Integrative Learning Integrative Learning

SUMMER/FALLSPRING 2005 2005 VOL. 7, NO. 43

EmergingEmerging trendstrends andand keykey debatesdebates inin undergraduateundergraduate educationeducation

IntegrativeIntegrative LearningLearning

A publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities

Emerging trends and key debates in undergraduate education From the Editor ...... 3 Published by the Association of American Colleges ANALYSIS and Universities © 2005 1818 R Street, NW · Washington, DC 20009 Integrative Learning for Liberal Education Tel. 202.387.3760 · www.aacu.org Mary Taylor Huber, Pat Hutchings, and Richard Gale ...... 4 ISSN: 1541-1389 Integrative Learning and Interdisciplinary Studies Vice President for Communications Julie Thompson Klein ...... 8 and Public Affairs Debra Humphreys Editor PRACTICE Shelley Johnson Carey Integrative Learning and Assessment Associate Editor Ross Miller ...... 11 Michael Ferguson Making Connections: Integrated Learning, Integrated Lives Design & Production Paul Arcario, Bret Eynon, and J. Elizabeth Clark ...... 15 Darbi Bossman Integrative Learning: Coherence out of Chaos Editorial Advisory Board Scott Bierman, Elizabeth Ciner, Jacqulyn Lauer-Glebov, James A. Anderson North Carolina State University Carol Rutz, and Mary Savina ...... 18 Randy Bass Georgetown University Integrative Learning, E-portfolios, and the Transfer Student David A. Berry Michael J. Flower and Terrel L. Rhodes ...... 21 Community College Humanities Association Norman Coombs Rochester Institute of Technology RESEARCH Peter Ewell National Center for Higher Education Integrative Learning Nationwide: Emerging Themes and Practices Management Systems Deborah DeZure, Marcia Babb, and Stephanie Waldmann ...... 24 Ann S. Ferren American University in Bulgaria Mildred García RESOURCES Berkeley College Richard Guarasci AAC&U Calendar ...... 7 Wagner College Highlights of AAC&U Work on Integrative Learning ...... 29 Elise B. Jorgens College of Charleston Adrianna J. Kezar University of Southern California REALITY CHECK Ann Leffler University of Maine Why Integrative Learning? Why Now? Donna Maeda Debra Humphreys ...... 30 Occidental College David E. Maxwell Drake University Catherine Hurt Middlecamp University of Wisconsin–Madison Chandra Talpade Mohanty Hamilton College This issue of Peer Review is supported by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. John P. Nichols Saint Joseph’s College G. Roger Sell Annual subscription rates are $37.80 for individuals and $45 for libraries. Missouri State University Joan Straumanis Single issues are $8/$10; bulk discounts are available. Antioch College For additional information or to place an order, visit us online or call 1.800.297.3775. Beverly Daniel Tatum Spelman College www.aacu.org/peerreview Cover Illustration by Dave Cutler for peerReview. 2 AAC&U Summer/Fall 2005 peerReview

Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Fostering students’ abilities to integrate learning—across courses, over time, and between campus and community life—is one of the most important goals and challenges of higher education. —Statement on Integrative Learning, Association of American Colleges and Universities, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Integrative learning opportunities encourage students of Peer Review, we collaborate with Dave to find the right visual to make connections between their new and existing knowledge, metaphor that will effectively convey the issue’s theme. In the skills, and experiences, which in turn allows them to respond to process of coming to the final idea for this edition’s cover, we the changing needs of society. This issue of Peer Review highlights explored the ideas of using puzzle pieces, connected dots, or tapes- the work produced by Integrative Learning: Opportunities to tries to represent the ideals of integrative learning. Finally we Connect, a joint project of the Association of American Colleges agreed on a concept that symbolizes the essence of integrative and Universities (AAC&U) and the Carnegie Foundation for the learning—a student using the threads from the many components Advancement of Teaching. of an undergraduate education to knit those experiences into the As part of this project, ten campuses were selected compet- cap and gown of an integrated liberal education. The final artwork itively from a pool of 139 applicants to “develop and assess truly captures the spirit of the Integrative Learning Project—stu- advanced models and strategies to help students pursue learn- dents who are able to integrate their learning to make informed ing in more intentional, connected ways.” The ten schools personal, professional, and civic decisions throughout their lives. selected to participate—Carleton College, College of San —SHELLEY JOHNSON CAREY Mateo, LaGuardia Community College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Michigan State University, Philadelphia Greater Expectations Forum on Twenty-First-Century Liberal Arts Educational Practice University, Portland State University, Salve Regina University, State University of New York at Oswego, and University of Working Group on Integrative Learning Charleston—were encouraged to develop new networks, mod- Deborah DeZure Lynne Gilli Michigan State University Maryland State Department of els, and evidence-based arguments to provide students with Education Scott Evenbeck challenging integrative learning opportunities. Indiana University–Purdue Debra Humphreys This edition of Peer Review also draws richly on the work of University, Indianapolis AAC&U the Greater Expectations Forum on Twenty-First-Century Liberal Roy Garcia Julie Thompson Klein South Grand Prairie Wayne State University Arts Educational Practice Working Group on Integrative Learning High School Ross Miller (see box at right). Helen F. Giles-Gee AAC&U Rowan University In addition to the various perspectives on integrative learning Richard Vaz provided in the articles in this issue, I want to draw attention first Worcester Polytechnic Institute to the delightful cover art, created by Dave Cutler. For each issue

Special thanks to Andrea Leskes from the AAC&U Office of Education and Quality Initiatives and Mary Taylor Huber from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching for their guidance in planning and producing this issue.

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By Mary Taylor Huber, senior scholar; Pat Hutchings, vice president; and Richard Gale, senior scholar— all at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

Educators who follow the listserv of the Professional taken together, define a “New Academy that is taking and Organizational Development Network in Higher shape within the old one” through a variety of campus, EEducation (POD)—whose members staff and direct system-wide, and national initiatives. These include a teaching and learning support centers—may have seen new, across-the-curriculum focus on “inquiry and the following query pass over their screens in January intellectual judgment,” a renewed concern with “social this year: “Dear PODers,” wrote Victoria Mundy responsibility and civic engagement,” and a new inter- Bhavsar, “In my discipline (agriculture), we are very est in “integrative learning.” Indeed, they suggest that fond of talking about integrated multidisciplinary learn- integrative learning may one day “take its rightful ing experiences. I imagine other disciplines do this, too. place alongside breadth and depth as a hallmark of a Could I get some reflections on what this might actu- quality undergraduate education” (Schneider 2004, ally mean in practice? Besides making students take a Leskes 2004). whole big lot of classes in several different departments This interest in integrative learning is the focus of and hoping they ‘get it’ by the end!” a partnership between the Carnegie Foundation for the This is the $64,000 question for many educators Advancement of Teaching and AAC&U—a national concerned with the reform of undergraduate education project involving ten campuses, each committed to today. Convinced that undergraduates’ experience has deepening our understanding of this crucial aspect of become too fragmented to prepare them for the com- undergraduate education. One of the first products of plexities of today’s world, educators across the country this work has been a “Statement on Integrative are designing new opportunities to help students put Learning,” which points out: “Integrative learning the pieces together. These innovations and experiments comes in many varieties: connecting skills and knowl- aim to help students connect their learning across edge from multiple sources and experiences; applying fields, and also to integrate classroom work with experi- theory to practice in various settings; utilizing diverse ences in larger campus and community contexts—and and even contradictory points of view; and, understand- to do so in ways that strengthen learning throughout ing issues and positions contextually.” Of course, devel- the college years and beyond. oping such a synthesizing, creative cast of mind has Such work is in keeping with recent thinking by long been a goal of liberal education, albeit one that Carol Geary Schneider and her colleagues at the students have been expected, more often than not, to Association of American Colleges and Universities pick up for themselves. What’s new today is that institu- (AAC&U), who identify three key themes in the “rein- tions are seeking to help students see the larger patterns vention of liberal education” today—themes that, in their college experience, and to pursue their learning

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities in more intentionally connected ways. To This is true of civic life as well. We 2003). To meet these commitments to put it a bit differently, the capacity for inte- no longer live in a world where it is easy integrative learning more fully, and to grative learning—for connection making— to feel in control or empowered to affect meet them for all students, is the difficult has come to be recognized as an important what’s happening in one’s own neighbor- challenge ahead. learning outcome in its own right, not sim- hood, much less in the nation or the ply a hoped-for consequence of the mix of world. Yet at the same time, our per- A Difficult Challenge experiences that constitute undergraduate sonal choices, even the food, clothing, No one should underestimate the difficulty education. and cars we buy, have immediate conse- of this new direction because it runs quences for those far away. Speaking against the grain of many of the most Integrative Learning for about the results of a massive interna- established features of the undergraduate Twenty-First-Century Life tional study of air pollution, University experience. Consider, for example the There are many good reasons for this of New Hampshire scientist Berrien experience of University of Kansas psychol- emphasis, including a new appreciation of Moore said in an interview on the ogist Dan Bernstein, who wants his psy- the importance of integrative learning for NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, “What hap- chology majors to develop “a nuanced contemporary life and thought. Students pens in Beijing will affect Boston, what understanding of the complex origins of headed for professional careers will still happens in Boston will affect Paris, et human action,” but worries that “individual need specialized expertise. But with flexi- cetera. And I think that’s one thing that courses typically promote specialized bility and mobility as watchwords in today’s we will have . . . even as we begin to understanding of one explanatory model”: economy, few college graduates can expect solve local problems, this connectivity of Teachers who are trying to cover as to spend a whole career with the same the planet will come back at us time and much of the course material as possible employer or even in the same line of work. again” (2004). To participate responsibly rarely give assignments that ask stu- Further, the role of interdisciplinary collab- as local citizens, then, people must also dents to step back and compare differ- oration and exchange is growing both within be citizens of the world, aware of com- ent models of human action. Instead and outside the academy. In government, plex interdependencies and able to syn- they typically presume (or hope) that industry, medicine, and higher education thesize information from a wide array of the range of courses required for the alike, problems are vetted and solved by sources, learn from experience, and major will provide an occasion for stu- bringing together people who are trained make connections between theory and dents to make those comparative in different fields. Because of changes in practice. reflections on their own (Bernstein, knowledge and communication practices, Our colleges and universities can play Marx, and Bender 2005, 40). including technological advances and glob- an important role in helping students Clearly Bernstein’s analysis applies well alization, all of us are faced with informa- develop the “integrative arts” necessary for beyond the field of psychology, and the tion that is more complex, fast moving, and meeting today’s challenges (Schneider challenges are not only at the level of the accessible than ever before, challenging 2004), and many campuses already individual course. There are structural the integrative and critical capacities of embrace such a goal. College catalogs arrangements that privilege departmental experts and novices alike. Psychologist make powerful promises about students’ and disciplinary agendas over general Robert Kegan summarizes the scope of the personal and intellectual development as education and interdisciplinary work. issue succinctly in the title of his 1998 book thinkers and citizens—and certainly there Administrative systems that define fac- In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands are inspiring models and existing proof to ulty roles and rewards have been slow to of Modern Life. show what may be possible (Colby et al. recognize interdisciplinary and applied

