ERIC EJ871319: Liberal Arts Education and the Capacity for Effective Practice: What's Holding Us Back?

2009·0.2 MB·English

by  ERIC

DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH AND LEE CUBA
Liberal Arts Education and the Capacity for
What’s Holding Us
EXPERIENTIALLEARNINGOPPORTUNITIEScan making this goal a priority; and that a great
enrich an undergraduate liberal education and deal more can be done to advance this goal as
produce graduates who are prepared to grap- a national ethos for American higher educa-
ple, imaginatively and responsibly, with the tion across all sectors and for all students.
complex challenges they will face throughout The literature abounds in guidelines, prin-
their lives. A growing body of empirical evi- ciples, and best practices from dozens of case
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I dence supports that contention. Yet much re- studies. Every institution is different, of
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mains to be learned about how to lead liberal course, and because educating the whole stu-
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T arts colleges to take seriously their obligation dent requires a special kind of holistic learn-
to educate students for effective and ethical ing, the most successful programs embody a
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E practice in the world. learning culture seen as both pervasive within
R The case for an expanded understanding of an institution and particular to it. Neverthe-
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student learning is even more urgent in the less, several general lessons can be learned
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A context of growing challenges facing a na- from institutions that are striving to educate
E tional system of higher education that many their students for lives of consequence:
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argue should be stronger. Although the critics •integrating effective practice as an intellec-
would not agree that tually rich subject of study in departmental
engaged or experien- and interdepartmental offerings across the
tial education is the omnibus answer (or, for undergraduate curriculum and at each stage
Much remains many,any answer), the diagnosis—lack of of a student’s college career
meaning, integration, coherence, unified •employing “pedagogies of engagement” that
to be learned
goals, focus, purpose, innovation, measurable connect with students both emotionally
about how to lead
impact—resonates with the prescriptions of- and intellectually; support complex learn-
liberal arts colleges fered by William Sullivan and Matthew Rosin ing of problem-solving, communication,
to take seriously (2008) in A New Agenda for Higher Education. and interpersonal skills; and enhance the
That agenda would embed the goal of “critical likelihood that knowledge will be retained
their obligation to
thinking” in a broader context of “practical and transferred to new situations
educate students
reasoning” within which faculty would work •surrounding classroom instruction with
for effective and side by side with students, helping them learn thought-provoking cocurricular opportuni-
ethical practice the practice of bracketing the “critical mo- ties that test students’ learning on real-
ment”by, first, anticipating and, later, testing world problems, build their confidence, and
in the world
it against messy and real problems in the world. motivate reflective practice
A consensus is emerging that we know a lot •supporting this emphasis on education for
about how to educate college students to be- action through recognition and incentives
come “positive forces in the world . . . willing for faculty and staff
to act for the common good and capable of do- •reinforcing it in the campus’s physical,
ing so effectively” (Colby et al. 2003, 7); that a social, and cultural environment and its
sizeable and growing number of American in- institutional relationships and conduct
stitutions, representing virtually all types, is •championing it at the highest levels of the
institution
DIANA CHAPMAN WALSH is president emerita, and •turning their attention to how to assess the
LEE CUBAis professor of sociology and former dean impact of these interventions, an area that
of the college, both at Wellesley College. This arti- all agree needs further development
cle was adapted from a paper presented at “Liberal As the field drives toward consensus, the
Education and Effective Practice,” a national con- literature nonetheless fails to address three
ference cosponsored by Clark University and the important questions. First, despite caveats
Association of American Colleges and Universities. about limitations in study designs and dangers

