ERIC Number: EJ923846
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Human Journey: Embracing the Essential Learning Outcomes
Loris, Michelle
Liberal Education, v96 n1 p44-49 Win 2010
At the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century, a new vision for college learning is clearly in view. Through its Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has outlined what contemporary college students need to know and be able to do--in ever-changing economic, political, environmental, global, and cross-cultural contexts. The LEAP essential learning outcomes provide a framework to guide student learning in both general education and the major. The LEAP initiative calls upon college administrators and faculty members to give priority to these essential learning outcomes in order to prepare students for the challenges of an increasingly complex world. This article discusses the Human Journey, a core curriculum at Sacred Heart University, which responds directly to the LEAP challenge. The proposal for the Human Journey includes a framework of four common core questions, six principles to guide curricular development, and the five disciplinary areas that would eventually design the common core courses. The four core questions of enduring human meaning and value that unify the Human Journey are: (1) What does it mean to be human?; (2) What does it mean to live a life of meaning and purpose?; (3) What does it mean to understand and appreciate the natural world?; and (4) What does it mean to form a more just society for the common good? These "big questions" are used thematically to organize five disciplinary areas. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Higher Education, Colleges, Curriculum Development, Core Curriculum, Outcomes of Education, Administrator Responsibility, Teacher Responsibility, Needs Assessment, Intellectual Disciplines, Quality of Life, Goal Orientation, Self Concept, Hermeneutics, Humanities, Citizen Role
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Connecticut
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A