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities scholarship, not to mention the extra over schoolwork. And a growing proportion On a national tour of campuses today, one efforts involved in designing, teaching, and of students are attending more than one will find linked courses that invite students assessing courses aimed at integrative institution over their college careers to take different perspectives on an impor- learning, and the persistent gaps between (McCormick 2003). By further fracturing tant issue, capstone projects that ask stu- programs in the professions and the liberal undergraduates’ college experience, these dents to draw on learning from earlier arts and sciences, the curriculum and the “swirling” patterns of enrollment make courses to explore a new topic or solve a cocurriculum, and campus and community integrative learning across courses and problem, experiences that combine aca- life. contexts even more difficult. demic and community-based work, or sys- Many of the ways that courses are They suggest, too, that while curricu- tems of journaling and reflection like those delivered and taken encourage faculty and lar changes can do a lot to help students known as learning portfolios. But these students alike to think of learning as dis- connect the dots, such changes cannot be useful examples also serve to highlight one crete, unconnected chunks. As Gerald the only solution. We also need of the next challenges: to link the various Graff explained in the Chronicle of Higher approaches that help students develop sites and strategies for integration by put- Education in 1991, “The classes being these capacities to make connections for ting in place a variety of structures and taught at any moment on a campus repre- themselves. Helping students to become practices that enable students to connect, sent rich potential conversations between more self-aware and purposeful—more say, their first-year learning-communities scholars and across disciplines. But since intentional—about their studies is a pow- experience to a final capstone course or to these conversations are experienced as a erful idea, and it is, in our view, the key to study abroad in the junior year. In order to series of monologues, the possible links are fostering integrative learning. be truly effective for students, integrative apparent only to the minority of students learning must be not an isolated event but who can connect disparate ideas on their Intentional Integration a regular part of intellectual life. own.” Faculty often talk about valuing the Integrative learning does not just hap- As the articles and examples in this transferability of knowledge and the mean- pen—though it may come more easily for issue of Peer Review attest, combinations ing making that occurs when students link some than for others. Whether one is talk- of such designs can be found in institu- diverse ideas from multiple sources, ing about making connections within a tions of all types and persuasions. classes, courses, and disciplines—but major, between fields, between curriculum Although each has a unique approach teaching for such outcomes can be difficult, and cocurriculum, or between academic growing out of campus mission and his- and is rarely explicit. knowledge and practice, integrative learn- tory, there are common threads. Most Exacerbating this tacit message of ing requires work. Of course, students institutions that have made headway are fragmentation is the increasing complexity must play an important role in making this creating new and varied opportunities for of students’ lives. According to the U.S. happen, but their success depends in large integrative learning, engaging students in Department of Education, traditional stu- part on commitment and creativity from reflection on their learning, involving fac- dents entering college full-time right after everyone involved. ulty in teaching that nurtures integrative high school, supported by parents or work- To support integration, many colleges arts, and building campus-wide interest ing only part-time, now account for only 27 and universities are developing new kinds and experience in assessment. percent of undergraduates; and more than of institutional scaffolding within and If there is a through-line, in all these 40 percent in 1999–2000 were more than between their general education programs initiatives, it is the importance for every- twenty-four years old. Many have families (breadth), their majors (depth), and—in one involved of being intentional about and jobs that necessarily take precedence many cases—campus and community life. pursuing integrative learning goals.

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Indeed, as Carnegie Foundation President world. Such an approach will not only In addition to its annual meeting, Lee Shulman reminded participants in deepen our collective understanding of AAC&U offers a series of work- the Integrative Learning Project in July how students learn to integrate their ing conferences and institutes 2004, there’s a sense in which all learning undergraduate experiences and what that each year. Additional information about the upcoming meetings is integrative—the real questions are “might actually mean in practice”; it will listed below is available online at around what, for what purposes, and how give us the tools and knowledge and net- www.aacu.org/meetings. intentionally integration is sought. It is works necessary to go beyond “hoping hard to think of a college course or cur- they ‘get it’ by the end.” ■ Network for Academic riculum that could not be taught or Renewal Meetings designed—and taken—with integrative This article draws on a publication by October 20–22, 2005 learning in mind. Mary Taylor Huber and Pat Hutchings, Integrative Learning: We conclude by returning to the Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain Creating Opportunities to Connect $64,000 question with which this article (Association of American Colleges and Denver, Colorado began. “Could I get some reflections on Universities. 2004). what this might actually mean in practice?” November 10–12, 2005 This is the winning question not only References The Civic Engagement Imperative: because of its focus but also because it was Bernstein, D., M. S. Marx, and H. Bender. 2005. Disciplining the minds of students. Student Learning and the asked in a public forum. It is a reminder Change 37 (2): 36–43. Public Good that efforts to strengthen programs that Colby, A., T. Ehrlich, E. Beaumont, and J. Providence, Rhode Island foster integration need not, and should not, Stephens. 2003. Educating citizens: Preparing America’s undergraduates for AAC&U CALENDAR be pursued alone. Too often, good work in lives of moral and civic responsibility. San March 9–11, 2006 Francisco: Jossey-Bass. teaching and learning remains with its cre- General Education and Graff, G. Colleges are depriving students of a ators, unavailable for others to consult, Outcomes That Matter in a connected view of scholarship. Chronicle review, and build on and inaccessible to of Higher Education. (February 13, 1991). Changing World those who really want the help. Colleagues— Leskes, A. 2004. Foreword to Integrative learn- Phoenix, Arizona ing: Mapping the terrain, by M. T. Huber and campuses—need to work together, and P. Hutchings. Washington, DC: sharing what they are finding out about Association of American Colleges and April 20–22, 2006 Universities. integrative learning, developing new Learning and Technology: McCormick, A. C. 2003. Swirling and double- Implications for Liberal assignments for fostering integration, creat- dipping: New patterns of student atten- Education and the Disciplines ing new models for assessing outcomes, dance and their implications for higher education. New Directions for Higher Seattle, Washington and building on one another’s insights and Education 121:13–24. accomplishments. Moore, Berrien. 2004. Interview by Betty Ann Bowser. The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. AAC&U’s Annual Meeting Local efforts can be reinvigorated PBS. September 9. through participation in a community of Schneider, C. G. 2004. Practicing liberal educa- January 25–28, 2006 educators working toward similar goals, tion: Formative themes in the reinvention Demanding Excellence: of liberal learning. Liberal Education 90 Liberal Education in an Era of and that community, in turn, can con- (2): 6–11. Global Competition, Anti- tribute to building knowledge that informs Intellectualism, and Disinvestment efforts to foster integrative learning at Washington, DC colleges and universities around the

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By Julie Thompson Klein, professor of humanities in interdisciplinary studies, Wayne State University

Heightened interest in integrative learning and inter- The meaning of integration expanded in the twen- disciplinary studies has led many to wonder about the tieth century. At the postsecondary level, integrating relationship between these concepts. “Integrative learn- disciplines and developing the “whole” person were pri- Hing” is the broader of the two. It is an umbrella term mary values in the general education movement that for structures, strategies, and activities that bridge arose in the opening decades, though interdisciplinary numerous divides, such as high school and college, gen- models differed on whether the proper locus was the eral education and the major, introductory and content of texts in a prescribed curriculum or the advanced levels, experiences inside and outside the process of knowing and understanding contemporary classroom, theory and practice, and disciplines and problems. In K–12, integration was associated in the fields. “Interdisciplinary” studies is a subset of integra- 1920s with the Progressivists’ social democratic vision tive learning that fosters connections among disciplines of education centered on students’ personal and social and interdisciplinary fields. This essay examines histori- concerns, and the term “integrated curriculum” was cal and pedagogical links between integrative learning linked with the project approach. It also appeared in and interdisciplinary studies. conjunction with the core curriculum movement in the 1930s, with problem-centered cores in the 1940s and Historical Perspective 1950s, and at several points with a broad-fields Neither integration nor interdisciplinarity is new. A approach, skills across subjects, and child-centered, Working Group on Integrative Learning formed activity-based, and experience-based curricula. through the Association of American Colleges and (Ciccorico 1970, 62; Beane 1997, 2–3, 28–29; Klein Universities’ Greater Expectations initiative traced 2002, 5–6). underlying ideas of connection and synthesis to ancient A key distinction emerged as well. By the mid- philosophy (2003). The earliest notable uses of the term 1920s, organismic and Gestalt psychologists had intro- “integration” in modern history appeared in books on duced the notion of an integrated personality and principles of psychology by Herbert Spencer (1855) described processes by which individuals seek unity and William James (1896) and in Alexis Bertrand’s the- (Beane 1997, 2). Subsequently, at a 1935 meeting, ory of integrated instruction (1898). In the 1800s, inte- sponsored by the National Education Association, and a gration was also linked with the role schools play in 1937 book called Integration: Its Meaning and promoting social unity, and the Herbartian movement’s Application (Hopkins 1937), participants concluded doctrine of correlation, which supplemented the doc- that complete unity was impossible. They proposed trine of concentration by recognizing “natural relations” thinking in terms of “unifying,” not “unified,” among subjects (Ciccorico 1970, 60). approaches. At a 1948 workshop sponsored by the

