WISR’s Mission Statement reads:
WISR provides community-involved adults with high-quality, affordable, personalized, learner-centered online graduate education and degrees in a collaborative, multicultural learning community. WISR engages in community education, with a commitment to action-oriented inquiry that combines theory and practice to achieve community improvement and social justice.
Ongoing Review of WISR’s Mission Statement
WISR seeks and attracts students, faculty, and staff who share commitment to its mission and its values and how and what they represent for potential change and betterment in the world. WISR’s learning community members embrace these values because they are important, intrinsic, and pervasive in guiding what we collectively do and are.
It is our policy to continuously review in our primary working groups at WISR (Board of Trustees, Faculty, Administrative Executive Committee, and Academic Advisory Committee) the mission statement to maintain and/or enhance alignment with our fundamental intentions and values. In addition, each working group conducts a formal Mission Statement Review every Fall.
The fundamental questions we are inviting are:
“In our policies, procedures, operations, and decision-making are we in alignment with our Mission and values?”
“And if we perceive that we could create even greater alignment with our mission and values, what might that look like?”
As a mission-driven organization, we continuously re-examine our actions, in light of our mission.
WISR was founded in 1975 by four educators, including WISR’s current President, Dr. John Bilorusky. In founding WISR, all were engaged in considerable inquiry, reflection and discussion–among themselves and others–about the state of American higher education, and its limitations. WISR was founded as a modest but very conscious and pointed attempt to provide a needed model for higher education–a model incorporating a few key ingredients, in combination with one another, and seldom found among existing academic institutions. Those key ingredients were: personalized, learner-centered education, multiculturalism in a multicultural learning community, a pervasive commitment to action-oriented inquiry, combining theory and practice, and professional study that is mindful of personal growth and values, along with strong community-involvement, and a conscious and non-doctrinaire concern with social change and social justice.
At that time, in the aftermath of the sixties, many educators and students were debating the merits of the university’s role in the community and in social change, the “relevance” of the curriculum, and generally, the values served by higher education. WISR was founded partly as our modest but concerted response to some inadequacies in conventional education—for example, the absence of emphasis on personalized education, multiculturality and social change. It was founded partly in response to the limitations of alternative programs of the seventies, which oftentimes were too preoccupied with simply “looking different” from the conventional. Since then, many conventional institutions have adopted reforms which have incorporated in only a partial way some of the agendas from the sixties (e.g., field studies programs, women’s studies, ethnic studies). Most current reforms are guided by the economics of marketing academic programs to appeal to a growing population of mature adults who are interested in returning for further academic study and professional certification (e.g., to obtain degrees and licensing). Most alternative institutions of the sixties and seventies have failed to survive.
WISR’s founders realized that there were not many places in 1975, nor are there today over 40 years later, where faculty could come together with one another, and join with students, in trying out new, promising approaches to higher learning. For that reason, WISR was founded with the mission that, although intentionally tiny in scale, WISR could aim to become a Center and a Model for Experimentation in Higher Education. Over the years, WISR has realized one portion of its mission—to provide a creative and supportive learning environment for faculty development and student learning—a place where faculty can come together, consciously experiment and collaborate in further developing their own skills in learner-centered, multicultural and socially responsible approaches to higher education. WISR has not yet achieved the visibility to be a model for others, but that remains a purpose and agenda for WISR’s future.
Our efforts to experiment in the creation of a worthwhile alternative model for higher education have been especially mindful of the importance of improving professional education in fields related to education, counseling psychology, community services and leadership, while making this education also available to people with grassroots community involvements. In this pursuit, we have been willing to develop, try out and carefully evaluate distinctive methods, while also building on the best of long-standing traditions—such as the intensity of inquiry, mentoring, and collegial discourse in the Oxford model, as well as the practical professionalism of land grant colleges and the grassroots orientation of continuing education/community education movements.
[To learn more about our views of WISR’s place in the bigger picture of US Higher Education—past, present and future, you may wish to read the discussion paper, “Thinking about WISR’s Curriculum and Mission in relation to the “Bigger Picture” of American Higher Education and Today’s Society—Historically, and with Regard to Today’s Society and Professions, and to Hopes and Possibilities for the Future” --it can be found as an appendix at the end of WISR's catalog.
