An across-the-curriculum (ATC) approach to undergraduate research (UR) is a productive addition to UR ecosystems at equity-oriented institutions. The ATC approach is differentiated from mentored UR experiences and laboratory course-based UR experiences by its ability to employ experiential, problem-based skills and practices for a broad variety of…

Public perception of the liberal arts is declining. Yet the cognitive skills that a liberal education aims to engender are the key skills that employers and the public value most. To address this seeming paradox, we must redesign the general education core and focus squarely on essential outcomes. Specifically, we must ensure that when students…

Life skills, including conflict management, flexibility in response to change, and effective communication, are critical to success in college and career. Most university administrators and employers believe that students should learn foundational life skills in college, but for the most part universities do not explicitly teach these skills as…

The pedagogy of performing arts courses in theatre, film, music, and dance programs found in most liberal arts curricula is clearly experiential insofar as the making of art involves active engagement in classroom activities or events that are staged or filmed. But because many educators outside the arts perceive performing arts programs as solely…

Experiential education, which takes students into the community, helps students both to bridge classroom study and life in the world and to transform inert knowledge into knowledge-in-use. It rests on theories of experiential learning, a process whereby the learner interacts with the world and integrates new learning into old constructs.…