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Foundation for Integrative Education, par- learning cannot be attained by studying of disciplinary perspectives and synthesis ticipants distinguished content integration, subjects separately. The movement toward are often missing. Additive models also in bridging physical sciences with arts and a “brain-based” approach in education fur- unfold on the ground of disciplinary logic, letters, from process integration, in the thered the case, buoyed by research indi- preserving existing compartmentalizations, interplay of an individual and an environ- cating the brain is a parallel processor that content, and procedures. In contrast, inter- ment. They also distinguished integration makes meaning by patterning (Klein 1990, disciplinary models restructure the curricu- as synthesizing accepted postulates from 24–25; Beane 1997, 15–18). lum with explicitly integrative seminars and integrative building of new conceptual Three added catalysts exist today experiences that are typically theme-, prob- modes capable of producing a holistic across the entire educational spectrum. lem-, or question-based. Team teaching is experience. Technical distinctions were not The first is the “knowledge explosion.” A also genuinely collaborative. observed uniformly, but an important shift profound increase in the number of spe- There is no unique or single pedagogy in thinking had occurred: from single cialties and fields has exacerbated the for integrative interdisciplinary learning. structures or teaching methods and linking problem of fragmentation, accelerating Recalling the role faculty in experimental disciplinary categories to integrative learn- calls for connection-making. The second is colleges played in developing both interdis- ing processes (Ciccorico 1970, 60–61; heightened problem focus. As Debra ciplinary curricula and integrative pedago- Taylor 1969, 130). Humphreys notes in this issue, complex gies, William Newell highlights intersec- In the latter half of the century, the problems in our work lives and in society tions in collaborative and experiential learn- two concepts were sometimes conflated require us to draw upon multiple areas of ing, learning communities, living/learning and sometimes opposed. Writers on social knowledge. The third is educational communities, and multicultural learning. science research and higher education con- reform, linking the two concepts with a All of these approaches draw from multiple trasted “interdisciplinary” generalizing and family of complementary pedagogies. perspectives on a complex phenomenon for connecting current knowledge formations insights that can be integrated into a richer, with constructing new “integrative” concepts that raise epistemological questions, There is no unique or single pedagogy for such as the paradigms of “area” and “gen- der.” In K–12, “curriculum integration” integrative interdisciplinary learning. reappeared in the closing decades as a generic term for varied approaches that draw on more than one subject or disci- Integrative Interdisciplinary more comprehensive understanding. In pline, including “thematic studies,” “multi- Pedagogies integrative learning, perspectives emanate disciplinary” and “multisubject” designs, The intersection of integration and interdis- from disciplines, cultures, subcultures, or integrated units, skills across the curricu- ciplinarity hinges on a crucial distinction. life experiences. In interdisciplinary stud- lum, a social-problems approach to science Multidisciplinary approaches align subjects ies, Newell stipulates, the perspectives education, and combined constructs of or disciplines in parallel schedules or units. come solely from disciplines, though today “social studies” and “whole language.” However, students do not necessarily have they may also come from interdisciplinary Several groups also advocated integration, integrative experiences. Even when team fields and paradigms. One of the distinc- including early childhood educators and teaching occurs, the teachers present their tive features about experiential colleges, proponents of outcomes-based education perspectives separately. Students gain he adds, was combining strategies. A who argued that sophisticated levels of breadth of knowledge, but explicit analysis course in a living/learning community

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities might draw on several disciplines (interdis- the subject” (1995) captures the movement spectives. The relational skills they gain ciplinary study), cultures (multicultural teachers make beyond existing subjects and also foster the ability to adapt knowledge learning) and field experiences (service disciplines as they connect knowledge, in unexpected and changing contexts. The learning), while using collaborative and information, methods, concepts, and theo- answers they seek and the problems they traditional learning formats (2001, ries in order to achieve a more comprehen- will need to solve as workers, parents, 196–98). sive understanding. The process is con- and citizens are not “in the book.” They The volume Innovations in Inter- structivist at heart. Students are engaged in will require integrative interdisciplinary disciplinary Teaching underscores the “making meaning.” Application of knowl- thinking. ■ “multiplicative power” of integrative strate- edge takes precedence over acquisition and gies identified by Newell. The book high- mastery of facts alone, activating a dynamic References lights correspondences between interdisci- process of question posing, problem posing Beane, J. A. 1997. Curriculum integration: Designing the core of democratic education. plinarity and collaborative learning, femi- and solving, decision making, higher-order New York: Teachers College Press. nist pedagogy, learning communities, mul- critical thinking, and reflexivity. Ciccorico, E. W. 1970. Integration in the cur- ticultural pedagogy, team teaching, writing- A set of core capacities emerges from riculum. Main Currents in Modern Thought 27 (November/December): intensive teaching, inquiry- and discovery- the intersection of the two concepts: 60–62. based teaching, and performance-based ■ the ability to ask meaningful questions Davis, J. R. 1995. Interdisciplinary courses and teaching (Haynes 2002). The following about complex issues and problems team teaching: New arrangements for learning. Phoenix, AZ: American Council strategies also appear across all types of ■ the ability to locate multiple sources on Education/Oryx. institutions today: of knowledge, information, and Haynes, C., ed. 2003. Innovations in interdisciplinary teaching. ■ Westport, CT: team teaching and team planning perspectives Oryx/Greenwood Press. ■ ■ clustered and linked courses, learning the ability to compare and contrast Hopkins, L. T. 1937. Integration: Its meaning communities them to reveal patterns and and application. New York: D. Appleton- Century. ■ interdisciplinary core seminars at connections Klein, J. T. 1990. Interdisciplinarity: History, introductory and capstone levels ■ the ability to create an integrative theory, and practice. Detroit: Wayne State ■ thematic or problem focus in courses framework and a more holistic University Press. ■ proactive attention to integration and understanding Klein, J. T., ed. 2002. Interdisciplinary education in K–12 and college: A foundation for K–16 synthesis, with process models theories Contextuality, conflict, and change dialogue. New York: The College Board. and methods from interdisciplinary are the defining parameters of this kind Newell, W. H. 2001. Powerful pedagogies. In Reinventing ourselves: Interdisciplinary fields of learning. Contextuality is a different education, collaborative learning, and ■ collaborative learning in projects and metaphor of knowledge and education experimentation in higher education, ed. B. L. Smith and J. McCann, 196–211. Bolton, problem-based case studies than unity, which assumed consistent, MA: Anker Press. ■ integrative learning portfolios logical relations within a linear framework Taylor, A. 1996. Integrative principles and the Integrative interdisciplinarity recon- with the expectation of achieving cer- educational process. Main Currents in Modern Thought 25 (May/June): 126–33. ceptualizes the roles of teacher and student tainty and universality. Contextuality Working Group. 2003. Integrative learning: alike. The traditional teaching functions of accepts the contingent character of Building capacities to connect. Internal report, Association of American Colleges telling, delivering, directing, and being a knowledge and action. Students need to and Universities. sage on the stage are replaced by the models tolerate ambiguity and paradox if they are of mentor, mediator, facilitator, coach, and to take grounded stands in the face of guide. James Davis’s image of “inventing multiple and sometimes conflicting per-

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By Ross Miller, director of programs, Office of Education and Quality Initiatives, Association of American Colleges and Universities

Integrative learning is an ambitious student learning goal, feedback to students. As with any complex learning, long espoused in higher education and in the world at repeated experiences over time, with expert formative Ilarge. It is also a goal that for too long has depended upon feedback, are likely needed to foster integrative learning. serendipity rather than planning in its achievement and is (Teachers will also benefit from repeated experiences in often not included as an element in assessments. But if a assessment, which over time will improve the validity college or university is committed to integrative learning and reliability of integrative learning assessments.) as an expected outcome, it must create intentional The development and use of rubrics for scoring approaches to providing integrative experiences and complex student work is gaining acceptance. Grant P. assessing the quality of student integrative achievement. Wiggins suggests that rubrics used for any purpose For learning in virtually all disciplinary and skill acquire meaning for students when they see the rubric areas, as high levels of achievement are reached, discrim- in use on actual examples of work (1993, 53). If work is ination of levels of quality becomes increasingly difficult. assigned to students with integrative outcomes as an What is good writing or a good musical performance expectation, instructors must have thought through according to one expert is, according to another, average what those outcomes will “look like” in enough detail to or poor. Such differences in assessment may derive from be able to separate the high-quality work from the tacit differences in standards or the elements considered lesser, and to explain their judgments in ways that will during the assessment—differences that must be help students to improve. Leading students through a resolved for more consistent judgments to be made. sample scoring process of an actual piece of work will Evaluation experts pursue reliability in measure- contribute to student understanding and success. ment through clear definitions, training of evaluators, and well-designed problems that elicit evidence of learn- Clear Definitions, Shared Expectations ing. Approaching the intentional achievement and assess- The term “integrative learning” represents many differ- ment of integrative learning (or any other complex learn- ent behaviors that can range from the simple and coming outcome) requires similar care. Those fostering the monplace to the complex and original. “Making connec- learning should agree upon clear definitions and desired tions” among learning experiences begins in early child- outcomes and share their expectations with learners; cre- hood and continues throughout life. During college- ate engaging, authentic assignments ripe with integrative level study, integrative learning can involve possibilities to gather evidence of student accomplish- ■ usefully blending knowledge and skills from ment; and hone their skills of discrimination and expla- different disciplinary areas, as in a learning nation to provide meaningful formative and summative community;

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities ■ putting theory into practice, as in a planning and implementing intentional ■ Unsatisfactory: connection among student teaching semester or nursing learning and assessment. readings, experiences, etc., rather clinical practice; general (Oates and Leavitt 2003, ■ considering multiple perspectives to Assessment Tools for Different Kinds 24–25.) advance collaborative problem solv- of Integrative Learning ing, as in a senior capstone project A few examples of assessments and concep- Multi-Definition Rubric completed by a team of students tual frameworks used by different campuses Bowling Green State University provides from different majors; will illustrate how some are defining and faculty and students with rubrics to be ■ adapting the skills learned in one situa- fostering integrative learning. Because each used (or adapted) for assessment of univer- tion to problems encountered in campus or program will likely define for sity learning outcomes. “Connection” itself another, as when a business student itself what integrative learning means, these is not specified as a learning outcome—it is conducts market research to help a assessments are offered as potential models viewed as an important means of achieving community agency estimate the poten- for adapting, not simply adopting. Aligning specified outcomes. The “connection” tial client load for a new branch office; local assessments with the educational expe- rubric begins with a definition: ■ reflecting upon connections made riences that students have is required to “Connecting” is the essence of creative over time among academic, cocurric- assure reasonable validity of assessments. problem solving, shown in synthesizing ular, and preprofessional experiences, knowledge within and across courses, as when a student writes reflective Modest Beginnings integrating theory and practice, linking essays in a multiyear portfolio; Checking for the presence of integrative academic and life experiences, and ■ “Across-the-curriculum” integration thinking or action in student work and rating relating one’s self and culture to of skills with learning in disciplinary its quality is a simple tactic for assessment. diverse cultures within the U.S. and or interdisciplinary settings, as when In this case, assessment of integration globally. (See www.bgsu.edu/offices/ writing and quantitative skills are becomes one element within a longer assess- provost/Assessment/Connect.htm.) used in history or women’s studies. ment rubric. The assessment checklist for The rubric presents four levels of Given the variety of behaviors represented the introductory essay of a portfolio created achievement with descriptive statements by the concept of integrative learning, a first in a learning community at New Century for each level that cite elements of the def- step toward assessment of student outcomes College at George Mason University inition (although not verbatim). The rubric must be to define what a particular campus includes a check box for “connections also allows multiple kinds of integrative or program actually expects students to do across” course experiences as one element behavior to contribute toward a particular as integrative learners. A professional pro- among six assessed. The portfolio assessor, in level. Levels 1 and 4 are shown in figure 1. gram might commit to “putting theory into reviewing the essay, would check one of the The full rubric also includes levels 2 practice,” while a science program might following statements to match his or her (novice) and 3 (proficient). For a more focus on connections among science disci- assessment of the quality of student work: analytic approach, one could alter the plines. Institutions might commit to one ■ Excellent: consistently makes insightful rubric and scoring instructions to have the kind of integrative learning for all students, connections across course assessor indicate both the kind(s) and the while programs might have additional, dif- ■ Satisfactory: makes insightful con- quality of integration observed. Such an ferent integrative goals specified for their nections across course experiences assessment could then guide formative own graduates. Defining goals for integra- ■ Adequate: makes connection conversations and work about improving tive learning is a vital first step toward between/among ideas/experiences specific kinds of integrative behavior.

