Liberal Arts Research Articles

The Impact of Presentation Activities on College Students’ Self-efficacy

In this study, we aim to identify the correlation between a student’s experience with presentations and self-efficacy, and to seek ways to teach the art of giving presentations in university classes. For this purpose, self-efficacy was measured before and after presentation practice for students in Presentation Techniques, a liberal arts subject at S University, and students' perceptions of the presentation experience were investigated. As a result of the survey, presentations were found to be helpful in improving self-efficacy, and were especially effective in improving social self-efficacy. These results show that presentation education can be an effective teaching method in teaching social and communication skills, and therefore, there appears to be a need to strengthen presentations in college classes.

Research on the Development of a Conceptual Framework for Core Values in National Curriculum through Future Society Prediction

This study aims to address the importance of core value education required in the curriculum according to the changing times, and to explore and develop a core value concept word system for the curriculum at the national level curriculum. As a research method, first, the core value concept words used in the 2022 revised curriculum documents were frequency analyzed to derive important core value concept words. Then, we analyzed the headlines of the hexagonal promotion tasks in the main work report documents of each government department using frequency analysis and topic modeling techniques to identify trends, and generated scenarios for predicting the future society using ChatGPT and finally classified them according to STEEP. The future society prediction scenarios classified by STEEP were matched with the core value concept words in the 2022 revised curriculum document and presented systematically in terms of society and individuals. As a result of the study, 30 core value concept words including “respect” were derived from the 2022 revised curriculum, and “industry, expansion, and promotion” were important in the headlines of the key initiatives of each government ministry's major work report. Words such as “education, culture, and marine,” which represent the characteristics of the government's major work report but also the characteristics of each ministry, were also included in the high frequency range, confirming that it can be meaningful to derive future scenario topics from the headlines of the key initiatives of the government's major work report. There were 10 future society prediction scenarios generated using ChatGPT, and after classifying them according to STEEP, we developed a core value concept word system consisting of a total of 30 words divided into society and individual aspects. The core value conceptual language system will contribute to the activation and systematization of core value education in elementary and secondary schools, and will be the basis for connecting with liberal arts education at the university level.

Starting to Know the World from Deep Self-understanding : Focusing on the ‘Global Citizenship and Restorative Peace’ Liberal Arts Class at D University

This paper examines how, in a course designed from a restorative peace perspective, learners connect with their inner self, experience a deep understanding of themselves, and further begin to expand their awareness by learning about the world around them. According to the analysis, through the activities of observing, expressing their feelings, knowing their desires, finding core values and making requests, learners were able to discover and express themselves and experience freedom from being bound by the cultural values and styles that had formed their characters so far. The activity of writing an auto-ethnography journal became an important turning point in carrying out this work. Group activities created a sense of empathy and solidarity among the students through their sharing of difficult moments in the process of gaining a deep understanding of their inner self, and provided an important foundation for carrying out the difficult task of better knowing the world. The focus of this subject's activities is for the students to experience deep self-understanding, which is a prerequisite for developing a greater awareness as global citizens. Afterwards, students asked themselves the following question: How can we as learners more actively engage in awareness and exploration to better understand the world, once we have achieved this internal competency? This study highlights the need for follow-up work to determine whether this is achievable.

A Study on Reading Programs in the Convergence Era : Focusing on Book-trailer Activities

This study aims to develop the reading practicum for university students by developing an effective reading program suitable for the convergence era. Reading is a key skill that contributes to developing convergent competencies in university liberal arts education. In particular, ‘Book-trailers’ (video trailers that introduce books) are important in that they produce the results of reading using media.The contents of teaching-learning are as follows. First, once learners know the difference between letter-based text and multimodal text, they can adapt them to the studies. Next, learners experience becoming a book trailer producer and a book trailer consumer. Lastly, the learner knows the respective functions of the book trailer for promotional purposes and as a result after reading.As a result of this program, learners engaged in active reading by understanding book features and contents from a multifaceted perspective and by producing multimodal texts. Furthermore, this program is one of the solutions to solving the problem of learners' declining literacy and reading comprehension skills and can also be expanded into the reading culture industry.

