Big Questions, Urgent Challenges:
(Re)mapping Liberal Learning
Across the Curriculum
Visioning for Excellence: Symposium on the Future
of Integrative, Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences
University of Baltimore
December 4, 2012
Overview
1. Definitions and Contexts
2. Purposeful Liberal
Learning
3. High Impact Practices
4. Intentional, Integrative,
and Adaptive Liberal
Learning
Contexts:
Changing Designs for
College Learning
The Nineteenth Century College
A Common Core Curriculum
(All learning is both “general
and liberal education”)
The Twentieth Century University
Breadth + Depth
(Breadth = General Studies;
Depth = Majors; “liberal education”
becomes synonymous with “general
education”)
Contexts:
The Twenty-First Century
Academy
A Curriculum in Transition:
Rethinking educational purposes and
practices to better prepare students for
• Innovation in the Economy
• Global Interdependence
• Healthy, Democratic, and Just Societies
How Do We Prepare
Students for
Twenty-First Century Realities?
2000-2005 – Greater Expectations –
A National Dialogue About Purposes and
Effective Practices in College Learning
2005-Present – Liberal Education and America’s
Promise (LEAP)
A Signature Initiative to Advance
Intentional and Integrative
Learning for All Students
The Core LEAP Insight:
The World Itself is
Demanding More from
College – Much More
Connecting College Learning
With Societal Needs
Economic Challenges
Civic and Global Challenges
College Learning for
the 21st Century Economy
 What Employers Seek:
They want and seek many more collegeeducated workers
They also seek much higher and broader
levels of learning in those they employ,
retain, and promote
Economic Pressures:
Volatility and Complexity
 Rapid scientific and technological innovations
are changing the workplace and demanding
more of all employees
 Global interdependence and complex crosscultural interactions increasingly define
modern society and the workplace and also
call for new levels of knowledge and capacity
The Growing Demand for Higher Order Skills
Source: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index
Employers Are Raising the Bar
 88% of employers say that “the challenges their
employees face are more complex than they were in the
past.”
 88% of employers agree that “to succeed in their
companies, employees needs higher levels of learning
and knowledge than they did in the past.”
 91% of employers say that they are “asking employees
to take on more responsibilities and to use a broader
set of skills than in the past”
Source: “Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the
Economic Downturn” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2010)
Higher-Level Skills, Broader
Learning – Why?
 In a globalized knowledge economy, the
capacity to drive INNOVATION is the key
strategic advantage
To Drive Innovation,
Employers Seek Employees
Who Can “Think Outside
the Box”
A “360°Perspective”
Employers Do Not Want
People Who Can Only See
Things From One Point of
View
“You cannot retreat to a cave and work in isolation until you
like the solution.” – Frank Levinson, Managing Director,
Small World Group, Singapore
Thinking Across
Disciplines
“[T]he reason that Apple is able to create
products like the iPad is that we’ve always tried
to be at the intersection of technology and
liberal arts, to be able to get the best of
both…And it’s the combination of these two
things that I think has let us make…creative
products like the iPad.”
Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Apple Inc.
Employers, In Sum, Are
Looking for Graduates Who
Are Highly Skilled in CrossDisciplinary, Integrative,
and Adaptive Learning
The Modern Workplace
Needs More Liberal
Learning – Not Less
Connecting Learning
With Societal Needs (cont.)
