Report Draft
Content
Dear President Hitt,
Contained within is the report commissioned by Dr. Sherry
Stewards to outline successful educational strategies designed to
meet the ever-growing demand for real-world skills and experience
on the part of graduates of the University of Central Florida,
that these measures might pass down to the High School level as
well, when proven successful. The primary findings of the report
are as follows:
∙ Assigning role-playing activities to students to simulate real
problems faced by industry professionals serves to instill
cohesiveness within the students engaged, and better prepares the
students for the expectations of their later work environment.
∙ While peer-to-peer review and support is already incorporated
within a selection of courses, its offered scope nets far too
few students to prepare them for independence and task
leadership away from established schedules of study and testing.
∙ At the High School level, standardized testing creates a
vacuum filled only by the teaching of test-taking strategies.
Limiting the impact of this component on coursework is vital to
prevent students from being unprepared for real-world workloads.
I would like to acknowledge the support of my co-authors and the
opportunity this report gave us to further our research skills,
and voice our active concern to issues affecting students such as
ourselves, that we might solve problems of those after us.
Warmest Regards, Ben Bartuska
Real World Education at The University
of Central Florida
(The Goal is to establish a curriculum at The University of Central Florida designed to
educate students for the basic skills needed to be successful in life)
ENC 3241
Group 4 Project
April 2016
Real World Education at
The University of Central Florida:
April Sixth 2016
Dr. Sherry Stewards
ENC 3241
Authors:
Shawn Ibonnet,
Thomas Gotts,
Gareth Ward,
Benjamin Bartuska,
Roy Calatayud,
Coleman Kintz
Executive Summary
Upon matriculating from their course of study at the
University of Central Florida, while students have no doubt
acquired the knowledge necessary to perform excellently in the
field they have chosen, many are unprepared for the scope and
direction of the workload they will face upon being hired to
apply their knowledge in real-world situations.
This report is an examination of the options available to
reach this growing need for students to experience real
applications of their coursework and engage in a professional
approach to solving problems which will be asked of them in the
future, as well as a critique of current educational standards
which only serve to hamper student preparedness and narrow
graduate performance. Our team began by outlining the impact of
this dearth upon graduate performance, and assessed comparative
university models to combat the issue. We then expressed our own
concerns facing the student populace and addressed solutions that
could be implemented, and specific approaches that could be
applicable at the High School level as well, to combat the issue
as early as possible.
When these approaches were evaluated, it became clear that
the primary obstacle students at the university level faced was a
lack of group-oriented workloads, as well as applicable realworld problems to face in a professional setting. These two
primary issues serve only to obstruct the active student learning
experience, and hamstring any requests future employers could
make of graduate effort in a team environment.
It is the finding of this team that these suggested
solutions, while gaining traction in a shallow examination of
courses and universities, will require widespread support across
all disciplines to service student need to inform employers that
they do in fact have the skills necessary to meet the demands of
the active, modern workplace and will not need re-education to be
ready for effective employment.
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction
Page 1
2.Current state of affairs as young adults
Page 2-3
3. Currents state of affairs at UCF-2pages
Page 4-5
4. What we are doing to fix this problem
Page 6-7
5. Solutions we can bring to Schools
Page 8-9
6. Results
Page 10
7. Conclusion
Page 11
ILLUSTRATIONS USED
Cover Photo
Source: https://s-media-cacheak0.pinimg.com/736x/24/44/b4/2444b4738322b5f7c44394e9b527b4e9.jpg
Harvard Mechanic Photo
Source: http://media.news.harvard.edu/gazette/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/35lifeskills-225.jpg
Stressed Young Adult
Source: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/847464/images/o-YOUNG-ADULT-STRESSEDfacebook.jpg
UCF Students in Class
Source: http://www.trbimg.com/img-1347135827000/turbine/os-ucf-classsize0072.jpg-20120908
Introduction
Once graduating from the high school or college you are supposed
to be more than capable of being a self-functioning adult in both
inside the work force and outside of the work force. Your
education within the walls of a university or the walls of a high
school ideally have prepared you for the career you have chosen.
However what they have failed to teach you is the real world
skills that are just as vital as being able to name every element
on the periodic table, or know how to complete the quadratic
formula, or know what makes the human brain tick.
As adult’s real world skills such as how to save and invest, how
to read a financial statement, balancing a checkbook, how to
network, how to negotiate and many more are skills you must apply
on a daily basis. In fact some of these skills are skills that
you must apply more often than your biology degree or mechanical
engineering degree. These are purely life skills, and without
them even a person with the highest of IQ’s will struggle to
adapt. This group is amazed that the American education system
does not put a higher value on skills like these and take the
time and money in further investing in our students.
This report aims to put this epidemic in the spotlight, and
provide the necessary information needed to understand the
severity of the problem the youth of America are facing once they
are put in the real world. The report will provide the state of
affairs young adults across this nation are facing with the lack
of education our universities provide and provide the state of
affairs at one of the largest universities in the country, the
University of Central Florida, to give the reader a firsthand
look into our education system. This report will then aim to
provide possible solutions and remedies to this issue and
hypothesize the results of these solutions given a time frame.
After reading this report the problem we are all facing will no
longer be lurking in the shadows and will be a problem we will all want to face head on and
solve.
