Integrating Student Learning and Pedagogies Across the Professional Studies/General Education Divide: Re-engineering a Liberal Education Capstone Course Philadelphia University International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commitment, Community and Collaboration Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Sunday, October 16th, 2005 Susan Frosten, Associate Professor of Architecture Marion Roydhouse, Dean, School of Liberal Arts Tom Schrand, Associate Professor of History

Philadelphia University Founded in 1884 as Philadelphia Textile School Currently: 40+ professional majors – architecture to conservation biology Mission: “founded to raise the art and technology of the textile industry to international standards… [offers a] unique blending of the liberal arts and sciences with professional studies”

Curricular origins and evolution Middle States report inspired new general education curriculum (1986) FIPSE grant to develop interdisciplinary learning across three years ( ) Development of College Studies program and liberal-professional education (1991- present)

Assessment and its impact Ongoing assessment drives change: 1993 to 2005 Qualitative outcomes assessment Driven by examination of student work Unique capstone connects liberal arts/ professional majors to develop integrative learning.

Arts and Cultures (1 course total) Year Four Foreign Languages (may be taken any year) OR Area Studies (taken in Years Two or Three): 2 courses total Writing II Arts and Cultures: 1 course Contemporary Perspectives Social Sciences I Humanities I Level II (Humanities, Historical Understanding, and Social Sciences II): 2 courses total Quantitative Reasoning I and II: 2 courses Science I and II: 2 courses Writing I Historical Understanding I Foreign Languages and Area Studies (2 courses total) Writing, History, Social Sciences, Humanities (8 courses total) Quantitative Reasoning and Sciences (4 courses total) Year TwoYear ThreeYear One College Studies Program sequences- arrows show prerequisites

Capstone course with liberal- professional themes General education capstone: “Contemporary Perspectives” –Explores current global trends and issues –Focuses on liberal-professional integration –Taught by liberal arts faculty –Culminates in advanced research project linking global issues to students’ career fields

Capstone student project The “seminar paper” –12-15 page academic research paper with 3 components: Analysis of a major global trend Examination of trend’s impact on student’s professional field Case study: example of the global trend interacting with professional issues in a specific foreign country

Global (or regional) trend: Big, free-standing topic, independent of your profession Impact on profession: How is this trend creating changes in your profession (find the overlap with global trend) Case study: An example of your trend affecting your profession in a specific foreign country (find the overlap with the previous two topics) Entire global trend Your entire professional field Foreign country

Topic example Global trend: Increasing water scarcity and pollution worldwide (change over time on a global or regional scale) Professional impact: Increasing pressure on textile industry to reduce water use and pollution Case study: Textile industry in Turkey responding to issues of water use

Capstone project assessment Formal departmental assessment (1996) “Liberal-Professional Scholarship Awards” ( present) –Outstanding student projects nominated from each professional program –Projects read and scored by capstone faculty and faculty in the professional programs –Award meeting held with both professional and liberal arts faculty to discuss projects and choose winners

Capstone assessment results Assignment was overly structured?overly structured Liberal-professional integration could be uneven or mechanical Assignment emphasized traditional “scholarly” research, “liberal arts” skills and content Some professional faculty seemed uncomfortable Assessment conclusions: –Can the integration be deeper, more authentic? –Can the assignment require more professional skills and knowledge?

Experiment: problem-based learning The problem-based learning (PBL) assignment: –Students identify a “problem” related to their profession in a specific world region –Develop a scenario that places them in a realistic professional role –Play out the scenario to produce a professionally-appropriate response (the “deliverable”)

PBL example: HIV/AIDS in South Africa (architecture project)

PBL assessment Liberal arts faculty felt under-qualified to critique “professional” work Professional faculty supportive? Integrative PBL assignment “disoriented” students

Analyzing our “integration anxiety” Professional format of “deliverables” created faculty anxieties about content: “That’s not my field” Integrative Learning Project helped us consider deeper questions: –Do we understand how knowledge is constructed and student learning is demonstrated in different professional disciplines? –How would these be different when the goal is liberal- professional integration? –Must disciplinary differences in pedagogy and epistemology be addressed?

Assessment from the professional perspective Architecture as intrinsically “integrative” Concerns with the “traditional” capstone assignment Intrigued by the PBL experiment Examining the South Africa HIV/AIDS student project

PBL from the professional perspective

Integration and pedagogy Could we achieve our integrative student learning goals without the final design piece? Pedagogical questions: –When and how does the student learning take place in different disciplines? –Is there any common ground between pedagogies and student learning across professional disciplines and the liberal arts? –Should we be examining the “signature pedagogies” that shape student learning in different professional fields?

Pedagogies and performances Liberal arts Seminar: lectures, group discussions around common readings, little individual interaction Isolation during production (solo research and writing) Written performance Private presentation of written deliverable Private, written evaluation Emphasis: written and private communication Architecture Studio: involves individual and group interaction, including lectures and seminar discussions Interaction during production (studio, desk crits) Visual performance Public, oral presentation of visual deliverable Public, oral evaluation, followed by private, individual evaluation Emphasis: visual and public communication

Comparing pedagogies and performances Similarities: Seminar and studio formats both encourage interaction between the students as a group and the instructor involve individual performances Differences: Written vs. visual communication Interaction vs. isolation Private vs. public performance Amount of individual interaction Analysis vs. practice

Comparing processes for creating “deliverables” Liberal Arts Assignment: topic is given or discovered Research: academic Analysis Conclusions based on evidence from research and analysis related to the defined problem Deliverable = research paper Purpose: conclusions presented, hypotheses evaluated Architecture Assignment: design problem is posed Research: academic, programmatic, precedent, and site context Analysis Definition of design parameters based on conclusions substantiated by research and analysis Setting the criteria for design Deliverable = design Purpose: solution proposed for design problem

The critical middle Despite differences, both pedagogies have distinct stages as performances are created Research Information gathering Exploring context Conclusions Performance Design Analysis Evaluation Connections Integration The middle stage is where we find the most commonality between fields It’s also where students have the hardest time

Next steps: pursuing the “signature pedagogies” question Workshops for the fall semester: faculty in the liberal arts and professional majors analyzing their different pedagogies Assessment of fall semester projects with the workshop faculty Questions to be examined: –Can we (faculty AND students) recognize parallels between the distinct pedagogies, performances and deliverables? –Do we agree that the middle stage is a place where subject matter expertise is less relevant, and critical integrative thinking skills are universally applicable? –Should the capstone assignment place a special emphasis on this middle stage, to reduce the anxieties created by different “deliverables” and the pedagogies that shape them?

Ongoing research questions Can a focus on “signature pedagogies” help resolve the dilemmas of integrative learning? Can problem-based learning encourage more integration across the liberal-professional divide? Susan Frosten, Associate Professor of Architecture Marion Roydhouse, Dean, School of Liberal Arts Tom Schrand, Associate Professor of History