Higher Education in the 21 st Century: Living in Pasteur’s Quadrant

1. Higher Education in the 21st Century: Living in Pasteur’s Quadrant Judith A. Ramaley AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal Conference March 4, 2004

2. Premise Our approach to undergraduate education must Be developed with a clear understanding Of the educational goals of our students, Their patterns of participation and enrollment, And their expectations. How can we ensure that allstudents experience A coherent and engaging education?

3. Education in the 21st Century • What will it mean to be educated in the 21st century? • What kind of educational environment must we provide to support a 21st century education? • What will be the societal role of higher education in the 21st century and who will decide? • How do Federal and state policies, and Federal R&D priorities, shape the contemporary university?

4. Envisioning Education in the 21st Century The Greater ExpectationsNational Panel Report calls for a practical liberal education in which college students become intentional learners who can… • Adapt to new environments • Integrate knowledge from different sources • Continue learning throughout their lives • Thrive in a complex world.

5. The Intentional Learners Envisioned By The National Panel Should Become… Informed by knowledge about the natural and social worlds and about forms of inquiry basic to these studies Empowered through the mastery of intellectual and practical skills Responsible for their personal actions and civic values

6. How Can We Set High Expectations For All? • How are student patterns of enrollment changing? • How will these patterns of participation affect the kind of education that students receive? • If the conditions within single institutions no longer define the experience of a majority of undergraduates, what additional steps must we take to ensure a coherent and purposeful educational environment for all students?

7. Who are our faculty? • In 1987, 67% of faculty were full-time and 58% had tenure. • In 2002, 55% were full-time and 45% had tenure. • Full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty are being replaced by part-time and fixed term faculty. • Part-time faculty primarily teach (89%); full-time faculty play more complex roles. • Source: U.S. Dept. Education

8. Who Are Our Students Today And How Are They Participating In Higher Education? Patterns of Enrollment and Pathways to a Degree Have Become Extremely Complex Source: Adelman, C., Principal Indicators Of Student Academic Histories in Postsecondary Education, 1997-2000. U.S. Department of Education

9. 57% attend more than one school as undergraduates 35% cross state lines to do so 20% earn acceleration credits by examination or dual enrollment 62% attend during summer terms 22% are stop-outs and 14% are enrolled for less than a year Of those who earn more than 10 credits, 64% earn a credential of some kind Few Traditional Age Students (18-26 years old) Obtain Their Education From One Institution

10. 26% attended two or more 4-year schools 9% were true reverse transfers 22% transferred from a 2-year to a 4-year school 14% alternated between 2 and 4-year schools 12% took a few community college credits in addition to attending a 4-year school 11% attended two or more community colleges Pathways Through Higher EducationAre Now Very Complex

11. The Pipeline vs Multiple Pathways Pipeline: a clear and uninterrupted route from high school to college and from college to advanced study Pathways: complex patterns of enrollment that involve more than one institution

12. What will be the societal role of higher education in the 21st century and who will decide? • To prepare students to be good citizens by providing them ways to help the institution itself be a good citizen while learning to be good citizens themselves; • To foster and renew bonds of trust in the community; i.e., “social capital” and to use the neutrality of the campus to provide a common ground where differences of opinion and advocacy for particular points of view can be addressed in an open and constructive ways and where people with similar goals can come together and create ways to work together.

13. What will be the societal role of higher education in the 21st century and who will decide? • To create leadership development opportunities for students and to foster a commitment to social and civic responsibility; • To enhance the employability of graduates by providing opportunities to build a strong resume and to explore career goals; • To promote learning both for students and for community members; • To play a role in creating capacity in the community to work on complex societal problems.

14. What will be the societal role of higher education in the 21st century and who will decide? • To design a more effective way for the campus to contribute to economic and community development; • To build support for public investment in higher education, both to provide access and opportunity for students of all backgrounds to pursue an education and to generate knowledge that will address critical societal needs; • To accomplish a campus mission of service.

15. What kind of educational environment must we provide to support a 21st century education? • Rethinking the Idea of a University • Broadening the Definition of Scholarship • Building Genuine Scholarship into the Undergraduate Experience

16. The Idea of the University “…the cultivation of the intellect, as an end which may reasonably be pursued for its own sake… Truth of whatever kind is the proper object of the intellect.” “The high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experimentation and speculation; it maps out the terrain of the intellect.” Cardinal Newman

17. The Idea of the University The modern university “is not outside, but inside the general fabric of our era. It is not something apart, something historic, something that yields as little as possible to forces and influences that are more or less new. It is, on the contrary, …an expression of the ages, as well as an influence operating upon both present and future.” Abraham Flexner, quoted in Clark Kerr’s The Uses of the University

18. “The Multiversity is an inconsistent institution. It is not one community but several… Its edges are fuzzy.” “Hutchins once described the modern university as a series of separate schools and departments held together by a central heating system…I have sometimes thought of it as a series of individual faculty entrepreneurs held together by a common grievance over parking.” The Multiversity Cark Kerr, The Uses of the University

19. The Engaged University The primary purposes of the 21st century engaged university are to conduct research on important problems, ideas and questions, to promote the application of current knowledge to societal problems and to prepare its students to address these issues through a curriculum that emphasizes scholarly work that has consequences both for the students and for society.