State of Affairs: Young Adults
As current young adults the ideas of learning how to achieve
financial stability, creative freedom and self-proficiency in all
aspects of life are almost put on the back burner with the
constant struggles of having to juggle the pressures of learning
so many other things. As even younger adolescents we are almost
brain washed to think that are schooling is the most important of
our lives and our success within this schooling will almost be a
direct branch to other future endeavors we are able to reach.
This is almost certainly true, as education is almost always
correlated to success however never throughout this process do we
question it. As children and as young adults we view teachers,
parents, and older people as absolutes and never doubt the paths
they put us on, or the curriculum they set for us. Through years
of experience of going through the “system” that is maturity
through schooling it is fine time we take a stand and correct
some of the wrongs we face daily.
As current collegiate students we have gone through the rigors of
grade schooling. The meticulous hours of having to sit in a
classroom and grind through learning almost the same subjects for
close to 13 years. After this we chose to continue our schooling
through higher level learning to further build our credibility as
young adults to both the work force we plan to eventually join
but to the rest of society. When entering the collegiate
atmosphere we are still but children with basically a clean slate
to paint on, and when we finally graduate we are supposed to be a
finished product ready for what the world has to offer us but
that is hardly ever the case.
Large numbers of collegiate students and graduates ever come
close to finished products and this due largely to the limited
amount of things we are really exposed to in school. At the
beginning of our collegiate careers we choose our majors and once
that has occurred we are stuck within that specific path and only
limited to what that path has to offer. Diversity in the
structures of our education is not something we see much of and
it’s because of this that we lack very crucial tools and skills
that are needed outside of the classroom. In terms of this
report we are never exposed to things such as financial
management, health management, or other aspects of adulthood that
is vital to our success. According to Courtney L. Vien of
Journalofaccountancy.com only 17% of students said they learned
things such as budgeting in school. A larger number of students
said they learned this information from other sources; 42% of
them said they learned from their parents or other relatives and
37% taught themselves. With the price of education at record
highs and the price of education only rising in the future the
heavy skew in these statistics is alarming. Collectively we spend
exponential more time in the classroom and on our respective
school campuses than we do with our own families and very little
amount of this time is allotted for free learning. So if the
numbers stated above are any indication it is the responsibility
of our schooling time system to invest more time and money in
teaching its students how to succeed outside of the classroom.
Although several years have passed and we have aged considerably,
collegiate students are still asking themselves as they sit
through their 3 hour statistics classes “when will I ever use
this?” This should never be the case on a collegiate level, as we
should always feel confident in the fact that if we are going to
spend sleepless nights learning a subject it will be heavily
pronounced throughout our lives. As currently constructed too
much time is pursued trying to cram our brains with information
that is only valuable for the current class or even worse, the
current test or quiz. As young adults we need courses and
information provided to us that will not only be valuable within
a couple weeks of the semester but valuable to us throughout our
entire lives. It’s important that we begin to make the steps to
do just that and really reform and pay closer attention to the
information we provide our students. The process begins at a
collegiate level, and with its success we can begin to ensure
future generations will feel ready for whatever life has to
offer.
State of Affairs: UCF
This report will look to the current state affairs at one of
the largest universities in the country as an example of the
current state affairs in other universities across the nation.
According to UCF.edu this university is home to 60,810 students
in 2014 and offers 210 different degree programs including
bachelors, masters, doctoral, and specialist. As 6 of these
60,810 students we have a very good feel for what this university
has to offer and doesn’t offer. This report will look at the
curriculum of three of the top ten majors at the University of
Central Florida based on enrollment to express if these majors
provide their students with the ability to learn about topics
such as filing for taxes, managing loans, networking, politics,
being professional, and other lessons needed to be a successful
adult.
Biology is listed as the number 8 major based on number of
students enrolled at the University of Central Florida. The total
semester hours required to graduate with a degree in Biology from
the University of Central Florida is 120 hours. According to the
Biology degree program at the University of Central Florida it is
heavily science based with only 12 of its credit hours being
founded on mathematics. Another small percentage of the classes
are electives, however they are once again largely based on the
sciences such as Physics, Genetics, and Chemistry. Although
students are encouraged to further education by picking minors
and taking classes outside of their major, they only need to
complete those minimum 120 credit hours to graduate. This is the
case for many students, and accomplish what is needed and nothing
further. By accomplishing only this however we see a lack of
education on the topics discussed above. Biology students
although leave with at least a bachelor’s degree from the
University of Central Florida, they also leave with some of
necessary knowledge needed once they cross that podium.
Mechanical Engineering is listed as the number 5 major based on
number of students enrolled at the University of Central Florida.
The total number of semester hours required to graduate with a
degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central
Florida is 128 credit hours. As you may think unlike Biology,
Mechanical Engineering is heavily mathematics based with very
minimal courses founded in other subjects. According to the
Mechanical Engineering degree program
at the University of Central Florida
only 7 credit hours in the foundations
of science are required to graduate
with a degree in Mechanical
Engineering. Although this curriculum
is successful in preparing Mechanical
Engineers for their respective careers,
it fails to teach its students anything
outside of that. This severe skew is
once again another indication of the
lack of diversity students receive
within their degree programs.