전문대학의 역량 기반 교양 교과목 인증제 개발 사례 연구 : S 대학교 사례를 중심으로

전문대학의 역량 기반 교양 교과목 인증제 개발 사례 연구 : S 대학교 사례를 중심으로

불교종립대학의 공통교양 운영 개선에 대한 탐색

This study explores the necessity and improvement directions for implementing the educational philosophy in the common liberal arts course, 'Buddhism and Humanity.' Based on the related survey results, an attempt was made to analyze the findings and propose suggestions for the improvement of operational methods. In the analysis results, students consistently recognized the need for changes in the overall operation of the 'Buddhism and Humanity' course and had a clear understanding of the reasons and directions for improvement. Based on these results, the following recommendations are proposed: Firstly, to reflect practical and realistic aspects in the organization of lecture content, internalizing Buddhism as cultural knowledge and supplementing lecture materials to generate interest. Secondly, to foster a self-directed and voluntary learning atmosphere and improve teaching methods. Thirdly, to improve the structure of lectures and evaluation methods. Lastly, to provide guidance and promotion for innovative teaching methods.

예비초등교사를 위한 교양수학 교재 개발 및 적용

예비초등교사를 위한 교양수학 교재 개발 및 적용

New perspectives on civic engagement as outcome of higher education: an exploratory case study

This study explores the potential of a new perspective on research into the impact higher education has on the civic engagement of students. We propose a shift from viewing engagement itself as the key dependent variable to two ‘fundamental constituents’, political interest and agency. Both constituents have been presented as either static or determined entirely by factors external to education such as maturation, but also as dynamic and affected by various aspects of the educational experience in higher education. Furthermore, as analyses of these effects based on sample means do not account sufficiently for the intersectionality of background variables that define the student experience, we propose that data are explored through cluster analysis. Employing this type of analysis, a case study conducted at a small international liberal arts college in the Netherlands showed four distinctly different patterns in the development of both constituents of civic engagement. Based on further data obtained from the same sample, we offer suggestions for specific foci in further research about the impact of higher education on the development of civic engagement.

Fostering student agency and motivation: co-creation of a rubric for self-evaluation in an ungraded course

No one enjoys grading, neither instructors nor students. The idea is that grades provide the required incentive to learn and act as an “objective” form of evaluation. This view is especially prevalent in STEM, where practitioners pride themselves in quantitative and objective measurements. However, the science of learning tells us that grades and ranking increase competition and stress, pushing learners to engage in tasks regardless of their effectiveness. Grades have been shown to suppress interest in learning, incentivize engagement in easier tasks, and produce shallower thinking. If wanting to learn is something students and faculty can agree on, how do we get there without grading? From psychology research, we know that feedback, separated from grades, along with opportunities to reattempt work without negative consequence, are powerful drivers of the intrinsic motivation to learn. In fact, feedback loops—trying something new, getting feedback, and making changes based on feedback - are a known developmental pathway to authentic learning. In this article, I describe an experiment with a form of ungrading that involves students in the co-creation of self-assessment criteria. The goal is to create learning feedback loops, incentivize learning for learning’s sake, and give students some agency in the process of evaluation. This was conducted in an upper division Immunology course at a small liberal arts college. This paper outlines an iterative and dialogical process between students and instructional staff to craft a holistic set of criteria for the evaluation of learning. These criteria became the foundation for regular one-on-one conversations with students and a means to track progress over the semester. End-of-semester student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, citing increased motivation to learn, lower levels of anxiety, a less competitive environment, and growth as a learner. Among the few disadvantages cited were anxieties from grade ambiguity, fears about the process, and extra time, especially for the instructor. This paper highlights the ways in which this system aligns with psychosocial theories of learning, fostering an intrinsic motivation to learn utilizing principles of critical pedagogy and students as partners. It concludes with lessons learned from both the student and instructor viewpoint.

