William Frawley Dean, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences George Washington University Washington

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William FrawleyDean, Columbian College of Arts
and SciencesGeorge Washington UniversityWashingt
on, DC 20052frawley_at_gwu.edu
Making MindsLinking New Students and New
CurriculaAmpliando los límites de la educación
nuevos estudiantes, nuevo currículo.

• Conocer y situar el estudiante. Reto a la
  calidad.
• VII Seminario Internacional
• Santiago, Chile
• October 15-17, 2002

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ContextTension of Modern Higher Education

• Obligation to be ahead of the future
• Illustrations
• Information technology
• Global economics
• Genetics

• Desire to conserve the past (at all costs)
• Illustrations
• Core liberal arts what? no Shakespeare?
• Early 20th century no American history, calculus
  for graduate students

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Promise of Higher Education

• Increasing numbers of students
• New information culture
• Desire to allocate resources to education
• Desire for empirical data and outcomes

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Increasing numbers of students
Condition of Education 2002
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New information cultureFROM LOWELL AND FINDLEY
MIGRATION OF HIGHLY SKILLED PERSONSFROM
DEVELOPING COUNTRIESIMPACT AND POLICY RESPONSES
From
FROM LOWELL AND FINDLEY 2001
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Desire to allocate resources to education
Condition of Education 2002
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Desire for empirical data and outcomes
Condition of Education 2002
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The New (US) Student (Class of 2006, born in
1984)

• Believes that
• A Southerner has always been President of the
  United States.
• South Africa's official policy of apartheid has
  not existed during their lifetime.
• Weather reports have always been available
  24-hours a day on television.
• Cyberspace has always existed.
• Afghanistan has always been a front page story.
• China has always been a market-based reforming
  regime.
• The United States has always been trying to put
  nuclear waste in Nevada.
• The U.S. and the Soviets have always been
  partners in space.
• A "hotline" is a consumer service rather than a
  phone used to avoid nuclear war.
• Genetic testing and DNA screening have always
  been available.
• Electronic filing of federal income taxes has
  always been an option.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been
  available to doctors.
• The U.S. has always maintained that it has a
  "clear right to use force against terrorism.
• Hip-hop and rap have always been popular musical
  forms.
• Scientists have always recognized the impact of
  acid rain.
• From Beloit College Survey

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The New (US) Student (Class of 2006, born in
1984)

• In the year they were born,
• Technology analysts questioned the need for
  briefcase-sized computers.
• A CPA organization heralded computerized audit
  systems as ways to avoid errors, spot mistakes
  and
• provide internal audit controls.
• Videotape technology was said to be killing the
  film industry and slowing cable network
  development.
• Analysts stated there was no market for Direct
  Broadcast Satellite systems.
• The U.S. Supreme Court declared sleeping to be a
  form of free speech.
• From Beloit College Survey

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The New Student

• Assessment of Entering Student Needs
• What cognitive and personal factors do we think
  they ought to develop or enhance?
• Gives us our strategic questions of them
• What do they perceive as their needs and
  strengths?
• Gives us their expectations with respect to our
  plans

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From UD Freshman Data
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New Curricula

• Traditional Curriculum
• Areas of Distribution
• New Curriculum
• Competencies and Experiences

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Traditional Curriculum Educate by Menu some
from here, some from there, pretty soon you have
a mind
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Inherent Uncertainties in Areas of Distribution

• What does it mean to have had humanities, social
  science, natural science, or even mathematics?
• Jane Austen, social scientist?
• Music theory formal reasoning?
• How many exposures and what kind?
• Three courses in Humanities? Ten credits? Work in
  a real estate agency using statistics and
  demography mathematics?
• Are the effects of exposures measurable?
• So you have had three course in the physical
  sciences, now what?

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New CurriculumCompetencies and Experiences

• Education should cut beneath the traditional
  areas
• Disciplines contribute differentially
• The new student is both a thinker and doer
• Knowledge ? Action
• Abilities are portable, effectual, durable, and
  measurable
• Ask answerable questions Can our students make
  inferences about data? Does this education have
  any long-term effect?

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Some Competencies

• Can you identify a problem, solutions, a course
  of action, and evaluate a solution?
• Do you know how to locate information and marshal
  evidence?
• Can you work well with others?
• Can you use technology (rather than have it use
  you)?
• Can you make ethical decisions and engage in
  responsible action?
• Can you engage the past?
• Can you analyze meaningful structures?
• Can you analyze meaningless structures?
• Can you analyze social relations?
• Do you have multicultural competency?
• Do you understand the foundations and directions
  of civilizations?
• Can you use your theoretical knowledge to make
  sense of the world?
• Can you participate in academic discourse?

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Some Experiences

• Have you volunteered with a community group?
• Have you tutored another person in your
  expertise?
• Have you discovered a principle, even a known
  one, under guidance?
• Have you lived fully, if for a short time, in
  another country?
• Have you used your academic knowledge in
  conversations outside of class?
• Have you had to overlook your own interests and
  differences with others for the sake of the
  group?
• What non-university venues have you attended that
  are prompted by university experiences?
• Have you reflected on your experiences?

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Curricular Structures to Link New Students with
New Curricula

• Early Focus
• Integrated Competencies and Experiences
• Late Focus

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Implementing the Structure

• Consequence
• Is the experience connected and effectual?
• Discovery
• Is the experience inquiry-driven?
• Engagement
• Is the experience involved?
• Focus
• Is the experience concentrated?