UCF students in a Statistics Course
Source: http://www.trbimg.com/imgPsychology is listed as the number 1 major
1347135827000/turbine/os-ucf-classbased on number of students enrolled at the
size0072.jpg-20120908
University of Central Florida. The total
number of semester hours required to graduate with a degree in
Psychology from the University of Central Florida is 120 credit
hours. According to the Psychology degree program at the
University of Central Florida and unlike the degree programs
listed before this degree program provides a little bit more
diversity. This degree programs requires 6 hours of math and
science electives, 6hr of core math classes, and another 6 hours
of core science classes. Despite this increased diversity however
it still lacks classes and the ability to teach its students the
required skills needed to survive outside the classroom.
Along with these degree programs, the
University of Central Florida also provides its
students with countless clubs to join with
their free time. However after searching
through its catalog of clubs there is once
again a glaring hole and an immediate need to
add a club or course to provide students with
the direct knowledge they need. There are
several
clubs
such as
the Finance and
Stress of Life can be hard for young adults not
equipped with the tools for success
Accounting clubs that in
theory
can aid its students with
Source: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/847464/images/oobtaining
some of the knowledge
YOUNG-ADULT-STRESSED-facebook.jpg
necessary
but there is not a
definitive one where one can go and feel comfortable knowing that
will obtain a very large of amount of useful information that can
be put to use outside of the classroom.
The University of Central of Florida despite record breaking
enrollment numbers and high number of degree programs fails to
provide its students with the proper methods to obtaining
financial stability, social stability, stability in health just
to name a few issues. If this is the case at one of the largest
university in the United States, the conditions at similar
universities or smaller universities can only be the same if not
worse. Huge steps need to be taken to aid our youth and ensure
the success of our students once they have left the nest of the
universities of our country.
Initiatives Taken by Other Universities
The need for life skills to be taught in
higher education has become a topic of
interest for universities. Some universities
have taken the initiative to create classes
or seminars which teach basic life skills to
students. These universities believe that
teaching students basic life skills and
honing their personal skills are crucial to
the development and wellbeing of their
students. Harvard’s approach to solving the
problem is to create free, non-credit
Mechanics at Harvard giving car maintenance tips
classes which teach student’s necessary
life skills. These life skill classes run
Source: http://media.news.harvard.edu/gazette/wpfor an hour to two hours and teach on one
content/uploads/2009/08/35-lifeskills-225.jpg
specific topic for the class. The topics
and faculty whom teach these topics range wildly. One class,
students may learn “Car Care Basics” from technicians who keep
Harvard’s fleet of automobiles running. Another class may have
faculty from the school’s credit union to come to talk about
credit cards and investing. The interaction between students and
the people dealing with these problems daily is integral. Not
only do students get to learn how to deal with basics common life
skills, students are able to ask specific questions since the
instructor is actually a part of the field. Harvard’s model for
teaching life skills does not require all students to attend, nor
does it provide college credit so therefore students are not
forced to attend (Bradt).
Williams College takes a different approach to the optional
skills class model. Instead of making a course during the
standard semester, Williams College offers life skill courses
during their January term. January terms are condensed courses
that allow students to take courses during their winter break.
The optional class model is a good start and will probably work
at places such as Harvard where the average student is likely to
be more motivated than the person. This model does come into
question on whether it is enough. Simply offering optional
courses on basic skills doesn’t seem to fix the problem. While
this course style may help some students, it directly leaves out
students that aren’t going to attend these courses. It is also
likely that the students that attend these courses are highly
self-motivated and therefore they will probably be driven to
figure these issues out without direct help.
The Williams College model is even less effective than the
Harvard class model. Williams College forces students that want
to learn life skills to take courses during an academic break.
This requirement significantly reduces the potential audience
since students are less willing to take courses during nonstandard semesters. Harvard and Williams College’s life skills
class model both have the same fatal flaw that keeps them from
being very effective. Both Harvard and Williams College do not
require students to take at least some of these seminars. In
fact, these classes are capped at around 40 students for each of
the two colleges (Bradt). The small classes and relatively few
classes offered severely limits the amount of students who will
be able to learn these life skills through the university. In
situations where space is limited, the most motivated people will
be over represented. A more effective way to provide critical
life skill training to college students is to make a life skills
class a requirement for graduation. This ensures that the alumni
from the university will be equipped with the tools necessary to
deal with life’s common challenges.
New School in New York City is what we believe to be the closest
to ideal way of teaching its students basic life skills. At New
School, all freshmen are required to take a course called “FirstYear Seminar.” The class is taught by a professor who serves as
the faculty adviser for the first year students. Topics for the
class range from developing good study habits and academic
planning to personal health and safety awareness. Every fourth
seminar is a workshop led by a first year peer. This enables the
students to learn how to interact with peers and also gives
students an opportunity to build upon their leadership skills.
All of these things combine to make students work together and
build foundations so that their upcoming life struggles will be
met with useful tools (New).
At New School, the philosophy is not to teach the students
directly how to pay taxes or buy health insurance, but to give
students the ability to figure out solutions on their own. This
model differs greatly from the Harvard or Williams College model,
but it can be effective. Sharpening the skill of critical
thinking is a wise pursuit since it is applicable to many
situations in life. However, problems in this model may arise
from the indirect nature of the course. Since the course is not
directly teaching life skills, it is quite possible that students
will still struggle with tasks when they are approached by
them(New).
