Faculty Resources Network 2011 National Symposium

Emerging Pedagogies for the New Millennium

November 19, 2011

Universidad del Sagrado Corazón

Santurce, Puerto Rico

Dr. José Jaime Rivera

President USC

November 19, 2011

UNIVERSIDAD DEL SAGRADO CORAZÓN

“Framing the Educational Scenario:

From denial to transformation"

OBJECTIVES

• DEFINE THE CURRENT SCENARIO

• DESCRIBE WHAT IS AT STAKE

• REFLECT UPON THE OPTIONS

• CONVERSE ABOUT THESE TOPICS

THE PERFECT STORM

“Higher education institutions are in the midst of the

perfect storm. Government funding is declining, market

conditions have reduced the value of endowments,

private backing is on the wane and costs are going up.

Yet, these combined challenges create a unique

opportunity for transformation. Educational institutions

willing to think laterally can position themselves to

outperform into the future.”

Deloitte, Making the Grade 2011.

Do you believe most members

of academia

accept this proposition?

or

Do they refute this proposition?

Do you?

How the times when these western institutions were founded differ?

How did those conditions impact the nature of higher education?

Social problems Then Now

• Poverty & its corollaries: poor or no education; X X

health; housing; jobs; recreational experiences;

access to higher order cultural life, . . .

• Inequality X X

• Violence X X

• Injustice X X

• Discrimination X X

• Lack of adherence to human rights X x

• Environmental neglect x X

• … X X

Emerging Pedagogies for the New Millennium

• WHAT IS DIFFERENT BETWEEN THIS

MILLENNIUM AND THE PREVIOUS ONE?

Technological/Geopolitical Revolution

20TH CENTURY CHANGES DEFINING THE NEW KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY

Globalization

Demographic Changes: Exit “Baby-boomers”

↑Hispanics; Worldwide migratory movements

Knowledge-based Society/Economy

Governability: Citizenship and Democracy

New influence regions: Asia & Arab World

A new world of work?

A PLEA FOR THE LIBERAL ARTS

• In agreement with Cardinal Newman, Ortega y Gasset,

Humboldt, Robert Hutchins, Delors and many other

philosophers of higher education throughout the history

of western civilization, the future higher education

institution must be focused on developing the PERSON,

the CITIZEN, the HUMAN BEING much more [while not to

the exclusion of the professional] . This is because the

main problems we are now facing in our society and in

the world, has to do with the “soft” skills, not with

technology.

A source of problems

• Current problems have much to do with human

behavior, values, attitudes, needs and wants. Thus,

when he defended liberal education, Robert

Hutchins proposed that, “students need a liberal

education, since every person has the right to have

their mind set free.” This proposition is consistent

with John Naisbitt’s phrase: “high tech/high touch”,

implying that the more we advance in the

technological lifestyle, the more “high touch”

intensive we need to make life and learning.

The Delors Report

A 1996 report by UNESCO, headed by Jacques Delors, identified

what it called the “Four Pillars of Education”:

• Learning to know

• Learning to do

• Learning to live together

• Learning to be

This is what education at all levels has to do, and at our own

higher education level, this remains a real challenge. WHY?

What is the meaning of all these changes and challenges?

How will they shape and define the future of higher education?

Without a clear understanding of these questions,

our predictions of the future have a high probability

of being wrong.

It would be like trying to predict the future of

navigation in the 14th century, based on the

assumption that the earth was flat.

U. S. C. VISION ASSUMPTIONS 1994-

•New jobs and careers will develop during the XXIst Century and present ones will be deeply transformed.