WISR’s programs are designed to provide community-involved adults with high-quality learning opportunities, combining academic theory and research with experience-based knowledge and insights, to help people develop satisfying personal careers while providing leadership toward educational innovation, community improvement and constructive social change.
Higher education should help community-involved adults become aware of their intellectual strengths, of what they already know and can do, by thinking, talking, and writing about those strengths, and applying them to problems that the students are personally concerned about. Higher education should help adults assess their personal goals, and the kinds of further learning that they need to pursue those goals and attain them. All students should be encouraged to stretch themselves, to become broadly acquainted with fields of knowledge and intellectual methods that are relevant to their areas of interest.
We believe that facts and methods of analyzing are best learned as parts of a broad, developmental approach to knowing, as a natural, dynamic process that all of us engage in throughout our lives. Critical inquiry can be a focal process in the education and self-development of community- involved adults.
We believe that all learners’ intellectual interests are ethically and politically informed, and that these aspects of knowledge should be openly and hospitably explored in the educational process.
Intercultural understanding and multicultural learning experiences are important to adult learning in today’s world, especially between members of different genders, economic classes, and ethnic and racial groups. Every student should understand how the most basic facts and ideas that we know are shaped by our individual experiences and the group cultures in which we take part.
We believe that adults learn best when their study is closely connected to their own personal and group interests, and connected as well with work in which they are actively engaged. We believe students should be encouraged and supported in doing work that contributes not only to their own advancement, but also to the improvement of their communities, and to long-term social change for the benefit of all peoples.
We believe it is important to consciously and continually help students to design learning activities—action projects, research, and writings—that help to build bridges to the student’s desired career path.
We believe it is important to offer advanced studies for learners who aim to develop, or further develop, expert knowledge and skills--and to provide high quality education to learners pursuing many different types of future goals, including but not limited to: changing careers, pursuing advancement in one’s existing career, becoming more capable and more meaningfully engaged in one’s existing job or career niche, or making contributions to others and to the larger community as an unpaid expert drawing on one’ professional knowledge, skill and talents.
We believe that people should not have their visions limited by the definitions of existing jobs and careers, and that they can and should be enabled to be both visionary and realistic in pursuing a life path that makes sense to them.
At WISR, we are committed to engaging in learning processes with our students that will enable them to become effective, expert professionals, and who are effective as professionals because they are also engaged citizens and community leaders, able to live personally meaningful and fulfilling lives. This means developing professionals who have a vision for both using the knowledge of their professions, while also going beyond the limitations and blind spots of their professions, to work for a better tomorrow for everyone.
WISR is one of the very few alternative, multicultural and social change-oriented institutions of higher learning that have survived for what is now nearly half of a century. WISR’s Board, faculty, staff and alumni have continued to hold WISR to these initial commitments—to create and sustain a multicultural academic institution for people concerned with community improvement, social change and educational innovation; to provide individualized degree programs for working adults; and to continue to refine and enhance the teaching-learning methods that work best for our students, while keeping our basic philosophy, values and our sense of purpose intact. Hence, our motto, “Multicultural is WISeR.”
Ever since WISR’s conception, a few months prior to its incorporation as a non-profit, multicultural, community-oriented academic institution in May 1975, WISR’s faculty, as well as students, staff, Board and alumni, have been actively mindful of WISR’s mission. This awareness has informed everyday instructional, administrative and operational processes, as well as ongoing institutional planning, evaluation and development. Indeed, faculty and students have chosen to become part of WISR’s learning community because of our strong and well-articulated sense of mission and purpose.
A number of things about WISR, and its ways of helping people learn, fit together to make it a very special place . . .
WISR’s distinctive qualities include:
WISR is for community-involved adults. WISR’s students are strongly motivated, mature people who are actively engaged in the work of the communities where they live, as well as in their own personal growth.
WISR provides high quality graduate education that combines theory and practice, and teaches the use of action-research. In order to provide high quality graduate education, faculty at WISR believe and demonstrate that high-quality academic study and full-time work on community and/or professional problems should and can go together — that each, in fact, enriches the other. Learning and practicing methods of action-research is a critical part of this. All students do active reading, writing, thinking, and discussing while they continue wrestling with specific, practical problems in their work, with the guidance and support of faculty and their fellow students.
