.bie.org/index.php/site/RE/pbl_research/29
Wagner, T. (2012). Creating innovators: The making of young people who will change
the world. New York: Scribner.
Weiman, C.E., (2014). Large-scale comparison of science teaching methods sends clear
message. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 111 (23),
8319-8320.
Zhao, Y. (2012). World class learners: Educating creative and entrepreneurial students.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.