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Tuning USA
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and Outcomes Main Page
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Sponsors:
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Lumina Foundation for Education initiated this project.
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| Funders: |
Lumina Foundation for Education
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| Key Staff: |
Principal advisers are Clifford Adelman, Institute for Higher
Education Policy; Robert Wagenaar, a professor at the University of
Groningen in The Netherlands, and co-coordinator of the projects Tuning
Educational Structures in Europe, Tuning South-East and Eastern Europe,
Tuning Latin America, Tuning Russia, and Tuning Georgia; and Tim
Birtwistle, a Bologna expert and professor at Leeds Metropolitan
University in the United Kingdom. Foundation contacts for the project
are Holly McKiernan, senior vice president and general counsel; Kevin
Corcoran, program director; and Marcus Kolb, program officer.
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| Goals/Orientation: |
Tuning USA is a faculty-led pilot project designed to define what
students must know, understand, and be able to demonstrate after
completing a degree in a specific field. Tuning USA methodology is based
on similar work to increase the transparency around what a degree
represents under Europe's Bologna Process.
Tuning involves creating a framework that sets forth clear
responsibilities for institutions and establishes clear learning
expectations for students in each subject area, while balancing the need
among programs to retain their academic autonomy and flexibility. The
objective is not to standardize programs offered by different
institutions, but to better establish the quality and relevance of
degrees in various academic disciplines. Lumina enumerates the following
benefits arising from the Tuning process:
- Making higher education more responsive to changes in knowledge and
its application.
- Establishing the relevance of postsecondary programs to societal
needs and workforce demands.
- Aligning the roles of higher education institutions.
- Facilitating retention, especially among students from underserved
groups, by creating clear pathways to degree completion.
- Simplifying the process for students transferring credits between
institutions.
- Increasing the emphases on lifelong learning and important-but-often
undervalued transferable skills.
- Increasing student engagement in the learning process.
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| Work Plan: |
Lumina Foundation for Education initiated Tuning USA in December
2008. Following a planning session, attended by higher education
officials from several states, the foundation sought proposals from
interested states. Lumina asked states to recruit at least two
subject-area teams that included both faculty members and students. Each
team includes representatives from several institutions, including a
flagship campus. Public and private not-for-profit institutions are
participating. In March 2009, Lumina awarded Indiana, Minnesota, and
Utah $150,000 grants to offset project costs. The three state teams will
meet together at least two or three times during the course of the
project.
The state teams will function as study groups that will explore the
design, phases and outcomes of Tuning in Europe and elsewhere. While
assessing the potential of the Tuning approach, state teams may make
reasonable modifications in consultation with Lumina or its consultants
to make the process more worthwhile in their respective settings. State
teams also should consider developing full qualifications frameworks for
their states.
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| Accomplishments: |
The project currently has support from Utah’s
assistant commissioner for higher education; the Indiana Commission for
Higher Education; and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. The
states have selected the academic disciplines on which they will focus
during the project and have recruited faculty from those disciplines to
participate.
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| Upcoming Activities: |
Lumina Foundation for Education expects the Tuning process to include
input via surveys from students, recent graduates, and employers. The
University of Groningen in the Netherlands has offered to assist with
these surveys and field tests. Depending on interest among state
participants, other stakeholders could be involved, including K–12
teachers, representatives of accrediting bodies, trustees, and
policymakers. State teams also will map graduates' employability in each
Tuning subject area to positions in the labor market.
By the end of 2009, state teams will provide Lumina with:
- Final reports that describe the results of field testing and
surveying to determine reference points.
- A map of the employability of students who major in the subject
areas.
- A set of agreed-upon reference points for each subject area.
- Draft degree profiles of academic programs grounded in explicit
learning outcomes.
- An overview and assessment of the process, and recommendations for
further work.
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| Web Address: |
www.luminafoundation.org/our_work/tuning/
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| Revised: |
08/20/2009
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and Outcomes Main Page
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