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Integration During Performance ■ Lessons incorporate insights from advancement . . . in ways that would have Observing students during field placements other disciplines (State University of been unlikely through single disciplinary often results in seeing them integrate theory New York at Stony Brook) means,” she selects three dimensions as the with practice. Student teaching assessment Observation forms often contain Likert- foundation for assessment: forms may list a variety of desired teaching style rating scales along with spaces for 1. Disciplinary grounding (Have behaviors, many of which are integrative. written comments that guide a coaching appropriate disciplines been Following are some examples of how differ- conversation following the observation. selected for the work and are the ent institutions describe these behaviors: concepts used in accurate ways?) ■ Connects lessons to learning stan- Authenticity, Analysis, and Synthesis 2. Integrative leverage (Has a new dards (State University of New York In an insightful analysis of students’ interdis- understanding been generated that at Stony Brook) ciplinary work, Veronica Boix Mansilla sug- would not have been possible using ■ Articulates connection among con- gests using three factors to assess the quality a single discipline?) cepts, procedures, and applications of integration (2005, 18–21). Working from a 3. Critical stance (Is the goal of the (Pennsylvania State University) definition of “interdisciplinary understand- work significant and does the inte- ■ Demonstrates the ability to integrate ing” as “the capacity to integrate knowledge gration withstand critique?) content across the curriculum and modes of thinking drawn from two or Mansilla argues that a student’s think- (University of Delaware) more disciplines to produce a cognitive ing must be “made visible” in order for assessment of integration to be possible, suggesting that writing about the knowledge Figure 1. Levels of achievement with descriptive statements produced and reflecting on the work are two possibilities. Given the generic nature Level 1 Connection (Beginner) of the areas suggested for assessment, this ■ Describe similarities and differences in a collection or set of items model could be developed for many differ- ■ Categorize items or observations into groups ent kinds of integrative work. While ■ Recognize simple links among topics or concepts in a course Mansilla suggests that “the goal of quality ■ Offer accurate definitions of terms and concepts interdisciplinary student work is to produce ■ Describe the setting (e.g., context, environment, culture, domain) in which a cognitive advancement,” the affective and connections are being made aesthetic outcomes of student integrative Level 4 Connection (Advanced) learning can reinforce and motivate stu- ■ Identify ways to reconcile diverse or conflicting priorities, viewpoints, or options dents to persist or even increase their learn- ■ Call attention to something that has not been adequately noticed by others (e.g., ing efforts and should not be ignored. a subtle or deep relationship, novel findings or interpretations, the context or frame of reference) More on Writing ■ Apply frameworks from multiple domains of knowledge and practice to create Christopher R. Wolfe and Carolyn something (e.g., business plan, musical composition, thesis, capstone paper, Haynes (2004, 126–169) developed the research project) “Interdisciplinary Writing Assessment ■ Integrate diverse elements into a product, performance or artifact that fits its Profiles” to delve deeply into the quality context coherently of interdisciplinary student work. They view this tool as having potential to guide See www.bgsu.edu/offices/provost/Assessment/Connect.htm

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities students in planning interdisciplinary writing three categories assessed in interdisciplinary www.units.muohio.edu/aisorg/pubs/reports/ as well as providing data for program assess- integration appear in figure 2. InterdisWritingProfile.pdf. ment. The detailed procedure includes four Clear scoring instructions guide the dimensions, two of which could be adapted details of the assessment process developed Toward Intentional Learning and to assessment of integrative learning: multi- by Wolfe and Haynes. The profiles, along Assessment disciplinary perspectives and interdiscipli- with scoring instructions and validity and A well-written assessment tool represents a nary integration. Scoring statements for the reliability information, can be found at substantial amount of analytic and strategic thinking, all of which, when shared in Figure 2. Excerpted Scoring Instructions from “Interdisciplinary Writing thoughtful ways among students and fac- Assessment Profiles” (Wolfe and Haynes 2003) ulty, can contribute to improved learning INTERDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION and teaching. The examples and conceptual Creating Common Ground (Category 1) frameworks presented here provide inter- ■ Presents a clear rationale for taking an interdisciplinary approach. esting possibilities for creating assessment ■ Assumptions from more than one discipline are made explicit and compared. tools for integrative learning of many kinds ■ Compares and/or contrasts disciplinary perspectives. that will serve individual campus needs. ■ The problem is explicitly defined in neutral terms that encourage contributions While developing assessments is difficult from more than one discipline. analytical work, that work can be greatly ■ Creates a common vocabulary that can be applied to the object of study. leveraged to improve teaching and learning New Holistic Understanding (Category 2) by using the assessments to alert students ■ One or more novel metaphors are presented. at the start of an assignment to precise ■ A preexisting metaphor is used or applied in a novel way. expectations for their work and elements ■ One or more novel models are presented. critical to assessment. Assessments can also ■ A preexisting model is used or applied in a novel way. provide formative advice as students ■ A new theoretical interpretation or understanding is presented which explicitly develop their projects. Finally, campuses draws on more than one discipline. can use assessments to inform students and faculty of the achievements to be celebrated Application of the New Holistic Understanding (Category 3) and the deficiencies to be improved. ■ ■ The new metaphor, interpretation, or model is applied to a new situation or phenomenon. References ■ The new metaphor, interpretation, or model is applied in a novel way to an Mansilla, V. B. 2005. Assessing student work at established “text,” situation, or phenomenon. disciplinary crossroads. Change 37 (January/February): 14–21. ■ The new metaphor, interpretation, or model is explicitly tested through observation, Oates, K. K., and L. H. Leavitt. 2003. Service- data collection, or lived experience and reflection. learning and learning communities: ■ The new metaphor, interpretation, or model is used in a significant way to guide Tools for integration and assessment. Washington, DC: Association of American inquiry. Colleges and Universities. ■ The new metaphor, interpretation, or model is tested by using it to solve a problem. Wiggins, G. P. 1993. Assessing student perform- ■ Interdisciplinary theory is used to assess the approach taken. ance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Wolfe, C. R., and Haynes, C. 2003. Note: If credit was not given for any category 2 [above] items, then credit is possible Interdisciplinary writing assessment profiles. only for the last point (Interdisciplinary Theory). Issues in Integrative Studies 21, 126–169.

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By Paul Arcario, dean of academic affairs; Bret Eynon, assistant dean of academic affairs and director, LaGuardia Center for Teaching and Learning; and J. Elizabeth Clark, associate professor—all at LaGuardia Community College

On any given day on the campus of LaGuardia first year at the college and using electronic student Community College, most students come to us from portfolios, or e-portfolios, LaGuardia aims to help stu- jobs, from other schools, and from caring for families dents overcome fragmentation and make the connec- Oand children. The college educates New Yorkers of all tions that are vital for personal growth and academic backgrounds, ages, and means and helps students success. Moreover, as LaGuardia works to explore and become full participants in the city’s economic and implement integrated learning on its own campus, it is civic life. Approximately 65 percent of LaGuardia stu- also encouraging other City University of New York dents are female, more than 65 percent are immi- (CUNY) campuses to connect previously disparate grants, and more than 75 percent are students of color. classes into an intellectual whole. The campus bristles with energy as people hurry to LaGuardia’s students make this task particularly classes, the library, and computer labs, and then rush fascinating and important. As the swell of new immigra- off campus to their next commitment. The college tion has reshaped New York City, and Queens has serves twelve thousand matriculated students and become the Lower East Side of the twenty-first cen- another twenty-eight thousand in continuing educa- tury, LaGuardia has been transformed. At last count, tion. Many students struggle under the load of full- LaGuardia students originate from 158 different coun- time jobs and full-time class schedules, barely manag- tries—including Columbia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, ing to meet the demands of each. In their hurried Rumania, and Thailand—and speak 108 different first approach to education, students often miss the oppor- languages. The institutional mission revolves around tunities to find critical intersections between their per- meeting the needs of this incredible student body. sonal, professional, and educational lives. As passen- LaGuardia treasures its diversity, and recognizes that it gers on life’s express train, they usually don’t have time translates into a campus of students who have been tra- to get off and make those connections. ditionally underserved by the educational system. In Working with the Integrated Learning Project many cases, this leads to significant underpreparation in (ILP), a three-year initiative of the Carnegie key academic areas. In 2002, for example, 90 percent of Foundation and the Association of American Colleges entering students required at least one developmental and Universities (AAC&U), LaGuardia seeks to trans- skills course in reading, writing, or mathematics. And form the hurried, fragmented nature of our students’ many of our students are undergoing a challenging education by creating substantial, integrated connec- acculturation process, navigating the landscapes of tions between their courses and helping them link college life, an intense city, and a fast-changing new coursework to the rest of their lives. Restructuring the society—all at the same time.

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities The E-portfolio Initiative Although LaGuardia only has a three- use her previous medical training at the LaGuardia’s work with the Integrated year history with the e-portfolio project, University of In-Je in Pusan, Korea, in the Learning Project seeks to serve the needs two thousand students are already actively context of her present work as a visual of these students from two complemen- building their e-portfolios. Feedback shows artist and as a student in art therapy at tary directions. The first part of the proj- that students are enthusiastic about this LaGuardia. Kang’s e-portfolio—now in its ect, the e-portfolio initiative, provides stu- opportunity to learn new technology skills, fourth iteration—demonstrates her dents with a tool for collecting their aca- and are particularly interested in using it to progress toward integrated learning as demic work and their reflections on their connect classroom and lived experience. she pulls her past, present, and future learning, and for sharing their portfolios Meanwhile, institutional examination of into a seamless whole, building on her on the Internet. Students begin depositing student work at the college has begun to two passions: art and medicine. Kang’s work in the e-portfolio in their first show interesting changes. Rather than work, and the work of others like her, semesters at the college and continually viewing our students through test scores helps us understand the role of reflection refine their presentations as they move and retention rates, we have begun to see as a key element of integrated learning. forward, each time looking to reflect on students creating virtual representations of Each day, LaGuardia students find new and understand the process of growth and their lives and work. Students have inte- ways to connect identity and learning. improvement. Reflective personal essays encourage students to explore their The First Year Academies changing sense of themselves. Designed Rather than viewing The second part of LaGuardia’s ILP com- to help students connect classroom, our students through plements and supports the first. The First career, and personal goals and experi- Year Academies, a combination of linked ences, the e-portfolio moves students test scores and courses and cocurricular activities, offer toward not only integrated learning, but all LaGuardia students the opportunity to also more integrated lives. retention rates, we take advantage of interdisciplinary faculty Funded by the Title V program of the collaboration in their first and their sec- U.S. Department of Education, the have begun to see ond semesters at the college. Creating LaGuardia e-portfolio is a multifaceted innovative learning community structures structure. It prompts students to take students creating designed to help new students success- more responsibility for their learning fully adjust to college life, the academies while also providing faculty with snap- virtual representations also provide training and support as stu- shots of student growth that can help dents launch their initial e-portfolios. them better understand individual stu- of their lives and work. The First Year Academies bring dents as well as the broader process of together the best of LaGuardia’s his- learning and teaching. Meanwhile, at the grated original paintings, drawings, oral tory—drawing on the college’s expertise institutional level, the e-portfolio also lays interviews, family photographs, poetry, with learning communities, basic skills important groundwork for a more holistic annotated resumes, and a range of classes instructions, and the first-year experience. outcomes assessment process that exam- and projects that represent who they are as Developed by a faculty committee, the ines student work as a way of identifying students and emerging scholars. The e- academy structure provides students with and pursuing possibilities for improved portfolio has proven to be a versatile tool a more cohesive academic experience and instruction. that allows a student like Kyoung Kang to allows basic-skills students to move more