Courses that teach students to properly critically think are
important for new college students, and it is reasonable to
assume that critically thinking will allow young adults to
conquer many of life’s challenges. However, it misses the
fundamental reason as to why many young adults are unprepared for
some of the more punishing real life challenges. It is not
because young adults (especially college students) lack the
ability to critical think; it is that young adults don’t realize
when they need to critically think. Issues such as making credit
card payments appear to be quite easy. A young adult will get
their statement for the month and see the minimum that they will
be required to pay. Many young adults will simply trust that the
bank or credit card company has a plan to recoup credit spending
by asking for the monthly payments. In this instance, the young
adult has failed to realize the need to implement the critical
thinking skills that they have acquired. Paying back credit card
debts at minimum monthly payments will take years to pay off and
will likely cost much more than the initial principle. The cost
of paying the interest has a chance to ruin the adult’s financial
situation with only one mistake made. This is why teaching
directly to the student is important for many of the life skills.
Some of the life skills can certainly be left to the power of
critical thinking, but the life skills that are particularly
punishing to failure need to be required to be taught directly to
young adults.
Potential Solutions for UCF
To improve efficiency in the classroom, incorporating new
teaching methods and progressivism courses and tools such as
encourages students to teach one another, revamp standardized
testing in both high school and University level, and increase
the number of teaching assistances to Instructors and remove
Performance Evaluations on Instructors.
Studies show that using Gaming elements and using other methods
that encourage team building and students actively teaching one
another significantly improved the student’s engagement and also
helped grades. Gamification [1], is the process where game
mechanics, such as role-play, cooperation and competition, etc.
are incorporated into regular classroom activities to improve on
traditional education and show more or less real world practices
and examples. The method of Gamification shines best when
roleplaying and presenting a taste of real world experiences by
the use of role-play and presenting ‘real-world’ scenarios based
on real events or presenting students with actual problems
currently faced by professionals with the intent to better their
understanding of the topic being taught to them. UCF students can
expect to work more fluently with larger groups and see an
improvement in both analytical and critical thinking skills that
in turn will prepare them for life.
Peer evaluations is another incredibly useful and
underappreciated teaching method. This method utilizes the
students to learn the material, teach and encouraging one another
to improve their understanding and focus more on cooperation than
focusing on a letter grade [2]. In the article “Put Students in
Charge: A variation on the Jigsaw Discussion”, it highlights the
importance of creating groups and allowing students to read,
comprehend and teach other students the material they learn and
require those being taught to also ask vital questions that
revolve around the topic. The Idea of student-to-student peer
review or peer feedback isn’t a new method, however, it is a
teaching tool that needs to be introduced more and more in
classrooms and courses when appropriate. [3]The tool is most
efficient when utilizing small groups of 3 to 4 people and each
student puts in sufficient effort into the assignment. The
importance of Peer Evaluation is to help build leadership skills,
cooperation and even teach the students an efficient method to
study and teach their findings. These sorts of skills are
important for preparing students for real-life situations in
which they may be required to teach at a board meeting or present
new information to a committee.
Standardized testing in its current form results in the
Instructors focusing too much on testing and reduces creativity
and innovation in the classroom. The major problem with
standardized testing is how it focuses far too much on the exam
itself, and not allowing students to soak up the information,
analyzing it and utilizing it for future use. Standardized
testing limits the instructor’s ability to fluently provide
students with the proper subject material that is important to
the course itself and not the exam; it also limits the
possibility of courses and activities that could be vital for the
student such as courses that focus on taxes, accounting,
budgeting and other progressivism subjects[4]. Not to mention,
resources are pushed away from schools labeled as failures in
turns forces programs that provide students with courses that
have implementations of real world material shut down, and
students of ‘failure’ schools going into universities such as UCF
are Ill prepared.
Looking at other countries, Teaching Instructors are invaluable
resources that provide students whom are falling behind with the
resources required to successfully catch up. Right now, there
aren’t many Teaching Assistants at the University of Central
Florida overall. The introduction of more assistants will
actively encourage more students in classrooms to ask questions
before or after classes. Also, the removal of Performance
Evaluations of Instructors in Florida, which focuses on
evaluating school districts needs to be removed as it hinders
high schools from having the resources available to prepare their
students for Universities and the funding necessary to ensure
that the students are prepared for the challenges faced on the
college level and in life in general.
Conclusion
This group was created to diversify and improve the lives of
students that is both inside and outside the classroom by
improving upon existing teaching methods and propositions in
Florida to providing courses that allows for students to be
prepared for everyday situations that focuses on the standard of
living of the student; this included achieving financial
stability, creative freedom and self-proficiency and other topics
that focuses on the wellbeing of the student as they transition
from students to members of our society. Our group’s research
was able to address the problems currently facing students whom
are ill-prepared for the challenges outside of the classroom. Our
group has ascertained with the research that our methods would
improve teaching in general while also providing the resources
for the students to be successful in the classroom and in their
personal lives.
Bibliography
"Using Game Elements to Increase Student Engagement in Course Assignments." Taylor &
Francis Online. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/87567555.2015.1094439>.
Gravette, Emily O. "Acknowledging Students' Collaborations through Peer Review: A
Footnoting Practice." Taylor & Francis Online. 8 Mar. 16 Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/87567555.2015.1094441>
Benton, Raymond Jr. "Put Students in Charge: A Variation on the Jigsaw Discussion." Taylor &
Francis Online. 20 Jan 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/87567555.2015.1069725>
Strauss, Valerie. "13 Ways High-stakes Standardized Tests Hurt Students." Washington Post. The
Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/10/13-ways-high-stakesstandardized-tests-hurt-students/>
Vein, Courtney L. "College Students Think They Manage Money Well, but They Don't, Survey
Finds." Journal of Accountancy. 10 Sept. 2015. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2015/sep/financial-literacy-skills201512981.html>.
