NUTSHELL NOTES
at Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence
| Volumes I-IX and Volume X, Numbers 1-4 were originally written and posted for CU Denver, where they are currently archived at: <http://www.cudenver.edu//OTE/nn/index.htm>. |
NUTSHELL NOTESat Denver's One-page Newsletter for Teaching Excellence |
| Office of Teaching Effectiveness & Faculty Development
1250 14th St. Room 720 Denver, CO 80217-3364 |
Phone (303)556-4915
FAX (303)556-2678 Volume 7 Number 8 December, 1999 |
In the last issue, we noted that William G. Perry, Jr., identified the stages of intellectual growth of college students. From least mature to higher levels of undergraduates? development these are: (1) dualism; (2) early multiplicity; (3) late multiplicity; and (4) contextual relativism. We'll consider each stage from the standpoint of views about knowledge and the roles students see for the instructor and for themselves. Awareness of these stages is useful for teaching in the sense that "know thy audience" is useful for writing and speaking. Further, it enables both an individual and an institution to assess global outcomes of education by answering: "Beyond absorbing factual knowledge, does the education we deliver enable students to increase their capacity to think and to reason?"*The Perry Model of Students? Intellectual Development (1)
The dualistic thinker has certainty that there are right and wrong answers to every problem. A "good teacher" will be seen by dualistic thinkers as one who provides absolute authority as a source of knowledge, and an ability to clearly convey "the truth." Students see their role as receiving information and demonstrating that they have learned the right answers.
Students in early multiplicity begin to realize that some important real life questions just don't have unique right and wrong answers. These students still believe in a "right way" to approach problems, and view a "good teacher" as modeling the process of learning. Students who have arrived successfully at this stage see their role as learning how to learn, and they sense the need to apply themselves and to work hard in order to master a subject.
The stage of late multiplicity arrives when students begin to discern and value good evidence as opposed to mere opinion and feelings. A "good teacher" is likely seen by these students as a model thinker from which one can learn the processes of thinking and discerning. Students succeed as they begin to value thinking for themselves and to use supporting evidence to reach beyond personal preconceptions. However, some students have a regressive reaction when they realize that important issues do not often have unique right and wrong approaches or solutions. Students who go overboard at this stage may see all opinions as equally valid, and can discount expertise and the effort needed for mastery. The value of an instructor may likewise be discounted. Until they get can past this reaction, such students are unable to make good use of evidence, advice, or constructive criticism.
Contextual relativism is reached when students are able to distinguish reliable information from the ideals of infallibility and absolute truth. At this stage, students can distinguish that, while a situation might not be suited for generating strict right or wrong solutions, there are nevertheless degrees of reasonable and unreasonable methods that can be employed, and these are likely to generate appropriate or inappropriate solutions accordingly. In short, knowledge is seen as contextual and is judged on the basis of circumstances that are evaluated by good thinking processes and employment of best available expertise. A "good teacher" is seen as an expert guide or consultant. While expertise is valued, experts are valued as resources rather than as sage dispensers of "truth." Authority is valued as arising from expertise and ability to provide this in a setting that promotes mutual learning. Students begin to see their role is to apply knowledge rather than to just acquire facts, to shift between contexts, and to be able to discern adequacy and reliability of information.
These stages represent a
necessary progression, and ideally an undergraduate program culminates
with students solidly aware of their place at the upper stage. However,
"ideal" is not reality. For a variety of reasons, some probably not yet
clearly understood, even educated adults can remain forever at lower levels.
We can minimize those who "get stuck" by providing appropriate structure,
experiential learning, diversity, and personalism, (last issue v. 7 n.
7), but the recognition of stages certainly underscores the importance
of relating to students as individuals. To best help
a student, we have to become familiar, not just with what a student knows,
but also the degree to which that student has developed to confront knowledge.
*See CSM invitation on
back of this page.
Ed Nuhfer, Director Teaching Effectiveness & Faculty Development
CU-Denver Campus Box 137 PO Box 173364 Denver, CO 80217-3364
(303) 556-4915 Fax (303)
556-5855
|
For sometime, researchers at the Colorado School of Mines have worked with the "reflective judgment model"- a derivative of the classic Perry model discussed in this issue. A problem that they are having lies in the fact that CSM students appear to be less heterogeneous than the researchers would like. To help diversify the data base, my office is requesting volunteers from among CU-Denver students (graduate and undergraduate) in UCD faculty members' classes to work with the CSM study. Participants will be paid a small honorarium to do an interview and questionnaire here at the CU-Denver campus in January. To participate, faculty who want to involve some students from their class(es) should directly contact CSM Principal Investigator Dr. Michael Pavelich via phone (303-273-3612) or e-mail (mpavelic@mines.edu). The interviews will probably take place in Suite 100 of the CU (Dravo) Building. |
Opportunity: OTE Minigrants for Connecting with Students
We received good proposals for these minigrants as of the deadline
for November 30,
enough so that the demand has led me to put out another RFP in January
with a
February 15 deadline. Announcements will follow.
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Second Call The following announcement ran last month but netted only one respondent. We realize that there is an immense time crunch, but do consider responding after classes end and you have a bit of a breather. Our best folks are competitive with the best anywhere, any you certainly deserve the opportunity to compete for available regional and national awards. Each year, we get requests to nominate individuals for national or regional awards in teaching as well as a variety of other faculty activities. Unfortunately, we seldom get these requests with enough lead time to allow faculty to respond, given their busy schedules. As a "preemptive strike," we would like to have on file the dossiers of qualified individuals (you know who you are!) so we can respond quickly. It is not required that you have already been recognized by CU or UCD in order to provide a dossier. some of the nation's most outstanding faculty get recognized by their professions long before they are recognized by their own institutions. If you believe that you could qualify for a teaching award, please email your name to enuhfer@carbon.cudenver.edu. Later we will arrange a short workshop in building a file. Prof. Mitch Handelsman, recipient of the Case Professor and other awards, has volunteered to help direct this. Others who have expertise are welcomed to share their expertise-just send me your name via email address above. |
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We had a fun and interesting discussion from faculty who participated in the discussion group on the book, Generation X Goes to College. The problems encountered at "The College" in that controversial book seemed to stem from exclusion of ethics at every level of the learning community. At another level, however, trouble stemmed from ignorance on the part of teachers and administrators about the development of college students. When one becomes familiar with the Perry model, one realizes that some of the supposed uniquely "postmodern" characteristics of Generation X students were also recognized in the parents of these same students. For this reason, the group opted to follow our first book with William G. Perry, Jr.'s Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years. This classic work was recently reprinted (1999) by Jossey-Bass, and forms the foundation for many later derivative models. As before, you can join this next discussion group by sending an email to enuhfer@carbon.cudenver.edu. The Office of Teaching Effectiveness will purchase the book, send it to you, and schedule the discussion meeting later in Spring. Please respond by January 10. |