32 L IBERAL EDUCATION FALL 2009
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Effective Practice
Back?
Wellesley College
of overgeneralizing from one setting to another, the criticsare justified in their claim that under-
the major research projects cast a wide net for graduate education needs to be fundamentally
maximum applicability across all types of rethought,then developing guidelines, promot-
institutions serving all types of students. This ing engaged pedagogies, and encouraging civic,
approach universalizes at the expense of partic- moral, and political education are short steps on
ularities. Complexities in institutional cultures, a long journey. What’s holding us back? The an-
governance structures, resource constraints, stu- swer may reside in the third lingering question.
dent demographics, and the local nature of fac- The literature includes rare cases of faculty
ulty work may go a long way toward explaining leading new initiatives in experiential learning,
why this well-lit path is not a thoroughfare. and commentators pay lip service to the skepti-
Reading the literature, one scratches one’s head cism of mainstream faculty. But few acknowl-
and wonders why everyone doesn’t just do it. edge that if the new agenda (or any agenda)
Could it be that it’s just not that easy? for higher education is to become a movement,
Second, what accounts for the gap between it faces a double bind. Widespread faculty
the ambitions of the “movement” (to rally support is a sine qua non, and widespread fac-
support for a wider conception of liberal educa- ulty support is elusive at best. Our third ques-
tion) and the specific initiatives and programs tion, then, is what would it take to win faculty
being offered as testimony to its potential? If allegiance to this new agenda?

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Our experiences leading a faculty synthesizing recommendations and thrashing
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I We offer our own story in partial answer. When out priorities.
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Diana Chapman Walsh arrived at Wellesley The third academic year opened with the
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T College in 1993 to lead her alma mater as pres- synthesis report as the object of extensive dis-
ident, she was met by a faculty uncertain of its cussion among all constituencies and in all rel-
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E ability (or resolute in its inability) to reach evant standing committees of governance.
R consensus on its educational philosophy. Con- Faculty were splintered, and the odds of reach-
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sciousness of this situation, lodged in the col- ing a consensus seemed small. The deans were
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A lege’s culture and governance structures, was listening to many voices, modifying the propos-
E alive in the fresh memory of a debacle at the als, and titrating when to exert pressure and
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close of a high-profile planning process. The when to pull back. In the end, the faculty ap-
faculty had debated and rejected, seriatim, all proved, by a solid margin, a new quantitative
but one minor item in a package of curricular reasoning requirement, entirely revamped dis-
recommendations advanced by a prestigious tribution requirements, and the option of half-
faculty committee. unit courses. This third provision, deceptively
To neutralize feelings of defeat and polariza- innocuous, was a foot in the door for new kinds
tion, the newly appointed dean, Nancy Kolodny, of teaching and learning, including courses fo-
set out to lead her faculty colleagues in a re- cusing on experiential learning. Beyond these
structuring of the curriculum. She orchestrated changes to the curriculum, the three-year con-
a complicated and high-stakes curriculum re- versation had stimulated the faculty’s thinking
view that became a major focus of the first about pedagogy, the quality of intellectual life,
three years of the Walsh presidency: the main and the aims of a Wellesley education—big topics
event at all faculty meetings and a subject of we revisited repeatedly over subsequent years.
discussion at every meeting of the trustees. At We convened working groups and task forces
the outset, many faculty resisted the idea of and commissioned in-depth studies to review
another potentially divisive effort to air and many aspects of the college experience, among
argue their differences about the essential ele- these “global education,” the advising system
ments of the college’s educational program. and the first-year experience, the evaluation of
Sweeping curricular changes were rare and re- faculty teaching and student learning, technology-
quired ratification by a two-thirds majority assisted learning, interdisciplinary research
vote. Individual courses and departmental of- and teaching, the role of the department chair,
ferings were refreshed constantly, but these lo- the state of the honor code, the contributions
cal adjustments could be effected privately or of diversity to educational excellence, and the
collegially, outside of the formal rules-making role of experiential learning at Wellesley.
processes. Innovation germinated locally, in
the imaginations of inventive teachers, stimu- Building structures for experiential learning
lated by the curiosity of students, and in the Immediately on the heels of the curriculum re-
creativity of departments dissatisfied with the view, Walsh commissioned a working group on
status quo. While this process continuously experiential education cochaired by Cuba and
revitalized course and departmental offerings, the director of the Center for Work and Ser-
it left unaddressed the coherence of the over- vice, an administrative department that had re-
all student experience and the faculty’s collec- cently been created by merging a long-standing
tive responsibility for the quality of every career services office with a newer center for
student’s education. community service. The dual chairmanship of
So the rookie president lent the weight of the working group was intended to bridge the
her new office to the dean’s effort to muster the gap between the administrative units responsi-
faculty behind a process they were inventing ble for academic life and student life and to
on the fly. And she created a second associate forge stronger links between faculty and admin-
deanship to focus on curricular renewal, a po- istrators. We also wanted to encourage a more
sition to which she and the dean recruited Lee comprehensive perspective on how to help stu-
Cuba. The deans enlisted over 160 volunteers dents weave together disparate elements of
(from a faculty of 225) to work for two years their college careers.
on five task forces, and then drew from the The group’s 1996 report, “Translating the
task forces a working group to spend a summer Liberal Arts Experience into Action,” put forth