Bradt, Steve. "College Adds ‘Life Skills’ to Its Menu." Harvard Gazette. 27 Mar. 27. Web. 07
Apr. 2016. <http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2007/03/college-adds-life-skills-to-its-menu/>.
"Lang." First Year Experience. The New School, 2016. Web. 07 Apr. 2016.
<http://www.newschool.edu/lang/first-year-experience>.
"UCF Facts 2014-2015 - University of Central Florida - Orlando, FL." University of Central
Florida. University of Central Florida. Web. 07 Apr. 2016. <http://www.ucf.edu/ucf-facts-20142015/>.
University of Central Florida. Mechanical Engineering (B.S.M.E) 2015-2016. Web. 7 April 2016
University of Central Florida. Psychology 2015-2016. Web. 7 April 2016
University of Central Florida. Biology 2015-2016. Web. 7 April 2016
Contained within is the report commissioned by Dr. Sherry
Stewards to outline successful educational strategies designed to
meet the ever-growing demand for real-world skills and experience
on the part of graduates of the University of Central Florida,
that these measures might pass down to the High School level as
well, when proven successful. The primary findings of the report
are as follows:
∙ Assigning role-playing activities to students to simulate real
problems faced by industry professionals serves to instill
cohesiveness within the students engaged, and better prepares the
students for the expectations of their later work environment.
∙ While peer-to-peer review and support is already incorporated
within a selection of courses, its offered scope nets far too
few students to prepare them for independence and task
leadership away from established schedules of study and testing.
∙ At the High School level, standardized testing creates a
vacuum filled only by the teaching of test-taking strategies.
Limiting the impact of this component on coursework is vital to
prevent students from being unprepared for real-world workloads.
I would like to acknowledge the support of my co-authors and the
opportunity this report gave us to further our research skills,
and voice our active concern to issues affecting students such as
ourselves, that we might solve problems of those after us.
Warmest Regards, Ben Bartuska
Real World Education at The University
of Central Florida
(The Goal is to establish a curriculum at The University of Central Florida designed to
educate students for the basic skills needed to be successful in life)
ENC 3241
Group 4 Project
April 2016
Real World Education at
The University of Central Florida:
April Sixth 2016
Dr. Sherry Stewards
ENC 3241
Authors:
Shawn Ibonnet,
Thomas Gotts,
Gareth Ward,
Benjamin Bartuska,
Roy Calatayud,
Coleman Kintz
Executive Summary
Upon matriculating from their course of study at the
University of Central Florida, while students have no doubt
acquired the knowledge necessary to perform excellently in the
field they have chosen, many are unprepared for the scope and
direction of the workload they will face upon being hired to
apply their knowledge in real-world situations.
This report is an examination of the options available to
reach this growing need for students to experience real
applications of their coursework and engage in a professional
approach to solving problems which will be asked of them in the
future, as well as a critique of current educational standards
which only serve to hamper student preparedness and narrow
graduate performance. Our team began by outlining the impact of
this dearth upon graduate performance, and assessed comparative
university models to combat the issue. We then expressed our own
concerns facing the student populace and addressed solutions that
could be implemented, and specific approaches that could be
applicable at the High School level as well, to combat the issue
as early as possible.
When these approaches were evaluated, it became clear that
the primary obstacle students at the university level faced was a
lack of group-oriented workloads, as well as applicable realworld problems to face in a professional setting. These two
primary issues serve only to obstruct the active student learning
experience, and hamstring any requests future employers could
make of graduate effort in a team environment.
It is the finding of this team that these suggested
solutions, while gaining traction in a shallow examination of
courses and universities, will require widespread support across
all disciplines to service student need to inform employers that
they do in fact have the skills necessary to meet the demands of
the active, modern workplace and will not need re-education to be
ready for effective employment.
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction
Page 1
2.Current state of affairs as young adults
Page 2-3
3. Currents state of affairs at UCF-2pages
Page 4-5
4. What we are doing to fix this problem
Page 6-7
5. Solutions we can bring to Schools
Page 8-9
6. Results
Page 10
7. Conclusion
Page 11
ILLUSTRATIONS USED
Cover Photo
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Harvard Mechanic Photo
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Stressed Young Adult
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UCF Students in Class
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Introduction
Once graduating from the high school or college you are supposed
to be more than capable of being a self-functioning adult in both
inside the work force and outside of the work force. Your
education within the walls of a university or the walls of a high
school ideally have prepared you for the career you have chosen.
However what they have failed to teach you is the real world
skills that are just as vital as being able to name every element
on the periodic table, or know how to complete the quadratic
formula, or know what makes the human brain tick.
As adult’s real world skills such as how to save and invest, how
to read a financial statement, balancing a checkbook, how to
network, how to negotiate and many more are skills you must apply
on a daily basis. In fact some of these skills are skills that
you must apply more often than your biology degree or mechanical
engineering degree. These are purely life skills, and without
them even a person with the highest of IQ’s will struggle to
adapt. This group is amazed that the American education system
does not put a higher value on skills like these and take the
time and money in further investing in our students.