WISR is intensive and individual--providing students with a personalized and learner-centered education, and promoting self-directed learning. Learning is personalized and self-directing. WISR starts with a look at one’s past experiences, personal goals, individual strengths and needs for acquiring new skills and knowledge. Each student builds a personal learning plan and works with faculty, other students, and community resource people, on the problems s/he deeply cares about.
WISR is a small, multicultural learning community. WISR is designed as a living experiment in cooperation among people of different races, cultures, and personal backgrounds. People know each other personally, procedures are human-scaled, and every person makes a difference. Active collaboration with others, not competition and distance, lend richness and interest to each person’s learning process.
WISR is inquiry-oriented and uses action-research methods to promote high quality learning and inquiry. Learning at WISR builds on the excitement of actively doing your own research, seeing what can be done without fancy statistics, and developing skills of “action research” that are useful in your daily work life. Self-directed learning and the use of action-research methods promotes high quality learning and inquiry. Students learn how to bring data- gathering, analysis, and the best of scientific reasoning into the work of community agencies.
WISR focuses on professional study that is mindful of personal growth and values, along with strong community-involvement. Professional education at WISR promotes career development, along with community and civic engagement, and personal development and lifelong learning.
WISR is dedicated to social justice and change. WISR students and faculty are people committed to addressing social injustices and to changing today’s oppressive patterns of race and gender relations, of wealth and poverty, of extreme power and powerlessness, in peaceful and constructive ways.
WISR offers distance learning to all students. WISR offers distance learning to all students, and may, occasionally, provide students with the option to meet with faculty and students on site, in advising sessions, seminars, study groups and conferences. All seminars, study groups and conferences are available to students from a distance by internet and phone access to video and audio conferences--and in some cases, in combination with those on site.
WISR helps students to build bridges to fulfill their plans for the future. We believe it is important to consciously and continually help students to design learning activities—action projects, research, and writings—that help to build bridges to the student’s desired career and life paths, oftentimes while also working toward a more sustainable and just future. We believe that people should not have their visions limited by the definitions of existing jobs and careers, and that they can, and should, be encouraged to be both visionary and realistic in pursuing a life path that makes sense to them. Consequently, WISR’s educational programs are suited for learners with many different types of future goals, including but not limited to: changing careers, pursuing advancement in one’s existing career, becoming more capable and more meaningfully engaged in one’s existing job or career niche, writing books and articles, organizing people and networks for social change, or creating new organizations and programs.
About WISR's Core Learning Outcomes
Essentially, there are 7, core Learning Outcomes areas for Each Degree Program--the 7 areas are thematically the same for all programs, but the "level" of expectations and specific outcomes (and indicators of those outcomes) for each outcome are progressively and increasingly sophisticated from MS/MFT to EdD, and this developmental progression is conceptualized and guided by the Dreyfus Theory of Expert Knowledge. Consequently, WISR’s use of the Stages of Expertise as defined by the Dreyfus model to guide and assess student learning, constitute an 8th area of Learning at WISR—and this 8th area guides our articulation of learning outcomes and indicators in each degree program, so that the outcomes in each area become increasingly sophisticated and advanced, as is appropriate in the progression from MS/MFT outcomes to EdD outcomes.
The graduate will:
1. Demonstrate theoretical and practical knowledge in their degree program’s major area of study—the highlights of which are articulated for each degree program, and additional outcomes are articulated by the learning outcomes of the courses, and the course modules, required in that degree program.
2. Demonstrate skills as a self-directed learner
3. Demonstrate skills and knowledge of participatory and action-research
4. Demonstrate skills and knowledge related to a multicultural, inclusive perspective.
5. Demonstrate skills and knowledge related to social change, and matters of social justice, equality and environmental sustainability.
6. Demonstrate that they can write well, communicate clearly and collaborate with others.
7. Demonstrate that they are building bridges to the next important things they wish to do in their lives, so that they can pursue employment opportunities and / or community involvements, appropriate to their specialized capabilities, experience, and interests.
