Pixel International Conferences

In the future, American higher education will likely face a paradigm shift. The singular focus on teaching discipline-specific knowledge and skills may broaden to include a model that also incorporates teaching higher education cultural expectations that enable students to be successful. The impetus for this shift is, in part, due to the changing college student demographics. Students who were from historically under-represented backgrounds (e.g., first-generation college students, women, ethnic minorities) now constitute a large segment of students enrolled in higher education [13]. In addition, research indicates many students; particularly those from under-represented and under-served populations who enter higher education are unprepared for the academic and social demands [12]. This change in demographics, in addition to feedback from business and professional communities concerned about the lack of preparedness of college graduates upon hire, is necessitating this shift.  The development and implementation of institutional learning outcomes (ILOs) outcomes – the knowledge, skills, attitudes, competencies, and habits of mind - that students are expected to acquire at institutions of higher education can make the cultural expectations of higher education more explicit. All higher education institutional levels play a critical role in moving ILOs from paper to practice.  Acknowledgement of the importance of ILOs on the part of administration, departments, and individual faculty serves an important function to ensure that students are acquiring these necessary skills.  A coordinated effort of developing and establishing an institutional culture that embodies the ILOs is attainable.  Implementation ideas to make the process manageable are presented for consideration.