Listenings
To assist us in thinking through issues in higher education, the Teagle Foundation from time to time convenes administrators, faculty, and others from the higher education community to talk with us about issues of particular importance. Groups ranging from 15-50 come together in guided but generally informal discussions called Listenings. These discussions help the Foundation shape its policies and initiatives.
Attendance is by invitation.
Below are reports on our Listenings.
In October 2009, the Foundation gathered faculty, assessment experts, and representatives of national consortia of colleges and universities for a one-day Listening on how to put existing data to work to achieve demonstrable improvements in learning outcomes. Specifically, the meeting explored the obstacles and impediments that hinder full use of student learning data on college and university campuses, as well as identified potential cost-effective and sustainable ways of increasing the educational benefits from such evidence.
There have been many rapid changes in undergraduate education, and faculty members often find themselves confronted with expectations that did not exist even a few years ago. At many previous Foundation Listenings and meetings, we have heard repeatedly that one way of responding to this situation is by ensuring that future faculty, that is, today's graduate students, enter the academic workforce equipped with new knowledge and tools about how to bring student learning to the highest levels. To better understand current efforts to prepare future faculty, as well as to explore possible strategies for future work in this area, the Foundation convened a day-and-a-half Listening of graduate school deans, faculty, directors of teaching and learning centers, graduate students, and others in August 2009 in New York City.
How can processes of systematic improvement help bring student learning to the highest possible level? This was the driving question of a national conference sponsored by the Teagle and Spencer Foundations at the Washington Duke Inn in Durham, North Carolina on October 9-11, 2008. Over 120 faculty, staff, administrators, accreditors, leaders of national organizations, and foundation officers were present to think hard about how student learning can be advanced, to discuss the movement towards systematic improvement of educational results, and to find more concerted, pro-active ways for the leadership of higher education to address these and related issues. More information on the conference, including the agenda, participant list, and podcasts of selected presentations can be found
here.
How do we use the new knowledge about how students learn (especially in cognitive psychology and neuroscience), our improved understand of effective teacher, and better assessment techniques to enhance undergraduate student engagement and learning? What, if anything, is happening "on the ground" at college and university campuses in this regard? Has any of this new knowledge made its way to faculty and the classroom? If so in what way? To help us think through these questions, others like it and possible strategies going forward, the Foundation gathered twenty participants from teaching and learning centers at liberal arts colleges and research universities, foundations, and regional consortia for a day-long Listening in New York City.
For more information, see:
Cheryl Ching's report on the Listening.
At its September 2006 Listening on "Leadership for Learning," the Foundation heard the call, from many participants, for working with graduate schools to ensure that teaching and learning are taken seriously from the start of faculty careers. Mentioned too was the importance of research universities to this process since it is their graduate programs that serve as the training ground for the majority of future professors. In response, the Teagle Foundation held a Listening with twenty-eight participants—high-level administrators and faculty from private research universities, graduate students, foundation colleagues, and board members—at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on the role private research universities might, and indeed can, play in increasing undergraduate student engagement and learning in the liberal arts.
For more information, see:
Peter Struck's report on the Listening.
For its third Listening on the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina from September 7 - 9, 2006, the Foundation pursued further the question of how to increase student engagement and learning in the liberal arts and sciences. In recent years, we—that is, those of us concerned with liberal education—have learned a lot about how to achieve more robust teaching and learning. Much of this knowledge, however, is still fragmentary and not widely used in the classroom. What would it take to genuinely improve student learning? The Foundation believes that part of the answer is surely well-crafted assessment, which in turn takes leadership, both administrative and faculty. What else? Over 70 invited participants—leaders of Teagle-funded projects, college presidents and administrators, foundation colleagues, Teagle board members and staff, and others—helped the Foundation think through these questions and outline some possible strategies going forward.
For more information, see:
Cheryl Ching's report on the Listening.
Sensing the need for a fresh look at disciplinary learning in a liberal arts education and motivated by ongoing debates on liberal education, the major, and pre-professional courses in undergraduate education, the Foundation invited faculty members, college presidents and administrators, foundation colleagues, and board members for a day-long Listening to explore these and related issues. The Listening took place on March, 10, 2006 in New York City.
For more information, see:
Cheryl Ching's report on the Listening.
Taking place in the Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, from September 8-10, 2005, this Listening helped the Foundation think about and start to shape new, productive ways to support “religious work” within the context of liberal education. The Foundation gathered around 60 participants, including junior and senior faculty, presidents, provosts, deans, chaplains, and undergraduate students from across the country. Public as well as private colleges and universities were represented, as were both secular and religiously affiliated institutions. The Listening consisted of five panel presentations, a working group lunch, and open Q&A and discussion sessions.
For more information, see:
Bob Connor's draft bibliography on "Religious Work" and Liberal Education
Peter Struck’s report on the September 8-10, 2005 Listening
Cheryl Ching's report on the September 8-10, 2005 Listening
Using Classics as a test case, the Foundation convened two Listenings to explore issues surrounding disciplinary study in liberal education. Each gathered a small group of participants—faculty, provosts, and deans from private undergraduate colleges, larger research universities, and other institutions. The first Listening, on December 3, 2004, was a wide-ranging discussion of various issues. The second, on April 16, 2005, considered the potential value of a discipline-based initiative to support more systemic assessment of teaching and learning in higher education. At its May 2005 meeting, the Foundation’s Board of Directors approved a grant to the Center for Assessment of Higher Education at the University of Maryland, where Rachelle Brooks will lead a project to develop an instrument to assess undergraduate learning outcomes in Classics.
For more information, see:
Peter Struck’s report on the December 3, 2004 Listening
Bob Connor’s report on the April 16, 2005 Listening
Rachelle Brooks' assessment instrument development project
This Listening took place at the Blue Ridge Mountains from September 9-11, 2004. Slightly larger than other such events, it was designed to help the Foundation determine the most productive ways in which we could support the movement toward value-added assessment in liberal education. The group attending numbered about 50, and included some of the leaders in this movement, the heads of consortia that are committed to strengthening the movement, teams (usually a faculty member and senior administrator) from a dozen or more private liberal arts colleges, and some thoughtful observers and commentators of higher education. Unlike other Listenings, this one was structured much like a conference, and featured a few formal presentations as well as comments, questions, and discussions from the floor. It proved very helpful in shaping a Request for Proposals for collaborative work in Value-Added Assessment. Grants that emerged from this RFP were approved during the Teagle Foundation's May 2005 Board meeting.
For more information, see:
