Communicating Effectively About the Aims and Outcomes of
Liberal and General Education
AAC&U General Education and Assessment Network Meeting
February , 2015
Debra Humphreys, Vice President for Policy and Public Engagement,
AAC&U
www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research
Liberal Education and America’s
Promise (2005-present) • a national initiative that champions the importance of a twenty-first-century liberal
education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
• LEAP works with our members to define more precisely—and deliver more effectively—a 21st century liberal arts education:
An approach to college learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity and change. It emphasizes broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g., science, culture and society) as well as in-depth achievement in a specific field of interest. It helps students develop a sense of social responsibility as well as strong intellectual and practical skills that span all areas of study, such as communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and includes a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.
LEAP Areas of Work
• Public Advocacy/Communication—leadership through National Leadership Council, Presidents’ Trust, and work in selected LEAP states to make the case for liberal education and importance of Essential Learning Outcomes—for work, life, and citizenship.
• Campus Action—technical assistance and networking to support campus efforts to increase all students’ achievement of essential learning outcomes and to communicate more effectively about liberal education
• Authentic Evidence—employer and economic research, high-impact practices research, reports on student achievement, VALUE project focused on assessment approaches that deepen student learning and can be used to generated better data on student achievement
Public Advocacy and Communications:
Why Now? • Intentionality and coherence of educational experience
• Lack of awareness about what really matters in college—and connections between educational experiences and outcomes that really matter
• Slipping public confidence in higher education—and skepticism about “liberal education” and its “value”
General Communications Advice • Communicating messages about aims of education—everyone’s
responsibility
• Students receive messages from multiple sources (Web sites, syllabi, faculty, advisors, career counselors)
• Messages are more effective if tailored to one’s audience (need to know what they already think about your issue)
• Multiple messages must be consistent, repeated, and reinforced in multiple settings
• Communicating messages that just aren’t true rarely succeeds!
Know Your Audience and Competing
Messages • Public Opinion Data, Media Coverage, Policy Dialogues, Faculty,
Student, Alumni Surveys, etc.
• Focus groups with college-bound high school students, advanced college students, employers (2004-06; 2014)
• Focus Groups with Business Leaders (2006)
• National surveys—business leaders (2006/2007/2009/2013/2014) and recent graduates (2006)
• Focus groups with policy influencers (2011)
General Public Opinion • In 2009, 60% agreed that “colleges today are like most businesses and care more
about the bottom line than about making sure students have a good educational experience. (up from 52% in 2007). (Public Agenda)
• In 2012, 57% of Americans said that “colleges fail to provide students with good value for money spent.” (Pew Research Center)
• 75% of Americans say that the qualifications of the faculty are very important in assessing quality. (Gallup/Lumina 2014)
• 68% say the percentage of graduates who are able to get a good job is very important in selecting a college. (Gallup/Lumina 2014)
• 81% say that the quality of a college degree program is very important when selecting a college. (Gallup/Lumina 2014)
Common Misperceptions in Your Own
Environment
• What are some common misperceptions your current and/or prospective students have about the value of a college degree?
• How do students’ parents define the value of a college degree?
• What, if anything, do incoming students think about general education and its value relative to their own goals?
Our Own Narratives
• Why is general education important?
• How do your colleagues feel about general education and its
importance?
• If you were forced to choose, what two learning outcomes
of a college education are most important to ensure that
every student reaches at high levels?
Some Competing Narratives
• “college isn’t worth the money;”
• “all that matters in increasing number of degrees”
• “general education is slowing students down”
• “general education is a luxury we can’t afford”
• “liberal arts not good preparation for success in getting a job”
• “technical skills matter more than broad learning outcomes”
• “get general education out of the way”
• “what really matters is your major; my discipline”
Narrow Learning is Not Enough:
Essential Learning Outcomes
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Focused on engagement with big questions, enduring and contemporary
Intellectual and Practical Skills Practiced extensively across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance
Personal and Social Responsibility Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges
Integrative and Applied Learning Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems
Falling Short?
College Learning and Career
Success
Key findings from survey among 400 employers and 613 college
students conducted in November and December 2014
For
The Association of American Colleges and Universities by
Hart Research Associates
www.aacu.org/leap/public-opinion-research
15%
60%
25%
Which is more important for recent college graduates to have who want to pursue advancement
and long-term career success at your company?
Knowledge and skills that apply to
a specific field or position Range of knowledge and skills that
apply to a range of fields or positions
Both field-specific and broad range of
knowledge and skills
(employers)
13
Three in five employers believe that it takes BOTH specific knowledge/skills and broad knowledge/skills to achieve long-term career success.
College students:
Specific 15%
Both 63%
Broad range 22%
21%
29%
33%
32%
59%
Strongly agree Somewhat agree
Employers are in broad agreement on college learning outcomes for all students, regardless of their chosen field of study.
Employers’ agreement with statements about college learning aims regardless of student’s chosen field of study
All college students should have educational experiences that teach them how to solve problems with people whose views are different from their own
96%
87%
78%
Every college student should take courses that build the civic knowledge, skills, and judgment essential for contributing to our democratic society
Every college student should acquire broad knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences
All college students should gain an understanding of democratic institutions and values
86%
78%
Students/
total agree
94%
85%
86%
83%
87%
All college students should gain intercultural skills and an understanding of societies and countries outside the United States
14
Employers perceive great value in students’ completing applied learning projects, but see room to improve college students’ preparedness to complete applied learning projects.
