Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

ABOR changes mission statement

Learner-centered education now universities' focus

To emphasize the importance of the learner being the center of instruction, the Arizona Board of Regents unanimously approved changes to the Arizona University Mission Statement and System Strategic Direction at its May meeting.

ABOR passed the changes to explicitly reflect learning as "a major outcome of the educational process" in the two documents, which guide planning at public universities across the state, stated the regents' executive summary.

"I'm extremely pleased that the regents have discovered the concept of learner centered education, which I regard as the most significant movement in higher education today," University of Arizona President Peter Likins said in an e-mail interview last Saturday.

By focusing educational techniques on students through hands-on and team learning experiences, the board hopes that students will retain more of the course materials and apply it through a life-long learning process.

"Evidence shows that retention of what is learned is much greater under a learner centered system than the traditional teaching centered one," said Regent Judy Gignac.

The state universities are now also reviewing their own mission statements and objectives for ways to emphasize learning.

"Changes made to the mission statement are important because it is reflected in the universities' objectives and how they achieve those goals," Gignac said.

Effective immediately, these changes mark the first time that the mission statement includes the term "learning" in its text.

As part of the changes made to the mission, the word "instruction" is almost completely omitted from the statement.

ABOR also decided to add a new strategic direction for Arizona universities, which is "to promote learner centered education."

The board defines this new direction as the "strategy of education that places the improvement of student learning at the center of the decision making process and policies at all levels of the institution."

This would be accomplished by establishing goals for all academic programs and by directly involving learners to produce knowledge and skills that could be used in life and work. These programs would emphasize hands-on and team learning experiences instead of traditional lecturing techniques, Gignac said.

"Learner-centered education puts the student at the center," said Gignac. "It places more responsibility on the student than the teacher."

Eventually, curriculum would be determined by individual student assessments. Upon completion of the curriculum, a final evaluation would show how much that student learned.

Such a system may not be realized for another decade, Gignac said. For now, ABOR and the universities will try to find ways to implement more leaner centered education through small steps.

"It'll be a slow, incremental process," she said.

The idea to modify the mission statement to emphasize learning arose out of discussions and conferences within ABOR and the three state universities beginning two years ago.

However, learner centered concepts have been developing for more than ten years in academic disciplines such as dance, which have always been learner-centered, Likins said.

"Incorporating these ideas into the mission statements is a welcome change, but it follows the developments that I've been alluding to, so it won't radically change what we do (at UA)," Likins said.

Benjamin Kim can be reached at city@wildcat.arizona.edu.