34 L IBERAL EDUCATION FALL 2009
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What would it take
a rationale and a strategy for to win faculty allegiance way training a spotlight on
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expanding service and experi- to this new agenda? the fruits of a liberal arts edu- I
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ential learning. Citing 1994 cation. Emphasizing students’
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data that indicated a relatively scholarly work, the Ruhlman T
high level of participation by Wellesley students Conference (begun in 1996) reflected the
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in internships and other forms of experiential faculty’s desire to break down barriers to inter - E
learning (45 percent of graduating seniors, com- disciplinary teaching and learning and to R
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pared to a median of 31 percent among thirty- strengthen intellectuallife on campus, two
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one comparison schools), the group noted that persistent themes from the curriculum review. A
opportunities for students “to tie their intern- “Ruhlman” was such a success that, five years E
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ship and service experiences to their classroom later, the vice chair of the board worked with
learning are informal and idiosyncratic, leaving Cuba to design the Tanner Conference in an
undeveloped a fertile area pedagogically.” attempt to break down barriersbetween curric-
Granting that its plan would “require a con- ular and cocurricular learning and to integrate
siderable shift in perceptions and attitudes on students’ education with real problems “outside
the part of faculty members … [and] a consid- the bubble.”
erable process of learning,” the working group The two conferences brought into the public
proposed a systems-change approach. The re- sphere activities that tend to be private. Both
port called for the creation of faculty fellow- required student participants to enlist a fac-
ships, faculty workshops and seminars, and a ulty adviser, emphasizing that vital partner-
fund for course development, as well as sup- ship; both stressed community, collaboration,
portive administrative structures and practices, and the enactment of the ideal of living a life
all of which were implemented. The fellows of learning. The Tanner Conference echoed
produced working papers on aspects of experi- and extended themes developed by the work-
ential learning, acted as consultants to the inggroup on experiential learning. It provided
campus community on issues of learning and a venue for the exchange of insights from off-
teaching, facilitated integration and advocacy campus experiences, showcased the learning
of the new programs, and became change that occurred in a wide range of practical
agents. And the working group report fed di- settings, brought recent graduates back to
rectly into our thinking for a comprehensive campus to discuss the lasting impact of these
fundraising campaign. experiences, and demonstrated compellingly a
In June of 1998, we took the trustees on a re- wider range of possibilities for learning by
treat to review a proposed table of needs for a doing and serving.
future campaign. In a background paper for the An important meta-level question was ever
retreat, Walsh noted that the campaign could present: how to support faculty engagement in
begin to resolve “tensions between the liberal a process of continuous improvement. Faculty
arts and the new competencies, [and] between time was our most valuable asset, and we
knowledge and service.” If somewhat obliquely, wanted to use it wisely. That meant using data
she had put experiential learning on the creatively and asking the right questions (a
table for the campaign. The trustees set a skill at which we improved). It also meant lis-
$400 million campaign goal, including $20 tening to faculty voices for their worries and
million for internships and experiential learn- insights about where our vulnerabilities were.
ing. Donors were asked to support the col- What we didn’t do was mobilize the faculty
lege’s efforts to “provide an innovative and to hammer out a unified philosophy of educa-
integrated educational experience that ex- tion, much less one that centered on an active
tends from the classroom, to the campus, to pedagogy that would have challenged beliefs
the world.” The goal of ensuring that students about the autonomy of faculty to define what
make vital connections—“between thought constitutes effective teaching in their own
and action” and “between the college’s history classrooms. We were clear that our overriding
of privilege and its ethic of service”—resonated goal was to continue improving the quality of
powerfully with donors who responded gener- what was, by all standard metrics, an excellent
ously with endowment gifts for internships. education. We did persistently advance the
The college went on to endow two all-day goal of asking hard questions and assembling
campuswide conferences, each in a different increasingly rich empirical data to inform our

