Research indicates that of the pedagogies recognized as “high impact”, learning communities – one approach to which, the linked course, is the subject of this book – lead to an increased level of student engagement in the freshman year that persists through the senior year, and improve retention. This book focuses on the learning community model that is the most flexible to implement in terms of scheduling, teacher collaboration, and design: the linked course. The faculty may teach independently or together, coordinating syllabi and assignments so that the classes complement each other, and often these courses are linked around a particular interdisciplinary theme. Creating a cohort that works together for two paired courses motivates students, while the course structure promotes integrative learning as students make connections between disciplines.This volume covers both “linked courses” in which faculty may work to coordinate syllabi and assignments, but teach most of their courses separately, as well as well as “paired courses” in which two or more courses are team taught in an integrated program in which faculty participate as learners as well as teachers. Part One, Linked Course Pedagogies, includes several case studies of specific linked courses, including a study skills course paired with a worldview course; a community college course that challenges students’ compartmentalized thinking; and a paired course whose outcomes can be directly compared to parallel stand-alone coursesPart Two, Linked Course Programs, includes a description of several institutional programs representing a variety of linked course program models. Each chapter includes information about program implementation, staffing logistics and concerns, curriculum development, pedagogical strategies, and faculty development.Part Three, Assessing Linked Courses, highlights the role of assessment in supporting, maintaining, and improving linked course programs by sharing assessment models and describing how faculty and administrators have used particular assessment practices in order to improve their linked course programs.

One of the great challenges in higher education is to help students integrate their learning. The capacity to make connections is essential to the conduct of personal, professional, and civic life, and is at the very heart of liberal education. It is also, arguably, more important than ever, and more difficult to achieve, as students transfer among multiple institutions and struggle to balance work and study. Indeed, many of the basic structures of academic life encourage them to see their courses as isolated requirements to complete. This paper explores the challenges to integrative learning today as well as its longer tradition and rationale within a vision of liberal education. In outlining promising directions for campus work, the authors draw on AAC&U's landmark report "Greater Expectations" as well as the Carnegie Foundation's long-standing initiative on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Readers will find a map of the terrain of integrative learning on which promising new developments in undergraduate education can be cultivated, learned from, and built upon.

This Research Topic is Volume 2 in the Integrative Learning in US Undergraduate Public Health Education: Effective High-Impact Practices series:Integrative Learning in US Undergraduate Public Health Education: Effective High-Impact Practices Undergraduate public health degree programs have flourished over the last decade in the United States; from 1995 to 2016, for example, the number of related undergraduate degrees awarded annually increased almost ten-fold, from around 1,300 to nearly 13,000. The Council on Education for Public Health established initial accreditation criteria for standalone baccalaureate programs in 2013 in tandem with these increases and in 2015, the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health launched the Undergraduate Public Health and Global Health Education Network to advance undergraduate public health education. In parallel, the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) launched the Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative in 2005 to champion the importance of a liberal education “for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.” Through the Educated Citizen and Public Health initiative, AAC&U has advocated for undergraduate public health education as a model of a practical liberal education.

Critically examine the intersections of learning and leadership. Using L. Dee Fink's taxonomy of signicant learning as a scaffold, experts in leadership education explain connections between emerging scholarship of teaching and learning and current trends in leadership, how to develop a more complex understanding of the levers of leadership learning, the environments that promote meaningful and measurable leadership learning, and the evidence behind such a practice. This volume examines: the role of leadership educator, the roles of authenticity (being true to one’s self) and criticality in education (interrogating beliefs and questioning power dynamics), select learning theories and their implications for leadership learning, and strategies for constructing leadership-related learning outcomes and assessing leadership learning. The Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Student Leadership explores leadership concepts and pedagogical topics of interest to high school and college leadership educators. Issues are grounded in scholarship and feature practical applications and best practices in youth and adult leadership education.

Teaching across Cultures: Building Pedagogical Relationships in Diverse Contexts captures the tensions, complexities as well as the transformational potentials of teaching across multiple cultural contexts. The book evolved from cumulative self-studies that examined one teacher educator’s teaching practice, the cultural impact on this practice, and how she facilitated transformative teaching and learning. While every act of teaching occurs across cultures such as institutional culture, invisible cultures, classroom cultures, among others, educators who teach as cultural outsiders have to navigate the tensions, complexities and contradictory realities of cross-cultural teaching. The tensions can be reduced or managed through responsive pedagogy, relationship building and teaching in the third space. These transformational approaches not only help to identify and close the perpetual gaps in teaching and learning but also position effective teaching within a pedagogical common ground that values student voices, facilitates pedagogical flexibility and uses diversity as a teaching tool. In a world of ubiquitous and interactive learning environments, both the physical and virtual spaces play a vital role in teaching and teacher-student relationships. The book points to the necessity of teacher educators’ learning through diverse professional networks but more importantly through self-study. It is only through this introspective examination of one’s teaching and students’ learning as well as taking an ontological attitude to teaching that educators can achieve success in diverse contexts.

A call to advance integrative teaching and learning in higher education. From Parker Palmer, best-selling author of The Courage to Teach, and Arthur Zajonc, professor of physics at Amherst College and director of the academic program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, comes this call to revisit the roots and reclaim the vision of higher education. The Heart of Higher Education proposes an approach to teaching and learning that honors the whole human being—mind, heart, and spirit—an essential integration if we hope to address the complex issues of our time. The book offers a rich interplay of analysis, theory, and proposals for action from two educators and writers who have contributed to developing the field of integrative education over the past few decades. Presents Parker Palmer’s powerful response to critics of holistic learning and Arthur Zajonc’s elucidation of the relationship between science, the humanities, and the contemplative traditions Explores ways to take steps toward making colleges and universities places that awaken the deepest potential in students, faculty, and staff Offers a practical approach to fostering renewal in higher education through collegiality and conversation The Heart of Higher Education is for all who are new to the field of holistic education, all who want to deepen their understanding of its challenges, and all who want to practice and promote this vital approach to teaching and learning on their campuses.

In the United States, broad study in an array of different disciplines â€"arts, humanities, science, mathematics, engineeringâ€" as well as an in-depth study within a special area of interest, have been defining characteristics of a higher education. But over time, in-depth study in a major discipline has come to dominate the curricula at many institutions. This evolution of the curriculum has been driven, in part, by increasing specialization in the academic disciplines. There is little doubt that disciplinary specialization has helped produce many of the achievement of the past century. Researchers in all academic disciplines have been able to delve more deeply into their areas of expertise, grappling with ever more specialized and fundamental problems. Yet today, many leaders, scholars, parents, and students are asking whether higher education has moved too far from its integrative tradition towards an approach heavily rooted in disciplinary "silos". These "silos" represent what many see as an artificial separation of academic disciplines. This study reflects a growing concern that the approach to higher education that favors disciplinary specialization is poorly calibrated to the challenges and opportunities of our time. The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education examines the evidence behind the assertion that educational programs that mutually integrate learning experiences in the humanities and arts with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) lead to improved educational and career outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students. It explores evidence regarding the value of integrating more STEMM curricula and labs into the academic programs of students majoring in the humanities and arts and evidence regarding the value of integrating curricula and experiences in the arts and humanities into college and university STEMM education programs.

Published in partnership with the Washington Center for Improving the Quality of Undergraduate Education First-year seminars and learning communities are two of the most commonly offered high-impact practices on U.S. campuses. The goals of these initiatives are similar: helping students make connections to faculty and other students, improving academic performance, and increasing persistence and graduation. As such, it is not surprising that many institutions choose to embed first-year seminars in learning communities. This volume explores the merger of these two high-impact practices. In particular, it offers insight into how institutions connect them and the impact of those combined structures on student learning and success. In addition to chapters highlighting strategies for designing, teaching in, and assessing combined programs, case studies offer practical insights into the structures of these programs in a variety of campus settings.

Online education, both by for-profit institutions and within traditional universities, has seen recent tremendous growth and appeal - but online education has many aspects that are not well understood. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Online Education provides a thorough and engaging reference on all aspects of this field, from the theoretical dimensions of teaching online to the technological aspects of implementing online courses—with a central focus on the effective education of students. Key topics explored through over 350 entries include: · Technology used in the online classroom · Institutions that have contributed to the growth of online education · Pedagogical basis and strategies of online education · Effectiveness and assessment · Different types of online education and best practices · The changing role of online education in the global education system

One of the great challenges in higher education is to help students integrate their learning. The capacity to make connections is essential to the conduct of personal, professional, and civic life, and is at the very heart of liberal education. It is also, arguably, more important than ever, and more difficult to achieve, as students transfer among multiple institutions and struggle to balance work and study. Indeed, many of the basic structures of academic life encourage them to see their courses as isolated requirements to complete. This paper explores the challenges to integrative learning today as well as its longer tradition and rationale within a vision of liberal education. In outlining promising directions for campus work, the authors draw on AAC&U's landmark report "Greater Expectations" as well as the Carnegie Foundation's long-standing initiative on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Readers will find a map of the terrain of interactive learning on which promising new development in undergraduate education can be cultivated, learned from, and built upon.