A California Convening for Educators and Grantmakers Cardinal Points a Give Students COMPASS a Give Students COMPASS November 3-4, 2009 CSU Dominguez Hills Carson, California http://www.calstate.edu/app/compass
A California Convening for Educators and Grantmakers
Cardinal Points
aGive
StudentsCompaSS
aGive
StudentsCompaSS
November 3-4, 2009CSU Dominguez Hills
Carson, California
http://www.calstate.edu/app/compass
CompaSS
Give Students a
CompaSS
Give Students a Compass | 1
Cardinal Points
Cardinal points are the four major compass directions, used as references for all the points in between. Similarly, the quotations assembled here capture many of the recent big ideas in higher education, perspectives and priorities that can serve as guides to better policy.
A hard copy of this publication will be available to you at the meeting.
Cardinal Points is one of three background pieces prepared for the California Convening of November 3-4, 2009. The other two are:
“Why Are We Doing This?” A 7½-minute video compiling student interviews from around the state, on the subject of general education in California. See the video at calstate.edu/app/compass.
General Education and Student Transfer: Fostering Intentionality and Coherence in State Systems, a collection of articles on the tension between fostering deep learning and facilitating transfer. A hard copy of this publication is sent to each participant in advance of the meeting; a few additional copies will be available on site.
a California Convening for Educators and Grantmakers
Association of American Colleges and Universities
With Thanks To:
2 | Give Students a Compass
Student Mobility
“For state systems, the phenomenon of student
mobility creates a particularly complicated set of
problems. All concerned want, insofar as possible,
to make movement within these systems easy
and to allow it to be accomplished without loss
of credit. The formal mechanisms for creating this
‘seamlessness’ are sets of common core courses
and agreements about transfer of credit.
But in their zeal to effect ease of transfer, the
designers of these agreements often fail to take
into account either the variety of ends to which core
courses might be taught or the coherence of the
general education program or major to which those
courses apply.
Thus, they tacitly encourage students to mix and
match unrelated courses, leading them to see these
requirements as so many bureaucratic hurdles to be
jumped, not as parts of a purposeful and coherent
curriculum.”
Robert Shoenberg
General Education in an Age of Student MobilityAAC&U, 2001
Integrative Learning
“The undergraduate experience can be a fragmented
landscape of general education courses, preparation
for the major, co-curricular activities, and ‘the real
world’ beyond the campus. But an emphasis on
integrative learning can help undergraduates put
the pieces together and develop habits of mind
that prepare them to make informed judgments
in the conduct of personal, professional, and civic
life. Many colleges and universities are creating
opportunities for more integrative, connected
learning. Often, however, such innovations involve
only small numbers of students or exist in isolation,
disconnected from other parts of the curriculum. But
a variety of opportunities to develop the capacity
for integrative learning should be available to all
students. Fostering students’ abilities to integrate
learning—across courses, over time, and between
campus and community life— is one of the most
important goals and challenges of higher education,
and should be a cornerstone of a twenty-first
century education.”
Adapted from “A Statement on Integrative Learning”
Association of American Colleges and Universities,The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teachinghttp://www.carnegiefoundation.org/general/index.asp?key=24
Give Students a Compass | 3
Detached Courses
“Unfortunately, the educational experiences
of most first-year students are not involving.
Learning is still very much a spectator sport
in which faculty talk dominates and where few
students actively participate.
Most first-year students experience learning as
isolated learners whose learning is disconnected
from that of others. Just as important, students
typically take courses as detached, individual
units, one course separated from another in both
content and peer group, one set of understandings
unrelated in any intentional fashion to the content
learned in other courses.
Though specific programs of study are designed
for each major, courses have little academic or
social coherence. It is small wonder that students
seem so uninvolved in learning. Their learning
experiences are not very involving.”
Vincent Tinto
Taking Student Retention SeriouslyApril 2002
The Need for New Tools
“Despite the challenges, there is growing
awareness that California needs new tools and
a new commitment to make transfer work better.
Reports have documented the failure of the
current transfer practices in California to provide
a clear, straightforward and consistent pathway
for students.”
Crafting a Student-Centered Transfer Process in California
Institute for Higher Education Leadership & PolicyCalifornia State University, Sacramento, August 2009
Restrictions on Curriculum
“These practical restrictions are equally frustrating
to two- and four-year institutions.
The community colleges, which must prepare
students planning to transfer to any of several
baccalaureate institutions, can ill afford to create
general education programs with distinct character.
The four-year colleges have somewhat more leeway
in designing programs for their native students,
but they cannot hold transfer students to those
requirements.”
Robert Shoenberg,
General Education in an Age of Student Mobility
notes
4 | Give Students a Compass
Pilot Projects
In the project’s second phase, partnerships of California State Universities and their neighboring community colleges will pilot new approaches to general education transfer.
Clear, mutually developed expectations for student learning will allow for mobility, while accommodating campus-level innovations in teaching, course design, and student engagement and success.
