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| navigate: home: magazine: winter 2000: article | |
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Innovations in Honors Education Conference examines teaching and learning in higher education By Kerry A. Newman | |||||||||
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Through their collaboration on the Innovations in Honors Education conference, The Schreyer Honors College and the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning are pioneering the movement to renew, refresh and reinvent how teaching and learning occur in higher education. The goal of the conference, the first in a series of programs to be hosted by The Schreyer Honors College and the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning, was to bring together leaders from research universities to initiate a national dialogue about the role of honors education as a catalyst for changing higher education. More than 100 administrators, faculty and students from across the nation congregated at Penn State to discuss higher education and share their ideas for making the modifications needed to carry education into the new millennium. From its inception to implementation, the conference was, in itself, an innovative event. Inspiration for organizing the conference came with the creation of the college itself in 1997. The gift that created The Schreyer Honors College and Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning also laid the foundation for a national conference that would highlight the work of both units. The Innovations in Honors Education conference was the first of its kind; it brought together leaders from honors education programs and innovators from the fields of teaching and learning. “We want to create a forum where people can share ideas, ” said Dr. Cheryl Achterberg, dean of The Schreyer Honors College and conference co-chair, along with Dr. Larry Spence, director of the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning. According to Achterberg, an important facet of honors programs is to take learning further—to stimulate and to discover new ways of thinking—which makes these programs ideal environments for researching and implementing innovative educational practices. The Schreyer Honors College and Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning were fitting hosts for a conference that sought to explore ways to improve teaching and learning in higher education. “Honors programs can serve as a test bed for new ideas,” Achterberg said. “And various programs can evaluate some of these new teaching and learning ideas.” The organization of the event allowed for the maximum engagement of all attendees and speakers. Three keynote presentations, each focusing on different aspects of innovations in education, were immediately followed by roundtable discussions. A panel reaction by the other keynoters followed the roundtable discussions. According to Achterberg, the format was well received because it allowed participants to respond immediately to the presentations and exchange their own thoughts with peers. One of the highlights of the conference was “How Should Honors Programs Change?” presented by Dr. Joseph Novak, professor emeritus at Cornell University and the acclaimed author of Learning How to Learn. A groundbreaking researcher, Novak shared highlights from his 30-plus years of experience investigating the learning process. One of the themes of his presentation was the notion that students learn by memorizing rather than by understanding. Novak demonstrated this idea through a variety of examples. Using a slide presentation, he showed participants examples of diagrams, called concept maps, which were created by elementary-aged students. Little more than simple word sketches, the maps illustrated the students’ understanding of concepts. The maps showed clearly where important ideas were missing when the children did not fully understand the concepts. Another of his examples detailed the results of a survey of Harvard University graduates. According to his data, out of 23 students surveyed, only two could accurately describe why seasons occur on earth. All of his examples demonstrated the idea that students—at all levels—learn by memorizing ideas rather than by understanding them. “What all knowledge, in all fields, consists of is a myriad of concepts,” Novak said. “The challenge is for students to acquire the meanings of those concepts and their own sense of meaning and relationship. More importantly, they [students] need to understand relationships between concepts.” Novak emphasized that in order to make learning more meaningful, educators must challenge students to think at a higher level. “I think the challenge for you and to society is: ‘How can we facilitate this process? ’ ‘How can we change what we do? ’ ‘How can we modify our honors programs? ’ to make our students powerful learners and socially and responsibly committed. ” The other two featured speakers were Dr. Robert Zemsky, the founding director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute for Research on Higher Education, and Dr. Peter Ewell, a senior associate at the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems. Echoing the themes Novak discussed, Zemsky addressed the need for restructuring higher education during his speech on “Why Do Honors Programs Need Change,” while Ewell spoke about using assessment tools to analyze the results of restructuring during his talk on “How to Assess the Changes Made.” In addition to the keynote speakers, Dr. John Brighton, University Professor and head of the Teaching/Learning Consortium, spoke about “The New Institutional Role of the Honors College. ” He described the close connection between The Schreyer Honors College and the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning and emphasized that the Honors College was born during a time of change at Penn State. And, quite fittingly, the college strives to be a national model for researching and implementing changes in higher education. He stressed that educators can play a part in the setting of new learning directions by more actively involving students in learning. Brighton concluded by quoting a Native American proverb that was printed in the June 29, 1999, issue of Leadership magazine: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may not remember, involve me and I will understand.” Ultimately, the desired outcome of the Innovations in Honors Education conference is to positively impact students—to help them to learn, grow and develop into tomorrow’s leaders. Achterberg described the honors students as “eaglets.” “Our goal as a college is to put wings on them, to help them learn to fly and fly to the highest altitude that their potential can take them, ” she said. “We want to educate men and women who will become leaders in American communities, businesses, services and professions. Men and women who are well-educated, responsible and responsive human beings with a global perspective and a skills-base intact.” An outreach program of The Schreyer Honors College and the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning | ||||||||
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