In addition, gen ed frequently employs teaching methods which contradict what we know about how people learn and transfer their learning from one setting to another in everyday practice. Whereas school learning focuses on learning rules and isolated facts, in everyday practice skills and knowledge are gained while individuals complete tasks or projects. Research by cognitive scientists concludes that experience--doing, or engaging in an activity--provides the most effective means of linking the acquisition of knowledge to its use. Moreover, assessment of learning almost always consists of paper and pencil, norm-referenced, multiple-choice tests which stress knowledge of facts, rather than modeling the performance demands of everyday settings. The content of the test is kept secret from the student prior to the examination, whereas workplace performance presumes assessment of known and practiced activities. Rather than measure competence at what schools and textbooks define as important, cognitive science favors outcomes which measure how well students can perform activities that have meaning in everyday social and occupational practice, and which are understood and credible to students, parents, employers, politicians, the media, and the larger community (Berryman & Bailey, 1992; Lave, 1988; Resnick, 1987).
There are, then, weaknesses to the use of gen ed requirements as an approach to the various competencies we have identified as important for career preparation. Instead of continuing to rely on conventional general education, the exemplary institutions we studied have devised other ways of incorporating these various domains into their entire curriculum. Among the most powerful of these approaches are the following:
Infusion
Infusion is the most pervasive approach to integrating academic and vocational education, in which independent technical or academic skills, modules, or applications are inserted into an existing course, reinforcing the significance of the added content and the original subject matter. Faculty members apply infusion when they briefly remediate a skill deficit, review a prerequisite skill prior to introducing a new concept, or explain the way in which a skill is used in everyday practice. Infusion may occur informally or formally, within a single course or as part of a cross-campus initiative. It can be bi-directional: that is, work-related applications can be added to academic courses, and academic concepts can be reinforced in occupational courses. Infusion is aided by the use of nonstandard materials such as popular, professional, or technical periodicals or texts, and by cross-teaching or grading, in which one instructor provides instruction or assesses student work initiated in another discipline.
Infusion retains standard disciplinary content, and can be implemented by an individual instructor with little or no cost. At the same time, infusion can be difficult to substantiate, given the freedom with which faculty operate their own classrooms.
Hybrid Courses
Hybrid courses blend career preparation domains and academic concepts within a single course, through the use of adapted content, materials, and added skills. Hybrid courses span a broad continuum from highly practical communication or calculation skill courses to more abstract occupational perspectives on the humanities, social, and natural sciences. Grubb and Kraskouskas (1992) describe "applied academics" and "multidisciplinary" courses separately, but new forms of courses blur those distinctions, making it useful to consider any individual course which blends academic and career content as a hybrid course. These courses may be generic--of interest to many students--or career specific--tailored to certain career interests and needs.
Among the powerful advantages of hybrid courses are their adaptability and application of cognitive learning theory. Students duplicate workplace skills in their classroom assignments, learning by doing. However, hybrid courses tend to be over-reliant on the instructor who developed them. In several cases, we have learned of courses that had to be dropped because a particular instructor had left the campus. In addition, courses and curriculum do not guarantee an active learning environment for students; as we see in the next description, faculty remain the sine qua non of integrated learning.
Linked Clusters
In linked or clustered courses, students concurrently enroll in two or more classes which are united by a theme, occupational cluster, or developmental level. Joining courses offers a unique opportunity to meld a coherent sequence of learning activities and related assessment. Clusters are flexible by design, and can be scheduled so one instructor can trade class time with a teammate to complete activities that require additional time. The strongest clusters are organized by faculty who prize renewal and professional collaboration, regardless of the course content. Clusters rely on joint planning, making personal relationships a prime criteria for implementation.
Unfortunately, with both hybrid and clustered courses, innovative content and structure do not necessarily beget active teaching methods, and we have witnessed examples of didactic or unprepared instruction negating exemplary course outlines, learning materials, and linkages. Given the maturity of many of the nation's community college instructors, it may be unlikely that they will radically alter their teaching approach, course content, or professional arrangements with peers. At the same time, we have seen a number of exciting innovations created by instructors and administrators nearing retirement who plan to "go out with a bang."[6] In any case, professional development for these approaches is imperative to facilitate teaching and learning success.
Authentic Assessment
Assessment is a continuing dilemma, as faculty struggle with how to measure student outcomes in ways that reflect performance as well as knowledge. Courses and projects in which evaluation is patterned after authentic work products is one response. Practice sets, applications, and classroom simulations offer demonstrations of competency similar to those used in everyday practice. One form of authentic assessment, the capstone project, culminates a program of study and draws together a multitude of communication, mathematical, technical, and productivity capabilities. Capstone projects are large, complex, work-similar activities in which students plan, execute, and evaluate an undertaking. They allow students to "know what they know," and create a valuable tool for conveying knowledge, skills, and abilities to potential employers.
Work-Based Learning
Work-based learning connects school learning with its application, at the same time it allows students a structured venue in which to practice generic technical and systems utilization domains. Although many colleges offer credits in work experience, work-based learning entails a connecting activity which links the school and job experience through discussion and assignments. However beneficial practical experience in the workplace is understood to be, most community colleges offer work-based learning to only a small fraction of their students.[7] To be sure, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 provided federal funding for work-based learning and connecting activities; however, little of that funding--which was very little to start with--has made its way to community colleges. In general, work-based learning remains an attractive option for community colleges, though one that is so far quite limited.
The purpose of clarifying these approaches to providing various forms of instruction is to illustrate that community colleges and technical institutes are, potentially, highly flexible institutions. They can offer a variety of courses and programs, structured in a variety of ways, to meet the many different demands of workforce preparation. As we examine the specific practices of exemplary community colleges in the next chapters, we will see how these approaches can be used to create educational institutions that are flexible, innovative, and effective.
[4] For a discussion of the enrollment patterns of community college students, see Cohen (1988) and Grubb (1989).
[5] In this research, the range of relevancy descriptors for general education from faculty and administrators ranged from "It aids you and benefits you," a locally understood colloquialism for "It makes you smart but you will probably never use it" to the formal statement by the University of Kentucky Community College system that "A general education core curriculum will ensure . . . graduates . . . who are well-educated men and women . . . this implies some understanding of the world of work and career fields." [N]
[6] We thank Kermit Bowling, Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee, for first bringing this phenomena to our attention.
[7] Less than one-fifth of occupational students take part in work-based learning, through cooperative education or internships, and an even smaller minority of transfer, liberal arts, and developmental level students do so. See Bragg and Hamm (1996) and Stern, Finkelstein, Stone, Latting, and Dornsife (1995). To our knowledge, only La Guardia Community College in New York, Cincinnati Technical College in Ohio, and the Ohio College of Applied Science have mandatory cooperative education for all majors. These programs are analyzed in Grubb, Dickinson, Giordano, and Kaplan (1992); Grubb, (1996b); Villanueve and Grubb (1995); and Grubb and Badway (1995).