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Our imperative: Create a learning society
Dr. James H. Ryan Vice President for Outreach and Cooperative Extension The United States has many promises to keep. Among the most important is that all Americans, by virtue of effert, industry, and the quality of their performance, are entitled to the fruits of success, to reach as high as their hopes inspire them and to travel as far as their aspirations lead them. —Returning to Our Roots: A Learning Society Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities	In Returning to Our Roots: A Learning Society, 24 presidents and chancellors of public universities and land-grant institutions around the nation make the case for why it is imperative that American higher education institutions create a “learning society” and make lifelong learning available to people of all ages. In their fourth open letter to the higher education community, the commission members describe why creating a learning society is so critical: The concept of lifelong learning has been talked of before, but, for the first time, we now have the technological means to make it a reality. We are convinced that public research universities must be leaders in a new era of not simply increased demand for education, but rather of a change so fundamental and far-reaching that the establishment of a true “learning society” lies within our grasp. The Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, chaired by President Spanier, challenges public research institutions to embrace information technologies to meet the soaring education needs of traditional and nontraditional students and to also take steps to foster learning in early childhood. According to the commission, the key elements of a learning society are: A learning society values and fosters habits of lifelong learning and ensures that there are responsive and flexible learning programs and learning networks available to address all students’ needs. It is socially inclusive and ensures that all of its members are part of its learning communities. It recognizes the importance of early-childhood development as part of lifelong learning and develops organized ways of enhancing the development of all children. It views information technologies, including new interactive, multimedia technologies, as tools for enriching learning by tailoring instruction to societal, organizational and individual needs. It stimulates the creation of new knowledge through research and other means of discovery and uses that knowledge for the benefit of society. It values regional and global interconnections and cultural links. It fosters public policy that ensures equity of access to learning, information and information technologies and recognizes that investments in learning contribute to overall competitiveness and the economic and social well-being of the nation. In 1995, Penn State began the process of strengthening its outreach units to better serve the University’s historic role as a land-grant institution. The many steps we have taken since then have led to the development of the outreach framework and foundation from which we can advance a learning society. The Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities offers three recommendations for achieving this goal. First, the commission asks public research institutions to make lifelong learning a part of their core mission. To do this, institutions will need to expand access to lifelong learning by offering a wide range of teaching and learning opportunities and employing appropriate information technologies to deliver education. However, educational institutions cannot succeed in broadening their educational programs without assistance. Partnerships will be needed to maximize resources at Penn State. Many of our outreach initiatives have an active partnership with schools, governments, businesses, professional associations and other higher education institutions. These relationships increase educational opportunities for students in cost-efficient ways, prepare students at every age level to succeed in college and in adulthood and enable us to plan for the future education and training needs of the workforce in a learning society. The commission also pointed to the need for accrediting associations to set appropriate quality standards and expectations for institutions offering lifelong learning through distance education. At Penn State, quality standards are an integral part of the course development and delivery process. Our guiding principle is that all courses—credit or noncredit—are the responsibility of the academic department regardless of location or delivery method. This principle ensures that every Penn State course meets the rigorous academic standards for both content and faculty expertise of the sponsoring academic college. In its second recommendation, the commission encourages public research institutions to create new kinds of learning environments. These learning environments must teach students higher-order reasoning abilities—critical thinking, problem-solving techniques, how to use abstraction and analysis; offer programs to help employees upgrade skills during their working lives; provide faculty development opportunities on new pedagogies and new information technologies; encourage research on learning to improve the learning process itself; and provide the information technologies vital to the teaching and learning process. A continued emphasis on outreach forms of scholarship, such as conferences, workshops and institutes, distance education, applied research, technical assistance, demonstration projects and evaluation studies, will support these goals