This set of slides presents qualitative and quantitative data to help make the case for a liberal education. Drawing on employer and student voices, the presentation makes clear the connection between liberal education and professional programs, bridging essential learning outcomes, employer expectations, and pragmatic earnings calculations that so often drive decision-making among students, parents, and legislators.

In 2011, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas adopted five university-wide undergraduate learning outcomes and a set of vertically integrated general education requirements to achieve these outcomes. The vertically integrated requirements include four sequenced experiences: a first-year seminar, a second-year seminar, a milestone experience and a culminating experience. The second-year seminar is a reading and writing intensive course reinforcing the university undergraduate learning outcomes. The milestone course bridges general education and the major, further reinforcing the university-wide learning outcomes and orienting students to the learning outcomes for their major. The culminating experience gives students the opportunity to integrate and demonstrate their attainment of all of the learning outcomes within a major context. The general education requirements also include six credits of English composition, three credits of mathematics, US and Nevada Constitutions, and six distribution courses in two different areas. Our model and learning outcomes are explained at: http://generaled.unlv.edu/

“Highly productive and creative individuals think about their own thinking while they are thinking. This process, called metacognition, allows people to engage in a valuable conversation with themselves, exploring their background, questioning and correcting their thinking in the process, and pursuing the dynamic power of their minds.” – Ken Bain, What the Best College Students Do

This handout, used at Salt Lake Community College, provides students (and teachers) with ideas of how high-quality reflective writing can enhance the assignments in their general education ePortfolios. It includes sample reflection prompts and a list of tips for writing reflectively.

Introductory videos on how to make the most of SLCC’s General Education ePortfolio requirement:

Intro 1 – Reflection as Matrix

(Link to Transcript)

Intro 2 – More Than Just a Diploma

(Link to Transcript)

Intro 3 – Ownership and Responsibility for Learning

(Link to Transcript)

This brief narrative tracks the pioneering community-building efforts at UW Oshkosh to address high drop/fail/withdrawal rates and low retention and graduation rates for students of color. Over two years, Oshkosh has worked to lessen the disparity between experiences of students of color and their white majority peers in gateway courses, those 100- and 200-level courses comprised predominantly of first-year students. By disseminating disaggregated data on the academic progress of underserved students, the dean’s office motivated instructors to tackle this problem and transform the gateway courses. A change in pedagogy and culture came about through interdisciplinary dialogues, public stories told by students of color, and individual departmental support for classroom innovation. The resultant grassroots leadership among instructors formed through inspired collaboration and support from administrators on campus.

Read the full narrative by clicking “View File” at right.

This concise series of slides presents a simple overview of high-impact educational practices, their common features, and their observed impact on student learning. Use it as a tool for introducing stakeholders on campus to the transformative impact of experiential learning.

Click “View File” at right to see the slides.

For more information on high-impact practices, see the work of George Kuh.

Michigan State University approaches general education reform with a focus on strengthening integrative learning through high-impact pedagogy, while connecting it to big, global challenges. This document, accessible by clicking “View File” at right, depicts MSU’s conceptualization of a strong integrative studies program, along with one possible curricular map for implementation. The model draws on campus-wide discussions about the meaning of global, learning, and integration, and it explores the potential intersections between those terms.

Also included in the file is a sample curricular model that operationalizes the Global Integrated Learning framework. This is merely one possible design for embedding a Global Integrated Learning pathway into the curriculum as a common, core component.

The Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP) describes the knowledge, skills and applications that prepare graduates to succeed in the economy, civil society and their own lives. It is offered as a set of reference points that describe the meaning and value of college degrees at the associate, baccalaureate and master’s level. It is meant to be a shared framework that provides much-needed guidance to students, faculty, employers and policy leaders.

The DQP incorporates virtually all of AAC&U’s Essential Learning Outcomes. By setting vertical expectations in each of its focus areas, however, the DQP framework creates a new context for facilitating both transfer and deeper learning at all degree levels.

Click “View File” at right to read the full DQP model.

Click here to see a summary of the DQP side by side with the LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes.

To learn how several states are testing the DQP as a framework for transfer, visit the Quality Collaboratives project.

The Completion Arch is designed to provide quick and easy access to data that describe the progress and success of community college students. It draws on the data results of national initiatives and published research presented as common measures that track community college student progress and success at national, state and initiative levels, making it a comprehensive resource. The variety of research data available here can be aggregated or disaggregated according to indicators of your choice.

Description taken from The College Board.

Click “View File” at right to see resources and articles for community colleges creating integrative plans for successful student learning.

Click here to read descriptions of the projects at the Roadmap leadership institutions.

The Roadmap Project is supported by a grant from Metlife Foundation.