Degrees of Quality

1. Degrees of Quality Terrel L. Rhodes, Association of American Colleges and Universities October 19, 2012

2. 1. Have you heard of “Swirling”?

3. “To be blunt: The colleges must redesign their institutions, their mission and their students’ educational experiences to ensure that they meet the needs of a changing society.” “The American Dream is imperiled.”

4. "They're frustrated about completions. They're frustrated about transfers. They're frustrated that students are taking six or seven years to graduate!" The message to higher education leaders is simple: "If you want more money, prove you deserve it." http://www.nola.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/performance-funding-making-its-way-into-higher/150ea4cc13ebc91cae1f6d386a6ca090

5. The Evidence is Compelling... Too Many Students Are Underachieving!

6. The Evidence is Compelling... Too Few Institutions Are Responding!

7. ? 2. Have you heard of “Badges”?

8. What Do Employers Want? Which is more important for recent college graduates who want to pursue advancement and long-term career success at your company? BOTH in-depth AND broad range of skills and knowledge Broad range of skills and knowledge that apply to a range of fields or positions In-depth knowledge and skills that apply to a specific field or position

9. “Irrespective of college major or institutional selectivity, what matters to career success is students’ development of a broad set of cross-cutting capacities…” —Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

10. Employers Assess the Potential Value of Emerging Educational Practices % saying each would help a lot/fair amount to prepare college students for success Expecting students to complete a significant project before graduation that demonstrates their depth of knowledge in their major AND their acquisition of analytical, problem-solving, and communication skills (62% help a lot) Expecting students to complete an internship or community-based field project to connect classroom learning with real-world experiences (66%) Ensuring that students develop the skills to research questions in their field and develop evidence-based analyses(57%) Expecting students to work through ethical issues and debates to form their own judgments about the issues at stake (48%) Source: Raising the Bar (AAC&U, 2010) 84% 81% 81% 73%

11. 2. Have you heard of the “Completion Agenda”?

13. 3. Have you heard of “the DQP”?

14. What is the Degree Qualification’s Profile (DQP)?

15. How is the DQP different?

16. Competency That is neither trivial or snackable...

18. LEAP Promotes • Essential Learning Outcomes • A Guiding Vision and National Benchmarks for College Learning and Liberal Education in the 21st Century • High Impact Practices • Helping Students Achieve the Essential Learning Outcomes • Authentic Assessments • Probing Whether Students Can APPLY Their Learning – to Complex Problems and Real-World Challenges • Inclusive Excellence • Diversity, equity, quality of learning for all groups of students

19. High Impact Practices • First-Year Seminars and Experiences  • Common Intellectual Experiences • Learning Communities • Writing-Intensive Courses • Collaborative Assignments and Projects

20. High Impact Practices • Undergraduate Research • Diversity/Global Learning • Service Learning, Community-Based Learning • Internships • Capstone Courses and Projects ePortfolios

22. LEAP Principles of Excellence • Principle FiveConnect Knowledge with Choices and Action • Principle SixFoster Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning • Principle SevenAssess Students’ Ability to Apply Learning to Complex Problems • Principle OneAim High—and Make Excellence Inclusive • Principle TwoGive Students a Compass • Principle ThreeTeach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation • Principle FourEngage the Big Questions

23. Why Did AAC&U Join the DQP Effort?

24. Focus on Student Performance Research Projects Papers Performances Creative

25. The DQP Emphasizes.... • Integration of learning • Application of learning

26. The DQPhttp://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/The_Degree_Qualifications_Profile.pdf Specialized Knowledge Broad Integrative Knowledge Intellectual Skills and Abilities Applied Learning Civic Learning

27. The Lumina Degree Profile – in Brief – Outlines Competencies Required for the Award of Degrees

28. The Need? No “consistent public understanding” of what degrees mean.... High Standards do not need standardization!

29. Associates Level Bachelors Level Masters Level

30. An Example...Communication Fluency • Associate Level: The student presents substantially error-free prose in both argumentative and narrative forms to general and specialized audiences • Bachelor’s Level: The student constructs sustained, coherent arguments and/or narratives and/or explications of technical issues and processes, in two media, to general and specialized audiences • Master’s Level: The student creates sustained, coherent arguments or explanations and reflections on his or her work or that of collaborators (if applicable) in two or more media or languages, to both general and specialized audiences

31. The DQP Strategy Moving Students’ Actual Work – and Faculty Judgment – about student progress – to the Center of Attention Assessments Worthy of Our Mission

32. The Five Areas are Interrelated, Not Separate For example: Knowledge and Intellectual skills are integrated in the context of application – e.g. research, field-based assignments, projects, and civic problem-solving

33. Current Realities and Framework Ask Us to Shift from My Work – Each Course is a Silo – to OUR Work – Intentional Practices that Both Develop and Demonstrate Students’ Competence

34. The Work Ahead?

35. The higher ed market is reinventing what a university is, what a course is, what a student is, what value is. I don’t know why anyone would think that the online experience is about reproducing the classroom experience. Richard A. DeMillo Director, Center for the 21st Century University Georgia Institute of Technology

37. Goal: Foster graduates who consider ethics, legal, and socio-cultural issues and use critical thinking in decision-making. Measure : Grades that focus on presentation style, grammar, and citation form and number.

38. We have had our why's, how's, andwhat'supside-down, focusing too much on whatshould be learned, than onhow, and often forgetting the whyaltogether. In a world of nearly infinite information, we must first address why,facilitatehow, and let the whatgenerate naturally from there. Michael Wesch, “From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able,” Academic Commons, January 2009 (academiccommons.org)

39. 4. Have you heard of ePortfolios?

40. ePortfolio Focus

41. What We Know and Have Evidence to Believe Used on over half of American higher education institutions Improve retention and graduation Deepen student learning – retain and integrate information, apply information beyond single course

42. Institutional Usage

43. Institutional Size

44. What is most important to individual respondents? • Fostering reflection • Student responsibility • Tracking growth • Showcasing learning • Self-assessment • Integrative learning

45. Motivation for ePortfolio

46. How e-portfolio ideas and practices have improved or could improve student learning

50. “Could learning e-portfolios encourage students to have deeper, more reflective learning, and stimulate more significant connections across learning experiences?” – University of Oregon We found specific changes in learning and pedagogy occur as a result of participation in e-portfolios