The "Public Curriculum" of Colleges and Universities and the Experience of Students. Briefing Papers

The gulf between published descriptions of curriculum and the actual experience of students reveals lapses in the intentional pursuit of planned outcomes in many colleges. Few institutions follow a clear path in their curricular planning from overall mission through general education goals, to course design, to assessing learning outcomes. Most students experience a set of disparate requirements without evident connections of clear intentions. Many faculty members teach without clear strategies in pedagogy of knowledge of the institutional or departmental goals their courses should address. Systematic outcomes assessment may help institutions clarify goals and organize curriculum and pedagogy more completely. In addition to the problems of goals, curricula, and educational intentionality, there are problems associated with transfer of students between institutions. The Association of American Colleges and Universities is working to address problems of state-level requirements and goal clarification. At present, institutions are urged to make clear the intentions of their own curricula and to assess student outcomes thoroughly in terms of these intentions. (Author/SLD)