President's Greeting
Published in The Blazer Spring 2011Canadian Higher Education Under Stress
It may not be a crisis, but Canadian higher education is under severe stress. Even as government funding and other revenues remain static or even in decline, student numbers and expectations, as well as costs, increase. That formula is unsustainable.
But how to respond to this challenge? University administrators are prone to focus on reducing costs. Others in the institution are more likely to suggest increasing revenue, whether through donations or tuition fees. In a recent article in University Affairs, two Canadian university presidents call for a more radical response. They suggest that the traditional classroom model, with knowledge experts (i.e., professors) telling novices (i.e., students) about their disciplines, must be rethought. “What is required is a radical re-conceptualizing of the teaching and learning process, where the goal becomes ‘helping the student learn’ rather than ‘teaching.’ We need to lift ourselves above the instructor-instructed dialectic, and above that of the equally factitious binary of teaching and research.”
This is not brand new of course. Educators have long encouraged a focus on “learning,” becoming more studentcentred, rather than on “teaching.” But often this call for a pedagogical shift has amounted to little more than rhetoric. Now, however, current economic realities may demand a more creative model, one in which faculty members abandon the role of dispensing “formal declarative knowledge” in favour of serving as “designers and facilitators” for student learning. In such an environment, service and experiential learning would become integral to a university education, with student peers and members of the community contributing significantly to the learning process. While faculty members would remain primary in the learning process, the role of professional staff would increase.
In most ways, CMU programming is organized in a manner similar to other universities: two semesters; courses organized into three-hour credit units, generally meeting 150 minutes per week; a normal faculty teaching load of nine credit hours per semester. At the outset, the need to
establish a credible university required that CMU look and feel like its university counterparts. Imaginatively moving beyond the standard paradigm is challenging.
But hints of a more creative CMU model are already present. The CMU Vision Statement of 2008 highlights “Learning through Thinking and Doing” as a core commitment. Internships and practicum placements for all graduates are standard, with the practicum director playing a significant role. Carefully planned programming transforms a student residence into a critical part of the educational experience. Outtatown reflects this commitment to thinking and doing in a marvelous way as students become immersed in transformative, cross-cultural learning experiences that bring them into conversation with mentors and those of the larger community.
Paradigms do not change overnight. Nor do all aspects of an older model need to be rejected. But as I visit with other university presidents, I sense a growing conviction that the way undergraduate education is delivered must change. Change may be forced upon the universities, but it also presents wonderful opportunities. The Anabaptist Christian tradition, with its emphasis on discipleship and learning through doing—a journey with companions and mentors— gives CMU a wonderful asset in this transition.