*Based on the Dreyfus Model of Knowledge and Skill Development, the student will demonstrate that they have developed--within the degree program’s major area of study and within the student’s self-defined area(s) of specialization--to the stage of expertise appropriate for their degree program (MS and MFT = Competent; EdD = Proficient). That is--different Levels of Skills and Knowledge Required for Different Degree Programs, with learning outcomes guided by the Dreyfus Model of Knowledge and Skill Development. Further, the different levels of knowledge and skill development expected in the MS programs and in the EdD program are guided by the Dreyfus Model, and result in different specific learning outcomes, and indicators for each of the above Learning Outcome Areas for each degree level (MS or EdD).
NOTE: The Learning Outcomes on the above referenced page are more detailed than WISR's condensed list of core Learning Outcomes--please find below the explanation of how the more detailed list of outcomes and indicators/measures is used and why, along with the condensed list of PLOs.
How PLOs are Organized and Employed
1) For each degree program, there are Five Program-Specific PLOs: As a graduate institute, we require students to achieve five program-specific PLOs, each of which is quite substantial and complex, and not achieved through one single, simple indicator or outcome. Consequently, we have identified two to six or so indicators/more specific outcomes, which when attained, provide tangible and convincing evidence that the main PLO has been achieved.
2) Common to all degree programs, there are Six Mission-Directed PLOs: In addition to the program-specific program learning outcomes, we have six mission-directed learning outcomes that are determined by our mission and values, and reflected in the resulting meta-competencies expected for each WISR student.
We have developed more detailed articulation of these PLOs, and additional key indicators, for use in our online courses, rubrics, curriculum maps and PLO tracking worksheets. Specifically, they are:
a) used by faculty in evaluating and documenting student learning—including being tracked and noted on a PLO spreadsheet in each student’s file, in paperwork placed in each student’s file when a faculty member has determined the achievement of the PLO and the evidence for the achievement of the PLO,
b) used by students in becoming oriented to their degree program’s requirements, and in following the instructions in each course that students read and use to guide, and self-assess, for faculty review, and their progress in achieving the PLO,
c) used by faculty in evaluating the progress and success of students as a whole in their learning at WISR. This approach is critical to our achieving the PLO.
These more detailed articulations of PLOs and indicators are found in our Curriculum Maps, as well as in our online courses, rubrics and PLO tracking worksheets used by faculty and students. Our catalog, website and other documents display the more condensed versions.
EACH DEGREE PROGRAM'S DETAILED LEARNING OUTCOMES ARE NOTED BELOW . . .
I. MS in Education and Community Leadership PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOS)
MS Program-Specific Learning Outcomes
A. The student will demonstrate that they:
1. Know how experts use research, theories, key concepts, and professional practices in leadership.*
2. Evaluate key theories and methods of leadership.
3. Apply skills of conscious and deliberate planning in pursuing goals as a leader, as indicated by making critical comparisons of alternative courses of action.
4. Create theoretical applications and strategic practices in at least one area of specialization, and within one specific setting of educational or community leadership, as indicated especially in their Master’s thesis and course-based action-research projects.
5. Apply skills of doing an effective, critically minded and comprehensive review of the literature in an area of special interest to the student.
*[in these areas: Leadership and Collaboration; Innovation and Change; Grassroots Community Leadership; For Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities; For Diversity and Inclusiveness; Addressing the Challenges of Hate and Racism.]
WISR Mission-Directed Program Learning Areas and Outcomes
In addition to the above-mentioned MS program-specific PLOs, MS students must demonstrate the following mission-directed PLOs:
The student will:
B. Self-Directed Learning.
Demonstrate skills as a self-directed learner, as indicated by critically minded, intentional, and improvisational learning in doing their course assignments and thesis.
C. Action-Research.
Engage in critically informed uses of methods of participatory and action-research in the pursuit of specialized knowledge and competent leadership, especially as indicated through their action- research projects and thesis.
D. Multiculturalism and Inclusiveness.
Demonstrate an awareness of issues of diversity and inclusiveness, by showing a sensitivity to the issues involved in working as a leader with diverse populations, as indicated in their writing, dialogue, thesis and/or action-research projects.
E. Social Change and Justice.
Analyze the connections of leadership practices aimed at specific educational and/or community problems and challenges, by showing in their writing, dialogue and/or action-research projects that they are inquiring into ways of creating change for social justice, greater equality and environmental sustainability.
F. Communication and Collaboration.
Demonstrate skills of clear and engaging written communication, effective oral communication and collaboration, and produce a thesis that is of sufficient quality to be considered seriously for professional publication.