This report aims to put this epidemic in the spotlight, and
provide the necessary information needed to understand the
severity of the problem the youth of America are facing once they
are put in the real world. The report will provide the state of
affairs young adults across this nation are facing with the lack
of education our universities provide and provide the state of
affairs at one of the largest universities in the country, the
University of Central Florida, to give the reader a firsthand
look into our education system. This report will then aim to
provide possible solutions and remedies to this issue and
hypothesize the results of these solutions given a time frame.
After reading this report the problem we are all facing will no
longer be lurking in the shadows and will be a problem we will all want to face head on and
solve.
State of Affairs: Young Adults
As current young adults the ideas of learning how to achieve
financial stability, creative freedom and self-proficiency in all
aspects of life are almost put on the back burner with the
constant struggles of having to juggle the pressures of learning
so many other things. As even younger adolescents we are almost
brain washed to think that are schooling is the most important of
our lives and our success within this schooling will almost be a
direct branch to other future endeavors we are able to reach.
This is almost certainly true, as education is almost always
correlated to success however never throughout this process do we
question it. As children and as young adults we view teachers,
parents, and older people as absolutes and never doubt the paths
they put us on, or the curriculum they set for us. Through years
of experience of going through the “system” that is maturity
through schooling it is fine time we take a stand and correct
some of the wrongs we face daily.
As current collegiate students we have gone through the rigors of
grade schooling. The meticulous hours of having to sit in a
classroom and grind through learning almost the same subjects for
close to 13 years. After this we chose to continue our schooling
through higher level learning to further build our credibility as
young adults to both the work force we plan to eventually join
but to the rest of society. When entering the collegiate
atmosphere we are still but children with basically a clean slate
to paint on, and when we finally graduate we are supposed to be a
finished product ready for what the world has to offer us but
that is hardly ever the case.
Large numbers of collegiate students and graduates ever come
close to finished products and this due largely to the limited
amount of things we are really exposed to in school. At the
beginning of our collegiate careers we choose our majors and once
that has occurred we are stuck within that specific path and only
limited to what that path has to offer. Diversity in the
structures of our education is not something we see much of and
it’s because of this that we lack very crucial tools and skills
that are needed outside of the classroom. In terms of this
report we are never exposed to things such as financial
management, health management, or other aspects of adulthood that
is vital to our success. According to Courtney L. Vien of
Journalofaccountancy.com only 17% of students said they learned
things such as budgeting in school. A larger number of students
said they learned this information from other sources; 42% of
them said they learned from their parents or other relatives and
37% taught themselves. With the price of education at record
highs and the price of education only rising in the future the
heavy skew in these statistics is alarming. Collectively we spend
exponential more time in the classroom and on our respective
school campuses than we do with our own families and very little
amount of this time is allotted for free learning. So if the
numbers stated above are any indication it is the responsibility
of our schooling time system to invest more time and money in
teaching its students how to succeed outside of the classroom.
Although several years have passed and we have aged considerably,
collegiate students are still asking themselves as they sit
through their 3 hour statistics classes “when will I ever use
this?” This should never be the case on a collegiate level, as we
should always feel confident in the fact that if we are going to
spend sleepless nights learning a subject it will be heavily
pronounced throughout our lives. As currently constructed too
much time is pursued trying to cram our brains with information
that is only valuable for the current class or even worse, the
current test or quiz. As young adults we need courses and
information provided to us that will not only be valuable within
a couple weeks of the semester but valuable to us throughout our
entire lives. It’s important that we begin to make the steps to
do just that and really reform and pay closer attention to the
information we provide our students. The process begins at a
collegiate level, and with its success we can begin to ensure
future generations will feel ready for whatever life has to
offer.
State of Affairs: UCF
This report will look to the current state affairs at one of
the largest universities in the country as an example of the
current state affairs in other universities across the nation.
According to UCF.edu this university is home to 60,810 students
in 2014 and offers 210 different degree programs including
bachelors, masters, doctoral, and specialist. As 6 of these
60,810 students we have a very good feel for what this university
has to offer and doesn’t offer. This report will look at the
curriculum of three of the top ten majors at the University of
Central Florida based on enrollment to express if these majors
provide their students with the ability to learn about topics
such as filing for taxes, managing loans, networking, politics,
being professional, and other lessons needed to be a successful
adult.
Biology is listed as the number 8 major based on number of
students enrolled at the University of Central Florida. The total
semester hours required to graduate with a degree in Biology from
the University of Central Florida is 120 hours. According to the
Biology degree program at the University of Central Florida it is
heavily science based with only 12 of its credit hours being
founded on mathematics. Another small percentage of the classes
are electives, however they are once again largely based on the
sciences such as Physics, Genetics, and Chemistry. Although
students are encouraged to further education by picking minors
and taking classes outside of their major, they only need to
complete those minimum 120 credit hours to graduate. This is the
case for many students, and accomplish what is needed and nothing
further. By accomplishing only this however we see a lack of
education on the topics discussed above. Biology students
although leave with at least a bachelor’s degree from the
University of Central Florida, they also leave with some of
necessary knowledge needed once they cross that podium.
Mechanical Engineering is listed as the number 5 major based on
number of students enrolled at the University of Central Florida.
