LIBERAL EDUCATION & AMERICA'S PROMISE (LEAP)
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In a deliberate break with the academic categories developed in the twentieth century, the LEAP National Leadership Council disputes the idea that liberal education is achieved only through studies in arts and sciences disciplines. It also challenges the conventional view that liberal education is, by definition, “nonvocational.” The council defines liberal education for the twenty-first century as a comprehensive set of aims and outcomes that are essential for all students because they are important to all fields of endeavor. Today, in an economy that is dependent on innovation and global savvy, these outcomes have become the keys to economic vitality and individual opportunity. They are the foundations for American success in all fields—from technology and the sciences to communications and the creative arts. Read More.
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Association of American Colleges and Universities Four broad goals:
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LEAP: Liberal Education as a Global Necessity
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Quality: 21st-Century Markers for the Value of US Degrees
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Equity: Innovation, Inclusive Excellence, and Student Success
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Social Responsibility: Integrative Liberal Learning for the
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Global Commons
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LEAP Principles of Excellence:
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Offer both challenging standards and flexible guidance for an era of educational reform and renewal.
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Used to guide change in any college, community college, or university.
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Intended to influence practice across the disciplines as well as in general education programs.
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Launched in 2005, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is a national initiative that champions the importance of a twenty-first-century liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
High Impact Practices
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First-Year Seminars and Experiences
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Common Intellectual Experiences
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Learning Communities
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Writing-Intensive Courses
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Collaborative Assignments and Projects
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Undergraduate Research
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Diversity/Global Learning
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Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
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Internships
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Capstone Courses and Projects
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Essential Learning Outcomes
—Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Focused on engagement with big questions, enduring and contemporary.
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—Intellectual and Practical Skills
Practiced extensively across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance.
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—Personal and Social Responsibility
Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges.
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—Integrative and Applied Learning
Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems.