Liberal Education and General Education:

Educating 21st Century Students for a World Shared in Common

General Education and University Curriculum Reform: An International Conference in Hong Kong

June 12, 2012

Carol Geary Schneider

Overview

Clarifying Our Terms: Liberal Education, General Education, Excellent University Education

General Education and the Aims of EducationConnecting Learning with Wider SocietyPrinciples of Excellence for General and

University EducationAligning Principles with Practices – Preparing

Students for a World Shared in Common

Clarifying Our Terms

Liberal EducationGeneral EducationExcellent University Education Across General

Education and Major Programs

General Education and the Aims of Education

Asking What All Students Need to Learn – Goals for General Learning – Raises Issues of Institutional Mission and Purpose – and Then Leads Directly to the Connections Between Learning and the Wider Society

Connecting Learning With the Wider Society

The Economy?Global Engagement and Community?Civil Society?Personal Integrity and Development?A World of Rapid and Fast-Paced Change?

What Will Students Need for Success in

The Curriculum in Transition:Rethinking educational purposes and practices to better prepare students for

• Innovation in the Economy

• Global Interdependence

• Healthy, Humane, and Just Societies

The Twenty-First Century University

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

General Education

Major

The Curriculum in Transition: General

Education as Foundational –

20th Century

The Curriculum in Transition: General

Education and Connections With the

Major – 21st Century

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Fourth Year

General Educatio

n

Major

Connecting Learning With the Wider Society (cont.)

Economic Challenges

Civic and Global Challenges

University Learning for the 21st Century Economy

Employers are demanding more – much more

They want and seek many more university-educated 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 cross-cultural interactions increasingly define modern society and the workplace and call for new levels of knowledge and capacity

Employers Are Raising the Bar

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”

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.”

Source: “Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2010)

The Growing Demand for Higher Order SkillsSource: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index

Economic Pressures: Innovation and Measured

Risk-Taking

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”

Employers Want to Find That “360° Perspective”

Hart Research Associates

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

“[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 the kind of creative products like the iPad.”

Steve Jobs, Co-Founder, Apple Inc.

Thinking Across Disciplines

Connecting Learning With the Wider Society (cont.)

Economic Challenges

Civic and Global Challenges

AS IN THE ECONOMY, THE GLOBAL

CHALLENGES WE FACE ARE DAUNTING

Global Challenges

Poverty, War, Suffering…Sustenance and Human Dignity

Illiteracy and Its Effects…Education and Opportunity

Energy and the Environment…Sustainability, Research, and Innovation

Terrorism and Fear…

Law, Justice, Self-Determination

We Must Graduate Students Who Are Prepared and

Inspired to Take Responsibility for Solving

Global Problems – At Home and Abroad

A Crucible Moment (AAC&U, 2012)

Recommends Civic Learning as a Priority Both in General Education and in

Major Programs

www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/documents/crucible_508F.pdf

From a Decade of Analysis, the Key Elements for a 21st Century

Curriculum Are Now in Hand

Essential Aims and Outcomes Practices That Foster Achievement and

Completion Practices That Move Global and Social

Responsibility Back to the Center Assessments That Raise—as well as Reveal—

the Level of Students’ Learning

The Essential Learning Outcomes

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

Intellectual and Practical SkillsPersonal and Social ResponsibilityIntegrative, Adaptive, and Applied

Learning

(See handout)

Both Faculty and Employers Value the Essential Learning Outcomes; Employers Seek “More Emphasis” on These

Capacities

Helping Students Achieve Essential Learning Outcomes

Four Principles of Excellence for

General Education AND Majors

Engage the Big QuestionsTeach the Arts of Inquiry and InnovationConnect Knowledge with Choices and ActionFoster 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 ReflectionsExpect Advanced Students to Explore Their

Own “Big Questions” BOTH in AdvancedGeneral Education Courses AND in Their Majors

Practices That Work to Engage Students with

Broad Knowledge and Big Questions/Big Picture

Common Intellectual ExperiencesWriting and ResearchCollaborative Assignments and ProjectsCluster Courses – Several Courses That Explore

Common Topics Such as Technology and Social Conflict

To Develop Intellectual and Practical Skills

2. Teach the Arts of Inquiry and InnovationImmerse 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

Practices That Work to Help Students Master the “Arts of Inquiry” and Skills Related to Innovative Problem Solving

Research questions and assignments early and oftenIn 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

Practices That Work to Help Students Integrate Knowledge with Action

Internships and PracticumsService Learning/Civic Problem-SolvingResearch with Community PartnersCulminating 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 LearningEmphasize 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

Practices That Work to Help Students Develop

Intercultural Competence, Social Responsibility, and

Ethical Judgment

Diversity studies and experiences, especially when “intergroup dialogue” is included

Note: Frequency Matters!

Global studies and experiencesGuided ethical reflection—case studies; students’

own experiences

General Education – Beginning, Middle, and Culminating Work

High Impact Reports

To Learn More About Practices That Work, See

High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to

Them, and Why They Matter by George Kuh (AAC&U, 2008)

https://secure.aacu.org/source/Orders/index.cfm

Connecting Learning to the Wider Society

Once We Ask What General Learning Students Need for Success, the Answers Lead Back to the Purposes and Design of the Entire Educational Experience in Helping Student Achieve “Essential Learning Outcomes”

Thus, General Education Raises Issues that Matter to The Entire Educational Experience

General StudiesMajorsCampus CommunityCampus AND Community

And the Importance of the Connections Between Them.

Working Together, We Can and Must Educate Students Who

Will Work Together to Build and Sustain a Better Future