By Joy L. Rodgers
Two years before it became a universitywide initiative, the College of Education began taking steps toward becoming a college that focuses on learning rather than on teaching.
On Feb. 14, the faculty and staff of the College held its fifth forum since 2001 on what it means to be a "Learning College." The second forum of the academic year -- the first was held in October -- advanced the earlier discussion from personal experiences of learning to "instructed learning," in which students participate in their own learning regimes and for which teachers still have responsibility.
For example, forum participants in October described learning as such things as "a multilayered social process"; as a "passion for" some subject; as "questions, not answers"; and as a "journey of inquiry."
"Our hope today is to establish features of instructed learning by incorporating what we learned from our discussion of personal learning experiences," said Mary Markowitz, assistant professor of teacher education and a member of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Learning College.
Recalling the October meeting in which participants shared personal experiences of learning, Ginger Weade, professor of teacher education, said she was struck by the number of stories that took place outside of classrooms: "My question is, how can we make the necessary transition into the classroom?"
Weade's question served as the challenge of the day as Markowitz outlined the purpose of the forum.
"Our task is to identify the valued features of instructed learning through an examination of the valued features of personal learning that also are relevant to 'instructed' learning," she said.
With that task in mind, forum participants were charged with establishing a set of learning outcomes at the College level. To reach that goal, forum participants first had to identify characteristics of College of Education graduates that should be fostered through instructed learning. Then, they set out to rewrite those characteristics as learning outcomes, making sure those outcomes are aligned with the mission of the University.
The Ad Hoc Committee on the Learning College now hopes to produce a document on the features of instructed learning that will be discussed collegewide.
Joy L. Rodgers is the public affairs coordinator for the College of Education.