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Consequence, Discovery, Engagement, Focus

• Early Focus
• Freshman seminars
• Learning communities
• Turbo workshops
• Large-enrollment initiatives
• Integrated Competencies and Experiences
• Literacy and numeracy in the disciplines
• Threaded curriculum
• Undergraduate research
• Experiential learning
• Late Focus
• Capstone
• Senior project

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Freshman Seminars

• Small-enrollment
• Thematically focused
• Taught by senior faculty
• Breadth through depth

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GWU Deans Seminar for Freshmen

• The Buddhist Art of Asia
• As a major world religion, Buddhism has had a
  profound effect on the cultures of Asia, not
  least of all on their art histories. In this
  seminar, we will focus on the specific theme of
  the history of Buddhist art as initially
  developed in India and subsequently reshaped and
  reformulated in the course of transmission
  eastward into the northern as well as southern
  areas of Asia. Our investigation will begin with
  India, the cradle of Buddhism it will continue
  with East Asia-China, Korea, and Japan and it
  will conclude with Southeast Asia, especially
  Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Java. We will
  focus particularly on exemplary works of art at
  the Sackler and Freer Galleries, where a number
  of our sessions will be held. By analyzing the
  physical properties of art objects in these
  museums, we will supplement our readings,
  discussions, and seminar presentations. This
  seminar will result not only in familiarity with
  the major periods of Buddhist art, but also with
  the key styles, themes, and technologies of each
  culture.
• Susanne Francoeur is Assistant Professorial
  Lecturer of South and East Asian Art. Her
  research focuses on the early Buddhist Art of
  India and Central Asia. She is presently working
  on the publication of her latest work, Style and
  Workshops in Ajanta Paintings, which explores
  patterns of style and narration of wall
  paintings of a fifth-century Buddhist cave-temple
  site in central India.
  
• www.gwu.edu/advising/ccas/fall2002list.cfm
• 
  

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GWU Washington-based Freshman Seminar

• BIOLOGY 710 Biology in the City I
• The course introduces students to science
  through the process of discovery and the
  utilization of observation and information-gatheri
  ng using the vast resources in Washington, DC.
  Sites that will be visited include the Potomac
  and Anacostia Rivers (each quite different in
  their water chemistry and biological
  populations), the local water supply reservoir,
  Rock Creek, and a variety of terrestrial sites.
  Students will then engage in a variety of
  laboratory investigations appropriate to the
  particular area being covered. In addition,
  students will use the resources available at the
  National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Museum of
  Natural History, U.S. Army Medical Museum,
  National Institutes of Health, and other local
  governmental and private research laboratories.
• Topics in Biology consists of a series of
  mini-courses that meet for four hours every week.
  Student would take three mini-courses each
  semester. This course may be used to fulfill part
  of the GCR in the natural sciences. Students may
  sign up for only one semester of the course.
• The topics that will be covered in the fall
  semester are
• The Nature of Science and Scientific Inquiry/
  The Biology of Cells
• The Flow of Matter and Energy
• Heredity
• Professor Terry L. Hufford is Professor
  Emeritus of Botany and a Distinguished Teaching
  Professor.
• www.gwu.edu/advising/ccas/hewlett.cfm

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Learning Communities

• Live together
• Co-enrolled in courses
• Complete support structure
• Peer Mentor
• Residence Life Professional
• Faculty Associate
• Tutors
• Thematic focus with final project

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Delaware Example Learning Integrated Freshman
Experience

• LIFE 101-012/013 Community and Individual
  Responsibility
• (Any major or
  undeclared majors)
• Description Consideration of the political,
  social, ecological, and cultural factors that
  influence how people conduct their lives. Note
  This cluster consists of two groups 1) Students
  who enroll in the campus sponsored Americorps
  program. Americorps members engage in service
  activities and receive a small stipend to support
  participation. Americorps enrollment information
  will be available to students during the first
  week of class. 2) Students who enroll in the
  cluster with no obligation to participate in the
  Americorps program.
• Courses Anthropology 101 Social and Cultural
  Anthropology
• Philosophy 100 Philosophies of Life
• Univ 101 Seminar Community and
  individual Responsibility
• www.udel.edu/life
• 
  

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Turbo Workshops

• Extended orientation or advising short courses
• Free-standing or attached to courses
• http//www.gwu.edu/advising/ccas/faw.cfm

Advising mini-course focused on majors related
to theme
Seminar
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Large-Enrollment Initiatives

• Central lecture for core information
• Discipline-specific discussion groups
• Statistics
• Core information in large lecture

Applications in discipline-specific discussion
sections business, behavioral sciences, survey
work, biostatistics
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Integrated Competencies and Experiences

• Embed essential competencies and experiences in
  curriculum
• Link content
• Promote mentored inquiry early
• Expand and make permeable the boundaries of the
  classroom

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Examples of Integrated Competencies and
Experiences

• Writing in the disciplines
• Mathematics in context
• Extended block course choice thread
• Undergraduate research
• Internships and reflective service-learning

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Threaded Curriculum UD AACU initiative
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Capstone

• Culminating
• End-focused
• Senior seminar
• Final project
• Synthesizing/implementing experience
• Student teaching
• Fieldwork
• Laboratory work
• Reflective
• Position paper, thesis, project, portfolio
• Prospective
• Where are you headed?

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Results Learning Communities
From UD Freshman Data
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Results Learning Communities
From UD Freshman Data
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Results Learning Communities
From UD Freshman Data
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Results Learning Communities
From UD Freshman Data
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Results Learning Communities
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Results Learning Communities
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Conclusions Four Suggestions

• Appreciate entering students as persons in
  process
• Define curriculum operationally
• Implement embedded curriculum instrumental
  learning
• Assess formatively and comparatively