FALL 2009 LIBERAL EDUCATION 35
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understanding of our educational strengths In general, our approach facilitated innova-
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I and weaknesses. We did cultivate a “culture tion by faculty members inclined toward experi-
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of evidence.” ential learning, but left a less visible imprint
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T on the entire faculty than would have been
Lessons learned made by an initiative more deeply planted in
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E We offer this brief case study to suggest the com- the classroom and the academic year. The in-
R plexity of leading a faculty through a process of centives for new course development must have
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institutional change. From the outset, we sup- been inadequate in amount or design; very few
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A ported faculty who were willing to experiment Wellesley courses have a service-learning com-
E with modes of active learning, faculty who ponent. While the college has devoted signifi-
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were reaching outside the classroom to engage cant resources to providing high-quality
students in the problems of the world around experiential opportunities for large numbers of
them. We wanted to move the center of gravity students, and while many of these opportunities
gradually in the direction of Dewey’s pragmatic are directly connected to the curriculum (in-
engagement, adding ternational study and undergraduate research
to the college’s tradi- in particular), many others (notably intern-
tion of closed class- ships and service opportunities) are not, leav-
room learning more ing students on their own—with the notable
community and ser- exception of the annual Tanner Conference—
vice learning, mov- to connect what they are learning on campus
ing from primarily to their extracurricular work.
discipline-based to In conclusion, we note that our story un-
more problem-based folded in a tiny corner of the nation’s vast and
learning, and, espe- varied higher education establishment. The
cially, moving from residential liberal arts college, although a “dis-
individual to collab- tinctively American” symbol of the very idea
orative study. We be- of “college” (Koblik and Graubard 2000), ac-
lieved that these counts for less than 1 percent of enrolled under-
transitions could be graduates. Yet highly selective residential liberal
supported, in part, arts colleges are, in many ways, the institutions
by the creative use best suited to take up the cause of producing
Lee Cuba and Diana of instructional technology and more careful graduates who will, as so many of their mission
Chapman Walsh assessment of learning outcomes. We wanted statements promise, not only make a difference
to be sure that Wellesley was participating in in the world but make a better world. The em-
these debates and was self-consciously posi- phasis these schools place on teaching; their in-
tioned within what we saw as a growing move- timacy of scale; the dedication and quality of
ment in higher education, even ifwe found their faculty, staff, and trustees; and the support
ourselves standing at times in reasoned opposi- they enjoy from generations of loyal graduates
tion to elements of it. are great assets. So too is the general feeling
In retrospect, what did we accomplish? The that, at heart, what they are (or should be) do-
systems-change approach advocated in the 1996 ing is transforming young people into responsi-
report on experiential learning did influence ble and caring adults with the reasoning skills
the faculty, in part because we were strategic in and the courage to defend the ethical distinc-
the faculty fellows we enlisted, in part because tions and judgments that will inform their deci-
we avoided further faculty votes, and in part sions through lives of learning in the service of
because we were fortunate to secure extensive causes larger than themselves.
donor support. We worked to build meaningful But it cannot be said that these institutions,
faculty engagement, and we learned from expe- as a group, are in the vanguard of the move-
rience that the faculty would not be engaged ment to broaden the aims of an excellent lib-
directly. We learned that the only available re- eral education. Nor, as a whole, are the most
course was a different strategy, a growth strategy, selective research universities. Would it mat-
working by indirection, slowly building al- ter if they were out front leading the charge?
liances, learning along the way. We made small We think it might, but we see serious obsta-
inroads that gradually opened wider pathways. cles to this leadership in the structures of

