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Section: June 1998
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The Boyer Commission Report
The National Commission on Educating Undergraduates in the Research University, also called the Boyer Commission 2, is charging that there is a crisis in undergraduate education.
The Commission's new report, Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America's Research Universities, is based on a three-year study sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. The study was initiated by the Foundation's former chair, Ernest Boyer.
Many university graduates have accumulated required courses but lack any inkling of how one sort of information relates to another, according to the report.
"Research universities have too often failed, and continue to fail, their undergraduate populations," says the commission.
Noting that tuition income from undergraduates is one of the major sources of university income, the report charges that these students aren't getting their money's worth.
The commission calls for a new model of undergraduate education that makes the baccalaureate experience an inseparable part of an integrated whole.
The report challenges universities to make research-based learning the standard for undergraduate teaching. Learning should be based on discovery, notes the report.
To that end, the report calls on research universities to construct an inquiry-based freshman year that provides a firm foundation in inquiry-based learning and teaches the skills necessary to communicate information and ideas.
Universities should build on this freshman foundation, says the Boyer Commission, to create a coherent learning experience in the following years that culminates in a capstone experience, such as a senior research project.
The commission urges the universities to ensure that this senior project utilize the research and communications skills students learned in the previous semesters.
"Skills of analysis, clear explanation of complicated materials, brevity, and lucidity should be the hallmarks of communication in every course," notes the commission.
The commission asks research universities to commit themselves to the highest standards in teaching as well as research.
Finally, the commission report recommends that institutions educate graduate students as apprentice teachers, change faculty reward systems to recognize and reward teaching, and cultivate a "culture of teaching" within departments.
The full report contains examples of successful programs at work. To view the full report, visit: http://notes.cc.sunysb.edu/Pres/boyer.nsf.