•Graduates:

✴Will have multiple careers

✴They will work in different countries

✴They need to be self-employable and have an entrepreneurial vision

U. S. C. VISION ASSUMPTIONS

•The classroom is the world

✴World enters the classroom through outside resources & technology

✴Students leave the classroom to learn by doing in the community

•Learning requires doing research, constructing knowledge and linking theory and practice

•The main component of the bachelor program is the multidisciplinary humanistic, integral, liberal arts and sciences formation

•Given the new job markets, a bachelor degree is a step to graduate school, thus USC incorporates its role as a graduate-school preparatory institution

Relevancy of USC’s

Educational Experience

•Graduates capable of integrating theory &

practice

•Manage technological tools to learn & work

•Communication skills in Spanish & English

•Teamwork competencies

•Multicultural / global understanding

•Ethical behavior

•Advanced knowledge and degrees

Service Learning Projects / /Internships and Practices

Web supported learning / “USC’s Hybrid Model”

Language Across the Disciplines Project

“Boardroom classrooms” / A “projects” pedagogy

Student Exchange Projects / “Dual degrees”

Ethics Across the Curriculum Project

Undergraduate research initiatives / USC as a “Graduate-prep”institution

Strategic Programs for a Unique Experience Needs in the Knowledge Economy

USC's PROJECTS FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

"La Red" Student Group

Institute for the Development of the 3rd Sector

Center for Entrepreneurial Dev. of Women

The Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning

Metropolitan Alliance for School Reform

Center for Press Freedom

MS Non-Profit Organizations Mgt.

PR's C-SPAN TeleSagrado/

Radio Activa

Educ. Policy Institute for Community Dev.

COBIMET

&

NSF-HPNC

Human Rights Institute - Mediation & Conflict Transformation Prog.

Alliance for Economic &

Financial Literacy-FRBNY

Center for the Development of

Volunteers

What pedagogies characterized the times when these

institutions were founded? Key differences?

Emerging Pedagogies for the New Millennium

WHAT PEDAGOGIES ARE EMERGING?

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 2011

Abundance of resources & relationships made accessible

via Internet is increasingly challenging us to revisit our roles

as educators in sense-making, coaching, and credentialing.

The New Media Consortium & EDUCAUSE, The 2011 Horizon Report

Trends identified in the Report:

People expect to be able to work, learn, and study whenever

and wherever they want.

The world of work is increasingly collaborative, giving rise to

reflection about the way student projects are structured.

The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and

our notions of IT support are decentralized.

Appropriate metrics of evaluation lag behind the emergence of new

scholarly forms of authoring, publishing, and researching.

Economic pressures and new models of education are

presenting unprecedented competition to traditional models of

the university.

Keeping pace with the rapid proliferation of information, software

tools, and devices is challenging for students and teachers alike.

Digital media literacy continues its rise in importance as a key skill

in every discipline and profession.

Challenges identified in the Report:

www.nmc.org

A LEADERSHIP AND SOLIDARITY SHORTAGE

• AT A TIME WHEN THE USA WAS GOING THROUGH ITS MOST SERIOUS

CRISIS IN HISTORY—THE CIVIL WAR— A VISIONARY LEADER MOVER

THROUGH CONGRESS THE MORRILL ACT OF 1862, ALSO KNOWN AS

THE LAND GRANT COLLEGES ACT, TO REPOSITION THE COUNTRY IN

A NEW ECONOMIC PATHWAY, PROMOTING A SCIENTIFICALLY-BASED

AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY.

• NOW, AT THE DOORWAY TO THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY, WHEN

MINORITIES BECOME MAJORITIES AND IT IS THEIR TURN TO ACHIVE

HIGH EDUCATIONAL LEVELS AND CONTRIBUTE TO THE WELLBEING

OF SOCIETY, EDUCATION IS DEFINED AS A PRIVATE GOOD.

• WHAT WILL THE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMUNITY WITH ITS OLD AND

EMERGING PEDAGOGIES CONTRIBUTE TO FACE THIS THREAT TO THE

COMMON GOOD?

VS.

WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE TAUGHT?

VS.

A CALL TO ACTION BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

A FINAL REMINDER

http://www.webdianoia.com/medieval/tomasmoro.htm