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Quality Enhancement Challenge

S. David Stamps, Provostand Vice President for Academic Affairs

University of South Florida

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SACS Reaffirmation

• Compliance Certification Report

Due August 2004

• Quality Enhancement Plan

Due January 2005

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Quality Enhancement Plan

• An opportunity to improve the quality of programs and services

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QEP

Institutional Improvement

with

Special Attention

on

Student Learning

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A PlanFor The Next

Ten Years

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We would have improved General Education.

• Reasons– These have changed since originally

conceived.– Exit courses were never funded or

adequately supported.– It is just time for a re-examination.

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Broader Approach

• Look at how we deliver undergraduate curriculum

• Raise questions and introduce

ideas for consideration

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Reinvention Center Stony Brook

Reinventing Undergraduate Education– Bruce Cochrane– Georg Kleine– Stu Silverman– David Stamps

http://naples.cc.sunysb.edu/pres/boyer.nsf

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Boyer Commission Report 1998

• Research-Based Learning

• Inquiry-Based• Freshman

Foundation• Interdisciplinary• Communication

Skills

• Information Technology

• Capstone Experience

• Apprentice Teachers• Faculty Reward

Systems• Community

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Why is this important to USF?

• Research 1 status

• Evidence-based decision making

• Undergraduate students for graduate school

• Research-based community engagement

• High technology and information-based society

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Why do we hear?

• Graduates are not independent thinkers

• They don’t make rational choices

• They don’t pursue their aspirations

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What have we learned about past history

that can enlighten us about the future?

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The Challenge of Liberal Education• Go beyond the traditional conception

• Lagemann: “the practical liberal arts”

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/lagemann02012003.html

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Carnegie

• Higher education is far more oriented to professional and technical degrees than in 1970s.

• 1970s – over 50% in liberal arts

• 2000 – over 60% in pre-professional & technical fields

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Many Students

• I need to get a job!• I just want a degree!

• Students: – Seek relationship between

course of study and job

– Graduate without a clear sense of direction

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Question

• Are colleges and universities developing narrowly designed professional and technical fields of study with liberal arts components that are without direction?

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USF – Research 1 University

• Prepare students for graduate study?

• Provide insights and skills necessary for career entry and change?

• Provide learning experiences for better appreciation/understanding of world?

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Practical Liberal Arts (Lagemann)

• Having a calling . . . Knowing who one is• Beliefs, values, where one stands• Choices• Social interconnectedness• Civic responsibility• Respect for tolerance• Evidence-based decision-making• Respect for values of due process

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This is not about one individual’s calling but about one’s calling in society and across societies.

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Research-based Undergraduate Curriculum

• Begin by asking …

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What Conditions

• What conditions currently exist that would enhance an undergraduate research program?

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What Changes

• What policies, structures, expectations, etc. need to be changed to establish an undergraduate research program?

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Research 1 quality

• How does the quality of instruction differ in a Research 1 university from that of a comprehensive university?

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Assumptions

• For consideration ..

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Assumption

• Undergraduate students will go to graduate school.

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Assumption

• Undergraduate students will have a research and inquiry experience.

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Assumption

• The undergraduate research program will be comprehensive in approach and conceptual in nature.

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Assumption

• Undergraduates will receive a value-added education if they have a research experience even if they do not continue to graduate school.

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Assumption

• The undergraduate research experience will provide an emphasis on evidence-based decision-making.

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Assumption

• The undergraduate research experience will provide opportunities for research that is community-based.

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A liberal arts curriculum can support a research-based undergraduate experience.

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Possible Gen Ed Core

Levels Approach

1. Writing, argumentation, and library skills

2. Oral presentation skills

3. Writing in the major

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Undergraduate Research is Developmental

• Beginning – ideas & interests

• Intermediate – experience & skills

• Advanced – independent research

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- Our Challenge -- Our Challenge -- Our Challenge -- Our Challenge -

How to overcome faculty and students’ lack of

concern or appreciation of the value of

undergraduate research.

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A possibility – Introductory Seminar

• Lay groundwork

• Mentoring relationships

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Research 1 University Challenges

Balancing roles

• Curriculum

• Pedagogy

• Experiential learning

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Curriculum Aspects

• Intellectual Skills– Critical thinking– Critical reading– Problem-solving– Analyzing, integrating, etc.– Writing effectively– Ability to formulate questions

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Curriculum Aspects

• Broad Definitions/Understanding– Epistemological sophistication– Cross cultural understanding– Scientific/qualitative literacy– Collaboration– Civic and social responsibility– Life-long learning self-regulated

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Pedagogy Change

• Process of inquiry• Make observations• Pose questions• Learners engaged in questions

posed by faculty• Directed to collect certain data• Learners select among questions and

pose new questions

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Pedagogy Change

• Directed to collect data• Guided in process of evaluating data

collected• Identify sources of information• Analyze• Identify assumptions• Propose explanations• Guiding learning should be role of faculty

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Pedagogy of Engagement

• Problem-based learning

• Experiential learning

• Service learning

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A Challenge for Quality

Enhancement

Undergraduate Research

University of South Florida