88% think that it is important for colleges to ensure that ALL students are
prepared with the skills/knowledge needed to complete a significant applied
learning project.
BUT just 14% of employers think that most college students are prepared with
the skills/knowledge needed to complete a significant applied learning project.
80% say that it is very important for recent graduates to demonstrate the ability to
apply learning in real-world settings.
BUT only 23% of employers think that recent college graduates are very well
prepared to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings.
60% believe that ALL college students should be expected to complete a significant
applied learning project before graduating.
15
Employers give college graduates lower scores for preparedness across
learning outcomes than current students give themselves.
57%
66%
65%
55%
62%
64%
62%
46%
64%
25%
26%
27%
28%
28%
29%
30%
37%
37%
Employers Students
Proportions who believe they/recent college graduates are well prepared in each area*
*8-10 ratings on zero-to-ten scale
Working effectively with others in teams
Staying current on technologies
Ethical judgment and decision making
Locating, organizing, evaluating information
Oral communication
Working with numbers/ statistics
Written communication
Critical/analytical thinking
Being innovative/creative
16
The Demands of the New Economy
• “The premium on lifelong learning just keeps going up…the world is changing even faster. Learning how to love learning is becoming more important – and the importance of static knowledge is going down….Students have to have knowledge and know how to use it—know AND do. All learning should revolve around projects.”
David Rattray, Senior Director, Education & Workforce Development,
LA Chamber of Commerce
Main Tested LEAP Messages
• Liberal education outcomes are key to success in today’s global economy and for responsible citizenship.
• Narrow training is not enough.
• Students must gain broad knowledge and have multiple opportunities to hone skills over time and in real-world settings.
• General education is an essential part of providing students these outcomes and opportunities.
• Liberal Education outcomes are important because students are likely to change jobs multiple times
• Liberal education introduces students to multiple perspectives and develops their own independent critical judgment.
• Students needn’t choose either a liberal education or preparation for professional success—both forms of education can be pursued together in mutually reinforcing ways.
Students are hearing some of this message
“When articulating their education goals for college, students tend to focus on courses and requirements…rather than on the skills and knowledge they hope to get out of their college experience.”
Students do have “clear ideas of the types of skills and knowledge that employers value and they recognize the importance of acquiring a range of skills and knowledge that cut across fields.”
“Key Findings from Focus Groups with College Students”
Hart Research Associates, 2015
What Students Say
“I think that it’s a better thing to have a broad range of the skills and different knowledge so that…in a changing company or a changing, evolving world, you can adapt and change very quickly to new skill sets, and you have all these things that you can offer to employers.”
(private 4-year college student, Boston area)
“Working on my senior thesis this year, I’m literally applying everything I know to a field that I haven’t learned before. So, that’s just the best example”
(public 4-year college students, Dallas area)
What Students Say
“It’s very important to understanding what’s going, what’s happening around the world is very important to understand how our economy is going to grow, how business is going to change, how technologies will improve. … we’re not, I mean, the US is not everything, and understanding what’s happening outside of our country is very, very important to what’s going to happen in the future.”
(community college student, Dallas area)
What Students say
“I took a Spanish class, and it was in an auditorium
setting, and it was just 100 people in there, and it was
absolutely terrible. And there’s so many people,
because it’s a requirement, there so many people going
to this class just trying to get through it that you’re not
comprehending any of the things that you’re supposed
to be learning.”
(public 4-year college student, Dallas area)
What Students Say
“You have to take two sciences to add to your core credits…And I’m like, oh…me, because I’m not good with math or science….And so I had to take a chemistry class, and the teacher that I was assigned to, I didn’t go to class, because I didn’t have to, because his tests were verbatim from the book, and like 30 questions each time. So I didn’t even learn anything in my chemistry class, but I made an A. So how is that beneficial to me?”
(public 4-year college student, Dallas area)
What Students Say
“I don’t think you can put that [senior project] on
your resume, can you?”
“You’re not supposed to.”
(private 4-year college students, Boston area)
Strategies to Make the Case
• Focus on the outcomes of a good liberal education and their value in the knowledge-based, global economy;
• Focus students’ professional goals on long-term workplace engagement and well-being—not just earnings; connect explicit educational experiences to demonstration of outcomes;
• Use data (employers; alumni; field trends) that demonstrate that employers want broadly educated, responsible graduates;
• Note the common set of skills and knowledge needed for work and citizenship;
• Real-world experience matters: provide students with real-world applied learning, but also help them translate those experiences into skills and capacities employers can understand.
AAC&U LEAP Resources Why Do I Have To Take This Course? A Student Guide to making Smart
Educational Choices
What Will I Learn in College? What You Need to Know Now to Get Ready for College Success
(available in print; bulk prices available)
What is a Liberal Education? and Why is it Important to My Future?
(available in bulk; 500 minimum order)
General Education Maps and Markers: Designing Meaningful Pathways to Student Achievement (January 2015)
General Education Transformed: How We Can, Why We Must (forthcoming)
