BETHEL

HOW TO BEST PREPARE STUDENTS FOR

TOMORROW’S WORLD3/1/00

BETHEL

Or—How to stimulate thinking outside the "bubble": Looking for

the ideal student or ?)

• The ideal graduate of Bethel College would be; passionate, contemplative, involved, a critical thinker, able to express themselves in writing, orally, and visually, be cognizant of historical, social, cultural, aesthetic, scientific, and Christian norms , and be able to interweave all of these into a life of service to God, society, community, church, profession, and family.

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 1: Can we create the ideal student or graduate?

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 2: Why are we finding the need to discuss change in the general education program at Bethel?

• General Education programs have an average lifespan of 10 years.

• Students perceive "general education" as something to "get out of the way"

• The Disciplinary structure; the traditional learning systems fragment the multi-disciplinary structure of life outside.

–

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 2: Why are we finding the need to discuss change in the general education program at Bethel?

• Students are unengaged, bored, apathetic, and are always seeking path of least resistance

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 3: What was the very best learning experience in your "adult" learning experience?– Starlings - a research experience– Pit traps and Insects - project based

learning– CEC (not CWC) (Seniors in Freshman

courses) - flexibility in curriculum

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 4: What are "best practices" in teaching and learning today?– "Professors value their autonomy and don't want to be

told what to teach. Some argue that 'what worked for me works for my students'. Also a real overhaul of even one course takes a commitment of time and energy, and already many professors struggle to balance their research, teaching, and service demands."

– (And we want to tackle General Education or even academic structure!)

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Centered on the Institutional Setting - our Mission

• Utilizing technology

• Problem based learning

• Project based learning

• Collaborative

• Interdisciplinary

• Diverse

• Evaluative

BETHEL

How to “best” prepare students

•Question 5: What is a new model of "best practice" for Bethel?

BETHEL

BETHEL

Anecdotal new models

• better ways to do the same old thing

• fancy tools for innovative fools

• complexities for a simpler life

• new ways for new days

• different paradigms for changing times