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 Bepko |
In Indiana University President Myles Brand's recent State of the University address, he spoke of how "a learning community is...more than a place...it is a state of mind."
IUPUI, as a learning community, has the same challenges many campuses in urban areas do. We have the third largest enrollment in the state, but only a fraction of our student population resides on campus.
Only slightly more than half enroll full time. Most work. Many have family responsibilities. They are diverse in age, race and family experience with college. If a learning community were dependent on a place, ours would pose a challenge.
Educational theorist John W. Gardner has observed: "Where community exists, it confers upon its members identity, a sense of belonging, and a measure of security.
A community has power to motivate its members to exceptional performance. It can set standards of expectation for the individual and provide the climate in which great things happen." In that spirit, IUPUI has made substantial progress.
In establishing University College as the academic home for new students, we created a place where academics, student activities, support services (mentoring and tutoring), orientation to college life, and a collaborative environment are joined so that this physical space engenders a secure sense of belonging and a state of mind conducive to learning. We set high expectations for performance and trust great things will happen.
But we must do more than trust in our good intentions. We must be assured, and be able to assure our community, that we are accomplishing our goal by pointing to performance measures that tell us whether our learning outcomes have been achieved.
Enter the Urban Universities Portfolio Project: Assuring Quality for Multiple Publics. Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and co-sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE), the three-year project will identify distinguishing features of urban public universities and demonstrate, by creating an institutional portfolio, how successful we are in enhancing undergraduate learning.
The project brings together six universities (California State University Sacramento; Georgia State University; IUPUI; Portland State University; the University of Illinois-Chicago, and the University of Massachusetts Boston) to determine what teaching/learning practices are especially effective and what aspects of urban universities either support achievement or pose obstacles to students' progress toward core learning goals.
When the project is complete, we will have produced not a snapshot of how we are doing but more a hologram that will show in all our dimensions, what a successful urban university-style learning community looks like. If you want to watch it unfold, tune in to the Urban Universities Portfolio Project Web site at:
http://www.imir.iupui.edu/portfolio
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