G. Build Bridges to the Future.
Demonstrate an awareness of employment opportunities, or if they prefer, meaningful volunteer opportunities and begin building bridges, i.e., specific action steps, to their post-graduate involvements, especially as indicated in their action-research projects and Master’s thesis.
Evaluation of Program Learning Outcomes
These outcomes will be evidenced in the written assignments for each course--and guided and evaluated by course learning outcomes and module learning outcomes within each course. They will also be evaluated and evidenced through the student’s course-based action-research projects, their ongoing dialogue with faculty and the oral exams in each course, in the thesis, and in their collaborations with others, such as in seminars and the online forum.
II. MS in Psychology/MFT PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOS)
MFT Program-Specific Learning Outcomes
A. The student will demonstrate that they:
1. Know how experts use research, and articulate and use theories, key concepts, and professional practices in each area of knowledge and professional practice required by the State of California licensing Board—the Board of Behavioral Sciences.*
2. Evaluate key theories and methods of psychotherapy and marriage and family therapy.
3. Apply skills of conscious and deliberate planning, as indicated by making critical comparisons of alternative courses of therapeutic action.
4. Create theoretical applications and strategic practices in at least one area of specialization within the scope of practice of an LMFT or LPCC, as indicated especially in their Master’s thesis, practicum and course-based action-research projects.
5. Apply skills of doing an effective, critically-minded and comprehensive review of the literature in an area of special interest to the student.
*State-required knowledge areas have been grouped into WISR’s required courses, and each WISR MFT and LPCC course has specifically defined learning outcomes that guide and assess student learning progress in developing the required expertise in each area. [For example: Foundational and contemporary theories and methods of therapy; Psychopathology; Human Development; Cross-Cultural Counseling; Law and Ethics; among such other important areas as recovery-oriented care, crisis and trauma, addictions, sexuality, and child abuse assessment and reporting.]
In addition to the above-mentioned MFT program-specific PLOs, MFT students must demonstrate the following mission-directed PLOs:
WISR Mission-Directed Program Learning Areas and Outcomes
The student will:
B. Self-Directed Learning.
Demonstrate skills as a self-directed learner, as indicated by critically minded, intentional, and improvisational learning in doing their course assignments, practicum, and thesis.
C. Action-Research.
Engage in critically informed uses of methods of participatory and action-research in the pursuit of specialized knowledge and competent practice, especially as indicated through their action- research projects and thesis
D. Multiculturalism and Inclusiveness.
Demonstrate an awareness of issues of diversity and inclusiveness, by showing a sensitivity to the issues involved in working with diverse populations, as indicated in their writing, dialogue and/or practicum.
E. Social Change and Justice.
Analyze the connections of mental health issues and therapeutic practices with the bigger, societal picture, by showing in their writing, dialogue and/or action-research projects that they are inquiring into ways of creating change for social justice, greater equality and environmental sustainability, as part of the pursuit of specialized knowledge and competent practice.
F. Communication and Collaboration.
Demonstrate skills of clear and engaging written communication, effective oral communication and collaboration as indicated in their practicum and seminars and produce a thesis that is of sufficient quality to be considered seriously for professional publication.
G. Build Bridges to the Future.
Demonstrate an awareness of employment opportunities, in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, or related professional counseling options, and begin building bridges, i.e., specific action steps, to their post-graduate involvements, especially as indicated in their practicum and Master’s thesis.
Evaluation of Program Learning Outcomes
These outcomes will be evidenced in the written assignments for each course--and guided and evaluated by course learning outcomes and module learning outcomes within each course. They will also be evaluated and evidenced through the student’s practicum, their course-based action-research projects, their ongoing dialogue with faculty and the oral exams in each course, in the thesis, and in their collaborations with others, such as in seminars and the online forum.
III. EDD in Higher Education and Social Change PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES (PLOS)
EdD Program-Specific Learning Outcomes
A. The student will demonstrate that they:
1. Know how experts use research, and articulate and use theories, key concepts, and professional practices in adult/higher education, and the possible roles of education in societal change.*
2. Evaluate key theories and methods of educational innovation and social change.
3. Apply skills of conscious and deliberate planning in pursuing goals as an innovative educator or leader, as indicated by making critical comparisons of alternative courses of action, for example in course-based action-research projects.
