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Critical and Creative Thinking: Accreditation and Institutional Change Iain Crawford

Critical and Creative Thinking: Accreditation and Institutional Change Iain Crawford Department of English, University of Delaware. The College of Wooster, 2002-3 . “More than 50% of our seniors go on to graduate school” – Department of Chemistry, 2002 Self-Study Report to HLC

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Critical and Creative Thinking: Accreditation and Institutional Change Iain Crawford

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  1. Critical and Creative Thinking: Accreditation and Institutional Change Iain Crawford Department of English, University of Delaware

  2. The College of Wooster, 2002-3 • “More than 50% of our seniors go on to graduate school” – Department of Chemistry, 2002 Self-Study Report to HLC • HLC sanction: monitoring report in 2005 • HLC sanction: focused visit in 2006 • Dearth of institutional engagement in assessment of student learning

  3. Promoting a Culture of Assessment • 2005 Ohio5 working group (funded with planning grant from Teagle Foundation): Denison; Kenyon; Oberlin; Ohio Wesleyan; Wooster • Developed proposal based upon using Primary Trait Analysis to assess critical and creative thinking as essential outcomes of liberal learning • Led to 2006-2009 project funded by Teagle ($297,000)

  4. Research Questions • What tools might we develop to assess fundamental and related outcomes of a liberal arts education? • Can we effectively assess development of critical and creative thinking in the classroom? • What are faculty and student perceptions of critical and creative thinking? • How do student perceptions of these change during their college years?

  5. Research Methods • Developed rubrics to assess faculty and student perceptions of critical and creative thinking and learning across the curriculum • Administered surveys to faculty and students across the participating colleges • Evaluated results through statistical analysis of data and discussion in faculty working groups

  6. Findings • Development and utilization of generic rubric • Critical and creative thinking found to improve for many of the traits assessed • Greatest gains occurred in interdisciplinary courses • Students generally associated creative thinking with activities outside the classroom; felt that classroom pedagogy was often a barrier to creative thinking • Over the course of their college careers, students increasingly believe that creativity can be taught • Faculty were less likely to agree that college provides time and space for creativity

  7. Project Website • http://www3.wooster.edu/teagle/default.php

  8. Outcomes at Wooster • Changes to mission statement: The College of Wooster is a community of independent minds, working together to prepare students to become leaders of character and influence in an interdependent global community. We engage motivated students in a rigorous and dynamic liberal education. Mentored by a faculty nationally recognized for excellence in teaching, Wooster graduates are creative and independent thinkers with exceptional abilities to ask important questions, research complex issues, solve problems, and communicate new knowledge and insight.

  9. Outcomes at Wooster • Creation of Graduate Qualities: Independent Thinking, through the ability to: Engage in critical and creative thinking Devise, formulate, research, and bring to fruition a complex and creative project Embody the intellectual curiosity, passion, and self-confidence necessary for life-long learning

  10. Outcomes at Wooster • Evolution in Institutional Culture: “The project resulted in a major shift in the way we portray ourselves” (Nancy Grace, Project Director) Increased understanding of the value of assessment to enhancing liberal learning Increased awareness of the value of rubrics in assessing student learning Creation of space for new generation of faculty to develop more outcomes-focused approaches to student learning

  11. Preparing for 2013 Accreditation Visit • Update from Self-Study Group: We do much more assessment than we did 10 years ago and we do it much better than we did 10 years ago. There is room for assessment efforts to be better integrated.  For example, we have only recently begun to work on an institutional feedback loop—using assessment conducted at the departmental and program level to make institutional planning decisions. In addition, we may have reached an assessment plateau. This means that assessment is very much part of our culture now and we understand what we are doing.  As a result, we are ready to look over our policies from a place of knowledge and decide on a direction for the future.  Some policies may need to be changed and roles and responsibilities more clearly delineated. http://selfstudy.spaces.wooster.edu/progress-updates/

  12. Implications for Institutions and Accreditors? • Getting beyond the panopticon -- how do we break out of the discipline and punish paradigm? • What do we talk about when we talk about assessment? • How can the assessment cycle encourage and promote continuity of campus efforts? • How do we connect the culture of accreditation with campus culture, particularly with a richer understanding of faculty work and values?

  13. Creativity and Critical Thinking: Representations Reports Reflections Donna Heiland NEASC Annual Meeting Boston, MA December 2012

  14. “It was on a dreary night of November … when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” Mary Shelley, Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Text, ed. James Rieger (1974; U of Chicago Press, 1982). Still shot from Frankenstein (1931), at http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/frankenstein/images/19752110/title/stills-photo

  15. “This prayer … I made in Latin verse. The lines were not very good, but I knew them not to be very good: I made them easily, and concluded myself to be unimpaired in my faculties.” Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1791), ed. R. W. Chapman. (Oxford: Oxford World’s Classics, 1980), pg. 1241. Portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1772). Original in the Tate Gallery; this image from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Samuel_Johnson_by_Joshua_Reynolds.jpg

