DePaul University

School for New Learning Master of Arts Program for Practicing Professionals

Purpose of Project:

The project was to design, plan, and implement a Master of Arts Program for Practicing Professionals. It focused upon both liberal learning and professional competencies, teaching students how to link them in the workplace. These professional competencies included knowing primary theories in the field to be able to conduct research within it; having strong verbal communication skills; and viewing issues within a temporal, cultural and international perspective and with ethical sensitivity.

Among others, liberal learning skills included the ability to frame and solve problems and the capacity to make decisions informed by values. These are prerequisite skills to strong performance in any field, among them business, social service, law and government, health care, media and arts-all fields that these DePaul students seek.

Innovative Features:

This new graduate program focuses exclusively on student learning outcomes, using assessment review committees and criteria that define acceptable levels of performance for awarding degrees: knowledge and abilities in professional concentrations and in liberal learning.

To enroll, students must have a minimum of three years' prior work experience in the professional area they plan to study. Students' workplaces are used as learning sites for how practice and theory may meld. Students produce individualized learning plans for their fields of concentration, with the help of professional advisers and academic mentors, in such fields as media marketing, small business management, governmental relations, publishing communications, health economics, and community law.

These learning plans may include analyses of their own or other workplaces or independent research, and they may earn credit for demonstrated prior learning. All students must complete a common curriculum, a series of seven 4-5 week colloquia focused on liberal learning themes and their workplace applications. They culminate the program by producing a Master Work, an in-depth essay integrating practice and theory, liberal learning skills and professional work, in their areas of concentration. Sample titles from the research of completed Master Works include: "Design of a Model Energy Management System for the Automotive Industry," "Career Management for the Director of Volunteer Services in Health Care," "The Role of the Subject Matter Expert in the Capital Recovery of the Telecommunications Industry," "Development of a Strategic Plan for a Non-Profit Organization," and "Design and Implementation of a Computerized Automotive Accounting System."

Students from diverse professional concentrations learn together in small groups called clusters. An assessment contract is used to plan, monitor, and evaluate learning outcomes. At five critical points in the two-year program a review committee assesses each student's work. This assessment is preceded by extensive student self-analysis, for which program participants are specifically trained.

Evaluation:

The School engaged Formative Evaluation Research Associates (FERA) to undertake continuous program evaluation using interviews, questionnaires, site visits, and case studies on 10 selected students and three clusters. Interviews with professional advisers and academic mentors were designed to confirm or disconfirm students' evaluations of their own performance and program effectiveness. The academic work of the students was also evaluated by committees of faculty and outside experts in the respective fields.

The process evaluation used by FERA enabled the program staff to learn from the experiences of the three clusters in the pilot phase and to adapt the program to these experiences. The program model, as revised at the conclusion of the pilot phase, formed the framework for an additional nine clusters yet to undergo evaluation.

Impact or Changes From Grant Activities:

The enrollment of the newly established program within the School for New Learning has grown to 91 graduate students, out of 142 applicants admitted. (25% of these students come from DePaul's undergraduate body.) Already the program's students are reaping benefits from participation: all 10 students subjected to case studies received promotions or other jobrelated rewards while enrolled in the program. A one-year follow up on the first wave of 20 program graduates showed that 75% benefited after graduation as well in promotions, increased work responsibilities, and in managing successful business ventures.

Evaluations of individual students who have graduated document their intellectual growth and skill development, both in self-reports and faculty assessments of their program work and liberal learning skills. When students' own ratings of their mastery of liberal learning skills are compared against ratings by their mentors and advisers, the means are remarkably similar and high for 7 of 10 students studied. This pattern continues today. As student ratings improve from early to later clusters, the interrater reliability increases, implying greater stability in program standards. FERA concluded from such data that the program fosters learning and satisfies standards for credentialing.

All academic components of the program on FERA's evaluation survey were rated favorably by students, especially the individualized fields of concentrations, the common curriculum, the Master Work, and the professional advisers. Generally, evaluations of the program's effectiveness improved as the program matured and adapted to each new cohort of admitted students. For example, significant improvement (from a mean of 3.0 in cluster 1 to a mean of 4.S in cluster 3) was achieved in students' understanding of integrating liberal learning into the workplace.

What Activities Worked Unexpectedly?

Perhaps the most significant unexpected benefit of the program was the power of group learning which brought students from diverse professional backgrounds together in weekly learning groups. Students felt that combining expertise within the colloquia as they investigated common problems enhanced learning and work performance.

What Activities Didn't Work?

FERA was concerned that program students took longer than the expected 18-24 months to graduate. Inefficiencies in the startup phase explained part of the problem; several changes now have been instituted to encourage students' progress, i.e., requiring completion of at least one assessment contract per quarter and intervening with students who are not making adequate progress toward degree goals.

As it turns out, graduate rates in later clusters indicate that 18-24 months is a realistic time frame. Many students, however, elect to take longer, either to accommodate heavy responsibilities or to engage in non-school projects. As students elect to take longer than two years, advising, staff, and other resources may need extending.

What Do You Have To Send Others And How Do They Get It?

Materials available to others include a 50-page final report to FIPSE describing the steps necessary for establishing and implementing the program, including course syllabi and evaluation results. Beyond the final report, materials about various program components, such as the Liberal Learning Assessment Colloquia and the Professional Assessment Weekend, are available. Please request materials from:
David O. Justice, Dean, or Catherine Marienau, Director
School for New Learning
DePaul University 243 S. Wabash, 7th floor
Chicago, IL 60604
312-341-6733

Cost Effectiveness:

Costs are contained by extensive use of professional advisers paid token honoraria. The advising component is built into the curriculum, so that faculty are responsible for student orientation, advising, and program development. The bulk of teaching in the common curriculum is done by adjunct faculty, who are paid on a contract basis.

Because advising and assessment in the professional concentration rests heavily with professional experts from the larger community, substantial resources are required for adequate orientation, training, and monitoring of their responsibilities.

What Has Happened To The Program Since The Grant Ended?

The program is an ongoing and self-sustaining graduate degree offering at DePaul University. It has grown from 3 to 14 learning clusters, the last 2 added in late 1989. Current plans are to offer the program on-site to selected major corporations and non-profit organizations in the Chicago area. Through the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, corporate representatives have been informed about the program for working professionals, and discussions have been held with several companies.

The program's continuing aim is to help prepare a competent and adaptable workforce. Project staff have been publicizing the program by presenting workshops and papers in the United States and England, and are experimenting with ways to adapt the model to different clienteles.

Project Insights:

• Work experience at responsible levels of decisionmaking is an important prerequisite to success in this type of program. Students need a rich base of experience and knowledge about their prospective field in order to fashion a sound, individualized program of study.
• The melding of liberal learning and professional competence does not happen merely through exposure to appropriate subject matter; liberal learning skills need to be purposely built into the curriculum and reinforced by repeated student and faculty assessments.
• The academic mentors, professional advisers, and students continually struggle with how to apply professional and academic standards to judgments about the quality of workplace learning. More research is needed on the link between standards and performance in professional education.

[DePaul University] [Table of Contents] [Georgetown University]