1. The 'Magic' of Learning from Each Other. Carnegie Perspectives
- Author
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Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Menlo Park, CA. and Gale, Richard
- Abstract
The writer examines the goals, methods, contexts, and outcomes of liberal education, as seen through the lens of the seminar experience. Originally a forum for advanced graduate students, the seminar has become a central feature of undergraduate education and signature pedagogy of liberal learning. Sometimes described in terms of size, configuration, focus, or professional function, the writer avers that beneath such aspects is a deeper discussion of processes and outcomes. It is a pedagogy wherein everyone has a voice and each person's ideas are valued, a venue for exploring varied perspectives, an opportunity to experiment, and a way to flesh-out skeletal ideas through the challenge of friendly critics. The seminar is a community working on the principle that if many hands make light work then many minds make deep meaning. Participation is vital, responsibility is shared, and ownership is produced, creating a pedagogy cultivates intentionality, self-awareness, and life-long learning.
- Published
- 2004