20. The Engaged University Success in the university of the future will be defined by the rigor of scholarly work, by the quality of the educational experience of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, by the effectiveness of the partnerships that link the university with the community, and by the impact of the institution on the quality of life of citizens of the state, the nation, and the world.

21. Engaged Scholarship Is… • Research and learning that is conducted with the community rather than on behalf of the community; • that reframes research, teaching and service as discovery and learning conducted in an engaged mode; • that connects the goals of scholarship (to develop theory and advanced understanding) with technology (to solve practical problems and develop useful products); • while taking its inspiration from both a scholarly context and the experience of the community and its challenges. Ramaley, J.A. (2002) • Engaged scholarship is conducted in Pasteur’s Quadrant.

22. Pasteur’s QuadrantWhere Basic Science & Technological Innovation Meet… Considerations of Use? No Yes Pure Basic Research [Bohr] Use-Inspired Basic Research [Pasteur] …for the research community and students to promote the public good and enrich educational experiences Quest for Fundamental Understanding? No Yes Pure Applied Research [Edison]

23. The Boyer Model of Scholarship “At no time in our history has the need been greater for connecting the work of the academy to the social and environmental challenges beyond the campus.” Ernest Boyer (1990) Scholarship Reconsidered

24. Scholarship of Discovery: contributes to the human stock of knowledge and to the intellectual climate of a college or university. • Scholarship of Integration: makes connections across the disciplines, placing the specialties in larger context—often educating nonspecialists • Scholarship of Application: Life in Pasteur’s Quadrant where knowledge is responsibly applied to consequential problems and addresses both individual and societal needs and where societal realities inspire and challenge theory.

25. What Will It Mean To Be EducatedIn The 21st Century? Introducing the Boyer Model of Scholarship Into The Curriculum All Students can and should participate in discovery as well as integration and application of knowledge to problems of broader societal significance. Examples:Research experiences for undergraduates; internships; service-learning; pursuit of integrated studies and capstone experiences.

26. Know How vs. Know Why Knowing how is superficial knowledge based on norms of behavior, standards of practice and the technologies available. All forms of experimentation seek the same end: moving from superficial knowledge to deep understanding Knowing why is deeper. It captures underlying cause-effect relationships and accommodates exceptions, adaptations and unforeseen events. From David Garvin, Harvard Business Review, 1993

27. Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College (2002) calls for “a philosophy of education that empowers individuals, liberates the mind and cultivates social responsibility.”

28. Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College (2002)How can we provide a meaningful education for both pipeline and pathway students?First, what should education entail? • Challenging encounters with important issues • More a way of learning than specific content • Prepares students to be intentional learners who can adapt to new environments, integrate knowledge from different sources and continue to learn throughout their lives • Prepares graduates who will be intentional, empowered, informed and responsible.

29. Plato: The purpose of education is to cultivate the intellect, pursued for its own sake, in order to uncover the universal themes and natural laws that the prepared mind can discern beneath the surface confusion of life. Isocrates:The purpose of an education is to prepare citizens to participate in public affairs. A practical liberal education lies between these two poles of direct experience and timeless purpose, thought and action, self-realization and social responsibility. It liberates the spirit and feeds the soul while preparing students to make informed and responsible decisions. Marrou, H.I. (1956) A History of Education in Antiquity

30. How Is Scholarship Changing And What Does This Mean For Undergraduate Education? There is an inexorable shift from the traditional mode of research that is pure, disciplinary, homogeneous, expert-led, supply-driven, hierarchical, peer-reviewed, and almost exclusively university-based to a new research mode that is more likely to be applied, problem-centered, trans- disciplinary, heterogeneous, hybrid, demand-driven, entrepreneurial, and network-embedded. [Gibbons, et al., 1994] Pure vs. Applied

31. Disciplinary traditions, subject-centered hierarchies, and organizational boundaries are melting rapidly in the scholarly community but not in the undergraduate curriculum. There are signs that the disciplines are converging, drawn together by common mathematical and computational paradigms. As this happens, the areas of greatest interest transcend traditional academic disciplines and the structure of the academic department and draw increasingly from many disciplines. EXAMPLEConvergence and Complexity in the Sciences

32. Convergence and Complexity in the Sciences[cont.] Advances in computational capacity are changing our world-view. World One: discrete, static, sequential, mechanistic, separable, universal, homogeneous, regular, linear, superficial, single World Two: continuous, dynamic, simultaneous, organic, interactive, conditional, heterogeneous, irregular, nonlinear, deep, multiple. The structure of the undergraduate major as well as courses for general education have generally not kept pace with these developments.

