Credit Hours: 4 hours CRN: 13214
Term Year: FALL 2011
Online from AUGUST 23 – DECEMBER 9 at bb.uis.edu
Instructor: / Eric Hadley-Ives
UHB 3028
Office Hours: / Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesdays 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Phone: / 206-8207
Email: /
Fax: / 206-6217
Course Description
Introduction to the Liberal and Integrative Studies Program. Focuses on the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to become a self-directed, autonomous learner at the graduate level. Topics include an examination of collegiate education philosophy, theory, and practice; dynamics of power; self-assessment; goal-setting; designing effective learning experiences; documenting and evaluating independent learning; organizing learning resources; and designing a curriculum within a discipline.
This 4 credit hour course is intended to serve as an introduction to the Liberal and Integrative Studies Program and to help participants refine the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes to complete a self-designed graduate degree.
To be taken as the first course after admission into the LNT Program. Full admission to the program is dependent upon a student taking this course. Students have 12 months from the date of the start of the semester following their admission in which they must complete LNT-501 Graduate Colloquium. Failure to complete LNT-501 Graduate Colloquium within 12 months of the start of the semester of a student’s admission will result in the student being suspended and removed from the LNT program. Students who put off their graduate studies for a year or more after admission should seek an admission deferral so that they will not need to re-apply to the program. Students should have their first LNT Committee Meeting within 12 months of the start of semester following their admission to the LNT Program, but failure to have a successful first LNT Committee Meeting within 12 months of admission is not grounds for suspension and removal from the LNT Program. It is, however, grounds for an academic hold being placed on a student by the LNT Department, so that they will be unable to register for classes until they have either held their first LNT Committee meeting or consulted with their LNT advisor to explain why they are delaying their first LNT Committee Meeting.
Course Objectives/Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, participants will be able to: understand the Liberal and Integrative Studies degree process; discuss the theory and practice of self-directed learning; formulate a philosophy of education; participate in a process of self-assessment; refine writing, thinking, and communication skills; and, design a draft of an individualized degree plan at the graduate level.
Associated with these goals are the following Course Goals:
1) To introduce the theory and practice of self-directed, person-centered learning.
2) To assist in developing lifelong, autonomous learning skills and attitudes.
3) To provide assistance in designing an individualized degree program.
Course Procedures and Expectations
Class sessions will consist of discussion of readings, sharing of information, and experiential exercises. Part of the process of self-directed learning is to draw upon your own experience and to use it as a resource for yourself and others. It is therefore important for you to participate all sessions and to complete the assignments in preparation for class and for writing your degree proposal. In this course particularly, teacher and students share responsibility for the success of the course. In addition to your attendance, participation in class, and completion of assignments, I expect you to take responsibility for your learning by seeking the help you need, setting high standards for your work, and being open to exploring your own learning style and philosophy by examining those of others. Preparing your degree proposal is a process and requires a great deal of reflection, writing, and rewiring in order to communicate clearly with your committee. I will do my best to serve as a resource and guide in your process, so that we may work together as collaboratively, respectfully, and collegially as possible.
An online Blackboard section has been established for the class. This will be your main interface with the on-line course, and it will facilitate the sharing of materials, especially for those who are using distance learning to participate in the class. Papers must be submitted through Blackboard (using the “assignments” area rather than sending work by mail or e-mail attachments), and materials that are being shared may be shared through Blackboard. Log in to Blackboard by directing a web browser program to bb.uis.edu and using your Enterprise Login ID and password.
Evaluation
INO 501 is a Credit/No Credit course. Successful completion of the course is based on participation in class activities and fulfillment of written assignments.
Your work in INO 301 should result in the production of nine documents:
1) A Journal. Keep a learning journal as a tool for self-directed learning and to prepare for discussion. See topics for consideration under each date. Be prepared to share your ideas/entries in class discussion. Journals will be shared with your instructor in the Sixth Session and the Eleventh Session. They will be optional after the eleventh session.
