Teaching Methods: Integrative Learning

Integrative learning is a view of liberal education that supports connectedness among life experiences, multidisciplinary formal study, and diverse perspectives. It seeks to "foster students' abilities to integrate their earning across contexts and over time" (Huber and Hutchings, below), an especially important set of skills for today's complex and ever-changing world. The links below provide articles discussing and describing this approach to higher education and examples of university programs based on integrative learning.

A statement on integrative learning from the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. PDF/Adobe Acrobat.
Link: http://www.aacu.org/integrative_learning/pdfs/ILP_Statement.pdf

"Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain," Mary Taylor Huber and Pat Hutchings. PDF/Adobe Acrobat.
This paper presents the tradition, rationale, and promise for integrative learning as a vision for liberal arts on today's campuses.
Link: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/dynamic/publications/mapping-terrain.pdf

Carnegie Foundation Integrative Learning Project.
Describes the integrative learning project at the ten institutions participating in the Carnegie Project plus links to an overview of each project.
Link: http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=24

Association for Integrative Studies (AIS).
This website provides integrative learning information, resources, and an online journal, Issues in Integrative Studies.
Link: http://www.units.muohio.edu/aisorg/

Greater Expectations (Association of American Colleges and Universities).
This report address the questions: "What should be higher education's role today and for the near future? What are the central aims and essential practices of college study?" The report discusses the barriers to quality, calls for broad reform, and presents a set of recommendations for the "learning students need for the 21st century."
Link: http://www.greaterexpectations.org/

The Summer/Fall 2005 issue of Peer Review, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU), focuses on integrative learning. Below are links to the online articles from this issue:

"Integrative Learning for Liberal Education," Mary Taylor Huber, Pat Hutchings, and Richard Gale.
Link: http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-sufa05/pr_sufa05analysis.cfm

"Integrative Learning and Assessment," Ross Miller.
Link: http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-sufa05/pr_sufa05practice1.cfm

"Integrative Learning Nationwide: Emerging Themes and Practices," Deborah DeZure, Marcia Babb, and Stephanie Waldmann.
Link: http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-sufa05/pr_sufa05research.cfm

"Integrative Learning? Why Now?" Debra Humphreys.
Link: http://www.aacu.org/peerreview/pr-sufa05/pr_sufa05realitycheck.cfm