Experiment at Evergreen.

Schenkman Publishing Company, Inc., 3 Mount Auburn Place, Cambridge, MA 02138.

N

163

Books; Educational Innovation; Experimental Colleges; Experimental Curriculum; Experimental Teaching; Higher Education; Instructional Innovation; Interdisciplinary Approach; Liberal Arts; Nontraditional Education; Personal Narratives; State Colleges; Student Teacher Ratio; Teacher Workshops; Teaching Methods; Undergraduate Study

978-0-87073-838-8

The philosophy and structure of programs of coordinated study at Evergreen State College from 1970 to 1980 are discussed, and comparisons are made to the experiment at the University of California, Berkeley, promoted by Joseph Tussman. Both programs are based on ideas suggested by Alexander Meiklejohn and his Experimental College at the University of Wisconsin. The program of undergraduate liberal arts studies consists of the following structural features: multidisciplinary, theme-oriented studies; total engagement of 2 to 7 faculty and 100 students; the process of representing rather than teaching subjects; a common reading list and schedule; and weekly faculty seminars. Mervyn Cadwallader was the dean at Evergreen State College who promoted the idea of implementing the Meiklejohn-Tussman model. Some of Evergreen's successful programs are described as follows: human development, democracy and tyranny, Shakespeare and the age of Elizabeth, and health--individual and community. In addition to explaining the faculty team concept, attention is directed to the program theme, the faculty seminar, and auxiliary program design features (i.e., book seminars, lectures, assemblies, workshops, examinations, conferences, retreats, business meetings, down days, and evaluations). Evergreen's planning faculty committed the college to a system of evaluation by portfolio at all levels: student, faculty, and program. Students keep a portfolio, which includes samples of their best work, narrative self-evaluation, narrative evaluations by faculty, and narrative evaluations of faculty. Additional features of the program, including faculty-student ratio and student teaching, are also addressed. (SW)

1983

ED219990