2) A learning autobiography. (due in the Sixth Session) This draft of an autobiography that focuses on your learning experiences and education (formal and informal) should be no longer than 20 double-spaced word-processed pages. Refer to the Faculty and Student’s Guide (elsewhere called The INO Student/Faculty Handbook) for a description of this autobiography and exercises for all parts of the Degree Proposal.
3) A Goals Statement: Complete a draft of a statement of your educational goals (Due in the seventh session)
4) A statement of your philosophy of education. (Due in the tenth session)
5) Learning Needs Statement: An inventory of your learning needs (Due in the eleventh session)
6) An Inventory of your learning resources (Due in the twelfth session)
7) A narrative curriculum in which you list, describe, and justify all the courses you intend to take toward your degree. (Due in the thirteenth session.) Include with this narrative curriculum a draft proposal for your independent study (or studies). Add to the narrative curriculum a one page schedule of when you intend to take classes.
8) A draft of a hypothetical independent study proposal you might want to take and include in your narrative curriculum (also due in the 13th session).
9) A Degree Proposal including all of the above (except not the journal) is due in the fourteenth session. You’ll probably make revisions after receiving feedback on the assignments, so everything before this final degree proposal may be considered a draft. This Degree Proposal is a final document, and after being approved in INO-501 you may schedule a committee meeting for your committee to approve your Degree Proposal.
The final Degree Proposal must be submitted at the end of the course (December 9th is the last day of class, but our final exam is scheduled for the following week, so although the due date is December 9th (last day of the 15th session), you can still get credit for the class if you turn in a flawless proposal as late as December 14th, the day before the last day of final exams, which is December 15th.
You do not need to feel constrained by the due dates. Most students will follow the process and schedule their first committee meeting between December 1st and the end of January. Some students will schedule a first committee meeting during even earlier, probably at some time in November. However, some students might not be able to schedule their first LNT Committee Meeting until early February, as that can happen.
Required Texts
The following are required for INO 501 and may be obtained at the UIS bookstore or through online booksellers such as Amazon.com, alibris.com, and abebooks.com:
1) INO Student/Faculty Handbook (also should be available electronically in the Course Documents folder in the course Blackboard site)
This handbook was written by INO faculty and gives you an overview of the program and procedures. You will be well served to print out the PDF of the most current handbook. You will want to refer to the handbook throughout your degree process (all the way to graduation, not just this course) and will be expected to know and understand the information therein.
2) Peter Elbow's Writing With Power: Techniques for Mastering the Writing Process (Second Edition). New York: Oxford University Press (1998).
3) Sam Keen and Ann Valley-Fox, Your Mythic Journey: Finding meaning through writing and storytelling (1989).
4) Carl Rogers, A Way of Being (1980).
Other readings will be used throughout the course and will be available electronically.
We strongly suggest you use Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (KLSI) - Self Scoring Version. This is an instrument that will help assess individual learning styles. Be sure you get the version that you score yourself. The UIS Bookstore has many, many copies available (for $12.50), and will ship them to you (for about $5). You’ll bring your results from the KSI or some other learning styles inventory to the fourth class session. We no longer require you use this specific version of a learning style measure (there are many ways to measure theory, and we faculty are unconvinced that anyone
Late Work and Incompletes
If you keep up with the assigned reading and writing throughout the course, you will not find it an overwhelming task to complete the work on time. Later assignments build upon earlier work, and the effectiveness of course activities depends on your preparation. Please schedule your time carefully and seek help early if you are having difficulty keeping up. Time management is the key to juggling work, studies, family, community activities, hobbies and leisure (remember leisure?)
Incompletes will be granted only in extraordinary circumstances.
Tentative Schedule
Course Calendar or Schedule
Week / Topic / Assignment /1
8/23 / Introduction
Course Orientation
* Learn more about your classmates
* Overview of INO process
* Defining self directed learning
2
8/30 / * Preparation for Writing the Autobiography. / Read:
• Carl Rogers, A Way of Being pages 27-95.
