CONTEXTS

Introduction

This course portfolio is a living document that attempts to capture the intellectual work of creating and teaching L216, a seminar for sophomores in the Liberal Arts and Management Program (LAMP).  Most of the writing here is descriptive of L216 in its latest rendition (spring ‘03); yet at times I have found it necessary to explain to the reader how the course has developed from its first version (spring ‘01) and to speculate how the course might continue to be improved the next time I teach it (spring ’04).  Formal classroom research in spring 2002, which is discussed at length below, led to profound insights and substantial changes to the course.  Yet even after these changes were made in spring 2003, I found I needed to make more changes for the subsequent version of the course.  Hence, there is a certain tension in this portfolio between describing what I have taught and what I hope to teach in the future.  I have been unable to reconcile the tension in this document, but I suppose it is precisely such tension that marks the kind of reflective teaching I strive to practice.

In this document, I hope to

· describe the main learning goals of L216,

· explain the key teaching methods employed to address those goals,

· discuss how course assignments and projects moved students toward the goals, and

· show evidence of student and instructor learning through the analysis of classroom research conducted during the spring 2002 semester, the second time I taught the course.

Acknowledgements

Like any published scholarship, this teaching and learning course portfolio and the course it represents are the work of many hands.  Workshops, conferences, talks, and articles written and presented by scholars have shaped my thinking about this course; still more influential have been the many people who have listened, offered support and advice, and helped along the way.  I am especially thankful to my colleague, Ross Peterson-Veatch, who spent many hours listening and helping me brainstorm solutions to many a classroom dilemma.  I am also thankful to the late Albert Wertheim, Tim Tilton, Marc Dollinger, Diana Gant, Liz McMahon, and Laura Matthias for their help – often unknowing – in developing the curriculum for the course.   I am indebted to my former students, whose candid comments have been indispensable in the on-going development and refinement of the course.  I am thankful to instructional consultants Doug Karpa-Wilson and Jennifer Robinson for their critical perspective and comments as I completed this portfolio as well as Amy Lawson, who helped me transform this document from paper to web.  And finally, I am extremely grateful to Lisa Kurz, of the campus writing program, who collaborated with me to design the classroom research project I discuss later in this document.  Without her expert knowledge of research design and her willingness to administer the project, the assessments of intellectual and writing skills development would have never happened.

Program and Students

LAMP is an interdisciplinary certificate program offered by the College of Arts and Sciences in cooperation with the Kelley School of Business. Its purpose is to give students the opportunity to combine a liberal arts major with an education in business management so that students emerge with the rare but highly-desirable ability to negotiate tensions and manage a variety of conflicting constituencies in the public or private arena in a professional manner.  In other words, LAMP students should graduate with area and course expertise, broad perspectives, the ability to synthesize information and points of view, and the “people skills” that will allow them to develop into exemplary business leaders.

LAMP students are accepted on a basis of merit (GPA ≥3.3), and typically enter the classroom with good background knowledge, a strong motivation to learn, and a commitment to succeed.  L216 students – all sophomores – are typically easy to engage in classroom discussions and other activities and consistently arrive to class prepared and ready to learn.  On the other hand, even these hard-working, well-prepared students are generally unaccustomed to the rigors of academic writing, and although some need little help, most need active instruction, diligent guidance, and ample practice in setting their ideas to writing in clear, expository English.

Although LAMP students stand out from average students in their preparation and motivation, they are no different from other college sophomores in mindset.  At the beginning of the semester, L216 students enter the class with a vested, uncritical faith in the consumerist-capitalist culture that typifies life in the United States.  With rare exception, most students have been raised to embrace this economic system and as a consequence, criticism of it is interpreted as personal criticism and even rejection of their family background.  Hence, the ingrained attitudes students bring to the classroom can complicate the exploration of the course content and present challenges in pursuing the overarching course goal of examining the American economic system from a critical perspective.