This chapter will construct a prototype of a scholarship of practice through specific application to general education. The chapter includes specific illustrations and potential challenges for such an endeavor.

Prior to 2003, virtual universities were being created at a rate that would question the usual perception that higher education rarely changed, or changed (if at all) at a glacial speed. No comprehensive study of what was actually being created had been done; nor had anyone tapped the experiences of the developers in the states to see what was…

This case study reviews the emergence and evolution of eCore (the University System of Georgia's electronically delivered undergraduate core courses) over eight years and summarizes the issues, ongoing challenges, and lessons learned from interinstitutional collaboration in offering and administering a "virtual" shared core. The bulk of…

Change in general education is changing, and there are lessons to be learned in reenvisioning the curriculum.

This discussion of public policy and liberal education notes difficulties in defining public policy and liberal education across the various types of institutions of higher education--from liberal arts colleges to large, state-supported universities. It also addresses problems associated with the relative dearth of research funding in traditional…

Most want a more coherent curriculum. Few succeed. What works, and why?

The president of Sweet Briar College (Virginia) reflects on the tensions that exist between the need for short-term skill development and the more long-term values associated with a liberal education and espoused by John Milton. Central to the educational endeavor is the human relationship between faculty and student and the development of such…

The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reflects on two fundamental principles of liberal education, that liberal education allows us to: (1) understand ourselves; and (2) act. He observes that problem solving is becoming more interdisciplinary, thus creating a greater need for liberal education. (DB)

This article argues that liberal education instills a common understanding of past knowledge in students and warns against the pressures toward specialization. A core curriculum is recommended as a means of tying together various topics. (DB)

This article equates liberal education with undergraduate majors in the humanities, social sciences, mathematics, physical sciences, biological sciences, and psychology. It notes that recent trends of declining numbers of such majors are due to a decrease in student demand and a rise in the rate of return to college, itself due to declining…

Reexamines the relationship between liberal learning and career preparation, discussing the contemporary problem of work and schooling, liberal learning as the development of moral competence, changes in the moral perspective, and the core of liberal learning. (Author/PG)

This article argues that, throughout history, progress has been intertwined with liberal education. Liberal education is seen as influencing technology and vice versa. These ideas are traced through historical eras including that of steamboats and textiles (1807-1855), connecting the continent (1830-1883), the rise of industry, and information and…

This commentary on Breneman (HE 534 032) considers the usefulness of liberal education and asks whether we are producing it in the right amount and distributing it to the people who can most benefit from it. The question of whether or not the provision of liberal education coincides with broader goals of equality of opportunity is addressed. (DB)

This article discusses the need to reconcile the rising demand for public accountability with the important historical linkage between liberal education and academic freedom. He urges universities and government to join forces in measuring performance in order to serve functions of accountability and freedom. (DB)

Ownership and articulation of general education can transform an institution.