Analysis of the Reform of Blended Teaching in College English Under the Background of New Liberal Arts

With the continuous reform of the education system, the requirements for higher education have significantly increased. New liberal arts have been identified as the main direction of educational development, achieving innovative development in liberal arts education and enhancing the country’s cultural soft power. Therefore, universities should increase their emphasis on English teaching. In addition to imparting basic English knowledge, it is also necessary to focus on cultivating students’ cross-cultural communication and critical thinking abilities. The concept of new liberal arts should be applied by integrating information technology into the lessons, implementing blended learning, overcoming the disadvantages of traditional teaching, building a sound teaching system, and ensuring that college English teaching achieves good teaching results.

An Exploration of Higher Vocational English Teachers’ Professional Development on Students’ Learning Ability in the Context of New Liberal Arts

The concept of New Liberal Arts, a multidisciplinary combined integrator with Chinese values at its core,has brought new challenges to the teaching methods and professional development of higher-level English teachers. Based on the evolving professional development process of higher vocational English teachers in the context of the New Liberal Arts, this article analyzes how English teachers can integrate multidisciplinary knowledge and adopt advanced educational technology in the teaching process. On this basis, it discusses the role of teachers’ professional development in enhancing students’ learning ability, such as through deepening disciplinary understanding, adopting innovative teaching strategies, and implementing personalized teaching. At the end of the article, based on a variety of pedagogical theories, we put forward suggestions, including continuous professional training, interdisciplinary cooperation, and the application of innovative teaching techniques, which are mainly aimed at helping higher vocational English teachers get rid of the dilemma of the new situation, adapt to the needs of the new liberal arts education as soon as possible, and then effectivelyimprove students’ abilities.

Research on the Construction of Talent Cultivation Mode of Finance Majors in Applied Undergraduate University under the Background of New Liberal Arts

In the context of the new liberal arts, the demand for talents in the financial industry has undergone profound changes, requiring financial talents to have a broader disciplinary background, higher comprehensive quality and practical ability. Therefore, the training of financial professionals in applied undergraduate colleges and universities is also facing new challenges. Through the research on the talent cultivation mode of finance majors in applied undergraduate colleges under the background of new liberal arts, the article proposes to cultivate composite and applied innovative financial talents to cope with the development needs of the times, and focuses on the “new” connotation of the new liberal arts and builds a new mode of talent cultivation from the aspects of talent cultivation system, curriculum system, teaching mode, practice platform, and so on. Focusing on the “new” connotation of the new liberal arts, we will construct a new mode of talent cultivation from the aspects of talent cultivation system, curriculum system, teaching mode and practice platform to improve the quality of talent cultivation.

Being big in the big tent: Is fat social justice part of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts on college campuses in the United States?

ABSTRACT Fat social justice and fat liberation movements share language, symbols, and strategies with many other movements striving to fight discrimination and stigma, such as movements centered on race, gender, sexuality, and disability. These communities should be natural partners with fat activists in striving for intersectional liberation and in fighting existing structures of privilege. It is less clear, however, the degree to which fat activism and activists are welcome in spaces explicitly constructed to address comprehensive approaches to social justice. To address this question, we examine a setting specifically built to address issues of privilege, oppression, and discrimination: diversity, equity, and inclusion organizations at US colleges and universities. We compile a data set of diversity, equity, and inclusion offices at 200 four-year colleges and universities in the US, with stratified samples to ensure inclusion across regions of the US, a broad variety of educational settings from large Research 1 institutions to small liberal arts colleges, and a subset of historically black colleges and universities. We examine whether and to what degree issues of fat social justice and liberation are included in university diversity and inclusion offices, websites, and materials. Findings show fat people, their experiences, and fat social justice issues are generally excluded in DEI spaces. We provide potential explanations for this exclusion and outline possible steps forward for those interested in fat social justice.

