Full Description
General education is widely touted as an enduring distinctive of higher education, but what do we actually mean by general education? Differing perspectives not only make it challenging to consider its significance, but also open it up to a wide range of determinations regarding its effectiveness. This volume aims to sharpen understanding of the complex picture of general education by: * describing how various conceptions of general education evolved historically, * identifying various functions expected of general education in the contemporary context, and * pointing out the educational practices that fulfill general education s aims in the current context. The conceptions of, and aspirations for, general education are consequential. This volume disentangles the divergent conceptions that hinder its renewal and considers the range of avenues for realizing its effectiveness. This is the second issue of the 42nd volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey.Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.
Contents
Executive Summary vi Foreword xi Acknowledgments xiii The Contextual Significance of General Education in Higher Education 1 General Education s Interconnection With Higher Education s Purpose 1 General Education and the Current Context 4 General Education: Many Meanings, Multiple Functions 6 Purpose and Organization of Monograph 9 History Matters: Tracing the Development of General Education 12 Foundations (1636 1783) 13 Additions and Tensions (1784 1869) 16 Industrialization and Mediation (1870 1939) 21 Rapid Growth and New Expectations (1940 1976) 24 Overgrowth and Struggle (1977 2005) 27 Historical Reflections and Insights 30 Contemporary Perspectives and Models 33 Inherited Functions 33 Models of General Education 39 Contemporary Insights 50 Effective General Education in the Current Context 51 Characteristics of Good Practice on the Whole 51 Innovations in General Education 55 Effective General Education Course Design 58 Effective Practices to Support and Sustain General Education 60 Institutional Assessment and General Education 63 Sustaining and Renewing General Education 67 Closing Reflections and Recommendations 68 General Education: A Term of Endurance 69 Recommendations 70 Notes 73 References 75 Name Index 86 Subject Index 89 About the Author 92