The total number of semester hours required to graduate with a
degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central
Florida is 128 credit hours. As you may think unlike Biology,
Mechanical Engineering is heavily mathematics based with very
minimal courses founded in other subjects. According to the
Mechanical Engineering degree program
at the University of Central Florida
only 7 credit hours in the foundations
of science are required to graduate
with a degree in Mechanical
Engineering. Although this curriculum
is successful in preparing Mechanical
Engineers for their respective careers,
it fails to teach its students anything
outside of that. This severe skew is
once again another indication of the
lack of diversity students receive
within their degree programs.
UCF students in a Statistics Course
Source: http://www.trbimg.com/imgPsychology is listed as the number 1 major
1347135827000/turbine/os-ucf-classbased on number of students enrolled at the
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University of Central Florida. The total
number of semester hours required to graduate with a degree in
Psychology from the University of Central Florida is 120 credit
hours. According to the Psychology degree program at the
University of Central Florida and unlike the degree programs
listed before this degree program provides a little bit more
diversity. This degree programs requires 6 hours of math and
science electives, 6hr of core math classes, and another 6 hours
of core science classes. Despite this increased diversity however
it still lacks classes and the ability to teach its students the
required skills needed to survive outside the classroom.
Along with these degree programs, the
University of Central Florida also provides its
students with countless clubs to join with
their free time. However after searching
through its catalog of clubs there is once
again a glaring hole and an immediate need to
add a club or course to provide students with
the direct knowledge they need. There are
several
clubs
such as
the Finance and
Stress of Life can be hard for young adults not
equipped with the tools for success
Accounting clubs that in
theory
can aid its students with
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some of the knowledge
YOUNG-ADULT-STRESSED-facebook.jpg
necessary
but there is not a
definitive one where one can go and feel comfortable knowing that
will obtain a very large of amount of useful information that can
be put to use outside of the classroom.
The University of Central of Florida despite record breaking
enrollment numbers and high number of degree programs fails to
provide its students with the proper methods to obtaining
financial stability, social stability, stability in health just
to name a few issues. If this is the case at one of the largest
university in the United States, the conditions at similar
universities or smaller universities can only be the same if not
worse. Huge steps need to be taken to aid our youth and ensure
the success of our students once they have left the nest of the
universities of our country.
Initiatives Taken by Other Universities
The need for life skills to be taught in
higher education has become a topic of
interest for universities. Some universities
have taken the initiative to create classes
or seminars which teach basic life skills to
students. These universities believe that
teaching students basic life skills and
honing their personal skills are crucial to
the development and wellbeing of their
students. Harvard’s approach to solving the
problem is to create free, non-credit
Mechanics at Harvard giving car maintenance tips
classes which teach student’s necessary
life skills. These life skill classes run
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specific topic for the class. The topics
and faculty whom teach these topics range wildly. One class,
students may learn “Car Care Basics” from technicians who keep
Harvard’s fleet of automobiles running. Another class may have
faculty from the school’s credit union to come to talk about
credit cards and investing. The interaction between students and
the people dealing with these problems daily is integral. Not
only do students get to learn how to deal with basics common life
skills, students are able to ask specific questions since the
instructor is actually a part of the field. Harvard’s model for
teaching life skills does not require all students to attend, nor
does it provide college credit so therefore students are not
forced to attend (Bradt).
Williams College takes a different approach to the optional
skills class model. Instead of making a course during the
standard semester, Williams College offers life skill courses
during their January term. January terms are condensed courses
that allow students to take courses during their winter break.
The optional class model is a good start and will probably work
at places such as Harvard where the average student is likely to
be more motivated than the person. This model does come into
question on whether it is enough. Simply offering optional
courses on basic skills doesn’t seem to fix the problem. While
this course style may help some students, it directly leaves out
students that aren’t going to attend these courses. It is also
likely that the students that attend these courses are highly
self-motivated and therefore they will probably be driven to
figure these issues out without direct help.
The Williams College model is even less effective than the
Harvard class model. Williams College forces students that want
to learn life skills to take courses during an academic break.
This requirement significantly reduces the potential audience
since students are less willing to take courses during nonstandard semesters. Harvard and Williams College’s life skills
class model both have the same fatal flaw that keeps them from
being very effective. Both Harvard and Williams College do not
require students to take at least some of these seminars. In
fact, these classes are capped at around 40 students for each of
the two colleges (Bradt). The small classes and relatively few
classes offered severely limits the amount of students who will
be able to learn these life skills through the university. In
situations where space is limited, the most motivated people will
be over represented. A more effective way to provide critical
life skill training to college students is to make a life skills
class a requirement for graduation. This ensures that the alumni
from the university will be equipped with the tools necessary to
deal with life’s common challenges.
New School in New York City is what we believe to be the closest
to ideal way of teaching its students basic life skills. At New
School, all freshmen are required to take a course called “FirstYear Seminar.” The class is taught by a professor who serves as
the faculty adviser for the first year students. Topics for the
class range from developing good study habits and academic
planning to personal health and safety awareness. Every fourth
seminar is a workshop led by a first year peer. This enables the
students to learn how to interact with peers and also gives
students an opportunity to build upon their leadership skills.
All of these things combine to make students work together and
build foundations so that their upcoming life struggles will be
met with useful tools (New).
