College Learning for a Changing Economy

1. Preparing Students for Complexity and ChangeFraming the Future of Higher EducationSymposium One: The Purposes of Higher Education in the 21st CenturyAustin, TXFebruary 17, 2014Carol Geary SchneiderAssociation of American Colleges and Universities

2. Overview • College Learning for a Changing Economy • Beyond the Economy: On the MULTIPLE Purposes of a College Education • Preparing Students for Complexity and Change

3. Clarifying Our Terms • Liberal Education • Liberal Arts and Sciences • General Education • Professional, Career, and Technical Fields

4. Liberal Education • The aims and outcomes of liberal education—specifically, the “Essential Learning Outcomes” described in your handout—are foundational to student achievement WHATEVER the actual field of specialization.

5. College Learning for a Changing Economy • To succeed in this economy, students will need more, and more highly engaged, liberal learning, not less.

6. What Employers Say About College Learning and Career Success

7. HART RESEARCH A S S O C I A T E S It Takes More Than A Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success Key findings from survey among 318 employersConducted January 9 – 13, 2013for

8. Employers Are Raising the Bar 92% of employers say that “innovation is essential to our company’s continued success.” 93% of employers say that they are “asking employees to take on more responsibilities and to use a broader set of skills than in the past.” 91% of employers say that “the challenges their employees face are more complex than they were in the past.”Source: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)

9. Majorities of Employers Want Colleges to Place More Emphasis on Broad, Cross-Cutting Skills, and Application – that is: • Strong Majorities Endorse What LEAP calls “The Essential Learning Outcomes” (See Handout with LEAP ELOs and Employer Priorities for College Learning)

10. Employers Say Innovation, Critical Thinking, and a Broad Skill Set are Key for Meeting Challenges in the Workplace 95% of employers agree that their companies put a priority on hiring people with the intellectual and interpersonal skills to help them contribute to innovation in the workplace 93% of employers say that candidates’ demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than their undergraduate major 91% of employers say that, whatever their major, all students should have experiences in solving problems with colleagues whose views are different from their ownSource: “It Takes More than a Major: Employer Priorities for College Learning and Student Success” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2013)

11. More emphasis than they do today Less emphasis The same emphasis Majorities of employers want colleges to place more emphasis on broad, cross-cutting skills and application Critical thinking/analytical reasoning Ability to analyze/solve complex problems Effective oral communication Effective written communication Apply knowledge/skills to real-world settings Locate, organize, evaluate info from multiple sources Innovation/creativity Teamwork/collaboration in diverse group settings Ethical decision-making

12. Employers Do Not Want People Who Can Only See Things from One Point of View • “You cannot retreat to a cave and work in isolation until you like the solution.” – Frank Levinson, Managing Director, Small World Group, Singapore

13. In Their Own Words: Employers Want to Find that “360° Perspective” Hart Research Associates

14. Employers also endorse several high-impact practices Percentage of Employers Who Say Practice Will Help Students A Lot or A Fair Amount to Succeed in the Workplace Research and Evidence-Based Analysis 83% Expecting students to develop the skills to research questions in their field and develop evidence-based analyses Senior Projects 79% Students complete significant project before graduation, demonstrating knowledge in major & analytical, problem-solving, communication skills Internships and Community-Based Work 78% Students complete internship or community-based field project to connect classroom learning with real-world experiences Collaborative Research 74% Expecting students to develop the skills to conduct research collaboratively with their peers

15. Quality = A Both/And VisionLong-term career success requires broad knowledge and specific skills Which is more important for recent college graduates who want to pursue advancement and long-term career success at your company? Having both field-specific knowledge and skills AND a broad range of skills and knowledge Having a range of skills and knowledge that apply to a range of fields or positions Having knowledge and skills that apply to a specific field or position

16. “This approach to a college education provides both broad knowledge in a variety of areas of study and knowledge in a specific major or field of interest. It also helps students develop a sense of social responsibility, as well as intellectual and practical skills that span all areas of study, such as communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in real-world settings." Three in four employers would recommend the concept of a liberal education to their own child or a young person they know If you were advising your child or a young person you know about the type of college education they should seek to achieve in order to achieve professional and career success in today's global economy, would you recommend they pursue an education like the one described below? I would advise a young person to pursue [a liberal education] Depends Would not

17. Employer Views Reflect Economic Trends Source: Dancing with Robots: Human Skills for Computerized Work, by Frank Levy and Richard J. Murnane. Third Way, 2013.