“If we are to have meaningful assessment, we
shall need to assess something more precise than
“liberal education” and broader than student
performance in courses. The courage and capacity
to assess is dependent upon institutions doing
something other than putting the pea under a
different shell. Defining what we want to assess
as a general, or liberal, education is the real issue,
and resolving it will take massive reimagination.”
Stanley Katz“Taking the True Measure of a Liberal Education”Chronicle of Higher Education, May 20, 2008
Defining the purpose and measures of liberal learning—however challenging—is key to improving general education (GE) transfer in California.
“We must account for higher-order understanding
and critical thinking, in addition to factual knowledge
and simple skills. We must tell of the development
of civic responsibility and moral courage, even when
our stakeholders have not thought to ask . . .”
Lee Shulman“Counting and Recounting: Assessment and the Quest for Accountability”Change Magazine, January 2007
Give Students a Compass | 5
Benefits of High-Impact Practices
“. . . Engaging in educationally purposeful activities
helps level the playing field, especially for students
from low-income family backgrounds and others
who have been historically underserved. Moreover,
engagement increases the odds that any student—
educational and social background notwithstanding
—will attain his or her educational and personal
objectives, acquire the skills and competencies
demanded by the challenges of the 21st century, and
enjoy the intellectual and monetary gains associated
with the completion of the baccalaureate degree. . .”
High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter
George KuhAssociation of American Colleges and Universities, 2008
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
research withfaculty
study abroad service learning internship capstone
Started Here
Started Elsewhere
CSU Student Participation in High-Impact Practices
Percentage of seniors who report that while in college they participated in these top five High-Impact Practices, as identified by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) for the first phase of the Compass Project
Source: National Survey
of Student Engagement
Special Analysis, May 2009
notes
6 | Give Students a Compass
A Substantial Restructuring
“It is clear that our nation will not be able to
close the achievement gap unless we are able to
effectively address student needs for academic
support in ways that are consistent with their
participation in higher education [. . . ] But
closing the achievement gap will be not achieved
by practice as usual, by add-ons that do little to
change the experience of low-income students in
college. What is required is a more serious and
substantial restructuring of student experience.”
“Access Without Support Is Not Opportunity”Vincent Tinto Inside Higher Ed, June 9, 2008
Bundles of Courses on Timely Issues
“. . .As one alternative to the dominant structure
of general education—a sprawl of cafeteria-style
breadth requirements—we recommend the creation
of structured interdisciplinary bundles of courses
on timely intellectual and applied issues, made
available to students as discrete, named sets and
identified as such on students’ transcripts.
We also recommend extension of and
improvements in freshman-sophomore seminars,
capstone courses, problem-oriented courses
offered by departments, and undergraduate
involvement in research. . .”
General Education in the 21st Century
Report of the University of CaliforniaSpecial Commission, April 2007Center for Studies in Higher EducationUC Berkeley
smart grids
water
public health
notes
Give Students a Compass | 7
Purpose of the Second Phase of Give Students a Compass
The second phase of the Compass Project will bring more engaging, high-impact practices into the General Education Transfer Curriculum.
Research indicates this could improve success for all students, particularly the underserved.
By engaging students early, and capturing more of those who intend to transfer but don’t make it, California can offset the decline in degree production anticipated by changing demographics and declining state support.
Three of every four California Community College
students who intend to transfer don’t make it.
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
data indicate transfers are less likely than other
CSU students to engage in high-impact educational
practices such as learning communities, which can
improve engagement and persistence.
8 | Give Students a Compass
notes
Give Students a Compass | 9
Appendix: Essential Learning Outcomes
The Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) campaign is organized around a robust set of “Essential Learning Outcomes”—all of which are best developed by a contemporary liberal education. Described in College Learning for the New Global Century, these essential learning outcomes and a set of “Principles of Excellence” provide a new framework to guide students’ cumulative progress through college. Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for 21st century challenges by gaining:
1. Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts
Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring
2. Intellectual and Practical Skills, including
• Inquiryandanalysis
• Criticalandcreativethinking
• Writtenandoralcommunication
• Quantitativeliteracy
• Informationliteracy
• Teamworkandproblemsolving
Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance
3. Personal and Social Responsibility, including
• Civicknowledgeandengagement—localandglobalinterculturalknowledge and competence
• Ethicalreasoningandaction
• Foundationsandskillsforlifelonglearning
Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges
4. Integrative Learning, including
• Synthesisandadvancedaccomplishmentacrossgeneralandspecializedstudies
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems
10 | Give Students a Compass
Appendix: High-Impact Practices
First-Year Seminars and Experiences
Many schools now build into the curriculum first-year seminars or other programs that bring small groups of students together with faculty or staff on a regular basis. The highest-quality first-year experiences place a strong emphasis on critical inquiry, frequent writing, information literacy, collaborative learning, and other skills that develop students’ intellectual and practical competencies. First-year seminars can also involve students with cutting-edge questions in scholarship and with faculty members’ own research.
Common Intellectual Experiences
The older idea of a “core” curriculum has evolved into a variety of modern forms, such as a set of required common courses or a vertically organized general education program that includes advanced integrative studies and/or required participation in a learning community. These programs often combine broad themes—e.g., technology and society, global interdependence—with a variety of curricular and cocurricular options for students.
