Finding the Why E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: J-B TL Single Issue Teaching and Learning
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 188

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

This volume addresses how we might help students find the "why" of their educational endeavors. The ideas found in this volume range from: * changing the perceptions and attitudes of whole communities toward education, * retuning the first year experience to give students more opportunities to find meaning in their learning, * suggesting new ways of integrating students' experiences with their learning in core courses, and * connecting major initiatives already in place to demonstrate how we might restructure undergraduate education through the content of the curriculum, the way we teach, and our curricular learning experiences. This is the 145th volume of this Jossey-Bass higher education series. It offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

Leseprobe

New Directions for Teaching and Learning

Catherine M. Wehlburg EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Finding the Why: Personalizing Learning in Higher Education

margit misangyi watts EDITOR

Number 145 • Spring 2016

Jossey-Bass

San Francisco

FINDING THE WHY: PERSONALIZING LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION margit misangyi watts (ed.) New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 145 Catherine M. Wehlburg, Editor‐in‐Chief

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Cover design: Wiley

Cover Images: © Lava 4 images | Shutterstock

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE should be sent to the editor-in-chief, Catherine M. Wehlburg, [email protected].

www.josseybass.com

CONTENTS

From the Series Editor

Editor's Notes

Foreword

1: Personalizing Learning

My “Why”

Sawu Bona—Sikhona

Information and Knowledge

How Do We Find the Why?

Back to My “Why”

References

2: Educational Success and Surrounding Culture

Introduction

Changing the Educational Pipeline

Changing Culture at the University

Conclusion

References

3: Integrative Learning: Making Liberal Education Purposeful, Personal, and Practical

Integrative Learning for Critical Transitions in Student Development

Learning To Construct Personal Meaning

Preparing for a Complex World Through Integrative Liberal Learning

Extending Integrative Learning

References

4: Project-Based Learning in Colleges of Business: Is It Enough to Develop Educated Graduates?

References

5: Making Learning Meaningful: Engaging Students in Ways That Matter to Them

Why Persistence and Engagement Matter

Why Goal Realization Matters and What It Looks Like in Practice

Final Words

References

6: Challenging the First Year of College: Old Models and New Imperatives

Old Models, New Students

AASCU's National Blended Course Consortium

Conclusion

References

7: After the Doors Opened: Asking

Why

at a New Community College

References

8: The Undergraduate Learning Community: A Bridge to Understanding Why

Community Theory

Some Go for the Joy

Knowing Why

The College Awakening

Chance for a Clean Slate with Responsibilities

Emancipation

College Age of Reason

The Glue

References

9: Why Higher Education: Lessons Learned in a Learner-Centered College

Introduction

Lesson One: The College

Is

What the Students Experience

Lesson Two: We Are a Bridge, Not a Destination

Lesson Three: The Six P's

Lesson Four: The Power of the New Student Experience

Lesson Five: Who before What

References

10: Concluding Remarks

References

Advert

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Impact of Educationally Purposeful Activities on the Probability of Returning for the Second Year of College by Race

Figure 7.2 Benchmark Scores for Guttman on CCSE

Guide

Cover

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From the Series Editor

About This Publication

Since 1980, New Directions for Teaching and Learning (NDTL) has brought a unique blend of theory, research, and practice to leaders in postsecondary education. NDTL sourcebooks strive not only for solid substance but also for timeliness, compactness, and accessibility.

The series has four goals: to inform readers about current and future directions in teaching and learning in postsecondary education, to illuminate the context that shapes these new directions, to illustrate these new directions through examples from real settings, and to propose ways in which these new directions can be incorporated into still other settings.

This publication reflects the view that teaching deserves respect as a high form of scholarship. We believe that significant scholarship is conducted not only by researchers who report results of empirical investigations but also by practitioners who share disciplinary reflections about teaching. Contributors to NDTL approach questions of teaching and learning as seriously as they approach substantive questions in their own disciplines, and they deal not only with pedagogical issues but also with the intellectual and social context in which these issues arise. Authors deal on the one hand with theory and research and on the other with practice, and they translate from research and theory to practice and back again.

About This Volume

Student success is crucial to how we think about teaching and learning in higher education. In this issue, the authors share both personal and professional ways to think about what this means. Engaging students in a meaningful college experience is a large piece of how to better understand the process of ensuring that students are successful. There are many different methods to gain student engagement and scholarship: curricular reform, relationship building, and helping students to see that they are not alone in their quest for higher education.

Catherine WehlburgEditor in Chief

Catherine M. Wehlburg

is the associate provost for institutional effectiveness at Texas Christian University

.

Editor's Notes

We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.

—Marcel Proust

Human beings are by their very nature passionate, curious, and intrigued by the world; they seek to connect, find patterns, and make sense of things. Entering college is beginning something new. It is an initiative taken that hopefully enriches one's experiences. In fact, a passion for learning is not what we in higher education should be inspiring in our students; it is what we must keep burning. Learning is more effective when new information is made meaningful and is linked to personal experience or prior knowledge. When students are guided to reflect on their learning and to make associations and connections, they can begin to create knowledge as well as make meaning of what they learn.