33. The NRC Report Bio2010 shows that “[t]he connections between the biological sciences and the physical sciences, mathematics and computer science are rapidly becoming deeper and more extensive.” (p.1) To compound the changes even more, scientists now take advantage of cyberspace to interact with each other differently, to gather and interpret their findings and to communicate their work in new ways.

34. Is any of this new way of doing science and communicating about science reflected in the curriculum and in the experiences of undergraduates? Not much! According to Bio2010, the teaching of biology has not changed substantially in over two decades. Meanwhile, the science itself has undergone a remarkable transformation. The gap between the biology that students study and the realities of the most exciting and advanced work in the life sciences is a matter for deep concern.

35. Implications of Greater Expectations and the Changing Nature of Scholarship for the Undergraduate Experience of Pathway Students Pathway students are less likely to have a coherent experience or to obtain an intentionally designed education. Pathway students are less likely to have time to participate in the more integrative activities that are available to full-time students taught by full-time faculty who pursue a scholarly agenda. A significant proportion of underrepresented students enroll in a pathway mode.

36. The Experience of Underrepresented Students While 91% of high school graduates from high-income families apply to four-year institutions, only 62% of college-qualified high school graduates from low-income families attempt a four-year college education. Many of these lower-income students come from socio-economic groups that are much less likely to complete a degree even if they do enroll in college.

37. A higher proportion of Hispanics enroll than do non-Hispanic whites. However, they tend to pursue paths that are associated with lower chances of attaining a bachelor’s degree or a higher degree. Many enroll in community colleges or attend part-time and others delay further education until they are older. This is also true for African-Americans and Native Americans. The pattern of participation of underrepresented students in higher education is partly driven by cost, partly by reactions to the culture of academic disciplines and partly by the lack of access to social networks that smooth the way into college.

38. How can we design a coherent and intentional education for all students, including both traditional (pipeline) and nontraditional (pathway)? Critical Next Questions • What do pathway students study? • How are their experiences different from those of pipeline students? What effect do these differences have on the nature of the education they receive and what they learn? • What are their educational goals and do their goals change as they progress?

39. Critical Next Questions [cont.] • What public policies might smooth movements across institutions and enhance the intentionality and integrity of the curriculum that pathway students encounter? • How can we close the gaps in participation and outcomes for different participants in our educational system? • How can we promote greater success for students who take pathway routes through higher education? What Federal and state policies might we consider and how might we implement them to ensure access, quality, educational purposefulness, and affordability?

40. The Beginnings of an AnswerLessons from Learning Organization Models “A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights.” “Insights are the trigger for organizational improvement…Without accompanying changes in the way that work gets done, only the potential for improvement exists.” David Garvin, 1993

41. Beginnings of an Answer… “ Our focus is on organizational inquiry. We use this term in the Deweyan sense as a highly general characterization of the exercise of human intelligence in the world—the intertwining of thought and action by which we move from doubt to the resolution of doubt.” “We distinguish between coming to see things in new ways and coming to act on the basis of insight.” “We give special importance to the experience of surprise, The mismatch of outcome to expectations, which we see as an essential process by which people can come to see, think, and act in new ways.” Argyris and Schön, Organizational Learning II (1996) p.xxii-xxiii

42. Principles of Learning Organizations May Offer Insights on How to Design a Curriculum and Expectations for Non-Traditional (Pathways) Students. • Rethink how to create an environment conducive to learning that does not depend upon the design of a single curriculum or set of requirements developed by one institution or the expectation of continuous enrollment.

43. Principles of Learning Organizations May Offer Insights on How to Design a Curriculum and Expectations for Non-Traditional (Pathways) Students. • Open up boundaries and stimulate the exchange of ideas using some of the strategies of learning organizations: • Use learning forums-events designed with explicit learning or discovery goals in mind (e.g., consider designs from research experiences for teachers or teacher institutes; cohort models of graduate study) • Engage students in studying changing societal issues and link learning to societal concerns.

44. Principles of Learning Organizations May Offer Insights on How to Design a Curriculum and Expectations for Non-Traditional (Pathways) Students. c) Use student-generated audits/progress reports on learning, guided by a set of intentional learning criteria (e.g., Alverno College model). d) Offer symposia that bring together students, researchers and practitioners to learn from each other and share ideas. e) Develop learning communities on the web.

45. Conclusions • Our concepts of undergraduate education are based on two key assumptions that remain true only for pipeline students. • Most students now study at more than one institution. • Most students now exhibit at least one “nontraditional” characteristic: part-time, over the age of 25, non-residential, work full or part-time. • There is evidence of a growing disconnect between how research and scholarship are conducted and how we approach undergraduate education.

46. Therefore… • We must create an educational environment that works across institutional boundaries since students cross these boundaries regularly. • We must rethink the undergraduate curriculum and ensure that it reflects the changing nature of scholarship and incorporated a full range of scholarly experiences for all students, both “pipeline” and “pathway.”