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Representatives Meeting
Biannual
Representatives Meeting
and
Fostering
Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning:
An Integrated Approach
hosted by
Oberlin
College
Oberlin, Ohio
Inspired by
connections and resonances we found between the AAC&U LEAP College Learning
for the New Global Century Report
and language in Oberlin College’s most recent Strategic Plan[i],
the conference theme, Fostering
Civic, Intercultural, and Ethical Learning: An Integrated Approach,
speaks to the ongoing, meaningful conversations and wide range of work
taking place at all of our institutions focused on the building of civic
leadership and responsibility through civic engagement.
This kind of learning supports the educational
experience of historically underrepresented students by centering many of
their issues and concerns so as to foster a more inclusive campus community.
At the same time, it provides a wide range of educational
opportunities for all students to explore difference by recognizing and
valuing experiences, identities, histories, interests, and needs in order to
build mutual respect and understanding.
There is growing evidence about the
importance of student engagement in diverse communities, development of
skills in leadership and collaboration, and applying learning to “real
world” problems. Community-based learning, community-based research, and
volunteerism are excellent means to involve students as members of a college
or university communities, and, with successful mentoring, simultaneously
enables students to find important connections between their curricular and
experiential learning. It can
also inspire students to be motivated to more fully explore course work that
deepens the relationship between learning taking place inside and outside of
the classroom.
This kind of integrated learning also provides an organic way to help
students connect with communities and cultures other than their own and, at
the same time, reflect on ethical issues related to personal and social
responsibility. These kinds of conversations create important opportunities
for examining the relationship between campus communities and local and
global communities as well as encouraging them to rethink the relationship
between the local and global, which is too often ill-defined and limited by
traditional notions of borders and specific locales. This kind of reflective
work empowers students to put theory into practice, shape professional life
paths, and foster more socially just global citizens. By bringing faculty
and administrators across our institutions together, we hope that this
conference provides all of us with an important opportunity to share,
discuss, and reflect around these issues in order to foster opportunities
for inter- and intra-institutional collaboration necessary for creating
transformative learning experiences for all our students.
“The LEAP National Leadership Council
recommends, in sum, an education that
intentionally fosters, across multiple
fields of study, wide-ranging knowledge of
science, cultures, and society; high-level
intellectual and practical skills; an active
commitment to personal and social
responsibility; and the demonstrated ability
to apply learning to complex problems and
challenges.
The council further calls on educators to
help students become “intentional learners”
who focus, across ascending levels of study
and diverse academic programs, on achieving
the essential learning outcomes. But to help
students do this, educational communities
will also have to become far more
intentional themselves—both about the kinds
of learning students need, and about
effective educational practices that help
students learn to integrate and apply their
learning.”
AAC&U LEAP College Learning for the New
Global Century Report, 2007)
Oberlin College seek to “help students
clarify and integrate their intellectual
strengths and interests, social commitments,
and vocational aspirations; enable them to
integrate and apply their knowledge; nurture
their social consciousness and environmental
awareness; and graduate individuals who are
humane, thoughtful, and influential actors
in the world.” (Oberlin College Strategic
Plan, 2005
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