Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The PR Problem: How Is Higher Education Staying Relevant?

Posted by anne.grey | Start the discussion

Presenter: Casey Twining.

Summary

In this presentation, Casey Twining examines a growing challenge for higher education: helping students understand why their education is worth their time, effort, and investment. Public confidence in higher education has shifted, and students may not always see an immediate connection between individual courses and the long-term value of what they are learning. Twining argues that instructors can address part of this challenge by making the purpose and significance of learning more visible within the curriculum itself.

The session introduces Significant Learning, also described through ideas such as competencies, enduring understandings, or simply “the point” of a course. These are meaningful results that students may carry with them long after a class ends. Instead of beginning course design with content, instructors are encouraged to ask what they hope students will still be able to do, understand, recognize, or value one to five years later.

Twining connects this approach to backward design. Instructors first identify the larger desired results, then determine what evidence would demonstrate progress toward those goals, and only then plan learning activities and content. A bioscience laboratory math course is used as an example. Beyond completing required calculations, students might develop greater numeracy, recognize mathematical patterns in everyday situations, reason through unfamiliar problems, and use tools such as spreadsheets more effectively.

The presentation also considers the relationship between relevance and teaching presence. Strong relationships with students remain important, but instructors do not have to rely only on personal interactions to communicate why learning matters. Purpose can also be built directly into assignments, activities, examples, and course organization. Clearer planning can help instructors spend less time explaining disconnected tasks and more time mentoring students, responding to their needs, and supporting meaningful learning.

Twining closes by encouraging instructors to name the “value add” or meaningful purpose of a course, align the curriculum with that purpose, and return to it throughout the term. When students can more easily explain the point of what they are learning, they may have an easier time deciding that the experience is worth their time.

Presentation Outcomes

• Describe ways instructors can communicate the relevance and value of course learning to students.
• Explain Significant Learning and its relationship to competencies, enduring understandings, and meaningful long-term learning.
• Use prompts such as “In one to five years, I hope students will…” to identify larger goals that extend beyond individual course outcomes.
• Apply backward design by identifying desired results before determining assessment strategies, learning activities, and course content.
• Connect course outcomes and instructional topics with larger learning goals that students may continue using beyond the course.
• Use real-world examples and meaningful contexts to help students see how course concepts can apply to their current and future lives.
• Explain how thoughtful curriculum planning can strengthen teaching presence by giving instructors more time and space to mentor and respond to students.
• Make the purpose of assignments and learning activities more explicit so students can better understand why their work matters.

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