Annual interviews with 228 students at 6 diverse campuses in the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education reveal 123 students' developmental growth away from authority dependence between the beginning of the first and second years of college. In the first year of college, 86% of participants relied solely on external authorities to define…

This summary chapter organizes recommendations from the first eight chapters of this journal issue into a framework that helps faculty understand and incorporate students' meaning-making into the learning process. Longitudinal data on young adults' learning and development are used to integrate multiple dimensions of development. (Author/DB)

The Measure of Epistemological Reflection was revised to reflect a constructivist view of epistemological development that emerged from a longitudinal study of young adults' development. This article includes a description of the new constructivist interpretation process, how it is used, and criteria upon which to judge its value. (Contains 44…

Self-definition plays a crucial role in complex learning. This article offers a framework for making identity central in learning to promote learning and self-authorship. Four examples of this framework in multicultural education, community development, academic advising, and teaching offer student affairs educators a foundation for leading…

Data were analyzed from the postcollege phase of a 7-year longitudinal study of college students' (n=101) epistemological development. The data revealed that the gender-related patterns of relational and impersonal knowing that these students demonstrated during college were integrated into postcollege experience in work, education, and personal…

Reports on the application of a standardized production task instrument, the Measure of Epitemological Reflection (MER), on assessment to the Perry scheme of intellectual and ethical development. Compares various formats (independent study, guided workbook study, and seminar study) for training practitioners to learn to rate MER data. Results…

A study with 101 college freshmen indicates that freshman experience promotes increasing intellectual complexity for both sexes, but more for males than females. Analysis of student expectations and perceptions of environments shows subtle differences that may account for differential growth, suggesting some approaches to creating equitable…

This book articulates an integrated conceptualization of theory, assessment, application, and evaluation through the study of assessment and its role in linking theory and practice. Part 1 of the book contains six chapters which address the conceptualization of these four components, the potential for integrating them in the context of…

Yearly interviews investigated 101 college students' perceptions of their experiences throughout the 4 years of college as they related to 3 different epistemologies ranging from unquestioned acceptance of knowledge to self-authored knowledge and to gender differences within these epistemologies. Results suggest teaching strategies and evaluation…

Many graduate students lack the capacity for self-authorship, the ability to develop one's own perspective. Data from a longitudinal study of sixteen students, begun in their first year of college, illustrates the difficulty of moving from embracing multiple perspectives to constructing self-authored perspectives. The stories of three graduate…

By the time students graduate from college, most still have not achieved the kind of self-authorship that would allow them to think independently, make choices, and pursue their dreams. What can be done to help them develop this capacity and make the most of their college experience? One way, says the author, is to be better company. (Author)

Proposes an integrated perspective on student learning and personal development by viewing the cognitive and affective dimensions of development as related parts of one process. Suggests that this perspective will provide college students with a successful educational experience by increasing cognitive understanding, sense of self, personal…

A study investigated graduate and professional educational experiences that promote contextual knowing. Seventy students described these experiences as opportunities to struggle with ideas and formulate their own opinions, connect their beliefs to their own lives, use experiences in the learning process, engage in learning as equal partners with…

A longitudinal study of 101 college students investigated the ways in which their college and postcollege experiences fostered development of complexity in their assumptions about knowledge, by emphasizing independent functioning, collaboration, direct involvement in learning, and subjective decisionmaking. Results suggest these experiences be…