Pedagogies of Engagement:
Deepening Learning In and Across the Disciplines

Network for Academic Renewal Conference
April 14-16, 2005
Greater Washington, DC

Conference Pathways

Four pathways will weave together the themes of the conference.

1. Designing/Implementing Pedagogies of Engagement to Reflect Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
This pathway represents sessions that identify disciplinary or interdisciplinary perspectives for student learning and the pedagogies of engagement used in the classroom, on campus, and in the community that contribute to student achievement in those areas. It addresses the following questions.

• What understandings about student development are necessary for creating pedagogies that effectively engage students in meaningful learning?
• How are course content (disciplinary or interdisciplinary) and pedagogy related? How do diversity and inclusion affect course content and pedagogy?
• What are the educational goals of liberal learning that are of central importance to every student’s college experience and what pedagogies have proven effective for fostering their achievement across the curriculum?
• What pedagogies help students integrate academic content with real-world experiences to develop critical thinking skills, social responsibility, and civic engagement? How might these pedagogies be adapted in light of specific disciplinary goals, learning communities, or general education goals?
• What skills contribute to effective problem-solving and how are these skills developed?
• What pedagogies engage students within the sciences and engineering, within arts and humanities, within business and health schools?
• What pedagogies are being effectively used in interdisciplinary fields such as ethnic studies and women’s studies, or global and environmental studies?
• What pedagogies help develop intercultural competencies?
• What can be learned by comparing innovative teaching strategies within and across the disciplines?
• What are the implications of engaged pedagogies for the preparation of K-12 teachers or the partnerships between higher education and schools that aim to improve the quality of learning for all students?
• What practices of engagement might K-12 teachers offer to postsecondary educators?

2. Assessing Pedagogies and Practices
This pathway consists of sessions that present tools, rubrics, and strategies for using assessment throughout the college years to help faculty, student affairs professionals, and administrators identify, understand, design, and more effectively use pedagogies of engagement to foster student achievement. It addresses the following questions:

• How might we assess pedagogies and use the results to improve curricula and learning environments?
• How might engaging difference be assessed and the results used to advance inclusion and high achievement?
• How might we assess the abilities of various pedagogies to help students accomplish particular learning goals?
• What are strategies for assessing the impact of engaged pedagogies on student learning in and across the disciplines, in learning communities, and student life? How might the learning goals below be assessed?
  • Critical thinking, written and oral communication, quantitative and information literacy
  • Discipline-specific understanding and practice
  • Intercultural knowledge and collaborative problem-solving skills
  • Individual and social responsibility
  • Civic engagement
  • Habits of mind that indicate integrative thinking and the ability to transfer knowledge from one setting to another
• What are longitudinal assessments telling us about how student engagement contributes to life-long learning?

3. Supporting Campus Leaders
The sessions in this pathway highlight innovative approaches for providing resources and opportunities for faculty, staff, administrative, student, and community leaders to advance their understanding, scholarship, and practice of engaged teaching and learning. The following questions will be addressed:

• How can departments support faculty in redesigning course content and teaching to engage students and develop life-long learners?
• What do faculty and staff need to stay current with the knowledge and practice of learning and teaching and to remain energized and engaged?
• How are faculty and staff simultaneously involved in the development of course syllabi and pedagogies to foster desirable learning outcomes? What avenues are open to them to create new forms of student engagement?
• What is the role of student affairs in enhancing faculty initiated student engagement? What can faculty learn from student affairs professionals about how to do their work more effectively?
• How can deeper partnerships improve pedagogical initiatives such as learning communities, living-learning environments, and civic engagement? How might these partnerships be nurtured?
• What role can faculty learning communities play in implementing and supporting new pedagogies?
• Are some pedagogies better suited to particular student/faculty personalities and/or learning styles? If so, how can campuses use this information to enhance faculty and staff development? How can faculty and staff use the information to develop effective pedagogies in these contexts?
• What incentives encourage new forms of pedagogy to deepen student learning in and out of the classroom? In learning communities?
• How can faculty commitment to successfully implementing engaged pedagogies be linked to promotion and tenure?

4. Facilitating and Managing Change
Sessions in this pathway explore the implementation of new pedagogies of engagement at the classroom, departmental, institutional, and community levels. Questions addressed include:

• What are some of the multiple points of entry to cultivate student engagement and high achievement?
• Who are the agents of change and advocates for programs, activities, and structures that support pedagogies of engagement?
• Who is responsible for providing the resources and coordination that link effective pedagogy with high achievement and in what ways are resources applied to affect institutional structure, departmental practices, campus leaders, and faculty initiatives?
• How are learning communities initiated and sustained?
• How does a diverse faculty enrich the set of pedagogical practices from which all faculty can draw? How can campuses diversify the faculty?
• What are the roles of campus leaders in insuring student engagement in the disciplines, student affairs, and general education?
• How can faculty, department chairs, and student affairs professionals collaborate to develop effective models for student learning?
• What are the roles of campus grants officers, communications specialists, and institutional research staff in the process of implementing pedagogies that are new to a campus?
• What can we learn from students as we undertake curricular and pedagogical change?
• What grants are available and how do faculty, department chairs, administrators, student affairs professionals initiate the proposal process?

For more information, please e-mail us at meetings@aacu.org.