TEACHING

Liberal education is the core of the University of Lethbridge and there is strong support on campus for this focus. However, the principles and rationale for this approach to education were created during a different social and political climate and liberal education is often poorly understood if not outright dismissed in many contexts beyond our campus. The expectations to deliver career training not broad thinking, to address new generations of students who have grown up with recent subjects and methods of learning, and the accumulation of assumptions about liberal education are all creating pressures to justify and understand this approach.  And yet, the liberal education approach creates a rich and productive environment that cannot be achieved if disciplines are isolated from each other and students are restricted to a narrow definition of sources for learning.  During this research project, we will question the assumptions about liberal education and identify the ideas and practices that produce a successful liberal education.