18. What Economists Say • “Human work will increasingly shift toward two kinds of tasks: solving problems for which standard operating procedures do not currently exist, and working with new information—acquiring it, making sense of it, communicating it to others….today, work that consists of following clearly specified directions is increasingly being carried out by computers and workers in lower-wage countries. The remaining jobs that pay enough to support families require a deeper level of knowledge and the skills to apply it.” • “Frank Levy and Richard Murnane, “Dancing with Robots” (2013)

19. Beyond the Economy • On the MULTIPLE Purposes of a College Education • Or, What the “Greatest Generation” Knew…and What We Must Reaffirm…

20. From the Truman Commission Report (1947) • Three Principal Purposes of • College Learning

21. The Three Purposes • Education for a fuller realization of democracy in every phase of living. • Education directly and explicitly for international understanding and cooperation. • Education for the application of creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social problems and to the administration of public affairs.

22. Imagine This Set of Purposes Applied to Our Current Societal Context • Democracy Both Desired and Beset • Global Interdependence Now Reframing Every Aspect of Work, Community, and Life • Urgent Problems That Must Be Solved – Health, Education, Poverty, Climate…and More

23. Together, We Need to Reaffirm and Renew Our Social Compact with Democracy… • In an Era When Ever Larger Numbers of Students Go to College, It Cannot be “Job Training” for Some – and a Big Picture, 360° Education for the Fortunate Few

24. So How Do We Bring a Sense of Focus and Purpose to Students’ College Learning… • Or, to Put It Differently….

25. How Do We Prepare Students to “Bring Creative Imagination and Trained Intelligence to the Solution of…Problems”—Social Problems, Global Problems, and Workplace Problems As Well?

26. Remapping College Study—To Foreground Cross-Disciplinary Study of Unscripted Questions, Both Contemporary and Enduring

27. Signature Questions and Achievements • Suppose We Envisioned College Study as Guided Preparation for Students to Identify and Work on a Signature Topic and Related Work – Courses and Projects

28. Suppose Every Student Had Direct, Extended Experience in Probing and Tackling Important, Unscripted Questions of Their Own Choosing—Courses, Projects, Practicums, Research

29. Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies • The First-Year Experience Should Introduce Illustrative Questions and Problems • The Entire Educational Experience Should Build Capacity to Grapple with Significant Questions • The Students’ Portfolio Should Demonstrate Deep Engagement with One or More Significant Problems—Problems That Matter to the Student and Problems That Matter to the Wider Society

30. Cross-Disciplinary Inquiry and Signature Studies (cont.) • Disciplinary Inquiry is Still Foundational • But Students Also Need Experience in Connecting Their Disciplines with Other Perspectives and Voices • And, Both for Citizenship and for Work, Students Need Active Engagement in Their Own Inquiry-Centered Studies, Investigations, and Accomplishments

31. The Key Question for This New Era of Digital Innovation • Will We Use the Digital Revolution as An Opportunity to Flip the Classroom—and Even the Curriculum? • More Time for Collaborative and Cross-Disciplinary Projects, Investigation, and Research? • More Opportunities for Community-Based Learning? • More Opportunity to Work With Faculty on Significant Problems and Questions—Their Signature Studies? • More Student Engagement with Significant Problems That We Need to Solve?

32. Working Together, We Can Bring New Purpose and New Focus to College Learning—To Students’ Benefit and Society’s As Well