 March 1999 |
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"Learning Center" Characterizes Entire University Community
By Diane Britton "Learning centered--what else would a university be? What is this new emphasis on making George Mason learning centered, as the recent Engaging the Future report proclaims? And how does this direction differ from the traditional model of the university? "We are responding to two characterizations of the university," says Provost David Potter. "One is that, for too long, universities have had a faculty center, which, from a critic's perspective, is insensitive to the needs of students and the need to respond to society, for instance. More recently, there's been the opposite kind of advocacy, which basically says we need to be student centered...or consumer oriented, which is what a student-centered view quickly turns into. "Instead of being simply a faculty-centered or student-centered university, we ought to return to and celebrate and acknowledge what our core mission is, which is learning, and to make the point that we're not in the business of catering to any one constituency," Potter adds. "We're really trying to achieve a goal that transcends any particular constituency." A major path to that goal is participation in research on the process of learning. The Celebration of Learning grants, recently given to 23 Mason faculty members, recognize and encourage faculty members who undertake research projects on the teaching-learning process, with the aim of applying their findings to their teaching. Other Celebration of Learning events will continue throughout the 1998-99 year, with student-faculty projects, panel discussions, faculty presentations, and other opportunities scheduled to share information. For more information on these events, check out the website at www.gmu.edu/departments/provost/ celebration.html. The creation of a position in the Provost's Office for faculty research; research support programs for faculty; and emphases for both faculty and students on experiential learning, study-abroad opportunities, and other extensions of learning beyond campus, are all manifestations of the interest in exploring and encouraging learning beyond the traditional classroom experience. "We're a learning community not just in the respect that the students learn, but that the faculty members themselves continue to learn," says Potter. "That's the source of their vitality...their professional lives presume that they are dedicated to continuing learning." He adds, "One of the really interesting developments is that more and more universities, particularly research universities, are seeing the involvement of undergraduate students in faculty research. So students see the process of learning as it's acted out by the faculty." Research is also going on in several academic departments and at the Krasnow Institute on how people learn, in such fields as the cognitive sciences, education, and artificial intelligence. "If we're going to be learning centered," says Potter, "then we ought to take upon ourselves the obligation to understand what learning is and how there are constraints upon that learning, and draw upon the literature in doing so." That "obligation" led Potter to participate in a task force on student learning last year. The task force's report centers on 10 principles of learning, which include connectedness, a search for meaning, the learning climate, feedback, incidental learning, and self-monitoring. Each principle is illustrated by practices at universities that reinforce student learning in that area. The report encourages everyone--including nonacademic staff members--to share the responsibility for learning and to develop partnerships on and off campus to improve teaching, curriculum, assessment, and learning environments. All of which the Provost's Office is trying to instill at Mason. Look for more learning-centered initiatives, and consider how you and your department or unit can be involved in improving learning at Mason. |