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities quickly toward substantial engagement The e-portfolio will be an integral ele- willing to meet the challenges involved in with content courses. When the program ment of the academy structure, supporting transforming learning and teaching at is fully operational, new students will students and faculty as they make connec- LaGuardia. select one of three academies tions between classes. In both semesters of Moreover, we have found ways to (Business/Technology, Liberal Arts, or the academy, students will take a “Studio spread the benefits of the Integrated Allied Health and Sciences) and take four Hour,” in which they learn about e-portfo- Learning Project beyond the boundaries linked courses designed by faculty to lio technology and build initial e-portfolios of LaGuardia, reaching out to the entire reflect the themes of that academy. to showcase their work in all of their acad- seventeen-campus system of CUNY. In For example, students in the emy classes. After the first year, students January 2005, Bret Eynon launched a six- Business/Technology Academy will take will continue their e-portfolios by collecting month CUNY Research Seminar on Introduction to Business or Introduction to work created in their urban studies class, Integrated Learning, drawing together fac- Computers, a themed developmental which is a required course of study for all ulty development leaders from fourteen English course, and a themed New Student LaGuardia students. In the future, they campuses for a series of discussions Seminar in their first semester. In their sec- will create a final portfolio in capstone exploring issues raised in the national proj- ond semester, they’ll take a Fundamentals courses in their major, providing them with ect and considering possible applications of Professional Advancement Seminar for an opportunity to pause and review their at CUNY. In May, the CUNY Task Force Business/Technology students. Their growth over the entire course of their time on General Education and CUNY’s new Introduction to Computers or Introduction at the college. executive vice chancellor for academic to Business course will serve as an anchor, The national Integrated Learning affairs, Selma Botman, sponsored a highly setting key themes and engaging students Project has offered LaGuardia a chance successful day-long conference on inte- with major concepts and disciplinary think- to think, work, and connect with other grated learning and its implications. Held ing in their major. Basic Skills faculty recon- colleges. In November 2004, we brought at LaGuardia and featuring twenty-four textualize writing as a practice associated members of the Portland State workshops from sixteen campuses, the with the major. The New Student Seminar University (PSU) ILP team to LaGuardia conference was keynoted by AAC&U provides support for students in critical for three days to meet with our entire Senior Scholar Lee Knefelkamp, who areas such as study skills, course planning, faculty and discuss PSU’s first-year stud- spoke to a standing-room-only audience on and career planning. ies program, their use of e-portfolios, integrated learning and integrated lives. The academies are growing steadily in and their innovative assessment program. Our participation in the Integrative size. In spring 2004, the college piloted four In January 2005, we visited the College Learning Project benefits not only our Business/Technology Academy learning of San Mateo, along with other members twelve thousand students, but all of the communities; in 2004–5, the college has run of the ILP group, to learn about their CUNY campuses—the nation’s largest nine Business/Technology Academy learning math learning communities. While there, urban education system —and offers an communities, two Allied Health learning one of the authors copresented with exciting opportunity to extend our work communities, and four Liberal Arts learning Portland State, comparing our and transform undergraduate education in communities. Over the next three years, approaches to e-portfolios. When faculty New York City and beyond. ■ LaGuardia seeks to move toward including see our project in a national perspec- all of the college’s incoming matriculated tive—understanding that integrated © Copyright retained by authors, 2005 students into learning communities housed learning is an important conceptual in one of its three academies. approach to education—they are more

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By Scott Bierman, dean of the college and professor of economics; Elizabeth Ciner, associate dean of the college and senior lecturer in English; Jacqulyn Lauer-Glebov, assistant director of institutional research and coordinator of educational assessment; Carol Rutz, director of the College Writing Program and senior lecturer in English; and Mary Savina, Humphrey Doermann Professor of Liberal Learning, coordinator of Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, and McBride Professor of Geology and Environmental Studies—all at Carleton College

Carleton prides itself on its lean administration, dedi- Important Early Insights cated faculty, strong programs, and impressive students. Carleton’s ILP had its origins in two observations that Perhaps because of these strengths, Carleton is more at first seem in opposition to one another. The first was Clikely to trust its administration, faculty, and students to that too often faculty were trying to deliver a complete fulfill institutional objectives and less likely to micro- liberal arts education to every student in every class. manage. The result is a creative, dynamic, well-inte- However—and this is the second observation—stu- grated institution where everyone works very hard. dents did not necessarily connect their work in individ- Maybe too hard. ual courses to overarching educational goals. Each Participation in the Integrative Learning Project course was a thing of beauty, set apart from the whole (ILP), cosponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for of a student’s college education. the Advancement of Teaching and the Association of To address the first observation, we developed a American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), has skills matrix. Along one axis of this matrix are the skills given Carleton the chance to examine how it deliv- and knowledge we want students to develop. Along the ers learning. Doing so has begun to show us that our second axis are our classes. By identifying the corre- casual coordination of teaching and learning, while spondence between skills and classes, we can effec- in many ways highly integrated and successful, risks tively identify where and how often students have exhausting the people upon whose efforts the insti- opportunities to work on key skills. Information gained tution most relies. Assessment of the status quo during the first stage of our ILP confirms that every- requires concomitant assessment of the mechanisms one is spread thin, but it also suggests that course that make the status quo possible. In our case, we design can be conceptualized strategically. If everyone are learning that our history of semi-controlled in a department typically assigns short papers, we can chaos often bears high costs, notably the potential depend on students having done short papers in intro- for burnout among all constituent groups. As such, ductory and intermediate classes and eliminate them participation in the Integrated Learning Project from our upper-level classes. If upper-level classes challenges us to tease out the mechanisms that actu- require research, we can use a junior-level methods ally integrate Carleton’s institutional values for all class to ramp up experiences that prepare students for stakeholders. independent research.

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities The geology department pioneered spective, there has been substantial syn- Transferring Knowledge Is such uses of the skills matrix. For geol- ergy between a holistic approach to a Hard for Students ogy majors, the skills matrix has con- skills-based conversation and a broad Intentional learning requires clarity about tributed to student satisfaction with the departmental review of curriculum. the tasks we expect students to master and major, especially in terms of prepared- The same message came from faculty how we would recognize mastery, which ness for the senior project. The geology in the history department, who drew on speaks to the second observation noted department’s experience demonstrates the important distinction between inven- above. For this reason, Carleton’s work with how matrix design in departments can be tion and innovation. As Professor of the sophomore writing portfolio also focused an important first step toward integrated History Kirk Jeffrey said, “Lots of on making students aware of larger learning learning. invented things are never innovated”—a objectives. Something as simple as using distinction largely derived from the consistent terminology can have an impact “More May Be More, and Less May Be chasm that exists between good ideas and on student learning. Research shows that Nothing” the implementation of those ideas. Like transferring knowledge from one task to The above quote comes from Nathan Grawe, an assistant professor of economics at Carleton, and refers to the econom- The portfolio’s design has morphed into a local ics department’s decision to collectively integrate their participation in a depart- lexicon that helps unify discourse around mental review along with a variety of student writing at the lower division. grant-funded, skills-based initiatives rather than separately discussing each skill. By framing a common conversation the economics department, the history another is hard work for students, and if stu- about multiple skills (such as writing, department conducted conversations dents have to sort out inconsistent terminol- information literacy, and quantitative lit- informed and motivated by a departmen- ogy, it becomes more difficult. According to eracy) in the context of a broad curricular tal review that linked the development of the National Research Council’s How People conversation, and by developing a matrix multiple skills with very specific courses Learn, “Teaching practices congruent with a similar to the one used by the geology and assignments. metacognitive approach to learning . . . those department, the economics department One result of their discussions was a that focus on sense-making, self-assessment was able to systematically discuss trade- closer connection between invention and and reflection . . . increase the degree to offs and relative value. Faculty perceive innovation within the history major. which students transfer their learning to new the attention their courses get from stu- Neither department was able to identify settings and events” (Bransford, Brown, and dents to be highly constrained, which significant curricular efficiencies as a Cocking 2000, 12). Getting our students to makes every moment of classroom and result of their departmental conversa- partner with us in working toward acknowl- homework time extremely valuable. tions. However, both the economics and edged goals should deepen their learning. Curricular initiatives that feel like mar- history departments emphasized how the Carleton’s sophomore writing portfolio ginal add-ons are unlikely to rise to a conversations they had over the construc- was created to assess a graduation require- level of importance that justifies attention tion of their matrices provided important ment in the context of writing across the cur- to them in place of existing content. opportunities for junior faculty develop- riculum. Therefore, development of the port- From the economics department’s per- ment in a low-stress environment. folio required broad faculty conversations