Learning Communities
The key goals for learning communities are to encourage integration of learning across courses and to involve students with “big questions” that matter beyond the classroom. Students take two or more linked courses as a group and work closely with one another and with their professors. Many learning communities explore a common topic and/or common readings through the lenses of different disciplines. Some deliberately link “liberal arts” and “professional courses”; others feature service learning.
Writing-Intensive Courses
These courses emphasize writing at all levels of instruction and across the curriculum, including final-year projects. Students are encouraged to produce and revise various forms of writing for different audiences in different disciplines. The effectiveness of this repeated practice “across the curriculum” has led to parallel efforts in such areas as quantitative reasoning, oral communication, information literacy, and, on some campuses, ethical inquiry.
Collaborative Assignments and Projects
Collaborative learning combines two key goals: learning to work and solve problems in the company of others, and sharpening one’s own understanding by listening seriously to the insights of others, especially those with different backgrounds and life experiences. Approaches range from study groups within a course, to team-based assignments and writing, to cooperative projects and research.
Give Students a Compass | 11
Undergraduate Research
Many colleges and universities are now providing research experiences for students in all disciplines. Undergraduate research, however, has been most prominently used in science disciplines. With strong support from the National Science Foundation and the research community, scientists are reshaping their courses to connect key concepts and questions with students’ early and active involvement in systematic investigation and research. The goal is to involve students with actively contested questions, empirical observation, cutting-edge technologies, and the sense of excitement that comes from working to answer important questions.
Diversity/Global Learning
Many colleges and universities now emphasize courses and programs that help students explore cultures, life experiences, and worldviews different from their own. These studies—which may address U.S. diversity, world cultures, or both—often explore “difficult differences” such as racial, ethnic, and gender inequality, or continuing struggles around the globe for human rights, freedom, and power. Frequently, intercultural studies are augmented by experiential learning in the community and/or by study abroad.
Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
In these programs, field-based “experiential learning” with community partners is an instructional strategy—and often a required part of the course. The idea is to give students direct experience with issues they are studying in the curriculum and with ongoing efforts to analyze and solve problems in the community. A key element in these programs is the opportunity students have to both apply what they are
learning in real-world settings and reflect in a classroom setting on their service experiences. These programs model the idea that giving something back to the community is an important college outcome, and that working with community partners is good preparation for citizenship, work, and life.
Internships
Internships are another increasingly common form of experiential learning. The idea is to provide students with direct experience in a work setting—usually related to their career interests—and to give them the benefit of supervision and coaching from professionals in the field. If the internship is taken for course credit, students complete a project or paper that is approved by a faculty member.
Capstone Courses and Projects
Whether they’re called “senior capstones” or some other name, these culminating experiences require students nearing the end of their college years to create a project of some sort that integrates and applies what they’ve learned. The project might be a research paper, a performance, a portfolio of “best work,” or an exhibit of artwork. Capstones are offered both in departmental programs and, increasingly, in general education as well.
from High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They MatterGeorge D. Kuh (AAC&U, 2008)
notes
Give Students a Compass | 13
A L A M E D A
A L P I N E
A M A D O R
B U T T E
C A L AV E R A S
C O L U S A
C O N T R AC O S TA
D E L N O R T E
E L D O R A D O
F R E S N O
G L E N N
H U M B O L D T
I M P E R I A L
I N Y O
K E R N
K I N G S
L A K E
L A S S E N
M A D E R A
M A R I N
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M E N D O C I N O
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M O D O C
M O N O
M O N T E R E Y
N A PA
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R I V E R S I D E
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S A NB E N I T O
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S A N D I E G O
S A NJ O A Q U I N
S A NL U I S
O B I S P O
S A NM AT E O
S A N TA C L A R AS A N TAC R U Z
S H A S TA
S I E R R A
S I S K I Y O U
S O L A N O
S O N O M A
S TA N I S L A U S
S U T T E R
T E H A M A
T R I N I T Y
T U L A R E
T U O L U M N E
Y O L O
Y U B A
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O R A N G E
V E N T U R A
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West Los Angeles CollegeLos Angeles Trade-Tech CollegeLos Angeles Southwest College
El Camino CollegeCompton College
Los Angeles Harbor CollegeLong Beach City College
Golden West CollegeCoastline Community College
Orange Coast College
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Santa Barbara City College
San Diego Miramar CollegeSan Diego Mesa College
Grossmont CollegeSan Diego City College
Cuyamaca CollegeSouthwestern College
Chaffey CollegeVictor Valley CollegeSan Bernardino Valley CollegeCraf ton Hills CollegeRiverside Community CollegeMt. San Jacinto CollegeCopper Mountain CollegeCollege of the Desert
Napa Valley CollegeLos Medanos CollegeDiablo Valley College
College of MarinContra Costa CollegeBerkeley City College
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Give Students a
CompaSSa California Convening for Educators and Grantmakers
For more information contact:
Academic Programs and Policy
The California State University, Office of the Chancellor
http://www.calstate.edu/app/compass