Economic Challenges
Civic and Global Challenges
THE CIVIC AND GLOBAL
CHALLENGES WE FACE
ARE DAUNTING
Global and Civic Challenges
 Poverty, War, Suffering…
Sustenance and Human Dignity
 Illiteracy and Its Effects…
Education for Opportunity
 Energy and the Environment…
Sustainability Research and Innovation
 Terrorism and Fear…
Law, Justice, Self-Determination, and the
Future of Democracy
We Must Graduate Students
Who Are Prepared and
Inspired to Take
Responsibility for Solving
Urgent Problems – At Home
and Abroad
A Crucible Moment: College
Learning and Democracy’s
Future (AAC&U, 2012)
Written in Concert with Campus
and Civic Leaders from All Parts
of Higher Education
www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/documents/crucible_508F.pdf
A Crucible Moment
Recommends That All
Disciplines Identify the Civic
Inquiries Most Urgent to
Explore and Infuse Civic
Learning Across the
Curriculum
The National and Global Discussion
About the Quality of College
Learning—and Whether Graduates
Are Actually Prepared for 21st Century
Realities—Is Accelerating
LEAP Frames That Dialogue
The Good News:
From a Decade of Analysis,
the Key Elements for 21st Century
Liberal Learning – with a Central Role
for the Arts and Sciences – Now Are in
Hand
The Key Elements for 21st
Century Liberal Learning
 Essential Aims and Outcomes
 Practices That Foster Achievement and
Completion
 Practices That Move Integrative Liberal
Learning to the Center
 Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—
the Level of Students’ Learning
T
The LEAP Essential Aims
and Outcomes

Knowledge of Human Cultures and
the Physical and Natural World

Intellectual and Practical Skills

Personal and Social Responsibility

Integrative and Applied Learning
Narrow Learning Is Not Enough!
Employers Strongly Endorse
the LEAP Essential Learning
Outcomes – and Urge More
Campus Emphasis on Them
And—Most Important—
the LEAP Essential
Learning Outcomes Mirror
Campus Priorities for HighQuality Student Learning
The LEAP Outcomes Outline
Goals for All Majors
and a Catalytic
“Big Questions” Role for the
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Helping Students Achieve
Essential Learning
Outcomes
The Key Elements for 21st
Century Liberal Learning
 Essential Aims and Outcomes
 Practices That Foster Achievement and
Completion
 Practices That Move Integrative Liberal
Learning to the Center
 Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—
the Level of Students’ Learning
High Impact Practices:
What They Are, Who Has Access to
Them, and Why They Matter
by George D. Kuh
(LEAP report, October 2008, www.aacu.org)
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
NSSE Research Shows That:
Higher Levels of Participation in High Impact
Practices (HIPs) Correlate with
• Higher Retention
• Higher Grade Point Average
HIPs Offer “Compensatory Benefit” for
Students from Less Advantaged Backgrounds
and/or with Lower Entering
Scores
Five High-Impact Practices:
Research on Learning Outcomes,
Completion, and Quality
Lynn Swaner and Jayne Brownell
(AAC&U, 2010, www.aacu.org)
This Commissioned Review of Extant Research Shows that
High Impact Practices DO Help Students Achieve Many
“Essential Learning Outcomes”
How HIPs Work:
Common Features
Substantive interaction with faculty & peers
Frequent feedback
Engagement with difference
Engagement with higher-order thinking
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
Application
Significant time on purposeful questions
Capacity to be “life-changing”
National Survey of Student Engagement
The Key Elements for 21st
Century Liberal Learning
 Essential Aims and Outcomes
 Practices That Foster Achievement and
Completion
 Practices That Move Integrative Liberal
Learning to the Center
 Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—
the Level of Students’ Learning
AAC&U’s Recommendation:
To Foster Essential Learning Outcomes—
Including Integrative and Applied
Learning—Faculty Should Map
Appropriate High Impact Practices
Across-the-Curriculum – and Link Them
Directly to “Big Questions” and Students’
Own Role in Helping to Solve Urgent
Problems
Four Principles of
Excellence for
Integrative Liberal
Learning
Engage the Big Questions
Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation
Connect Knowledge with Choices and Action
Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning
For Broad Knowledge –
and that “Big Picture”
Perspective
1. Engage the Big Questions
Teach Through the Curriculum to Far-Reaching
Issues – Contemporary and Enduring – in
Science and Society, Cultures and Values, Global
Interdependence, the Changing Economy,
and Human Dignity and Freedom
Introduce “Big Questions” in First Year
General Education Programs
e.g.
What is a Good Society?