• Review information about journaling in the INO Student / Faculty Handbook.
• Pages 3-77 of Peter Elbow’s book Writing with Power.
Write: begin writing in your journal.
Consider the following in your journal:
★ As a sample autobiography what did you find interesting, surprising, or frustrating about Rogers’ chapters? What might you apply to your own autobiography? What might you do differently?
★ Note what you learned in the Elbow reading about writing. Which things would you want to try?
★ Examine your goals and barriers in using the journal as a learning tool.
Do: Collect 6-10 photographs of yourself, close friends and/or relatives from different time periods in your life. Try to scan these or somehow get these into digital format, and then upload them to class (as attachments to discussion board posts or URL links to public albums you have in Facebook, Picasa, Shutterfly, Snapfish, etc.) with the purpose of highlighting important aspects of your life.
3
9/6 /
* Self-Directed Learning / Read:
• Carl Rogers, A Way of Being. Introduction, pages 113-145 & 263-291.
• Keen & Valley Fox, Your Mythic Journey. Pages ix-6, 35-73.
Write: Continue writing in your journal.
Consider the following in your journal:
✴ Your goals for yourself in the INO Program and anticipated highlights and difficulties.
✴ Your thoughts on self-directed learning and what connections you make to the Rogers reading.
✴ An experience you had with self-directed learning in which you learned a skill. Identify the skill.
Work on your autobiography.
Choose at least three questions from the "Viewpoints" section of Chapter Four of Keen and Valley-Fox to write toward (especially page 69). Select the most relevant to begin your autobiography and bring to class to share.
Do: Bring (or post online) the beginning of your autobiography.
4
9/13 / * Learning Styles and Values / Read:
• Carl Rogers, A Way of Being. Pages 292-315.
• Pages 177-235 of Peter Elbow’s book Writing with Power.
• Articles and essays linked from the course webpage for this session.
Write: Continue writing in your journal.
Consider the following in your journal:
✦ From the Rogers’ reading, what kinds of educational values does Rogers have? Where do you educational values fall? Rogers does not give much attention to race, class, and gender. Where do you think these things fit into his scheme of educational values? In yours? (Note the non-sexist writing information in the Faculty/Student guide)
✦ What helpful hints did you glean from Elbow on the subject of audience?
✦ Continue writing (From the second session) on your goals for yourself in the INO Program.
Work on your autobiography.
You ought to have at least a first draft or rough draft of most of the autobiography done by the fourth class session.
Do: Read and do the Kolb Learning Inventory. Post your Learning Style Inventory results to class.
5
9/20 / * Educational Goal Setting / Read:
• Keen & Valley Fox, Your Mythic Journey. Pages 7-34.
• Pages 121-175 & 237-277 of Peter Elbow’s book Writing with Power.
• A Silent Success: The Master’s Degree in The USA. This is a hand-out that will be available for download on Blackboard.
• The Master’s Degree: A Policy Statement. This is a hand-out that will be available for download on Blackboard.
Write: Continue writing in your journal.
Consider the following in your journal:
✤ For your goal statement, write a dialogue on your significant values and how they developed.
✤ Consider several questions from the “Viewpoints” section of Chapter 1 of Keen and Valley-Fox to elaborate on your values.
✤ For goal setting and your philosophy of education reflect on your preferred learning styles and patterns.
✤ Record a learning experience and identify the learning style.
✤ Your thoughts on Elbow’s revising and feedback techniques. What kind of feedback would be most helpful to you on your drafts?
Work on your autobiography.
It is due in one week.
Do: Define your “Discipline.” Identify how your discipline is similar to other disciplines and how it differs from those similar disciplines. List some of the skills and knowledge that a person with mastery in your discipline would have. Bring your list to class (or post it online). It may be helpful to look for lists of skills and knowledge posted by professional associations, university departments, or professional regulation agencies. You might interview people who have expertise in the area where you intend to work. This should be a short (one page) definition of your discipline.