Association of American Colleges and Universities, April 2001

A Learning College for the 21st Century

by Terry O'Banion

American Council on Education
Series on Higher Education
Phoenix AZ: Oryx Press, 1997

Summary prepared by Irena S. M. Makarushka, AAC&U

From the preface: "... a new model of education for the community college that I call "the learning college," is an institution designed to help students make passionate connections to learning."

O'Banion reviews the history of education reform movements and describes the problems with the traditional architecture of education characterized as time-bound, place-bound, efficiency-bound, and role-bound. This architecture continues to define the current attitudes and practices of most educational institutions. In the past decade, reform movements assumed the traditional architecture and tried to make changes within it. These changes focused on such issues as the number of hours and days that students spent in school, the student/teacher ratio, number of courses required for graduation. They did not consider the core issue: student learning.

Reform in the 1990's focused on student learning. Several associations, particularly AAC&U, and some foundations played a key role in developing a new paradigm that placed students and learning communities at the center of education practice. Historically, community colleges had always been student focused; therefore, this paradigm shift afforded them an opportunity to forefront their practices. Resistance to change came from virtually all stakeholders, including: education bureaucrats, faculty administrators, students and parents. However, the resistance was matched by powerful economic, technological, competitive and demographic pressures that conspired to challenge the status quo and to make affordable, learning-focused education available to all students.

The current focus on student learning has a history that goes back to the Progressive and Humanistic Education reform movements of the 1930's and 1940's. In the 1960's, as community colleges tried to define their own niche, Humanistic Education, with its focus on the student learner, provided a compelling model. By the mid-nineties, innovations in technology, new research on learning, emphasis on outcomes, and new business management models created new opportunities for innovation in education. Community colleges responded by creating a learning college model based on six key principles (p. 47):

The learning college:

• Creates substantive change in the individual learner.
• Engages learners as full partners in the learning process, with learners assuming primary responsibility for their choices.
• Creates and offers as many options for learning as possible.
• Assists learners to form and participate in collaborative learning activities.
• Defines the roles of learning facilitators by the needs of the learners.
• Measures success by documented improved and expanded learning for its learners.

Technology, learning research and the assessment movement provide strong foundations upon which to build a learning college model. Although some resistance to technology persists, particularly among some faculty, technology has already changed the educational landscape and will continue to do so at a rapid pace. O'Banion states: "... learning will become more common-place–everyday, just-in-time experiences provided by technology anyway, anyplace, anytime (p. 79)." Research on learning has demonstrated that learners succeed best by doing, individuals have different learning styles, and humans have multiple intelligences. Current models of assessment reflect the research on learning in so far as they focus on understanding and improving student learning.

The following institutions were identified by O'Banion as learning centered:

• Sinclair Community College
• Jackson Community College
• Lane Community College
• Maricopa Community College
• Palomar Community College
• Community College of Denver

The following assumptions and processes were identified as common among learning colleges:

Assumptions:

• Learning is a life-long process.
• Change is not a goal in and of itself.
• Change requires patience, resources and the support of the president and trustees.
• Change to a learning college model requires that all stakeholders become learners in and through the process of change.
• Change to a learning college model contributes to the transformation of the culture of higher education.

Processes:

• Learning college initiatives need to be connected to strategic planning.
• An assessment of the human and financial resource commitments required to change to a learning college and to sustain the paradigm shift is critical.
• The role of technology in the creation of a learning-focused environment needs to be assessed.
• Faculty leadership of the process is key.
• Student and staff need to be involved from the outset.
• Successful outcomes require: collaboration, access to information, cross-functional teams, institutional support and time to process new ideas and trust.
• External consultants and facilitators enhance the process.
• Campus-wide representation in the process of (1) identifying institutional goals and objectives, and (2) developing a vision statement that reflects the institution's mission and commitment to a learning college model is vital.
• Readings and discussions on current issues in education, organizational change and environmental scans help to contextualize institutional change.

O'Banion provides a summary of the conditions and practices that support the paradigm shift from a traditional education model to a learning college. Using examples from the six community colleges, he offers guidelines for empowering a community to support change.

Find and capitalize on a natural trigger event. Trigger events include:

• A current project that could be expanded to include plans for a learning college.
• One form of institutional innovation (for example, the implementation of a new organizational model) could become an opportunity for introducing a new focus such as a learning college.
• The development of a long-range technology plan could lead to conversations that focus on student learning and the idea of a learning college model.
• An institutional crisis (ie., drop in enrollments, reduction of resources, etc.) could lead to a reconsideration of educational priorities allowing for the introduction of a learning college model.

Invite all the stakeholders to create a vision for educating the citizens of the future.

Ask faculty, staff, students and administrators to respond to questions such as:

• What kind of people do we want our children and grandchildren to be?
• What kind of society do we want to live in?
• How can we best shape our institutions to nurture those kinds of people and that kind of society?

Consider implementing some innovations that would serve as building blocks for greater institutional change, including:

• service learning,
• learning communities,
• portfolio assessment,
• experiential learning,
• learner-centered services such as advising,
• distance learning,
• rewards for teaching excellence,
• mechanisms for empowering participants that lead to greater participation and collaboration,
• technology to enhance services,
• resource allocation for performance-based and learning-outcomes assessment,
• new models of decision making (ie., shared governance).

Steering the learning college:

O'Banion offers advice to leaders interested in transforming their institution into a learning college:

• Build a critical coalition.
• Create an emerging vision.
• Involve all stakeholders
• Ensure appropriate support.
• Create an open system of communication.
• Consider hiring consultants and using established processes.
• Pay attention to language.
• Reallocate resources.
• Evaluate every stage of the process.
• Commit to the long haul.
• Celebrate changes and accomplishments.

Commentary

Although O'Banion's focus is the community college, the learning-centered model he describes could be implemented in four-year colleges and universities as well.