At New School, the philosophy is not to teach the students
directly how to pay taxes or buy health insurance, but to give
students the ability to figure out solutions on their own. This
model differs greatly from the Harvard or Williams College model,
but it can be effective. Sharpening the skill of critical
thinking is a wise pursuit since it is applicable to many
situations in life. However, problems in this model may arise
from the indirect nature of the course. Since the course is not
directly teaching life skills, it is quite possible that students
will still struggle with tasks when they are approached by
them(New).
Courses that teach students to properly critically think are
important for new college students, and it is reasonable to
assume that critically thinking will allow young adults to
conquer many of life’s challenges. However, it misses the
fundamental reason as to why many young adults are unprepared for
some of the more punishing real life challenges. It is not
because young adults (especially college students) lack the
ability to critical think; it is that young adults don’t realize
when they need to critically think. Issues such as making credit
card payments appear to be quite easy. A young adult will get
their statement for the month and see the minimum that they will
be required to pay. Many young adults will simply trust that the
bank or credit card company has a plan to recoup credit spending
by asking for the monthly payments. In this instance, the young
adult has failed to realize the need to implement the critical
thinking skills that they have acquired. Paying back credit card
debts at minimum monthly payments will take years to pay off and
will likely cost much more than the initial principle. The cost
of paying the interest has a chance to ruin the adult’s financial
situation with only one mistake made. This is why teaching
directly to the student is important for many of the life skills.
Some of the life skills can certainly be left to the power of
critical thinking, but the life skills that are particularly
punishing to failure need to be required to be taught directly to
young adults.
Potential Solutions for UCF
To improve efficiency in the classroom, incorporating new
teaching methods and progressivism courses and tools such as
encourages students to teach one another, revamp standardized
testing in both high school and University level, and increase
the number of teaching assistances to Instructors and remove
Performance Evaluations on Instructors.
Studies show that using Gaming elements and using other methods
that encourage team building and students actively teaching one
another significantly improved the student’s engagement and also
helped grades. Gamification [1], is the process where game
mechanics, such as role-play, cooperation and competition, etc.
are incorporated into regular classroom activities to improve on
traditional education and show more or less real world practices
and examples. The method of Gamification shines best when
roleplaying and presenting a taste of real world experiences by
the use of role-play and presenting ‘real-world’ scenarios based
on real events or presenting students with actual problems
currently faced by professionals with the intent to better their
understanding of the topic being taught to them. UCF students can
expect to work more fluently with larger groups and see an
improvement in both analytical and critical thinking skills that
in turn will prepare them for life.
Peer evaluations is another incredibly useful and
underappreciated teaching method. This method utilizes the
students to learn the material, teach and encouraging one another
to improve their understanding and focus more on cooperation than
focusing on a letter grade [2]. In the article “Put Students in
Charge: A variation on the Jigsaw Discussion”, it highlights the
importance of creating groups and allowing students to read,
comprehend and teach other students the material they learn and
require those being taught to also ask vital questions that
revolve around the topic. The Idea of student-to-student peer
review or peer feedback isn’t a new method, however, it is a
teaching tool that needs to be introduced more and more in
classrooms and courses when appropriate. [3]The tool is most
efficient when utilizing small groups of 3 to 4 people and each
student puts in sufficient effort into the assignment. The
importance of Peer Evaluation is to help build leadership skills,
cooperation and even teach the students an efficient method to
study and teach their findings. These sorts of skills are
important for preparing students for real-life situations in
which they may be required to teach at a board meeting or present
new information to a committee.
Standardized testing in its current form results in the
Instructors focusing too much on testing and reduces creativity
and innovation in the classroom. The major problem with
standardized testing is how it focuses far too much on the exam
itself, and not allowing students to soak up the information,
analyzing it and utilizing it for future use. Standardized
testing limits the instructor’s ability to fluently provide
students with the proper subject material that is important to
the course itself and not the exam; it also limits the
possibility of courses and activities that could be vital for the
student such as courses that focus on taxes, accounting,
budgeting and other progressivism subjects[4]. Not to mention,
resources are pushed away from schools labeled as failures in
turns forces programs that provide students with courses that
have implementations of real world material shut down, and
students of ‘failure’ schools going into universities such as UCF
are Ill prepared.
Looking at other countries, Teaching Instructors are invaluable
resources that provide students whom are falling behind with the
resources required to successfully catch up. Right now, there
aren’t many Teaching Assistants at the University of Central
Florida overall. The introduction of more assistants will
actively encourage more students in classrooms to ask questions
before or after classes. Also, the removal of Performance
Evaluations of Instructors in Florida, which focuses on
evaluating school districts needs to be removed as it hinders
high schools from having the resources available to prepare their
students for Universities and the funding necessary to ensure
that the students are prepared for the challenges faced on the
college level and in life in general.
Conclusion
This group was created to diversify and improve the lives of
students that is both inside and outside the classroom by
improving upon existing teaching methods and propositions in
Florida to providing courses that allows for students to be
prepared for everyday situations that focuses on the standard of
living of the student; this included achieving financial
stability, creative freedom and self-proficiency and other topics
that focuses on the wellbeing of the student as they transition
from students to members of our society. Our group’s research
was able to address the problems currently facing students whom
are ill-prepared for the challenges outside of the classroom. Our
group has ascertained with the research that our methods would
improve teaching in general while also providing the resources
for the students to be successful in the classroom and in their
personal lives.
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