Research on the construction of ideological and political education teaching evaluation system in university courses--taking public finance as an example

Actively improving the teaching quality of ideological and political education courses and promoting all kinds of courses to go hand in hand with ideological and political education courses are important prerequisites for universities to implement the fundamental task of building morality and cultivating talents, and also the core essence of ideological and political work in universities in the new era. In order to improve the level of ideological and political education courses in universities, it is particularly crucial to establish a scientific and rigorous teaching evaluation system. Therefore, this paper takes the professional course of "Public Finance" as an example to construct the teaching quality evaluation index system based on the Guidance Program for the Construction of Ideological and Political Education in Colleges and Universities, in order to provide reference for the theory and practice of ideological and political education in other liberal arts professional courses.

Innovating the humanities, reimagining the future: empirical evidence from virtual reality practice in China

ABSTRACT The influence of digital technologies on culture and the liberal arts is a global phenomenon. To contribute a non-Western perspective to such debates, this article considers the uptake of virtual reality technology in Chinese humanities education via the policy lens of a higher education reform called New Humanities Education, which was issued by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2018. The paper draws on the concept of a ‘techno-cultural imaginary’ to show how the humanities and STEM fields have merged and have contributed to the task of national rejuvenation in the past decade. Drawing on interviews with virtual reality practitioners in universities and industry, the results indicate two ideological shifts in humanities education in China: The first is a shift from praising scholar-officials (shi) to praising academic entrepreneurs; and the second is from valuing knowledge to valuing power. The article argues that those being cultivated and nurtured in the contemporary Chinese humanities education system are expected to become pragmatic problem-solvers rather than critical thinkers.

Occupational Prestige: The Status Component of Socioeconomic Status

The relationship between life outcomes and an individual’s standing in the social and economic hierarchy of society is an important topic across the social sciences. Foundational to this work is assessing an individual’s standing in this hierarchy, often referred to as socioeconomic status (SES). One component of an individual’s SES, often overlooked in the psychological literature, is occupational prestige – the amount of status accorded to them based on their occupational role. In this research, we collected and validated a new index of occupational prestige for 1029 specific occupations, including all jobs in the US Department of Labor’s O*NET database, and 22 broader occupational families. In Study 1, we collected a comprehensive set of occupational prestige ratings from an online convenience sample, and demonstrated their high reliability. In Study 2, we developed a crosswalk between the ratings collected in Study 1 and prior ratings of occupations listed in the US Census and show convergent validity with previous indices. In Studies 3 and 4 we used additional data to evaluate the construct validity of occupational prestige more broadly. In Study 3, we established convergent and discriminant validity with other indicators of SES: income and educational attainment. In Study 4, we use the O*NET database to identify the characteristics of occupations most strongly associated with prestige. These results support the validity of the index and suggest occupations with high prestige require skills traditionally emphasized in liberal arts education (e.g., critical thinking, reading comprehension).

A simple, robust, broadly applicable insertion mutagenesis method to create random fluorescent protein: target protein fusions.

A simple, broadly applicable method was developed using an in vitro transposition reaction followed by transformation into Escherichia coli and screening plates for fluorescent colonies. The transposition reaction catalyzes the random insertion of a fluorescent protein open reading frame into a target gene on a plasmid. The transposition reaction is employed directly in an E. coli transformation with no further procedures. Plating at high colony density yields fluorescent colonies. Plasmids purified from fluorescent colonies contain random, in-frame fusion proteins into the target gene. The plate screen also results in expressed, stable proteins. A large library of chimeric proteins was produced, which was useful for downstream research. The effect of using different fluorescent proteins was investigated as well as the dependence of the linker sequence between the target and fluorescent protein open reading frames. The utility and simplicity of the method were demonstrated by the fact that it has been employed in an undergraduate biology laboratory class without failure over dozens of class sections. This suggests that the method will be useful in high-impact research at small liberal arts colleges with limited resources. However, in-frame fusion proteins were obtained from 8 different targets suggesting that the method is broadly applicable in any research setting.