  16. Latin Verse to Liberal Learning • Johnson makes and then evaluates lines of poetry • Creativity and critical thought • What is the connection between these two activities? From Samuel Johnson's  A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) Internet Archive, cited on tEloraWriter’s Festival website (http://elorawritersfestival.blogspot.com/search?q=kindle)

  17. Liberal Learning Outcomes AAC&U’s LEAP Outcomes • Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World • Intellectual and Practical Skills • Including “Critical and creative thinking” • Personal and Social Responsibility • Integrative and Applied Learning (http://www.aacu.org/leap/vision.cfm)

  18. From Creative and Critical Thinking: Assessing the Foundations of a Liberal Arts Education http://www3.wooster.edu/teagle/vendiagram.php

  19. Critical Thinking What is itand how do we cultivate it? How well are we doing and how do we know? • CLA & CLA in the Classroom • “Systematic Improvement of Undergraduate Education in Research Universities” (Spencer-Teagle project) • “A Longitudinal Study of Critical Thinking and Postformal Reasoning: Assessing Undergraduate Outcomes Within Disciplinary Contexts” • Campus projects, including Creative and Critical Thinking: Assessing the Foundations of a Liberal Arts Education (Ohio 5) (all supported by the Teagle Foundation, in whole or in part)

  20. Creativity What is itand how do we cultivate it? • Individuals • Systems How are we doing and how do we know? • Creative and Critical Thinking: Assessing the Foundations of a Liberal Arts Education (Ohio 5, Teagle funded) • Double Majors: Influences, Identities, and Impacts (Steven J. Tepperand Richard, Vanderbilt University, Teagle-funded) • Creative Campus • Strategic National Arts Alumni Project

  21. Creativity as an Integrative Process • Tepper/ Pitt study points to need for integration across majors • AAC&U project on integration of student learning over the course of a college career

  22. Creativity as a Recursive or Iterative Process Based on MihalyiCsizszentmihalyi, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology and Discovery and Invention (1996. NY: Harper, 1997). Pgs. 79-81.

  23. Frankenstein Re-Visited: The Critical Path to Creative Success? Danny Shanahan, The New Yorker, September 13,1999. www.cartoonbank.com

  24. Creative Inquiry and Immersive Learning

  25. Selective Initiatives on Creative Inquiry

  26. Richard Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class (New York: Basic, 2002).

  27. Steven S. Tepper, “The Creative Campus. Who’s No. 1?” The Chronicle of Higher Education. October 1, 2004.

  28. The Five Ohio Colleges, “Creative and Critical Thinking.” Teagle Foundation, 2005.

  29. “Creativity Imperative,” Peer Review, Spring. 2006.

  30. “Mapping the Creative Campus,” Virginia Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, Ball State University, August 1 – 4, 2006.

  31. Creative Campus Research Conference. Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy. Vanderbilt University. November 9 – 11, 2006.

  32. American Association of Colleges and Universities. Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP). 2005.

  33. Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc. How Colleges Should Assess and Improve Learning. American Association of Colleges and Universities. January 9, 2008.

  34. George Kuh, High Impact Educational Practices. American Association of Colleges and Universities, 2008.

  35. First-year Seminars and Experiences. • Common Intellectual Experiences. • Learning Communities. • Writing-Intensive Courses. • Collaborative Assignments and Projects. • Undergraduate Research. • Diversity/Global Learning. • Service Learning, Community-Based Learning. • Internships. • Capstone Courses and Projects.

  36. 15 hours of credit • Substantial budget • Project-based seminars • Collaborative • Interdisciplinary • Community Partners • Final Showcase The Birthplace of Immersive Learning

  37. Virginia Ball Center Alumni Survey • 97% indicate that VBC was the single most important experience in their college education. • 68% indicate that VBC contributed directly to their ability to find or design a creative professional life.

  38. Creative Inquiry (2000 - ) Immersive Learning (2007 - ) Faculty – 4 Students – 60 Faculty – 1,000 Students – 20,000

  39. Strategic Plan Ball State’s by 2012 • Immersive Learning as signature educational experience. • Increase participation by 10% per year. • All 49 departments participate.

  40. Characteristics of Immersive Learning • Academic credit • Collaborative learning • Product-driven • Interdisciplinary teams • Community-based • Learning outcomes • Define career path

  41. Progress on Ball State’s Strategic Plan • 2006 – 07 • 1,680 students • 26 departments • 2007 – 08 • 2,613 students • 38 departments • 2008 – 09 • 2,726 students • 35 departments • 2009 – 10 • 2,848 students • 44 departments • 2010 – 11 • 4,052 students • 45 departments • 45 departments

  42. Final Report on the Strategic PlanImmersive Learning, 2012 • 12,239 Students • 755 Projects • 70 out of 92 counties

  43. Nature at Play • Environmental Science • Creative Writing • Graphic Arts • Elementary Ed. • Landscape Architecture • Computer Science Faculty • Martha Hunt, Landscape Architecture Students Product • Computer Game for Elementary School Students Partners • Storer School, Minnetrista Center Recognition • Honor Award in Student Collaboration, The American Society of Landscape Architects

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