We should not focus on telling students what to think; instead, we should focus on helping them learn how to think and more importantly, why to think. We should help students understand how they know what they know, how and why research is conducted, and how they, the student, can contribute to the creation of knowledge. When they discover their own ability to contribute to scholarship, the answer to “why go to college” becomes apparent. Learning is a journey and we should support students to participate in interesting, meaningful, and significant learning experiences. Education is defined by specific measures to be sure—exams, grades, and statistics—but it is also the process of developing the mind. Yes, students should acquire a breadth and depth of knowledge, the ability to communicate, think critically, be acquainted with important methods of inquiry, secure lasting intellectual and cultural interests, gain self-knowledge, and learn how to make informed judgments. In fact, most educators agree that the undergraduate experience should lead to a student becoming a more competent, complete, and concerned human being.

The higher education literature abounds with reports and studies calling for reform in undergraduate education, many of them geared to addressing the personalization of learning for students. This volume addresses how we might help students find the “why” of their educational endeavors. Many of the authors show connections between major initiatives already in place and demonstrate how we might restructure undergraduate education through the content of the curriculum, the way we teach, and our curricular learning experiences. The goal is to maintain and strengthen the context of learning while enhancing the content of a liberal education, with the focus on inquiry, research, and discovery as a frame of mind. This volume offers new approaches to the first-year experience, as well as the remainder of a student's academic tenure. All of these are meant to engage undergraduates in research and creative scholarship, and ultimately help them find their own “why” of being in higher education.

Education is about discovery and in the first chapter, margit misangyi watts, the editor, addresses the concept of personalizing learning. She touches on why there is a need for educational reform, and why she wanted to address the issue of abysmal national retention rates in this volume. Doing so, she talks about who today's students are and what they are seeking in higher education. Looking at first-year programs around the country, she finds very little has changed and makes a case for why giving students opportunities for discovery is so important. She states that those in academia love knowledge and states that “we are fed, challenged, amazed, appalled, excited, interested, humored, and confused by knowledge. Those are our ‘why.’ It is imperative that we invite students to share in all of this.”

Garrison Walters, in Chapter 2, addresses the big picture of attitudes toward education by both students and the wider community. He finds that student perceptions about their ability to learn matter a lot and much of that comes from the environment in which they grew up. Walters is interested in changing both the culture at a university as well as within the community. He feels both need a new mind-set if we are to be successful in making education meaningful, which should lead to better retention. In order to emphasize his perspective, Walters discusses a study in the United Kingdom and finds the results might have implications for what we do in the United States. In order to help students develop a positive educational mind-set, he makes a case for focusing on cognitive factors but adds that we have to look at cultural factors as well.

In Chapter 3, Ann S. Ferren and Chad B. Anderson approach the topic of integrated learning. By highlighting innovative examples from a variety of liberal arts colleges around the country, these authors find that the entirety of a student's education should be an individual creative endeavor. The programs that they describe focus on learning as a way to construct personal meaning. Ferren and Anderson state, “At the heart of integrative learning are intentionality, transparency, and complexity.” They discuss these concepts in depth and make an excellent case for integrated learning. Though much of what they address is in the realm of small liberal arts colleges, they make suggestions for how to scale up these successful practices at larger institutions.

The concept of project-based learning is assessed in Chapter 4 as Penny Pence Smith and Lindsey A. Gibson illustrate how this kind of learning is proving to be successful with business college students and students in other applied programs. They review the literature and find that numerous studies find value in project-based learning and see it at the forefront of learning models. Project-based learning offers the student a “hands-on” approach to knowledge by working on actual projects with business community organizations. However, Smith and Gibson look at the format from their own experiences and with a longer view. They suggest the need for new and innovative teaching methods in order to ensure graduates who become “educated people” as well as those vocationally trained. These authors suggest solutions to balancing theoretical and universal knowledge with practical application through hybrid teaching formats, and other developing pedagogical methods.

George D. Kuh offers “goal realization” as one key to higher retention rates. In Chapter 5, Kuh defines goal realization to be “when students find their studies personally meaningful.” He thinks students should be able to articulate what they expect to gain from attending college and that students should strive to connect what they are learning to their lives. Kuh suggests that early interventions that address the factors predicting success are critical. He lists five factors and then focuses on goal realization as one that is not often attended to. Through a couple of student case studies, he illustrates the kinds of programs and practices that can engage students in purposeful activities. These would enrich their learning and deepen their knowledge. Ultimately, this would lead to more success for each student and perhaps lead to higher retention rates.

In Chapter 6, Shala A. Mills and George L. Mehaffy describe the new blended courses being designed and offered through the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). These courses are blended in numerous ways. Faculties from different campuses work together to develop and deliver these courses, and the content transcends the typical general core found at most institutions of higher education. They invite students to analyze and design solutions to global challenges. They are focused on civic outcomes. The purpose of this kind of blended course is to make learning more meaningful and to have students recognize that what they learn is relevant to their own lives as well as the communities in which they participate. Mehaffy and Mills are aware that building this new model, which fits a twenty-first-century student, will not be easy. But they are hopeful that these creative and imaginative new approaches will gradually become a core part of the intellectual activities of students.

