“Liberal Arts Education for the Commuting Student: What Is It? What’s It Worth?”

I. What are the most important “keyword goals” for a Liberal Arts (LA) experience of Boise State University? – 30 min
Session handout offered:
cooperation conversation reflection
interdisciplinarity creativity openness to ideas
lifelong learning inquiry values

Additions:
Replace “cooperation” with “collaboration”
Diversity (cultural and intellectual)
Sense of wonder & curiosity
Ability to argue with evidence
Embrace ambiguity (which leads to learning)
Balance of art & science
Balance of mind & body
Information literacy (When do we need info? How to find it?)
Analogy (see analogies between disciplines)
Connection (recurring theme of conversation)
Engagement
Conversation
Community
Citizenship
Classical: love of beauty, truth, learning; tapping the intellectual root; living the examined life; relevance of classical thinking today; (The word “classical” drew debate, but there was support for the concepts.)
Vision, Tradition, Sense of Place in the university: Who will continue the students’ work? What is their role in profs’ ongoing knowledge projects?
Timelessness, continuity
Practical (Love of learning is practical: it gets us through life; term debated briefly; support for “connections” between applied and abstract knowledge)
Adaptability, flexibility
Commitment (Student responsibility for education, inquiry, experience of BSU)
Listening

II. What specific projects or objectives can help us to meet the keyword-goals above for COMMUTING STUDENTS? Which projects are “worth” VP follow-up or fundraising? (It may be helpful to think of projects in the areas of Facilities, Students, Faculty, Research, Curriculum, and Administration. See reverse [of handout] for needs described at L4L lunch. – 60 min

Sona asked for focus on curriculum, since all commuters experience it.

Discussion showed wide support for a variety of curricular and intellectual “connections.” These included:
Service learning
Linked classes & learning communities (for faculty & students)
Team teaching
Creation of mechanisms by which faculty can share content and approaches
Shifting pedagogic focus from conveying information to showing the relevance and interdisciplinarity of what we do and/or to in-class student writing and reflection on learning
Redefine a credit/contact hour so more work occurs outside of class (e.g. 9 credits for a block of classes from 3 prof’s in 3 disciplines: 3 hours per week in class + 6 hours of activity out of class structure)
“Reach out” to colleagues in other disciplines
Do “more connecting with less curriculum; create a community of questing”
Advising: ask students if they see connections between their classes
Ask students what they want to learn
Take classes to Art Museum (free)
Connect LA to commuters’ practical goals (avoid false dichotomy)
Technology can isolate or connect; use it to facilitate connection (e.g., online courses with everyone participating through postings)

Another significant part of discussion focused on how the physical campus, experienced by all students and faculty, could enhance Liberal Arts learning. Ideas included:
Add common spaces on campus, as in CTL (for conversing, reflecting)
Improve paint, chairs, tables in classrooms to encourage lingering
Encourage eating places close to campus for informal gathering
Better landscaping and outdoor design have begun: continue adding benches, attractive spaces, good passageways. Attractive design makes campus more accessible and welcoming.
Use central quad better: picnic tables, pavilions, walks, covered areas for winter, wireless outdoor areas
Some state schools have more spaces like CTL, where alcoves are always full
Awaiting a “pedestrian master plan”
Alert administrators when places “to just be” get taken away
Create “places to go” both indoors and out: space and light
Don’t subdivide offices further; define a minimum of space for offices?
Make space that “allows people to breathe, to think”
Keep leaves on the ground longer for aesthetic shuffling?
TV’s in SUB encourage culture of technological tune-out (e.g. in class)

Other comments and questions:
Liberal arts, like technology, offers a way for students not to be alone
Create a “course of study” for students based on courses a hypothetical person would take to get to a particular place in life. Ask students to name their heroes or role models and guide them to the courses that person would have taken.
Who teaches first-year courses? Is this a problem for Liberal Arts at BSU?
Small changes: Take a class outdoors; invite a colleague to speak in class
Consider unusual ways to fulfill course requirements
Tony read from Harvard’s statement on LA in answer to a question about the goal of LA. We may or may not want to accept some of Harvard’s terms.
Would students define LA the same way we do? Which students (entering or exiting)?
Should BSU feel different from Harvard/MIT? What feeling do students want here? Why do they come to BSU? Do they know what they want from college before they get it?



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