Foundations for learning

Last year, the Chancellor charged the Retention and Timely Graduation Task Force with developing recommendations that would encourage students to stay at KU and reduce the time it takes them to complete their degrees. The Task Force made ten recommendations, including promoting awareness of the challenges associated with retention and timely graduation, increasing student engagement, redesigning courses, and tracking student learning systematically and developing effective ways to evaluate and document student progress.

In this issue of Teaching Matters, we’ll explore some ways that faculty and instructional staff members can redesign courses to promote deeper learning and help students advance in their career goals.

One example is Paul Atchley’s development of an online orientation for psychology majors (pages 4-5). Atchley’s analysis shows that students who completed the orientation demonstrated a remarkable increase in their knowledge of psychology as a major and their ability to plan their program.

Another example is Angela Lumpkin’s work in her introductory sports management course (page 6). Lumpkin wanted students to develop better writing skills, as well as broaden their understanding of possible career paths. She blended the two objectives and created integrated, sequential assignments. The result? Students are making significant progress toward both goals.

These examples illustrate that taking a fresh look at a introductory courses can brings us closer to meeting KU’s retention and graduation goals.