4. Create new theoretical applications and strategic practices in at least one area of specialization, and within one specific setting, aiming to promote educational improvements that might contribute to greater societal or community well-being, as indicated especially by an in-depth inquiry during the Doctoral Dissertation. [Note: This outcome builds on the knowledge achieved in outcome #1.]
5. Apply skills of doing a creative, critically minded and comprehensive review of the literature in an area of special interest to the student.
*[Covering the following areas: Education for diversity and inclusiveness;
Theories of education; Roles of education for social justice, human dignity, and
environmental sustainability; Theories and practices in higher education, professional
education, and community-based popular adult learning.]
In addition to the above-mentioned EdD program-specific PLOs, EdD students must demonstrate the following mission-determined PLOs:
WISR Mission-Determined Program Learning Areas and Outcomes
The student will:
B. Self-Directed Learning.
Demonstrate skills as a self-directed learner, as indicated by critically minded, intentional, and improvisational learning in doing their course assignments and dissertation.
C. Action-Research.
Engage in creative and critically informed uses of methods of participatory and action-research in the pursuit of new, specialized knowledge and proficient practices, especially as indicated through their action-research projects and dissertation.
D. Multiculturalism and Inclusiveness.
Demonstrate an awareness of issues of diversity and inclusiveness, by showing a sensitivity to the issues involved in working as an adult educator with diverse populations, as indicated in their writing, dialogue, dissertation, and/or action-research projects.
E. Social Change and Justice.
Analyze the connections of educational practices that are both impacted by and aimed at addressing various community or societal problems and challenges--by showing in their writing, dialogue and/or action-research projects that they are inquiring into ways of creating change for social justice, greater equality and environmental sustainability.
F. Communication and Collaboration.
Demonstrate skills of clear and engaging written communication, and of effective oral communication and collaboration, as indicated in action-research projects and in producing a dissertation that can be used by others to work for valuable improvements and change, and also that is of sufficient quality to be considered seriously for professional publication.
G. Build Bridges to the Future.
Demonstrate an awareness of employment opportunities, or if they prefer, meaningful volunteer opportunities, and begin building bridges, i.e., specific action steps, to their post-graduate involvements, especially as indicated in their action-research projects and Doctoral Dissertation.
Evaluation of Program Learning Outcomes
These outcomes will be evidenced in the written assignments for each course--and guided and evaluated by course learning outcomes and module learning outcomes within each course. They will also be evaluated and evidenced through their course- based action-research projects, their written assignments in courses, their ongoing dialogue with faculty and the oral exams in each course, in the dissertation, and in their collaborations with others, such as in seminars and the online forum.
HOW WE USE PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES, AS SENSITIZING CONCEPTS AT WISR—TO OPTIMALLY GUIDE AND EVALUATE LEARNING AT WISR
WISR’s approach to using Program Learning Outcomes as guiding concepts for faculty and students draw on the wisdom of the scholar, Herbert Blumer. Specifically, we see the Program Learning Outcomes as what Blumer refers to as “sensitizing concepts.” (In the article, “What’s Wrong with Social Theory”, Blumer advises social scientists and those using social theory to use what he calls “sensitizing concepts” to guide their inquiry. Go to: https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Blumer/Blumer_1954.html ).
The following explanation of “sensitizing concept” is drawn from WISR’s President, John Bilorusky’s, book on Principles and Methods of Transformative Action Research. Routledge Press, 2021, pp. 30-31
What does a sensitizing concept “look like”? This kind of concept is contrasted with formal concepts that read much like a twenty-word dictionary definition of terms and contrasted with operational concepts which are defined by the quantitative procedure for measuring a concept. For example, psychologists might debate the definition of “intelligence,” some saying that it is a single ability to learn and make use of knowledge, and others might say it is a whole variety of different types of abilities or “intelligences.” Nevertheless, in using a formal definition, each group, with their paradigm, might try to boil the concept down to a relatively short statement, such as “‘intelligence’ is really a multi-factor, constellation of different abilities or ‘intelligences’ that represent the capacity to develop and use different skills and abilities.” Such a one or two sentence definition is a “formal concept.” An operational concept would define the concept by the way it is measured--so if someone developed intelligence tests in seven different areas, a psychologist who agrees with the “multiple intelligence” paradigm might say that “‘intelligence’ is not a single entity but rather a combination of seven ‘different intelligences’ each of which is defined by a particular, seven-scale ‘intelligence test.’”