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities about course goals, assignment design, folios give our students opportunities for and quality of quantitative reasoning among rubrics, and feedback for student writers. reflection that enhance their learning, work- sophomores. Readers then articulated a set The portfolio’s design has morphed into a shops give faculty opportunities for reflec- of criteria for assessing quantitative reasoning local lexicon that helps unify discourse tion and revision, too. In workshops, faculty skills at the program level that will be used to around student writing at the lower divi- and administrators are learners, applying inventory the quantitative skills students sion. Faculty use this lexicon as they assign those same metacognitive skills. Faculty demonstrate in our current curriculum. In writing in their courses. workshops function as learning communities addition, those criteria will guide faculty who Furthermore, faculty development pro- for teachers: opportunities for us to articu- plan to employ more quantitative reasoning gramming continues to support productive late and clarify deep goals and to reflect on in their courses. Using this inventory as a talk about student writing through work- our work together. baseline, we will be able to sample future shops, a speaker series, brown bag discus- writing portfolios to assess the impact of cur- sions, summer grants for course develop- One Good Idea Begets Another ricular changes on students’ quantitative rea- ment, and the annual portfolio reading ses- At first glance, writing portfolios and quanti- soning skills. In this respect, portfolios serve sion—a remarkable faculty development tative reasoning initiatives may appear to as an integrative learning mechanism opportunity for the more than sixty faculty have little in common. But when writing is Carleton’s participation in the ILP has members who have participated to date. understood as a medium as well as a learn- provided a means of examining multiple Corporately, we see what is demanded ing goal, and when quantitative reasoning is curricular objectives that we hope to of students by faculty defined as the ability to articulate the analy- achieve in an integrated way. Our original across the cur- sis and interpretation of data effectively, purpose when we submitted our proposal riculum, and writing portfolios and quantitative reasoning to participate in the ILP was to develop an we also see share a symbiotic relationship. Informal fac- algorithm for taking an inventory of learn- what stu- ulty discussions about quantitative reasoning ing skills that might provide curricular effi- dents can stressed that quantitative skills were not the ciencies. However, the ILP has been seized do. If port- sole responsibility of the math department; by our faculty as a faculty development to enable students to reason quantitatively opportunity with much more powerful at the levels we desired would require implications. While faculty stress may not input across disciplines starting in be reduced as a result of our participation first-year courses. In other words, we in this project, student education will be needed a program to foster quantita- improved as a result of intentional curricu- tive reasoning across the curriculum. lar integration. Our comprehensive review As a manifestation of Carleton’s of recent initiatives helps dispel any sense commitment to writing across the cur- of institutional chaos in favor of a coherent riculum, the writing portfolio accepts a set of intentional, measured approaches to broad variety of student work, includ- learning, teaching, and assessment. ■ ing technical and data-driven writing. The quantitative reasoning group sampled Reference writing portfolios to gain a sense of where the Bransford, J. D., A. L. Brown, and R. R. Cocking, eds. 2000. How people learn: curriculum required quantitative skills Brain, mind, experience, and school. expressed in writing and to test the presence Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

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By Michael J. Flower, associate professor of interdisciplinary science studies, and Terrel L. Rhodes, vice provost for curriculum and dean of undergraduate studies—both at Portland State University

The participation of Portland State University (PSU) ulty policy and curriculum committee for the pro- in a three-year Integrated Learning Project (ILP)— gram—for discussion and revision. The plans for cosponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the redesign have been continually revised as the discus- TAdvancement of Teaching and the Association of sions have progressed. The current redesign of the American Colleges and Universities—has involved middle part of the program was presented and dis- developing and assessing advanced strategies to cussed at the fall 2004 University Studies faculty help students pursue learning in more intentional, retreat. connected ways. The underlying assumption of the In the midst of these project redesign discus- ILP is that fostering students’ abilities to integrate sions, the provost resigned, but the interim provost their learning will give them the habits of mind has initiated another set of conversations about needed to make informed personal, professional, University Studies. The ideas he presented in a and civic decisions throughout their lives. white paper on undergraduate education—which Much time and attention has been devoted to include enhancing internationalization of the cur- designing and implementing the first year and last riculum as well as implementing the recommended year of PSU’s four-year integrated general education changes in the middle portion of the program—are program, University Studies. The program begins now being considered by a faculty committee that with the yearlong Freshman Inquiry course, which will soon make recommendations to the president focuses on critical thinking skills, and culminates and the faculty senate. with the senior-year capstone. However, the middle The PSU Integrated Learning Project focuses on segment of the program (the focus of PSU’s project), enhancing the transition into PSU and the University which accommodates all students who began their Studies general education program for the approxi- college career at PSU and a large number of transfer mately two-thirds of students who transfer to PSU students, has not received the same attention since after completing their freshman year at another insti- the adoption of the University Studies general edu- tution. Through specific interdisciplinary course con- cation program in 1994. Several groups of faculty, tent, the Transfer Transition courses orient students mentors, and students have worked on proposals to to PSU and help them improve their communication improve the integrative learning in the middle por- skills, learn the process of inquiry from the perspec- tion of University Studies during the past two years. tives of several different disciplines, and build a foun- Last year, the ideas that came from those groups dation for the effective and efficient application of went to the University Studies Committee—the fac- information technology resources. Courses provide

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities students with multiple opportunities to dent’s undergraduate course work as well The e-portfolio also represents an practice and become proficient in the as cocurricular experiences. economy of means; much can easily be four University Studies goals—communi- There are many good reasons to uti- saved to a small amount of server space. cation, critical thinking, ethics and social lize the e-portfolio as a repository of stu- Additionally, there is easy access to an e-port- responsibility, and the diversity of human dent work and as a framework for folio for a range of viewers—fellow students, experience. encouraging ongoing reflection and inte- instructors, graduate and professional school gration. Most importantly, perhaps, is the admissions committees, and employers. The E-portfolio as a Reflective and ability to store the variety of works that These reasons are particularly per- Integrative Repository students produce: written text, graphics, suasive in the context of the University It is not easy to capture and portray the video, and audio, as well as integrative Studies program. First, the general edu- varied ways in which student course work displays of such work in the form of stu- cation goals of University Studies are exemplifies a growing mastery of the four dent-designed Web sites. Given the rich- manifested in courses of differing design University Studies goals and the ability of ness of its content, the e-portfolio serves and with differing content, types of students to integrate their learning in as a primary medium for evaluating pro- assignments, and interdisciplinary terms of both content and the cognitive gram success. A key component of every emphases. Second, the program extends goals of the program. The disciplinary portfolio is a set of student reflections on from the freshman through the senior and interdisciplinary emphases of their own learning in the context of the year. And third, a great many students instructors range as widely as the partic- general education goals. transfer to the university into a program ular projects taken on by students. Over of general education that aims for conti- the past several years, the University nuity and coherence—a program that is Studies program has explored the different from what they most likely use of electronic portfolios as a experienced as general education at their mechanism for compiling stu- previous institution(s). Thus there are dents’ work samples and their many reasons to provide an integra- reflections on the nature and qual- tive learning framework of the ity of their work. Students who sort that an e-portfolio begin their university careers at affords. PSU are now invited to construct Although it is a chal- an electronic portfolio during their lenge to institute the e-port- Freshman Inquiry course, an invi- folio as a reflective repository, tation that has been taken up by it is easy to conceive the steps students in useful and creative toward student production of an e- ways. Given this initial success, the portfolio for those who begin at University Studies program is now PSU and stay through their senior expanding the use of the e-portfo- year. The full year of Freshman lio through a pilot study with stu- Inquiry provides ample occasion dents in Sophomore Inquiry, with to develop the rationale, tools, the final aim of having the e-portfo- and initial work pieces for the e- lio encompass the entirety of a stu- portfolio. The continuity from Freshman

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Inquiry to Sophomore Inquiry underpins level (see www.ous.pdx.edu for more to the University Studies goals as our the expectation that students will gain in information about program curriculum native students. The e-portfolio is also a confidence and work toward reflective design). Because there are hundreds of promising medium for demonstrating what integration of an increasing body of cluster courses, we need a flexible mecha- students learn outside the classroom, repository materials. It is not unreason- nism by which work deposited in the e- which contributes helpful information for able to assume that after two years in portfolio can be developed. We are explor- advising and provides connections to University Studies, students will have ing the possibility of mini-courses for transfer students’ cocurricular activities. begun to see the value of their ongoing which graduate students would serve as a To the extent possible, we are attention to the e-portfolio and its con- general resource to help junior-level expanding the e-portfolio throughout the tinued elaboration through their junior and senior years. The e-portfolio is also a promising medium Transfer Transition It is those students who transfer into the for demonstrating what students learn integrated structure of University Studies who present the greater challenge. We outside the classroom, which contributes must provide a means for students who transfer to our institution after the fresh- helpful information for advising and man year to gain experience with and appreciate the value of the e-portfolio. provides connections to transfer students’ We hope to meet the challenge in two ways. First, we will offer a greater num- cocurricular activities. ber of Transfer Transition courses especially designed to introduce transfer students to the form and content of transfer students move examples of their undergraduate student’s experience at University Studies. This change is likely to work—and reflections on that work—into PSU, developing capabilities to demon- help most of those students who transfer the e-portfolio. Indeed, this approach strate student learning through general in as sophomores. Particular attention will promises to strengthen the e-portfolio as education, the major, and cocurricular be paid to the e-portfolio, where transfer a tool for integrating not only general activities. The findings from PSU’s work students will be given the occasion to pro- education coursework, but the display of to this date are also being shared with duce a reflection that ties their earlier disciplinary work as well. members of the University Studies academic work to the general education Finally, we have been collaborating Committee to inform their recommenda- framework at PSU. with partner community colleges to help tions for revisions to the program. As Second, we will put into place a students develop e-portfolios while at always, we are engaged in a work in slightly different approach for junior trans- community college. We have learned progress. ■ fers. While it may be possible for us to that transfer students who initiate e- field junior-level Transfer Transition portfolios before they arrive at PSU courses, those students will be also taking bring with them similar levels of prepa- “cluster courses” at the upper-division ration and reflective practice in relation

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By Deborah DeZure, director of faculty and organizational development, Michigan State University, and senior fellow, Association of American Colleges and Universities; Marcia Babb, program associate, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; and Stephanie Waldmann, secretary of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

There is a persistent concern that programming is fragmented and students are offered an array of opportunities with relatively little and inconsistent guidance in availing themselves of the offerings or reflecting on the total experience which should be “more than the sum of its parts.”

—proposal to the Integrative Learning Project

In the summer of 2003, the Carnegie Foundation most frequently for piloting or implementation, note for the Advancement of Teaching and the other areas less frequently mentioned, and examine Association of American Colleges and Universities important themes and practices that emerged from the I(AAC&U) issued a call for campus participation in a analysis. new national project to investigate and promote integrative learning in undergraduate education, Surveying the Terrain Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect. The process of using proposals to analyze institutional While only ten campuses could be selected for this efforts to support integrative learning has both benefits three-year effort, the pool of 139 applications and limitations. Although the proposals are only five revealed widespread progress and significant chal- pages long and respond to specific criteria in the call, lenges in meeting integrative learning goals. Helping they are detailed enough to suggest the emergent students connect skills and knowledge within and nature of this work. For instance, we found that cam- across their academic and nonacademic experiences puses do not use the language of integration consis- is a priority on many campuses, and a survey of the tently; the phrase “integrative learning” has limited proposed projects provides a window into the cur- common meaning. Even familiar concepts like learning rent state of integrative learning nationally. community, capstone, first-year experience, general Using the responses to the call’s criteria—a education, interdisciplinary (or, variously, cross-discipli- description of institutional context and current accom- nary, multidisciplinary, or transdisciplinary) courses or plishments in integrative programming, a proposed studies have differing applications, and we had to be project, and questions to be answered by the work—the flexible in categorizing project information. three authors of this paper developed a protocol to col- Nevertheless, major lines of work are taking shape lect relevant information and analyze results. In this in the name of integrative learning, and the protocol article we highlight areas that campuses mentioned allowed us to aggregate the data and observe themes

