Skip to content
Faculty Focus icon
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Academic Leadership
    • Blended and Flipped Learning
    • Course Design
    • Educational Assessment
    • Effective Classroom Management
    • Effective Teaching Strategies
    • Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity
    • Faculty Development
    • Online Education
      • Online Assessment, Grading, and Feedback
      • Online Course Delivery and Instruction
      • Online Course Design and Preparation
      • Online Student Engagement
    • Philosophy of Teaching
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Teaching with Technology
  • Free Resources
    • Faculty Focus Live Podcast
    • Free Reports
    • Magna Free Resources
  • Magna Products
    • Journal of Faculty Development
    • The Teaching Professor
    • Magna Online Seminars
    • 20-Minute Mentors
    • About Magna
  • Conferences
  • About Us
Menu
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Academic Leadership
    • Blended and Flipped Learning
    • Course Design
    • Educational Assessment
    • Effective Classroom Management
    • Effective Teaching Strategies
    • Equality, Inclusion, and Diversity
    • Faculty Development
    • Online Education
      • Online Assessment, Grading, and Feedback
      • Online Course Delivery and Instruction
      • Online Course Design and Preparation
      • Online Student Engagement
    • Philosophy of Teaching
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Teaching with Technology
  • Free Resources
    • Faculty Focus Live Podcast
    • Free Reports
    • Magna Free Resources
  • Magna Products
    • Journal of Faculty Development
    • The Teaching Professor
    • Magna Online Seminars
    • 20-Minute Mentors
    • About Magna
  • Conferences
  • About Us
SIGN UP
  • About Faculty Focus
  • Article Usage and Permissions
  • Conferences
  • Contribute to Faculty Focus
  • Deb Home Test
  • Faculty Focus Live Podcast
  • Free Reports
  • Home
  • Magna Products
  • Online Professional Development
  • optin-monster-test-page
  • Sample Page
  • Search Results
  • Subscribe to Faculty Focus
  • Topics
  • Upcoming Conferences for Higher Ed Professionals
    Faculty Focus

    HIGHER ED TEACHING STRATEGIES FROM MAGNA PUBLICATIONS

    • Course Design

    General Education Programs Incorporate More Engaged, Integrative Learning Practices

    • June 4, 2009
    • Mary Bart

    A survey released last month suggests that many colleges and universities are reforming their general education programs and developing new curricular approaches and educational assessment strategies for measuring key student learning outcomes. As institutions review their general education programs, many are choosing to incorporate more engaged and integrative curricular practices.

    The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) survey of chief academic officers at 433 colleges and universities of all sorts (public and private, two-year and four-year, large and small) found that only 15 percent of colleges and universities are now using a cafeteria-style general education program alone. More than two-thirds of colleges and universities use a model that combines course choice with other integrative features like learning communities or thematic required courses.

    For example:

    • 41 percent of institutions report incorporating common intellectual experiences;
    • 36 percent use thematic required courses;
    • 33 percent now have upper-level general education requirements; and
    • 24 percent use learning communities in which a group of students take the same set of courses linked to a common theme.

    Many institutions surveyed are placing more emphasis on practices that educational research has shown are particularly effective. Seventy-eight percent are placing more emphasis on undergraduate research; 73 percent are placing more emphasis on first-year experiences; and 52 percent report placing more emphasis on learning communities.

    Experiential Learning, Real-World Applications
    While many of the trends documented in the survey suggest campuses are moving in the direction recommended by educational research, there are still areas where colleges could do much more to ensure that students have the skills and knowledge they need, particularly for success in a volatile global economy. For example, while earlier AAC&U surveys of employers indicate that they want colleges to place more emphasis on learning in real-world settings, only 36 percent of academic administrators currently give their own general education programs a high rating (4 or 5 on a 5-point scale) for including experiential learning opportunities.

    A slight majority of those surveyed do indicate having some “experiential” goals for all students, however. About 53 percent, for instance, include “civic engagement” as one of a list of stated learning goals for all students. About half of the responding institutions also include either “research skills” or “application of learning” as common goals for all students.

    Sixty-eight percent of those surveyed also indicate that they are placing more emphasis on incorporating service learning into courses either in general education or elsewhere in the curriculum. Nearly two-thirds are placing more emphasis on providing students with internship opportunities. Only forty-seven percent are placing more emphasis on practicums and supervised fieldwork.

    For a full report on the findings of this survey, click here.

    Post Views: 623
    civic engagement educational assessment strategies experiential learning Learning Communities learning goals student learning outcomes

    Sign Up for
    Faculty Focus!

    Twitter
    Facebook
    Linkedin

     

    TOPICS

    Faculty Focus
    • Home
    • Articles
    • Free Resources
      • Faculty Focus Live Podcast
      • Free Reports
    • Conferences
    • Magna Products
    • About Us
    • RSS Feed
    • Privacy Policy
    • Rights & Permissions
    • Submission Guidelines
    Menu
    • Home
    • Articles
    • Free Resources
      • Faculty Focus Live Podcast
      • Free Reports
    • Conferences
    • Magna Products
    • About Us
    • RSS Feed
    • Privacy Policy
    • Rights & Permissions
    • Submission Guidelines
    Facebook Twitter Linkedin
    © 2022 Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning - All Rights Reserved.