In this article, Lori Varlotta, president of small liberal arts institution Hiram College, describes how she and her team have launched a systemic change process that includes modifying the entire academic structure: first-year experience, majors, core curriculum, graduation requirements, and student learning outcomes. Hiram's model for academic…

The physical fitness required to perform complex athletic feats has a parallel in the intellectual fitness it takes to perform complex mental tasks. At the heart of liberal education sits the idea that moderate training in several disciplines is better than intensive training in just one. Through exercising students' abilities in interpreting…

As crucial stakeholders in higher education, employers have long requested, demanded, and implored that colleges and universities help students develop the team skills needed to address challenges posed by innovation. Employers seek college graduates who, in the face of persistent ambiguity and within increasingly complex environments, are able to…

A plea to widen the student's perspective within the sphere of methodological and epistemological concerns through philosophy. (Editor)

Interdisciplinarity, problem-focused education, and experiential education must serve some larger goals and fit some larger framework or philosophy of education. Engaged education--with emphasis on relevance involvement, social problem-solving, and seen as opposed to traditional education--is discussed. (MLW)

The learning community curricular model links coursework to promote coherence and intellectual interaction for a group of students. The four basic models are linked courses; course clusters; freshman interest groups; and coordinated studies. Learning communities can be effective, and offer a feasible solution for different issues and diverse…

Examines contemporary models of undergraduate education, including their historical development and the reforms of the 1960's, asking whether the many social, political, and intellectual directions demand corresponding curricular responses or a new synthesis. Concludes that social complexity calls for emphasis on the aesthetic and intuitive as…

Team-taught interdisciplinary courses are seen as difficult to develop if an institution has a strong departmental structure. Course-pairs, a model to develop a truly interdisciplinary course while providing independent, coherent courses in history and philosophy, is described. The results of a student course-evaluation survey are presented. (MLW)