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities across institutions in a meaningful way. electronic or otherwise, in some part of the their major. Interestingly, only 3 percent With some caution about overstating find- curriculum. At the same time, many of applicants submitted proposals for the ings, this survey could serve as a baseline lament the lack of models for reliably sophomore or junior years, specifically for contributions to larger efforts to build measuring how well students integrate middle-year and bridging programs. coherent programs of integrated under- their learning. One might envision integrative learn- graduate experiences in classrooms, across Sixty-three percent of proposals iden- ing being strengthened through diversity disciplines, and on and off campuses. tify faculty development as a project focus. and multicultural efforts, undergraduate The protocol lists twenty-four pri- As one campus states, “Faculty have diffi- research, independent study, global/inter- mary and secondary focal points for cam- culty moving outside their own disci- national efforts, and career development. pus projects, and single projects often plines.” Another campus acknowledges the However, these are rarely mentioned as a had multiple foci. For example, a campus challenge of teaching for integrative learn- project focus, although they are identified might propose assessment and faculty ing and the consequent need for work with among existing institutional activities. development as part of a new first-year faculty: “Our students find it hard to make Also interesting is the preponderance learning community. The areas of activity integrative connections unless the faculty of applications from doctoral/research and with highest combined totals are assess- can model integrative thinking in the ways master’s colleges and universities (58 per- ment (70 percent), faculty development in which they teach their classes.” cent), on the one hand, and the large pro- (63 percent), curriculum development Thirty-seven percent of campuses proportion (21 percent) from private, faith- (37 percent), capstones and first-year pose work that could be categorized prima- based institutions on the other (see table experiences (each 30 percent), student rily as curriculum development. Institutions 1). Although further analysis is needed to self-assessment and portfolios (29 per- are seeking coherence and synthesis, for determine whether foci differ by institu- cent), civic engagement (18 percent), and example, within the disciplines, between tional type, the work undertaken by the ten learning communities (16 percent). general education and the major or prepro- campuses selected to participate in the Interdisciplinary studies and courses, fessional studies, in linking and bridging project suggests that most of these prac- advising, middle years and bridging pro- first-year experiences and capstones, and tices are available to campuses across the grams, honors programs, and programs for the like. Indeed, 21 percent focus on the spectrum. Indeed, our experience on the transfer students are identified in fewer integration of disciplinary course work with project is that very different campuses are than ten proposals. general education courses. learning a great deal from each other’s Assessment is the focus for 70 percent Separate from but overlapping with efforts (see sidebar on page 27). of the projects. The range of activity varies the focus on curriculum development are greatly, but involves some measurement of first-year and capstone experiences— Table 1. Applicant institutions student learning, skills and attitudes, and both totaling about 30 percent of the Associate’s colleges 12% program outcomes; the development of projects. More than half already use one Baccalaureate colleges–Liberal Arts 14% rubrics; use of data from the National or both, and a quarter of the proposals Baccalaureate colleges–General 4% Survey of Student Engagement; and port- focus on revising and expanding them. Master’s colleges and universities 37% folios. In fact, nearly 30 percent of propos- Capstones, in particular, are cited as Doctoral/research universities 21% als center on student, faculty, and program promising sites for determining Specialized institutions 2% portfolios, and of those over half are e- whether—and for ensuring that—stu- Faith-based institutions 21% portfolios. Many campuses report they dents integrate their learning in the gen- Minority-serving institutions 8% were already experimenting with portfolios, eral or core curriculum with learning in

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Emerging Themes and Variations tally and vertically through time. The proj- more than another isolated experience to Five interrelated themes recurred through- ects emerge from and reflect the ongoing add to the litany of requirements. Carefully out the proposals. institutional commitment to educational planned and enacted, capstones, portfolios, 1. Institutional Context. Based on experimentation in teaching, learning, and and other projects hold promise of being the application narratives, most of the 139 assessment. transformative by changing the expecta- institutions are already deeply engaged in a 2. Intentional Designs to Promote tions that students, faculty, and administra- multiplicity of reform efforts in undergrad- Coherence. The multiplicity of rich edu- tors have for the undergraduate experience uate education, including innovations in cational activities already flourishing on as a whole. The projects support develop- curriculum, instruction, and assessment. these campuses is essential to understand- ment of reflective and intentional learners Thus, the proposed campus projects ing their need and readiness to pursue a who will be able to make meaning of and emerge from dynamic institutional contexts project on integrative learning. Campuses bring coherence to the disparate paths they of ongoing reform. They are not isolated recognize that they are providing an array take through college and into their lives activities, nor are they presented as activi- of powerful educational experiences, but beyond graduation. To accomplish this goal ties that will catalyze dormant or troubled are looking for more formal, systematic requires a reinvention of the undergradu- institutions. These campuses chronicle an ways to help students make meaning of ate experience with collective responsibility impressive array of existing educational these varied and often fragmented experi- for its coherent design, implementation, experiences that are themselves integra- ences. Whether the proposed project is and assessment. In that sense, many of the tive, including learning communities, first- intended to enable students to connect lib- projects, even those limited to the develop- year programs, interdisciplinary courses, eral arts and the major or curricular and ment of a single integrative course or multicultural experiences, service learning, cocurricular experiences or “head, heart, assessment tool, have the potential to insti- study abroad and other experiential oppor- and hands”—characteristic of the goals of gate change throughout the curriculum. tunities, and general education reform faith-based institutions—the underlying For many campuses, the project is more broadly. concern is to promote coherence across the designed to serve as a change agent, Many campuses also identify ongoing undergraduate experience. The projects mobilizing faculty and campus leaders to efforts to document student learning out- are framed as the connective tissue among reflect on the need for greater integration comes using, for example, portfolios or cap- collegiate experiences so that the whole and coherence, to consider their roles stone courses within the major. Several pro- will be greater than the sum of its parts, and responsibilities in this effort, and to posed projects build on these earlier, more and are designed intentionally to clarify provide “opportunities to connect.” limited integrative assessment efforts and and amplify what students learn to enable The projects differ in their focus, take them to the next level by developing, them to access and apply this learning scope, and capacity to drive change, but for example, e-portfolios or capstone more readily in the future. Stated simply, taken together, they offer a portrait of an courses to integrate general education and campuses want to ensure that students can emerging movement in higher education. the major. Thus, many of the campus proj- “connect the dots” regardless of their The signs have been there for several years ects are innovative in that they take an inte- unique undergraduate careers in order to and were captured in AAC&U’s 2002 grative process or activity that has been maximize the aggregate experience we call report, Greater Expectations: A New Vision productive within a more limited frame and “college.” for Learning as a Nation Goes to College, expand its capacity to integrate more ele- 3. Prognosis for Transformational and more recently in Integrative Learning: ments of the collegiate experience, include Change. One might conclude that a new Mapping the Terrain by Mary Huber and more students, or expand its reach horizon- capstone course or e-portfolio is nothing Pat Hutchings (2004), but the Integrative

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Carleton College (Northfield, MN) is studying how it collectively Philadelphia University (Philadelphia, PA) is promoting integrates important literacies into a student’s education. The goals student integrative learning that connects its professional pro- are to implement a plan to discover and articulate how faculty are grams with its liberal education core by expanding the defining and teaching transferable, cross-cutting skills and literacies involvement of faculty from the professional majors in the and to free faculty from the notion that they are singularly responsible general education program, creating a forum for university- for a student’s education. Carleton will use its experiences with the wide planning for liberal-professional integration, and making required sophomore writing portfolio and senior capstone projects to curricular connections more transparent and intentional for provide checks and guideposts for all of the literacies identified. students.

College of San Mateo (San Mateo, CA) is measurably Portland State University (Portland, OR) is implementing a expanding its learning communities program to promote “shared revision of the middle portion of the interdisciplinary general knowledge” and “shared knowing” among students and faculty, education program, University Studies, which includes designing thus providing an overarching academic success strategy for its new courses and assessing the revision and program, primarily fragmented and transient community college population. using electronic student portfolios.

LaGuardia Community College CUNY (Long Island City, NY) is Salve Regina University (Newport, RI) is developing a senior using electronic student portfolios that link to first-year initia- capstone experience that both integrates liberal learning and tives and a college-wide assessment plan in order to investigate links that learning to specialized study in the major, and an inte- the integration of learning across classes, the role of digital grative learning portfolio that assesses student progress over four tools in this process, and the impact of such a project at an years of study. urban community college with a student body overwhelmingly immigrant, female, and economically disadvantaged. State University of New York at Oswego (Oswego, NY) is modifying a first-year program, integrative interdisciplinary Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (North Adams, MA) is general education requirement, and capstone to create a core developing objectives, assessment methods, and courses for the curriculum with a focus on developmentally appropriate inte- upper-level integrated capstone course in its developmental core grative skills. Prior to this consultative program revision, it is curriculum. MCLA will add the third level of capstones to tiers conducting a qualitative assessment to define and develop already in place, and build a multimodal system of assessing stu- rubrics for integrative skills. dent achievement. University of Charleston (Charleston, WV) is focusing on Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI) is addressing enhancing and celebrating integrated learning assignments that the study abroad option for earning required credits in integra- are aligned with program and liberal learning outcomes in tive studies. The project will connect the integrative studies and order to demonstrate growth rates equal to or exceeding the global competencies outcomes, create criteria for study abroad current ones. options that are likely to meet those outcomes, and develop an assessment protocol for measuring study abroad.

