Reflection on AAC

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Reflection on AACU Conference

• General Education, Assessment, and the Learning
  Students Need
• Baltimore, Maryland, USA
• 26-28 February 2009
• MAK Hoi Wah

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Themes of Conference

• What are the Purposes of General Education today?
  - Philosophy
• How well do thematic designs really works? -
  Design
• How do we support what we say is important? -
  Role, rewards, and leadership
• Are we fostering the kinds of learning we espouse
  for students? - Assessment

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AACU Conference

• Association of American Colleges Universities
  (AACU) was found in 1915 for the promotion of
  liberal education in US
• Over 1150 member institutions
• Over 550 participants from 266 institutions
  attended the conference
• CityU is the only overseas institution
  participating in the conference
• In addition to the keynote address, there are 6
  pre-conference workshops, 11 poster exhibits, 15
  morning roundtable, 3 plenary, and 32 concurrent
  sessions with 23 on Assessments and 8 for each
  other themes

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Conference Keynote

• Why General Education is a Problem?
• Louis Menand (Anne T. and Robert M. Bass
  Professor of English, Harvard University)
• Reviewed the place of liberal arts within
  American universities
• Professionalization resulted in specialization
  and liberal education has been employed to
  provide transcendental knowledge and skills and
  common heritage for students
• The Columbia (some books to read)and Harvard
  (some skills to learn) approaches to GenEd were
  discussed

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• GenEd is a problem as it relates to the resources
  required for its offer as well as the debate on
  the purposes of university education
• Many stakeholders have different understanding of
  GenEd
• Departments want to be part of it (for
  resources), but professors dont want to do it
  (less rewarding)
• Different models of GenEd programmes core (GenEd
  by extra dept.)/distribution(shared by depts.)
• By moving away from liberal arts colleges to
  research universities, students are required to
  take a major field of study with electives -
  Being criticized as too narrow and too
  utilitarian
• Modern universities neglect the socialization
  aspects of students who fail to know the outside
  world
• To develop common heritage, GenEd is the glue
• Core programmes for students to learn how to
  learn to expose to contingencies of modern time
  (Big questions) to develop reason and faith and
  practical ambition and to engage in student
  activities.

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GenEd Integrative LearningGarry Hesser
(Professor of Sociology Metro-Urban Studies),
Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Mn

• Introduced Robert Kegans (Harvard) model for
  reflection KK, KDK, DKDK What do you know?
• Knowledge you Know, Knowledge you dont Know and
  Dont Know you Dont Know
• Introduced the sea change in Higher ED the
  essential learning outcomes to achieve and the
  principles of good practice in UEd.
• Using Kolbs Learning Cycle Pre-reflection
  Hands on Experience Reflection (Mediated
  learning) Conceptualization /Meaning making
  Active Experimentation
• Peter Ewells insight on nature of learning and
  planning effective teaching strategies
• Introducing Civic Engagement Community-based
  Learning as a more effective learning approach

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GenEd Liberal Education

• AACU defines Liberal Education as an approach
  to learning that empowers individuals and
  prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity,
  and change. It provides students with broad
  knowledge of the wider world(e.g. science,
  culture, and society) as well as in-depth study
  in a specific area of interest. A liberal
  education helps students develop a sense of
  social responsibility, as well as strong and
  transferable intellectual and practical skills
  such as communication, analytical and
  problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated
  ability to apply knowledge and skills in
  real-world settings.
• General Education is part of a liberal education
  curriculum shared by all students. It provides
  broad exposure to multiple disciplines and forms
  the basis for developing important intellectual
  and civic capacities. GenEd may also be called
  the core curriculum or liberal studies

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Liberal Education Americas Promise

• LEAP is AACUs initiative that champions the
  value of a liberal education for individual
  students and for a nation dependent on economic
  creativity and democratic vitality
• The Essential Learning Outcomes and the
  Principles of Excellence are developed to give
  students a compass to guide their learning, and
  to make a set of essential learning outcomes the
  preferred framework for educational excellence,
  assessment of learning, and new alignments
  between school and college.
• Recently, AACU is actively launching the Core
  Commitments Educating Students for Personal and
  Social Responsibility to create learning
  environments in which all students reach for
  excellence in the use of their talents, take
  responsibility for the integrity and quality of
  their work, and engage in meaningful practices
  that prepare them to fulfill their obligations as
  students in an academic community and as
  responsible global and local citizens.

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Role of Assessment in Furthering Student
Engagement, Inclusion and Achievement

• Mary Allen (Consultant in Higher Education)
• Assessment involves establishing outcomes and
  verifying that efforts are aligned with those
  outcomes, assessing impact and closing the loop
  by using what is learned to make improvements.
• Quality assessment is valid, reliable, actionable
  and efficient.
• Speakers use information literacy to illustrate
  how campus professionals use robust assessment
  to engage student in learning.

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Assessing and Strengthening GenED Using NSSE
Lessons from the Field

• Jillian Kinzie, Indiana University NSSE
• Since 2000 the National Survey of Student
  Engagement (NSSE) was launched to provide
  information on GenEd outcomes for over 1300
  institutions.
• It show the undergraduate education features
  integrated learning experiences and opportunities
  of the students to develop higher order thinking
  skills.
• These national results can serve as benchmarks
  for institutional assessments and outcome
  refinements.
• A copy of the questionnaire is provide for
  reference.

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Observations

• AACU has regularly organised conferences,
  workshops and networks for promoting various
  aspects of liberal education in US
• The conference has shown that they are also
  concerned about the common understanding of how
  GenEd are in relation to major study and its
  position in university of research orientation.
• The deployment of staff and the importance given
  to GenEd also affected its development
• While institutions are designing appropriate
  GenEd programmes to facilitate students
  learning, the effectiveness of such efforts are
  needed to be assessed.
• While CityU has started developing its GenEd
  courses from the former Out-of-discipline
  courses, the philosophy behind it has not been
  carefully considered and the distribution is more
  resources oriented. The alignment with the ideal
  graduate is insufficient refined and individual
  programmes need to streamline their programme
  outcomes to achieve the changing expectation of
  the community.
• While we have been working on outcome based
  teaching and learning, the assessment mechanism
  and their achievement yet has to be demonstrated.
• Moreover, training is needed for faculty to be
  fully informed of the technology available in
  designing and assessing programmes.

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• Q A
• Thank You