Likins lectures on future of education

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat UA President Peter Likins speaks yesterday about the importance of different types of learning techniques as part of the UA Speakers Series in Gallagher Theatre.

"I believe we are at the early stages of the fundamental transformation in American education," Likins said yesterday to about 60 listeners at Gallagher Theatre.

"Corporations are telling us we need to do a better job of what we think of as a liberal education," he added.

Likins' lecture, titled "Learning Modalities," was the first in this semester's Building Academic Community speaker series presented by the University of Arizona's Faculty Fellows.

Likins' 40-minute lecture focused on the future of education by examining different ways students can acquire knowledge and apply it to future jobs.

American corporations, he said, do not find higher education in the United States to be responsive to industrial needs.

"You might suspect that corporate executives would criticize us because our students lack the specific job skills," Likins said. "That was not the thrust of the criticism at all."

He said university graduates need better communication skills.

"You have to be able to work with a team," Likins said.

As companies become less hierarchical, employees must be able to interact with workers of different disciplines and intellectual backgrounds, Likins said.

"Universities are beginning to alter the learning experiences of our students," he said.

"People tend to learn in a more enduring way when they are engaged in the learning process."

He said interactive groups facilitate learning better than lecture-hall instruction.

"We are in a stage of development in American higher education in which we are supreme in meeting yesterday's challenges," Likins said, "and we have to adapt to a future set of challenges."

After his lecture, Likins said teaching methods are changing all over the country.

Because Likins began his presidency Oct. 1, he said it is too early to initiate programs introducing new learning methods.

Although inspiration for the change may come from administration, it must be enacted by faculty.

George Davis, geosciences professor and Faculty Fellows coordinator, said he liked how Likins stressed the importance of self-learning.

"It places all of us in the same situation," Davis said. "Lets get on with learning."

Geosciences freshman Stephen Mozzer said he could relate to Likins' "human side" of learning.

"It really hit home," he said.