36 L IBERAL EDUCATION FALL 2009
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these colleges and universities and, specifically, disagreements over how undergraduates should
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in faculty dynamics. The structural barriers are allocate their time and what constitutes I
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by no means unique to the top-ranked institu- “knowledge,” “learning,” or an “educational
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tions, but they are most clearly visible there— experience.” T
not because their faculty are uniquely difficult, While debates about the essence of a mean-
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but because they are uniquely powerful. ingful liberal arts curriculum are healthy and E
In the top research universities, first of all, necessary for every college and university, too R
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efforts to align teaching with pedagogies of ef- often they fail to address the pointed questions
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fective practice do not “count” in the metrics that might promote a more nuanced under- A
that matter to faculty. In a system that dispro- standing of how and what students are learning: E
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portionately rewards research over teaching, In what specific ways can active learning expe-
few incentives encourage faculty seeking riences enhance students’ learning? What insti-
tenure to commit the time needed to design tutional goals do these approaches address?
and incorporate new pedagogies into their What coherence, if any, is there among the va-
courses. At liberal arts colleges—where good rieties of experiential opportunities students are
teaching is expected and rewarded—many being offered? What is the relationship between
faculty remain concerned about the extra traditional classroom learning and experiential
time necessary to develop courses that con- learning opportunities? How should various ex-
tain meaningful field components. Senior fac- periences be sequenced through a student’s col-
ulty will openly say that they felt free to teach lege “career”? Are there developmental stages
community-based learning courses only after at which particular experiences might be most
they were tenured; some counsel junior col- beneficial, and how do the answers vary—by
leagues to steer clear of this distraction until types of students, by disciplines, by other fac-
they have cleared the tenure bar. tors? How do students understand the place of
Second, because many believe that pedago- individual experiential learning offerings in
gies of effective practice are discipline-spe- their overall education? How well-aligned are
cific, they respond to calls for reform with the students’ goals with those of the institution?
rejoinder, “that’s not what I do.” For faculty Engaging faculty in useful conversations that
working within the scholarly traditions of lab- will foster innovations in experiential learning
oratory science or social science fieldwork, will take time. Creative, patient, and persistent
hands-on learning has a practical and histori- senior administrative teams will adroitly have
cal resonance. For faculty in other fields, how- to guide institutions of “higher learning” to
ever, new pedagogies focusing on student themselves become “learning organizations,”
experience outside the classroom may seem advancing what Derek Bok (2006, 333) calls “a
inappropriate and disconnected from the campuswide process of renewal and improve-
methodological traditions in which they ment.” We can only hope they can move fast
work. Humanists who teach close readings of enough to keep up with the pace of change. ■
texts or close encounters with works of art
may feel that their forms of learning (“experi- To respond to this article, e-mail [email protected],
ential” in their own way) are being devalued, with the authors’ names on the subject line.
and for those who by training and practice en-
gage their research subjects individually, it’s
not obvious how to collaborate with under- REFERENCES
graduate students on research projects. Bok, D. 2006. Our underachieving colleges. Princeton,
Faculty are naturally most skeptical of expe- NJ: Princeton University Press.
Colby, A., T. Ehrlich, E. Beaumont, and J. Stephen.
riential opportunities they see as least closely
2003. Educating citizens: Preparing America’s under-
aligned with a traditional liberal arts education
graduates for lives of moral and civic responsibility.
and least relevant to the curriculum. While San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
study at another academic institution or under- Koblik, S., and S. R. Graubard, eds. 2000. Distinctively
graduate research opportunities are relatively American: The residential liberal arts colleges.Piscat-
away, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
unobjectionable, educational experiences
Sullivan, W. M., and M. S. Rosin. 2008. A new
that take students out of the classroom for sig-
agenda for higher education: Shaping a life of the mind
nificant periods in an educational calendar for practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
perceived as a zero-sum game can provoke

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