Academic Learning Links

Most undergraduates arrive at the UW with only a vague understanding of various academic disciplines. It can take them several years—often not until they choose a major—to appreciate the distinct perspective that each discipline provides. To avoid that delay, the College of Arts and Sciences has created Academic Learning Links (ALL), a pilot project for freshmen, offered for the first time Autumn Quarter 2009. 

“Students tend to think of disciplines as providing specific content, but what disciplines are really about is a specific way of studying a subject,” says Kevin Mihata, assistant dean for educational programs. “Many disciplines study the family, for example, but each explores the subject using a different lens. Most students figure this out eventually, but often later than we’d like. We hope that this will help them identify those lenses earlier and be open to taking upper-level classes sooner.”

For the pilot project, the College offered four ALL sections—two in the College’s Arts Division and two in the Social Sciences Division. Students in each section took a cluster of three five-credit courses together, plus a two-credit seminar led by an upperclassman and an advisor. The seminar included presentations by faculty, advisors, and student groups to highlight the unique characteristics of the division and the disciplines within it. 

Beyond creating an awareness of disciplinarity, the ALLs highlighted the UW’s role as a research university—specifically the value of faculty research and its relationship to what goes on in the classroom. Faculty participated in several panel discussions at which they discussed their research and teaching.

“We chose faculty who are inspirational and who are passionate about their scholarship as well as their teaching,” says Mihata. “Some do research that has a clear connection to their teaching; for others, the connection is less clear. We want students to see the UW as more than just a place for conveying knowledge to students so that they can learn ‘stuff’ to get a job. We want to disabuse them of that notion quickly and have them appreciate all that goes on here.”

Students in the social sciences ALLs took that interaction with faculty a step further. For an assignment, they were required to interview a faculty member about his or her work, then write a profile to be added to a class blog. “It was simply an entry point to a discussion of the world that faculty inhabit,” says Mihata. “It also gets students interacting with faculty, something that most freshmen find intimidating.”

Mihata says that it’s too soon to gauge the full effect of the Academic Learning Links, but the College is working with the Office of Educational Assessment to complete a full evaluation of the pilot, examining whether this novel introduction to academia benefits students as they proceed with their undergraduate studies. 

“Our hope is that they will be better explorers as a result of the Academic Learning Links, more comfortable interacting with faculty and open to all the opportunities the UW has to offer,” says Mihata. “We just want them to be better able to take advantage of this place.”