By contrast, if psychologists were to take the sensitizing concept approach, they would do extensive observational research in the real world and note a variety of different instances of what seems to be “intelligence.” They might use the formal concept as a starting point, but would not stop there, and would try to flesh out in considerable detail what each of seven components (if they continued to have evidence supporting the seven components theory) look like, and how, if at all, those components interact. Although they might make “general statements” and assertions that sound like the formal concepts, they would not stop there. They would look for a variety of different illustrations for each concept or generalized statement, and they would continue to look for more and more observations related to the statements, including looking for observations that might not “fit in” with their previous understanding. These unusual observations or exceptions to the rule would be used to revise and fine-tune their concept of “intelligence.” In this way, the sensitizing concept is always critiqued and revised by considering new experiences/observations and insights. That is, the sensitizing concept continues to evolve and be refined over time in a continuing dynamic interaction between general “themes” and “examples,” between introspection or critical reflection on what we have experienced or seen, on the one hand, and active curiosity and exploration for new experiences and examples, on the other hand.
We might say that the sensitizing concept embraces a coherent constellation of similar, and yet also quite diverse, array of examples, of situations, organizations, people, and/or stories. To an extent all concepts, like all words, sensitize or orient us to pay attention to the ideas, experiences, or situations to which they refer. Concepts like “racism,” “anxiety,” “poverty,” “injustice,” and thousands more, help us to notice, discuss and inquire into what we “think they are about.” The point emphasized here is that by combining the concept with a variety of relevant illustrations of the concept, we may be better sensitized and oriented to what we are trying to learn about, and maybe also, take action about.
There is no one strategy, per se, by which to develop sensitizing concepts, but it does require paying continual attention to data gathering which involves finding and studying a variety of illustrative examples of the concept, strategy, or theme with which one is concerned. Eliciting stories and looking for a variety of types of evidence as well, are valuable strategies.
How WISR Uses PLO’s as Sensitizing Concepts
At WISR, we have used this notion of “sensitizing concept” to further develop and flesh out, in greater detail, what each Program Learning Outcome means. So, we have developed more specific, related outcomes and more specific indicators of the outcomes based on our faculty’s ongoing educational practice and observations, and our collegial dialogue about our practical insights and observations. PLOs, as sensitizing concepts, guide students and faculty, alike—to direct the teaching and learning at WISR. They also guide faculty and staff, in looking for relevant indicators and evidence of learning—important in evaluating and improving the effectiveness of WISR’s degree programs.
Examples of concrete detail added to WISR’s core PLOs, to give them further clarity and specificity, include:
1) In the EdD program, for example, to the PLO that “The student will demonstrate that they know how experts use research, and articulate and use theories, key concepts, and professional practices in adult/higher education, and the possible roles of education in societal change”—we specify the key knowledge/content areas of: Education for diversity and inclusiveness; Theories of education; Roles of education for social justice, human dignity, and environmental sustainability; Theories and practices in higher education, professional education, and community-based popular adult learning.
2) To the MFT program PLO, “Evaluate key theories and methods of psychotherapy and marriage and family therapy” --we added the further detail: as indicated by a) Evaluating the strengths and limitations of a variety of major theories and methods, and b) Evaluating the circumstances in which specific theories and methods are likely to be usefully applied and valuable in professional practice.
3) To the MFT program, PLO, “Apply skills of conscious and deliberate planning, as indicated by making critical comparisons of alternative courses of therapeutic action”—we added to this concept, the further, specific details to look in the students’ applications that they, a) Evaluate the relevance and efficacy of their recommended plan(s) of action, b) Evaluate uncertainties and dilemmas faced by competent professionals in the field, and c) Identify directions for inquiry to investigate alternative courses of action growing out of these dilemmas, uncertainties, and complexities.
Over time, we may very likely further refine and develop our articulation of each PLO, to continue to guide faculty and students in teaching and learning at WISR, and to gather and analyze relevant evidence to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of each degree program.