Historical, Cross-Cultural, and
Personal Reflections
Expect Advanced Students to Explore Their
Own “Big Questions” in Their Majors and in
Advanced Cross-Disciplinary Contexts
High-Impact Practices to
Engage Students with
Broad Knowledge and Big
Questions/Big Picture
Cluster Courses – e.g., Several Courses That
Explore Common Topics Such as Diversity and
Social Power or Sustainability or Poverty
Writing and Research
Collaborative Assignments and Projects
To Develop
Intellectual and
Practical Skills
2. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation
Immerse All Students in Analysis, Discovery,
Problem Solving, and Communication,
Beginning in School and Advancing in the
University
Break Students of the Idea That They Have
Come to the University Mainly to Learn
“What is Already Known”
Emphasize the Societal and Economic Value of
Research into Emerging Questions –
– Preparation for jobs that are rapidly changing
– Solutions to problems we are only starting to
understand
– Responsibility for a world—local and global—
that we share in common
High-Impact Practices to
Help Students Master the “Arts
of Inquiry” and Skills Related
to Innovative Problem Solving
Research questions and assignments early and often
In early AND advanced General Education
In Major Programs
Connecting “Big Questions” with Majors
Field-Based Research and Problem-Solving –
With Employers and/or Community Partners
Culminating or Capstone Projects
To Foster Integrative
and Adaptive
Learning
3. Connect Knowledge with Choices and Actions
Prepare Students for Citizenship and Work through
Engaged and Guided Learning on “Real-World”
Problems
Both the economy and society need graduates
who are ready to apply their learning to new
settings and problems—AND, who are
competent in learning FROM experience
So, the goal is to connect both inquiry and
knowledge with action—but, also, to give
students rich opportunities to reflect on
their “real-world” learning and to revise their
assumptions in light of experience
High-Impact Practices to
Help Students Integrate
Knowledge with Action
Internships, Practicums, Study Abroad
Service Learning/Civic Problem-Solving
Research with Community Partners
Culminating or Capstone Projects That Blend
Research and Real-World Problems
To Help Students Take
Responsibility for a
World Shared in
Common
4. Foster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical
Learning
Emphasize Personal and Social Responsibility, in
Every Field of Study
Too often, faculty introduce ethical,
intercultural (diversity) and ethical questions
in general education, but spend little or no
time on them in major programs
A 21st century education should prepare
students to tackle difficult cultural, ethical,
and societal issues, both through general
studies and through major programs
High-Impact Practices to
Help Students Develop
Intercultural Competence,
Social Responsibility, and
Ethical Judgment
Diversity studies and experiences, especially when
“intergroup dialogue” is included
Global studies and experiences
Common intellectual experiences
Guided ethical reflection—case studies; students’
own experiences
The Key Elements for 21st
Century Liberal Learning
 Essential Aims and Outcomes
 Practices That Foster Achievement and
Completion
 Practices That Move Integrative Liberal
Learning to the Center
 Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—
the Level of Students’ Learning
Assessing Students’ Progress in
Achieving Key Learning Outcomes
“It’s not a multiple-choice world...”
And Therefore, We Need to:
“Assess Students’ Ability to Apply Their
Learning to Complex Problems”
-LEAP Principle of Excellence
Programs That Foreground
High Effort Practices – e.g.
Research, Internships,
Capstones – Are Already Poised
to Meet This Standard
Done Well, Assessment Itself
Can Become a High Impact
Educational Practice
The Long-Term LEAP
Goal is to Make Excellence
Inclusive, Not Exclusive, By
Giving Students a
Framework for Learning
and for Their Own
Demonstrated
Accomplishment
In Sum
The Integrative Liberal Learning Curriculum
and Co-curriculum Help Students See What
Matters in Their Studies
Provides Multiple Opportunities for Students
to Meet Expected Standards—and to Do
Their Best Work
Helps Students Prepare to Apply their
Learning—Over a Lifetime—to New
Problems, New Settings, New Challenges
An Intentional Curriculum—
in Short—is the Key to
Students’ Actual Achievement
of Essential Learning Outcomes
and an Integrative Liberal
Education
And, Given the Complexity of
21st Century Challenges and
Realities, An Integrative,
Liberal Education is What
Every Student Needs