Knowledge Development: Patterns and Outcomes
Given the current knowledge explosion and continuing realignment of disciplines, universities in the twenty-first century can no longer offer merely content-driven courses. Instead, General Education Program courses should be designed to develop “core patterns of knowing” that meet SIUE values and baccalaureate outcomes. The General Education Program should spur a cohesive effort on the part of faculty, students, and staff to generate an increased capacity for self-reflection, self-assessment, and life-long learning in our baccalaureate graduates. The proposed model will use these skills to develop the SIUE baccalaureate outcomes by fostering a solid foundation for intellectual development, an appreciation of the arts, and a well-informed, energized citizenry.
This proposed curriculum design is a “Complex Model,” offering a single conceptual framework that gives the curriculum its identity. We propose examining four patterns of knowing, based on the learner-centered ways of knowing (Carper, 1978). In this inquiry, we will explore whether these patterns alone, or in combination with others in a modification of the Carper model, will comprise the foundation for the SIUE General Education undergraduate experience.
Patterns of Knowing
In the Carper (1978) model, knowledge is developed through 1) empirics, 2) ethics, 3) personal knowing, and 4) aesthetics.
Empiric knowing is based on the assumption that what is known is accessible through the physical senses, particularly seeing, touching, and hearing, and as a pattern of knowing draws on traditional ideas of science. Empiric knowing is expressed in practice as scientific competence—competent action grounded in scientific theories and knowledge. Ethical knowing involves making moment-to-moment judgments about what ought to be done, what is good, what is right, and what is responsible. Ethical knowing guides and directs how we conduct our life and work, what we consider important, where our loyalties are placed, and what priorities demand advocacy. Personal knowing concerns the inner experience of becoming a holistic, authentic self capable of unifying the plural dimensions in which that self lives in an honest and open manner. Full awareness of the self, the moment, and the context of interaction with others makes possible meaningful, shared human experience. Aesthetic knowing involves deep appreciation of the meaning of a situation and calls forth inner creative resources that transform experience into what is not yet real, bringing to reality something that would not otherwise be possible.
Developing knowledge patterns is critical to all levels of education. Knowledge acquisition, comprehension, and application, together with the skills of integration, analysis and synthesis, which are essential for a well-prepared graduate, are threaded through the patterns of knowing. Learning these essential skills and abilities through the framework of patterns of knowing will achieve the desired SIUE baccalaureate education outcomes. Moreover, given that discipline content is changing rapidly, a focus upon patterns of ways of knowing is clearly requisite for a sound general education model in the twenty-first century. Such a focus not only offers students a means of coping with the ever-increasing knowledge explosion, but lends itself as well to learning that emerges from student questions, practice, case studies, stories, in-depth analysis of systems, and interdisciplinary approaches.
The proposed model assumes that if knowledge within any one pattern is not critically examined and integrated within the whole of knowing, the uncritical acceptance, narrow interpretation, distortion, and partial utilization of knowledge occurs. When the patterns are used in isolation from one another, the potential for synthesis of the whole is lost. Formal expressed knowledge is developed by using methods of inquiry that are grounded both in discursive scholarly methods and in practice specifically designed for each pattern. Patterns of knowing are also demonstrated in their non-discursive forms as synthesized learning, which offers an ever-expanding base for building knowledge and skill throughout a lifetime.
SIUE Implementation
The strengths of present SIUE students lie in their improved preparation for baccalaureate work evidenced by higher entrance ACT scores, student body cultural and ethnic diversity, and by the increasing number of students who name SIUE as their first choice in universities. These strengths need to be tapped. In discussions with campus leaders, faculty, staff, and students, a recurrent theme is that if students are engaged in their education, they will flourish. The strengths of current SIUE students can be marshaled to create that sense of engagement in learning. That power of engaged learning will transcend the university community and influence the baccalaureate graduate's interaction with the global community.
This general education curriculum design offers a means for active assessment of student learning through an information fluency and writing across the curriculum (IFAC/WAC) program. This program will bring together all the disciplines to help develop students' critical thinking skills. The IFAC/WAC course delivery strategies would address the need to improve student information fluency and writing skills and integrate reliable assessment methods simultaneously.
SIUE is well-situated to deploy this integrative design in developing new approaches to learning because of its highly talented faculty, diverse student community, and commitment to being proactive in curricular innovation.