Deliberation and Liberal Learning

2008-2009: Investigating Liberal Learning in a New Century

In 2008-2009, Deliberation and Liberal Learning turned from reflection on the tradition of liberal education at Colorado College to a consideration of new approaches to learning designed to respond to the challenges of the 21st century. A series of workshops fostered discussion across the disciplines and curriculum of the College, both about the diversity of modes of deliberation and learning found in and beyond the College

and about issues of concern too often overlooked by the academy. Twice in 2008-2009, a distinguished visitor worked in an informal way with the College’s faculty and students, as well as with local and regional alumni, by leading a workshop (rather than giving a traditional lecture) allowing for a broad sharing of questions and insights.

In the fall of 2008, we brought together about 70 students, faculty members, and Phi Beta Kappa College alumni, with David Oxtoby, research chemist and now President of Pomona College, to discuss “things that matter” in the contemporary liberal arts. Building on our 2007-2008 discussions of Glenn Gray’s work, we asked President Oxtoby to help us reflect on how the liberal arts have developed in recent decades, presenting students and scholars with new challenges as they aim to bring the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities into effective and stimulating conversations.

Our second 2008-2009 workshop focused more on “things that

matter” traditionally neglected within the disciplinary structure of higher education, and on the ways in which creativity and

David Oxtoby at CC in September 2008.

innovation in the liberal arts may require crossing over and moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. Professor Betty Smocovitis, historian, biologist, philosopher, and sociologist, led us in a discussion of the

emergence contemporary trans-disciplinary studies, with a focus on her own work on narrativity in the natural sciences.

The 2008-2009 series events, then, were designed to stimulate discussion and reflection about the important things we do and sometimes fail to do in a liberal arts college. Integral to both years of the series was serious engagement with the meta-question of how we deliberate about deliberation and learning, which we hope to approach, in part, by making use of our social scientist colleagues’ skills at documenting and assessing the impacts of educational practices.

Betty Smocovitis at CC in January 2009.