New steps in qualitative learning are taking place in Utah, with a team of educators and department heads analyzing what is taught in college and university physics and history courses.
The state is one of three in the nation asked to develop learning outcomes for specific disciplines. The project is supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education and meant to create a statewide benchmark for what students, parents, employers, state leaders and others can expect graduates to know upon earning a degree in a certain field.
"We need to make sure that students do learn those important skills and the specific knowledge necessary to succeed," said Bill Evenson, retired physics professor and current director of Utah's Tuning Project. He said a lot of the time, such outcomes are assumed, but not explicit.
Utah is working on drafting the learning standards for history and physics, while Indiana will examine education, history and chemistry degrees and Minnesota at graphic design and chemistry. It is the first project of its kind in America and is based on principles founded with the Bologna Process of Europe, which created an alliance among thousands of schools, offering degrees based on similar learning standards.
"When U.S. colleges and universities describe what students must do to earn a degree in a specific field, they list courses, credit requirements and a minimum grade-point average," said Clifford Adelman, an American expert on the Bologna Process and a senior associate at the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington, D.C. "They do not typically state what students with the degree should know and be able to do in ways that employers, policy makers and the public can immediately understand. We need to embrace a more comprehensive approach to defining the learning that degrees represent or risk falling further behind our global counterparts."
The U.S. version of the process, which was announced last week, will not intend to standardize course work, but rather generate a similar goal for all educators and schools to follow.
"Every school and department might have a different way of getting there," Evenson said, adding that the idea is to have each program meet the same list of competencies, therefore clarifying foundational issues for each subject.
Utah was chosen to participate in the pilot study because of an already advanced method of articulation, said Utah System of Higher Education spokesman Spencer Jenkins. The common course numbering system, which spans across the state's nine public colleges and universities, helps to keep the course objectives streamlined.
"It will help us with accountability because we will be much clearer about what our graduates know," Evenson said. "And as far as transparency, it will let students know what is expected of them when they're looking at taking a particular course or signing up for a particular major."
Because the nation's overall degree-attainment rate has not risen in 40 years, Lumina and some higher education leaders are focusing on lessons that can be gleaned from the experiences of other countries.
"We must be willing to learn from the successes of nations that appear to be doing a better job of educating their people," said Jamie P. Merisotis, president of Lumina. "Tuning USA is a chance to experiment with a process from beyond our borders that could help us advance our thinking about the meaning of quality in higher education."
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