| Meetings and Institutes:
Plan Ahead for Academic Year 2009-2010 AAC&U Meetings
Now is the time to plan to attend AAC&U conferences next year. Meetings include:
- October 1-3, 2009—Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility: Deepening Student and Campus Commitments. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota
- October 22-24, 2009—Integrative Learning: Addressing the Complexities. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Atlanta, Georgia
- January 20-23, 2010—Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
- February 18-20, 2010—General Education and Assessment. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Seattle, Washington
- March 25-27, 2010—Shaping Faculty Roles. Network for Academic Renewal Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Check the AAC&U meetings homepage for updates and details in coming months.
Submit Proposals for General Education and Assessment Conference
AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals for its upcoming meeting, General Education and Assessment: Maintaining Momentum, Achieving New Priorities, to be held in February 18-20, 2010, in Seattle, Washington. Proposals should highlight fresh thinking and new approaches to help faculty, staff, and administrators maintain momentum in general education and assessment and reaffirm a commitment to educational quality amid mounting economic pressures and budget cuts. For detailed information about conference themes and session formats, see the Call for Proposals online. Submissions are due May 15, 2009.
Proposals Sought for POD Conference in October 2009
The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) is seeking proposals for conference sessions at its 34th annual conference, Welcoming Change: Generations and Regeneration, to be held October 28-November 1, 2009, in Houston, Texas. Topics for proposed sessions can include generational differences; emerging technologies; embracing learner-centered teaching paradigms; sustainability issues; reinvigorating established teaching and learning centers; and facing the challenges of downsizing and limited budgets. For details, see the online Call for Proposals. Proposals are due April 6, 2009.
LEAP News
 |
 |
LEAP Campus Action Network Workshop Highlights Effective General Education Practices |
AAC&U’s Campus Action Network, a consortium of LEAP schools that are proactively advancing liberal education outcomes for all students, held its inaugural invitational workshop on February 26, 2009, in conjunction with the General Education, Assessment, and the Learning Students Need conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The workshop brought together CAN members to highlight effective practices in general education at three CAN schools—California State University, Long Beach; Drake University; and University of Nebraska-Lincoln—and to provide participants with time to discuss and develop plans for general education innovation on their own campuses. For more information about becoming involved with CAN, visit the LEAP Web page.
|
|
First Site Visits Inaugurate Campus Activities for Give Students A Compass LEAP Initiative |
Project leaders visited several campuses throughout the California State University System and in Oregon, launching campus activities to advance high-impact learning, general education reform, inclusive excellence, and regional workforce vitality as part of the new LEAP Give Students a Compass Initiative. Project Director Susan Albertine, Project Advisers Jack Meacham and Jose Moreno, and AAC&U Vice President Alma Clayton-Pedersen included visits to Eastern Oregon University; CSU, Sacramento; CSU, Chico; and CSU, San José. Project staff members also met with representatives from the Cal State System office in Long Beach.
Project Highlights:
AAC&U Cosponsors “Be the Change” Forum on Innovations in Personal and Social Responsibility
Babson College and AAC&U will cohost a Core Commitments student forum on April 3-5, 2009, to highlight how students can be catalysts in educating for personal and social responsibility. The forum, entitled Be the Change, is part of Babson’s participation in AAC&U’s Core Commitments initiative. Students from the twenty-three campuses in the Core Commitments Leadership Consortium will share ideas on how to educate peers for personal and social responsibility. The strongest models presented will be selected by a panel of judges for development by student teams over the course of the weekend, and the winning idea will be given a grant of up to $5,000 for implementation and evaluation. Check out the Web site after the forum to learn about the winning ideas.
VALUE Initiative Seeks Volunteers for Rubric Development Teams during June and July of 2009
AAC&U's VALUE Initiative (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) has developed rubrics for most of the “Essential Learning Outcomes” highlighted in AAC&U’s LEAP initiative. We are seeking campuses or departments who are interested in testing one of the following rubrics on samples of their own students’ work between May 1 and June 15, 2009. We are also seeking volunteers to join our existing rubric development teams from June 15 and July 15 to help with the final revision of the following rubrics:
Intellectual and Practical Skills
- Inquiry and analysis
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Written communication
- Oral communication
- Quantitative literacy
- Information literacy
- Teamwork
- Problem solving
Personal and Social Responsibility
- Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global
- Intercultural knowledge and competence
- Ethical reasoning
- Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
Integrative Learning
For more information about volunteering for VALUE rubric development, please e-mail VALUE Initiative Manager, Wende Morgaine at wendemm@gmail.com.
Other AAC&U News:
AAC&U Vice President Featured in Documentary on Innovation
AAC&U’s vice president for communications and public affairs Debra Humphreys appears in a new documentary produced by Helene Lerner, INNOVATE: Engineering Change, which will air on public television stations in April and May 2009. The film tells the story of a dynamic group of men and women as they work together on a pilot project to install water turbines in New York City's East River. If successful, it will generate an alternative source of "green" energy that may be produced commercially. In the film, Humphreys discusses the important role a broad-based liberal education plays in developing tomorrow’s innovators. Check local listings for airtimes.
AAC&U’s VALUE Project Highlighted on Academic Commons
An interview with AAC&U Vice President for Quality, Curriculum, and Assessment Terrel Rhodes on promoting both innovation and accountability in learning was recently published on Academic Commons, a Web site for the free exchange of ideas on issues of technology, new media, and liberal arts education. The interview, conducted by Georgetown University faculty member Randy Bass, focused on how electronic portfolios can be used to authentically assess student achievement of essential learning outcomes. Read the entire interview online.
Applications Available for 2009 Award for Improving General Education
Application forms for the 2009 Association for General and Liberal Studies Award for Improving General Education are now available online. The 2009 award will focus on the essential process of general/liberal education assessment, and specifically on assessment models that “close the loop.” The assessment of any one general/liberal outcome or the outcomes of one learning domain can qualify for the award. For more details, see the award announcement. The AGLS Award was recently recognized in AAC&U’s publication Revising General Education—And Avoiding the Potholes. The application deadline is June 15, 2009.
AAC&U Remembers John Hope Franklin
AAC&U regrets the passing of John Hope Franklin of Duke University, one of the nation’s most distinguished historians. Franklin helped create the field of African American history, and his 1947 book, From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans, is still considered the definitive account of the black experience in America. Franklin gave the keynote speech at AAC&U’s 2006 Diversity and Learning conference, in which he chronicled higher education's journey from segregation to the present and discussed the work that remains to reach equitable outcomes. Listen to a podcast of the speech here. Duke University has also created a memorial Web site about Franklin’s life and accomplishments.
|
|
|
|
Summer Institutes
Institute on General Education
May 29 - June 3, 2009
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Greater Expectations Institute
June 17-21, 2009
Burlington, Vermont
Engaging Departments Institute
July 8-12, 2009
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Network Meetings
Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility: Deepening Student and Campus Commitments
October 1-3, 2009
Minneapolis, Minnesota Integrative Learning
October 22-24, 2009
Atlanta, Georgia
For more
information on meetings, visit www.aacu.org/meetings/index.cfm
|