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities Learning Project enabled us to see even only limited discussion of their conceptual integrative learning as a valued goal, many more clearly the breadth of institutional framework or plans for faculty develop- nonetheless asked the most basic questions interest and activities and the challenges ment beyond cursory references to a about it. What does this tell us? It reveals inherent in this work. method (e.g., workshops), without further that institutions are just beginning the 4. Faculty and Faculty Development explication. Nonetheless, faculty develop- quest to understand what integrative learn- as Integral to Change. To meet the ment is on the radar screen for the major- ing means for their faculty and students, challenges and to promote transforma- ity of campuses as a valued and important even as they pursue it with commitment in tion, the majority of campuses identify dimension of their change efforts. order to redress the fragmentation of the faculty engagement and faculty develop- 5. Back to Basics. The theme of fac- undergraduate experience. Asking these ment as key elements of campus change ulty development underscores the recogni- fundamental questions is a bold, honest, efforts. The discussion of faculty involve- tion that integrative learning requires new even audacious way to begin that quest in ment is prominent in several proposals, ways of thinking about teaching, learning, earnest. We recognize that our analysis is with references to the number and range and assessment and the development of based on applications with the inherent of faculty across the disciplines who par- new skills. This need is particularly evident biases of self-report and self-promotion. It ticipated in planning the proposed proj- in the questions posed by campuses. The is therefore all the more surprising to hear ects, concern for how best to engage fac- call for proposals asked campuses to iden- so many institutions say with candor that ulty in ongoing efforts, and discussion of tify questions that they hoped to answer they are still actively grappling with the why faculty engagement is both essential through their proposed work. A few cam- meaning of integrative learning. Both their and challenging. Several applications note puses indicated they would frame their candor and their search for understanding that the proposed projects had been questions later in the process. Several offer further compelling evidence of the approved by academic governance and posed procedural questions—variants of intense interest in integrative learning on care had been taken to vet the projects “how can we do what we propose?” But American campuses. Certainly this was so with faculty and advisory groups. All of one of the most frequent responses was a among the 139 colleges and universities this bespeaks the recognition that efforts list of fundamental questions that go to the vying for inclusion in the Integrative to promote integrative learning should heart of the matter: What is integrative Learning Project. ■ engage faculty who ultimately will do the learning? How do you teach for it? How do heavy lifting of planning, implementing, you assess it? How do you prepare faculty References and assessing its impact. to teach and assess it? A few campuses Association of American Colleges and Universities. 2002. Greater expectations: A The proposed approaches to faculty asked if there is a developmental sequence new vision for learning as a nation goes to development vary widely and include fac- in integrative learning, and, if so, how col- college. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. ulty learning communities and communi- leges could promote student development Huber, M. T., and P. Hutchings. 2004. ties of practice; workshops; faculty conver- from one stage to the next. Finally, a few Integrative learning: Mapping the terrain. sations; collaborative development of inte- asked questions about the impact of differ- Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities. grative assignments, assessments, and ent approaches to integration on student scoring processes as forms of faculty learning and retention or about how faculty development; and faculty mentoring. The themselves learn to integrate across proposals that focus on faculty develop- courses and disciplines. ment do a compelling job of establishing In short, even though campuses indi- the need for it, although some provide cated that they were eager to pursue

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RGreater Expectations Forum on Twenty-First Century The Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement Liberal Arts Educational Practice Designed as a catalyst and incubator of new ideas, research, and The Forum on Twenty-First-Century Liberal Arts collaborations, the Center for Liberal Education and Civic Educational Practice, part of AAC&U’s national Greater Engagement seeks to deepen understandings of the relation of Expectations initiative, was formed in 2002 to facilitate the liberal education to service and civic responsibilities. Founded in achievement of four important liberal learning outcomes— 2003, the center is the result of a partnership between AAC&U inquiry capacity, global preparedness, civic engagement, and and Campus Compact, the nationally known organization pro- integrative learning. A working group for each outcome was moting service learning. This partnership enhances the powerful charged with discovering promising practices from across the possibilities of campus work on civic engagement and illuminates country and ways to improve student learning in these areas how higher education’s societal obligations can be integrated into from high school through college. Each working group the academy’s core educational mission. The center’s work fore- drafted working definitions of these learning outcomes and grounds the ways in which civic engagement efforts can advance held regional seminars of faculty and administrators from for students many important learning outcomes, including inte- both high school and college to discuss the creation of pur- grative skills and capacities. For information about and resources poseful pathways to these outcomes. Exciting practices from the center, see www.aacu.org/civic_engagement. described during the regional seminars on integrative learning ranged from challenging students though short integrative projects, such as producing a video, to organizing entire SELECTED AAC&U PUBLICATIONS institutions around integrative themes. Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain This paper explores the challenges to integrative learning Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect today as well as its longer tradition and rationale within a Integrative Learning: Opportunities to Connect is a collabora- vision of liberal education. In outlining promising directions tive project of AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation for the for campus work, the authors draw on AAC&U’s Greater Advancement of Teaching. The three-year project engages Expectations report, as well as the Carnegie Foundation’s campuses in developing comprehensive approaches to provide long-standing initiative on the scholarship of teaching and students with purposeful, progressively more challenging, learning. This report was published as part of a joint project integrated educational experiences. of AAC&U and the Carnegie Foundation’s, Integrative The project began by identifying ten campuses that have Learning: Opportunities to Connect. Readers will find a map already made significant progress in developing integrative learn- of the terrain of integrative learning upon which promising ing strategies and are committed to deepening that work. The new developments in undergraduate education are built. project’s aims are to create new resources, networks, models, and Mapping Interdisciplinary Studies: The Academy in Transition evidence-based arguments that can both strengthen the work of This volume provides an overview of current trends in discipli- these campuses and prove useful to other institutions. See page nary change, interdisciplinary fields, and general education 27 in this issue for a list of participating schools and their project and discusses why interdisciplinarity is taking hold in the acad- descriptions. For information about and resources from the emy today. Also present are talking points for dialogue on the project, see www.aacu.org/integrative_learning/index.cfm. topics of integrating curriculum, integrative process and pedagogies, assessment, faculty development, institutional change, and support strategies. www.aacu.org/publications

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By Debra Humphreys, vice president for communications and public affairs, Association of American Colleges and Universities

The impulse to connect is a universal human desire compartmentalizing knowledge, leaders across the edu- and a critical component of intellectual and emo- cational spectrum are renewing efforts to connect frag- tional maturity, and probably always has been. The mented learning. In fact, it could be argued that in Tchallenges of the contemporary world, however, have most arenas outside the academy—from the workplace brought a new urgency to the issue of connection and to scientific discovery to medicine to world and integration. An early cartoon in the always-insightful national affairs—multilayered, unscripted problems Dilbert series captures well one of the defining fea- routinely require an integrative approach. tures of our time. In the cartoon, a character uses a For these reasons, AAC&U suggested in its 2002 teacup on its side to represent the human brain. An report, Greater Expectations: A New Vision for enormous fire hose sprays water in the direction of Learning as a Nation Goes to College, that schools, col- the cup to illustrate the information overload that leges, and universities should enable students to characterizes so much of modern life. As one might become “integrative thinkers who can see connections expect, nothing stays inside the cup, while water in seemingly disparate information and draw on a wide sprays everywhere on the page. Today’s college stu- range of knowledge to make decisions.” These thinkers dent needs more than ever a developed capacity to must learn to “adapt the skills learned in one situation make sense of this flood of information flowing into to problems encountered in another: in a classroom, his or her consciousness every day. That capacity the workplace, their communities, or their personal depends fundamentally on how well she or he can see lives” (21). connections and integrate disparate facts, theories, The Greater Expectations report, of course, was and contexts to make sense of our complex world. not the first to call for this kind of learning. Integration For these reasons, in its new campaign, Liberal has become an ongoing topic of discussion among fed- Education and America’s Promise: Excellence for eral and state policy makers, campus and K–12 leaders, Everyone as a Nation Goes to College, the business leaders, and members of professional soci- Association of American Colleges and Universities eties. The U.S. Department of Education’s Goals 2000 (AAC&U) is highlighting integrative ability as a key project endorsed “interdisciplinary frameworks” and outcome of a quality undergraduate education today. thematic teaching of “big ideas” (1998). The 1991 It is clear that integrative learning is essential to report Science for All Americans (Rutherford and prepare students to deal effectively both with com- Ahlgren) is critical of teaching scientific principles in plex issues in their working lives and the challenges isolation and calls for thematic approaches and for facing the broader society today and in the future. As approaches that teach students to apply academic con- the articles in this issue make clear, after years of cepts to real-world contexts. The American Association

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Copyright© 2005 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities for the Advancement of Science also sup- Skills) argued that “workers are expected References ports integrative learning and the applica- to identify, and integrate information from Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. 2000. Criteria for accred- tion of scientific concepts to real-world sit- diverse sources” and that they “should iting engineering programs. Baltimore: uations through Project 2061. understand their own work in context of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. Integration of knowledge and multi- work of those around them . . . [and] Association of American Colleges and disciplinary perspectives are among the understand how parts of systems are con- Universities. 2002. Greater expectations: A top priorities endorsed by the professions nected” (22). The Business–Higher new vision for learning as a nation goes to college. Washington, DC: Association of as well. In its report Criteria for Education Forum’s report Spanning the American Colleges and Universities. Accrediting Engineering Programs, the Chasm argues that “requiring interdiscipli- Bransford, J. D., A. L. Brown, and R. R. Cocking, eds. 2000. How people learn: Accreditation Board for Engineering and nary courses and projects will benefit stu- Brain, mind, experience, and school. Technology argues for advancing integra- dents by helping them integrate skills and Washington, DC: National Academy Press. tive learning, including the capacity to by presenting them with a broader range Business–Higher Education Forum. 1999. Spanning the chasm: A blueprint for work in multidisciplinary teams, as a tar- of perspectives” (1999, 8). action. Washington, DC: American Council get goal for future engineering profes- Finally, the calls for integrative learn- of Education/National Alliance of Business. sionals. The International Association for ing are supported by cognitive research. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 2002. Principles and standards of school Management Education predicts interdis- The National Academy of Science report mathematics. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. ciplinary activity will reach a new level of How People Learn: Brain, Mind, standards.nctm.org/document/chapter3/ sophistication as more problem-oriented Experience, and School suggests that conn.htm. courses and multidisciplinary units are [in] traditional curricula . . . though an Rutherford, F. J., and A. Ahlgren. 1991. Science for all Americans. Oxford: Oxford developed in undergraduate and graduate individual objective might be reason- University Press. business programs. able, it is not seen as part of a larger Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Leaders in the K–12 standards move- network. Yet it is the network, the Skills. 1991. What work requires of schools: A SCANS report for America 2000. ments also advocate integrative learning. connections among objectives, that is Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor. The National Council of Teachers of important. . . . to understand an over- U.S. Department of Education. 1998. Goals Mathematics includes “connections” as one all picture that will ensure the devel- 2000: Reform education to improve student of its standards, suggesting that “instruc- opment of integrated knowledge. achievement. 1998. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. tional programs . . . should enable all stu- (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, eds. www.ed.gov/PDFDocs/gzkfinal.pdf. dents to . . . understand how mathematical 2000, 139) ideas interconnect and build on one Given the interest from many sectors and another to produce a coherent whole; the exciting developments in integrative [and] recognize and apply mathematics” in and interdisciplinary scholarship that are contexts outside of the field (2002, 64–65). transforming so many fields of study, sup- These sorts of standards are echoed in port for integrative learning appears to be other subject areas. quite strong. The challenge remains, how- The business community, too, is call- ever, to turn promising integrative learning ing for integrative capacities in employees. innovations into coherent programs of As early as 1991, the U.S. Department of study with progressively more rigorous Labor SCANS Report (Secretary’s expectations for all today’s undergraduate Commission on Achieving Necessary students. ■

Summer/Fall 2005 peerReview AAC&U 31

Liberal Education and the Entrepreneurial Spirit (Spring 2005) Science and Engaged Learning (Winter 2005) Creating Shared Responsibility for General Education and Assessment (Fall 2004) Quantitative Literacy (Summer 2004)

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US Postage PAID Non-Profit AAC&U is the leading national association concerned with the Permit No. 8410 quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education. Its members are committed to extending the advan- Washington, DC tages of a liberal education to all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Founded in 1915, AAC&U now comprises 1,000 accredited public and private colleges and universities of every type and size.

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