Expectation and Performance in Higher Education: The Liberal Arts College: A Chapter in American Cultural History

Teaching introductory archaeology courses in US higher education typically falls short in two important ways: the courses do not represent the full picture of who contributes to reconstructing the past and do not portray the contemporary and future relevance of the archaeological past. In this paper, we use anti-colonial and decolonial theories to explain the urgency of revising the introductory archaeology curriculum for promoting equity in the discipline and beyond. We detail the pedagogical theories we employed in revising an introductory archaeology course at a small liberal arts college in the US and the specific changes we made to course structure, content, and teaching strategies. To examine the impacts on enrolled students and on who chose to enroll in the revised archaeology curriculum, we analyze student reflection essays and enrollment demographics. We find that students developed more complex understandings of the benefits and harms of archaeological knowledge production and could articulate how to address archaeology’s inequities. We also found that enrollment in archaeology courses at the college shifted to include greater proportions of students of color. These results support the notion that introductory archaeology courses should be substantially and continually revised.

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Justifying (Feminist) Biblical Studies in a Neoliberal Age

The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Approaches to the Hebrew Bible ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190462673.013.41 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 179-198

Author(s):

John W. Fadden

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Liberal Arts College ◽

Biblical Studies

This essay looks at the place of biblical studies as a secular field of the humanities in an undergraduate liberal arts college in the neoliberal age. First, the article reviews the idea of neoliberalism as a governing rationality. Next, the article assesses how neoliberalism transforms the notion of higher education and the humanities, reducing it to economic terms for administrators, faculty, and students. The article also attends to neoliberalism’s effect on gendered experiences in higher education. Under this rationality, few justifications are available for biblical studies beyond economic reasons. Lastly, the article places (feminist) biblical studies in conversation with other fields challenging neoliberal rationality for justifying the continued existence of the humanities. It examine what (feminist) biblical studies may contribute to an intersectional humanities project for the liberal arts college as an alternative to the neoliberal vision of higher education.

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The Impact of a Technology Ban on Students’ Perceptions and Performance in Introduction to Psychology

Teaching of Psychology ◽

10.1177/0098628318816141 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 47-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Thomas G. Hutcheon ◽

Aileen Lian ◽

Anna Richard

Keyword(s):

Student Engagement ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Liberal Arts College ◽

The Other ◽

Final Grade ◽

Personal Technology ◽

And Performance ◽

Grade Performance ◽

The Impact

To test the impact of the implementation of technology bans on students’ experience within a course, we collected data from four sections of Introduction to Psychology at a small liberal arts college in the northeast. In two sections, students were banned from using personal technology devices during lecture. In the other two sections, students were permitted to use personal technology devices freely during lecture. We found a significant reduction in student engagement but not in reported interest in psychology or perceived professor–student rapport for students in the technology-ban condition relative to students in the technology-permitted condition. In contrast to previous studies, we found no difference in final grade performance across condition. Although further research is needed, these results suggest that instructors should consider the composition of students in their course prior to implementing a technology ban in the classroom.

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Parties or Problem Sets: Review Article on How College Works and Paying for the Party

Journal of Economic Literature ◽

10.1257/jel.20151320 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 55 (1) ◽

pp. 136-147

Author(s):

William R. Johnson

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Distance Learning ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Student Outcomes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Liberal Arts College ◽

Review Article ◽

Individual Student ◽

State University ◽

Subjective Data

The potential of Internet-enabled distance learning to transform higher education focuses attention on exactly what residential higher-education institutions do for and to their students. Two recent books marshal detailed quantitative and subjective data on individual student outcomes to document the effects of two institutions and how these outcomes might be improved. Paying for the Party concludes that a Midwestern state university reinforces existing economic inequalities rather than fostering upward mobility. How College Works finds that a northeastern liberal-arts college generally serves its students well and suggests low-cost improvements. These claims are evaluated. (JEL D63, I23, I24)

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The Lightboard: Expectations and Experiences

International Journal of Designs for Learning ◽

10.14434/ijdl.v11i1.24642 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 75-84

Author(s):

Sarah McCorkle ◽

Paul Whitener

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

United States ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Liberal Arts College ◽

Southern United States ◽

Small Scale ◽

Use Case ◽

Pilot Design ◽

Faculty And Administrators

This case study describes a small-scale Lightboard pilot and a full-scale Lightboard build with accompanying studio at a small, private liberal arts college in the southern United States. This article will provide an overview of the Lightboard landscape in higher education, offer considerations for the construction of a Lightboard, and share the authors’ experiences and outcomes. In writing this article, the authors’ goal is to present an attainable use case for the construction of a Lightboard by introducing a simplistic pilot design that was well received by faculty and administrators.

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The Endless Dance: Realization of Western Liberal Arts Tradition in Chinese Cultural Context

International Journal of Chinese Education ◽

10.1163/22125868-12340060 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 58-64

Author(s):

Ching-Fai Ng

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Education Reform ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

Cultural Context ◽

Liberal Arts College ◽

Traditional Culture ◽

Chinese Traditional Culture ◽

Whole Person ◽

International College ◽

Literature History

Being the first full scale cooperation in higher education between the Mainland and Hong Kong, the United International College (uic) positioned itself as “A New liberal Arts College” to help the country diversify her higher education landscape as part of education reform. While attempting to retain the defining characteristics of a us-style liberal arts college—caring for students, small class sizes, broad based curricula, facilitating cross fertilization of ideas, uic strongly emphasizes Chinese traditional culture, literature, history and Chinese thoughts through the ages, in addition to helping students acquire an international outlook. This is deemed essential not only because the students should learn about their own cultural heritage, but also they should treasure the wisdom of traditional Chinese thinking that could lend a helping hand to solving many problems the world faces today. It is gratifying to see that, after 10 years’ experimentation, the traditional western liberal arts education could be realized in the Chinese traditional culture context. In particular, the Confucius education philosophy could help nurture the whole person—junzi (君子), which is the overarching education goal of uic.

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