Monday, April 20, 2015

Attitudes Toward Academics: Survey Results Analyzed and Implemented

A recent survey of prospective students and parents revealed interesting attitudes toward the importance of academics in a college curriculum.  I think you'll find the results as interesting as we did, and I want to show you how we've used these findings at Millsaps College.

Major takeaways:
  • Students place more importance on their intended major, while parents are more attuned to the comprehensive curriculum.
  • The vast majority of students and parents find that most colleges describe their curricular offerings poorly or only moderately well. 
  • Students and parents agree on the importance of finding a college that clearly maps out the course of study to graduate in four years, while still having some choices in the courses they take.
  • Students and parents agree that a liberal arts curriculum offered through small seminar courses is somewhat or very important.
  • Students most highly value Collaboration and Team-based Approaches and Business Skills and Money Management.
  • Parents most highly value Critical Thinking and Reasoning and Writing and Communication
  • Both students and parents desire increased focus on real life application of skills and theories
These findings were incorporated into Millsaps' curricular redesign, led by our faculty, and aligned with Millsaps' vision to engage students in a “transformative learning and leadership experience that results in personal and intellectual growth, commitment to good citizenship in our global society, and a desire to succeed and make a difference in every community they touch.”  Our new Compass Curriculum is a key building block in that experience, and offers all incoming first-year students (beginning fall 2015) a new and exciting tool to find their best path to graduation and beyond!

A current Millsaps student's remarks helped us to determine the right name for the curriculum, when he said, “A compass provides an opportunity to choose his/her own path, while providing enough direction to ensure they reach their destination.”

The Compass Curriculum has, as its foundation, four key Student Learning Outcomes:
  • Thinking and reasoning
  • Communication
  • Integrative and collaborative learning
  • Problem solving and creative practice

...and the Compass Curriculum incorporates:
  • A foreign language requirement for all students
  • A business literacy course
  • A strong interdisciplinary humanities program offered over the course of the first-year, exploring human experience and world cultures throughout history.
  • Seminars on problem solving and communication as part of the first-year experience
  • Specific Explorations in the “knowledge domains” of the humanities and sciences:
    • Business
    • Fine Arts
    • Mathematics
    • The Natural World
    • The Social World
    • Non-native Languages
    • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math
You can learn more about the details of Compass Curriculum at Millsaps.edu.

https://www.millsaps.edu/news_events/compass_curriculum.php