Navigating Change: Dealing with Staff Loss and Job Realignment in Libraries

In October 2019, the Ensor Learning Resource Center at Georgetown College lost one staff position. While this reduction in force was not a major surprise, what happened over the next three budget years was. With each new year, the library lost positions as part of budget cuts at the institution. To manage these cuts, the library and its staff underwent a major realignment of duties and services to continue to meet patron needs. The article below offers some context and advice for those who may find themselves in similar situations. Recent history in library staffing has seen a reduction in the numbers of qualified librarians and paraprofessionals. According to the IPEDS data, academic libraries have seen an approximately 14% drop in the number of staff and librarians in their ranks. Given this reality, it is incumbent on library leaders to adjust to these new realities, rewriting job descriptions, dropping job duties—including those that are vitally important—and working to ensure building operations continue. This retrenchment in library staffing leads to impacts—both negative and positive—that have far-reaching effects beyond the library walls. As library director at Georgetown College, a small liberal arts campus of approximately 1200 students and a faculty of 75, I faced the situation described above four times in four straight budget years as a staff of seven dwindled to a staff of three. While one staff position was added in October 2022, for three months, a 65,000 square foot building that had to deliver services and spaces for over twelve hundred students ran with a skeleton crew. In this article I offer background to this situation, how it was addressed, and some (hopefully) helpful tips to those in a similar situation.

한글 자형에 대한 일본인 입문 학습자의 시각적 인식 양상 연구

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the visual recognition of Hangul consonants among Japanese beginner learners using data from a visual recognition survey. It aims to identify the consonants that learners find visually challenging to distinguish and to provide educational implications for the instruction of Hangul characters at the introductory level.
 Methods An online survey using Google Forms was conducted among 129 Japanese beginner learners studying Korean as an elective liberal arts course at universities in Japan. This survey involved two rounds of visual recog-nition tests on 19 consonant characters. The tests were employing a form constancy testing method where partic-ipants were required to identify Hangul characters that matched the form of the given examples.
 Results In comparison to the first survey, the average score of the second survey increased by 0.39 points, but the difference between the average scores of the first and second surveys was not statistically significant. It was also confirmed that the order of learning Hangul characters and their frequency of appearance did not have a sig-nificant effect on the visual recognition of character forms. In the error analysis of Japanese beginner learners, er-rors due to native language, target language, and curriculum were found, and some errors due to native language and target language were interpreted as errors due to the influence of font styles.
 Conclusions Japanese beginner learners encounter difficulties in the visual recognition of Hangul characters dur-ing the Korean language learning process. Exposure to these characters in textbooks is insufficient for accurate recognition of their forms, necessitating continuous character form education. It is particularly noted that the de-tailed features of Hangul characters and variations in font styles are significant factors for Japanese learners. This approach is anticipated to serve as foundational data for enhancing understanding of Hangul character learning and for developing effective teaching methods.

College preparation for a medical career in the United States.

A college degree is required to enter medical school in the United States. A remarkably high percentage of students entering college have pre-medical aspirations but relatively few end up as medical students. As an "applied science", education about medicine is usually thought to be beyond the purview of a liberal arts curriculum. Students therefore receive little education about a medical career, or information about the many alternative careers in health science. Instead, they take courses for Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) preparation and medical school application prerequisites in biology, chemistry, physics, and math. These classes give them little insight into a real medical career. The current report considers this mismatch between student needs in health science and available resources in colleges across the United States. A Collective Case Series framework was used to obtain qualitative data. Key informant interviews were requested from a convenience sample of representatives from 20 colleges, with six colleges providing extensive data. Three institutions collected data specifically on students who matriculated college interested in a career as a physician. At these schools, one-half to one-quarter of students who said they were interested in medicine at the beginning of college ended up not applying to medical school. At each of the six schools, we saw a wide range of generally sparse academic and professional advising involvement and a very limited number of classes that discussed concepts directly related to careers in health science. Looking at this data, we provide a novel conceptual model as a potential testable solution to the problem of an underexposed and unprepared student population interested in medicine. This includes a brief series of courses intended to inform students about what a career in medicine would fully entail to help foster core competencies of empathy, compassion and resilience.