by enabling more students and faculty to apply their efforts and expertise to meet society’s needs. Third, the commission recommended providing public support for lifelong learning. The commission stressed the need for state and federal governments to “acknowledge the significance of lifelong learning by taking the necessary steps to meet the public need for it.” The kinds of support that will be required to achieve this goal are public investment in higher education to keep tuition down and make higher education affordable for all; research grants for distance learning and technology-based learning; infrastructure support for institutions’ capital and operating expenses for information technology; and new financial aid policies at the federal and state levels for lifelong learners. As the members of the Kellogg Commission state in their report: This is not the first time the recommendations outlined in this document have been put forward. State universities have long believed that lifelong learning should be at the core of their public mission. They have sensed that new kinds of learning environments must be created. And they have made the case that public demand for educational opportunities must be matched by public support for public institutions. But it is time that these recommendations are put into place so that, at last, this work can be done. Penn State is well positioned to provide leadership in creating a learning society. This leadership is critical if we are to satisfy the education demands of an exploding student population. The Lifelong Learning Trends survey by the University Continuing Education Association shows that from 1970 to 1997, the number of part-time students more than doubled from 3 million to 6.2 million, and the number of part-time enrollments increased by 180 percent, compared to 44 percent for full-time enrollments. Part-time adult students are projected to be 55 percent of the college population by 2005. The Lifelong Learning Trends survey also shows that from 1970 to 1997, the student profile changed dramatically. The number of women enrolled part time tripled from 1.2 million to 3.6 million, while the number of men enrolled part time grew from 1.5 million to 2.5 million. And the number of women 35 years of age and older quadrupled to 1.3 million. Labor force characteristics and support for education are also changing. With the “graying” of the American workforce, companies are spending 3 percent of their payroll, or $1,526 per employee, on education and training each year. To keep current on the job in some professions, employees need to spend a significant percentage of their time engaged in learning every day. In short, there is enormous growth and new opportunities for universities by engaging in lifelong learning. For more than 100 years, the University has utilized innovations to extend the research and scholarship of its faculty to benefit the people of Pennsylvania and beyond. From our first correspondence courses for farmers in 1892 to our current children, youth and families outreach initiatives, continuing professional education workshops and workforce development education and training programs, we continue to foster an environment for lifelong learning and to support the new learning society. Today, thanks to advances in information technologies, we are able to provide even greater access to Penn State’s faculty expertise through the World Campus. These new technologies are providing exciting enhancements to the ways in which we have taught historically. Returning to Our Roots: A Learning Society highlights some of the changes that will be needed to foster lifelong learning: The traditional focus on teaching in terms of exposure to a quantity of instruction must change to a focus on assessment of students’ knowledge and skills. … A new emphasis on learning will take time; it represents a major transformation in academic thinking. And it is essential if we are to move toward a learning society. To begin this transformation, it will be important to focus on the outcomes of learning and on the learning-assessment process so that it is clear what the university’s aims and objectives are. This edition of Penn State Outreach provides several examples of how teaching and learning are being enhanced at Penn State. Faculty members are teaming with instructional designers to build on-line courses, for example. This presents new challenges that must be addressed in order to provide a highly interactive environment that emphasizes learner outcomes. This issue also highlights several student service-learning projects that connect educational experiences to engagement with organizations and communities. For many students, service learning brings together the abstract and theoretical with the realities of human need. Dr. Lakshman Yapa, associate professor of geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, demonstrates what can happen when we integrate teaching, research and service. The approach used in Dr. Yapa’s Philadelphia “classroom” will have a far-reaching impact for students and recipients of these outreach initiatives. It has helped to infuse a West Philadelphia neighborhood with a passion for learning, as evidenced in a new computer center, a public children’s garden and the poetry authored by third- and fourth-grade children in the local schools. This spring, Dr. Yapa is being honored for his excellence in outreach with the 2000 Penn State Award for Faculty Outreach. Click here to view his work on Urban Poverty. Returning to Our Roots: A Learning Society is a call to action for public research institutions. Penn State is already fully engaged in making the learning society a reality.