The design and success of Guttman College is the topic of Chapter 7. Scott Evenbeck and Linda E. Merians describe the founding of the new college and the educational philosophies, which guided the development of their unique curriculum. The authors detail the various components of the first year—a mandatory summer bridge program, mandatory full-time schooling for the first year, learning communities, and place-based learning. They used the principle of appreciative inquiry to guide their discussions and decision making during the process of creating this new college. Evenbeck and Merians also describe the many high-impact activities that engage their students. These include small seminars, service learning activities, and the keeping of an e-portfolio throughout their career at Guttman. Guttman has been very successful, and much can be learned from their methods and the impact of this intense curriculum on their students.

The Russell Scholars Program (RSP) at the University of Southern Maine is discussed in Chapter 8. Stephen J. Romanoff outlines the various components of this four-year learning community. Emphasis in this program is on personalizing learning by offering peer mentoring, advising, small classes, and fostering both collaborative teaching and learning. Students in RSP have had a retention rate of 80 percent and Romanoff suggests that the reason for this is the consistent connections offered students by having them participate in a one-credit Learning Community Lab throughout their four years in college. This affords them an opportunity to be both mentors to the younger students, and to stay connected with each other as they progress through their studies. Romanoff is a strong advocate for the learning community structure and supports this by the results he has seen in RSP.

Valencia College is an innovative community college and in Chapter 9, Sandford C. Shugart discusses the various lessons learned from his work there. He finds that there are five lessons that have contributed to this institution's success. By describing these lessons in detail, Shugart identifies what community colleges have to contribute to the national conversation about student engagement, retention, and success. Fully supportive of personalized learning on many levels, Shugart suggests that students and the colleges must define the purpose of higher education together. By detailing the five lessons learned at Valencia, this author finds that students must help define their own destination, and colleges need to build that bridge with them.

The editor offers concluding remarks in Chapter 10. This short piece highlights the various ideas that emerge from this volume and suggests that readers find ways to incorporate what is useful in their own educational changes. She ends these remarks with a short vignette taken from her years directing first-year programs. It sums up the real purpose of what we all do in our academic worlds.

In all of this volume's chapters, the authors argue that the student needs to be at the center of educational reform. They each bring a unique perspective to how this is accomplished, be it in a learning community, a prescribed curriculum, inquiry-based learning, or a shift in the culture of communities to embrace education in a new manner. What is important to note is the unflinching belief of each of these contributors that giving students a voice, a reason, a path that they help create, and more transparency to the question of “why” college, will lead to higher retention rates and even more importantly, deeper learning.

margit misangyi wattsEditor

margit misangyi watts

is a professor in the College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her expertise over the past 30 years has been in creating programs and courses for undergraduate students, the goal of which was always engagement and finding the “why.” Most recently she has created an online course in social media and is finding the personalization of learning in that venue to be powerful

.

Foreword

It is a pleasure for me to join the 13 authors who have contributed to this extremely student-centered work. Of this team, I know and have worked with six beforehand: Scott Evenbeck, Ann Ferren, George Kuh, George Mehaffy, Sandy Shugart, margit watts, and all of them write things herein that I haven't heard them say before! What a treat! And now I want to know better the other seven contributors whom I have not had the privilege of prior association. I discovered in college that one of the very best ways to get to know anyone is to get to know how and what they think. And these chapters certainly have introduced me to new thinkers to enhance my understanding of my work, which is now termed by the academy as “student success.”

Our editor, the University of Hawaii's Professor margit watts, tells us that: “This volume addresses how we might help students find the ‘why’ of their educational endeavors. Many of the authors show connections between major initiatives already in place and demonstrate how we might restructure undergraduate education through the content of the curriculum, the way we teach, and our curricular experiences.”

Yes, our contributors accomplish this vision, but I think they go much further than this. From my perspective, this work is much more than the “why” that students must discover to motivate and guide them through our academy as we know it and as it is changing and becoming. This book is largely about the “how” that would enable the students to discover their own “why.” The book is about what changes we need to effect in our institutions to create the conditions for students to discover their “why.” So from my point of view, this book is really about student discovery of epiphany and then transformation. For me, this is the ultimate “how”!

This examination of how prominent academics, who are committed to increasing student success, view the purposes of higher education and understand and describe how students encounter, create, and move through the discovery process of “why” higher education couldn't come at a better time. This is because, as I see it, the dominant public policy discussion about “why” college is taking a very different direction than what our authors lay out in this book.

I am referring to the extraordinary contemporary emphasis in student success work on responding to the so-called “completion agenda.” I have been working in the student success/retention vineyards for more than forty years and I have never seen the academy under such public policy pressure, and therefore financial and political pressure, to increase “completion rates.”