Learning By Doing: Assessing the Relationship Between Liberal Learning and Experiential Learning at Two Liberal Arts Comprehensive Institutions
Abstract
Belmont University and Wagner College
$25,000 over 12 months. A year-long program entitled Learning by Doing: Assessing the Relationship between Liberal Learning and Experiential Learning at Two Liberal ArtsComprehensive Institutions. Belmont University and Wagner College seek to assess liberal education outcomes achieved through experiential education requirements that are embedded in each institution’s liberal arts general education core. Both institutions have innovative, vertical, interdisciplinary general education curricula with key courses at freshmen through senior levels and specific liberal learning goals including critical thinking, writing, ethical reflection, and breadth of knowledge in the arts and sciences. Belmont University and Wagner College have in place some common assessment measures and seek to enrich our assessment strategies for our signature core courses. The collaborative will establish criteria for assessing the value-added byexperiential learning within liberal arts courses for general education programs, identify direct and indirect measures that provide evidence of student learning that may be used widely on eachcampus, and establish an enduring dialogue between the institutions regarding assessment practices that will continue beyond the scope of the grant period. Finally, the collaborative offers both institutions the opportunity to disseminate our assessment practices to other universities, particularly the 24 members of the Associated New American Colleges (ANAC), of which both Belmont and Wagner are members.Team Members:
Belmont University
Jeff Coker, Department of History, Director of General Education (Project Leader)
Lonnie Yandell, Department of Psychology, Coordinator of Junior Cornerstone Seminar in Experiential Learning
Sarah Adams, Department of Health & Human Performance, Coordinator of Junior Cornerstone Seminar in Experiential Learning
Kim Boggs, Department of Chemistry and Director of Teaching Center
Glenn Acree, Assistant Provost
Linda Holt, Department of English, Member of Assessment Leadership Team
Ex-Officio, Marcia McDonald, Associate Provost
Wagner College
Roy Mosher, Biology Department, Chair of Committee for Learning Assessment
Walter Kaelber, Religious Studies and Philosophy Department, Member of Committee for Learning Assessment
Julie Barchitta, Nursing Department, Dean of Learning Communities and Experiential Learning
John Esser, Sociology Department, Coordinator of Intermediate Learning Community
Jennifer Toth, Art Department, Coordinator of Senior Learning Community
Ex-officio, Devorah Lieberman, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
About the Teagle Foundation
The Teagle Foundation provides leadership for liberal education, marshalling the intellectual and financial resources necessary to ensure that today's students have access to challenging, wideranging, and enriching college educations. We believe that the benefits of such learning last for a lifetime and are best achieved when colleges develop broad and intellectually stimulating curricula, engage their students in active learning, explore questions of deep social and personal significance, set clear goals, and—crucially—systematically measure progress toward them.
The Foundation's commitment to such education includes its long-established scholarship program for employees of ExxonMobil and their children, and more recent work with organizations helping disadvantaged young people in New York City win admission to college and succeed once there. Finally, the Foundation is committed to disseminate widely the results of its work through out the higher education community, understanding that the knowledge generated by our grantees—rather than the funding that enabled their work—is at the heart of our philanthropy.
For more information about the Teagle Foundation, visit their Web site:
http://www.teaglefoundation.org/intro.htm
