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value of classroom instruction has decreased more than any other It is naïve to believe that higher education will be exempt from
academic experience and was the lowest rated academic experi- the technology-driven enhancement in productivity seen in virtu-
ence by recent graduates. Only 37% of recent graduates reported ally all other industries. The idea that hybrid approaches to course
that classroom instruction was extremely valuable, compared to delivery offer enormous potential for providing greater learning
>70% identifying independent research and field-based training opportunities while reducing resource costs is not novel, and
as extremely valuable to their careers. Standardized course evalua- many informal and formal experiments of this type are ongoing.
tion data are only available back to 2009, so it is unknown if the What is new here is putting these experiments within a broader
decreasing value of classroom instruction reflects a decrease in strategic design that is not based on altruism, branding, or
course quality. It’s more likely that the commoditization of the outreach to potential donors, but instead on a strategic plan
classroom experience reflects the growing importance of non- rooted in an understanding of the perceived value of different
classroom experiences in a college education. college academic experiences. Ultimately, what the alumni are
telling us is that we should let college faculty do what they do best,
The same conclusions are evident even when asked about value which generally is not lecturing in large enrollment classes, but
in different ways. When we asked alumni which skills and abilities rather providing more individualized learning experiences.
they wish had had more emphasis in their training, writing and
independent research topped the list for recent graduates, with REFERENCES CITED
writing having the greatest increase in perceived need compared
to its importance to earlier generations. Even in the era of Arum, R., and Roksa, J., 2011, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on
140-character tweets, writing skills remain vital to career success. College Campuses: Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 272 p.

Although the value of developing skills and abilities to be used Benton, S.L., and Cashin, W.E., 2012, Student ratings of teaching: A summary
in careers is only one measure of the benefit of a college education, of research and literature: The IDEA Center, IDEA Paper no. 50: http://
it is an undeniably important one. With respect to optimizing the ideaedu.org/research-and-papers/idea-papers/idea-paper-no-50/ (last
perceived value of a traditional college academic experience in accessed 25 Jan. 2016).
developing these skills and abilities, our results have both good
news and bad news for geoscience departments. The good news is Denson, N., Loveday, T., and Dalton, H., 2010, Student evaluation of courses:
that the components of a college education that alumni most What predicts satisfaction?: Higher Education Research & Development,
value (independent research, field training, and writing) are often v. 29, no. 4, p. 339–356, doi: 10.1080/07294360903394466.
already strengths in many geoscience departments and are chal-
lenging to provide in online learning environments. The bad news Gonzales, L.M., and Keane, C.M., 2010, Who will fill the geoscience workforce
is that these aspects are the most resource-intensive to provide. supply gap?: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 44, no. 2, p. 550–555,
Maintaining, or even increasing, emphasis on these experiences doi: 10.1021/es902234g.
will require greater efficiency in providing other aspects of a
college experience perceived as providing less value. Overall, J.U., and Marsh, H. W., 1980, Students’ evaluations of instruction—
A longitudinal-study of their stability: Journal of Educational Psychology,
The decreasing perceived value of the classroom experience, v. 72, no. 3, p. 321–325.
particularly at the introductory level, which was consistently rated
as being of lowest value of any academic experience, presents Renshaw, C.E., 2014, Design and assessment of a skills-based geoscience
opportunities for enhancing efficiency with little risk of lowering curriculum: Journal of Geoscience Education, v. 62, no. 4, p. 668–678,
value. This is not to suggest that introductory courses are unim- doi: 10.5408/13-100.1.
portant. Indeed, introductory geoscience courses serve not only as
important gateways to higher-level concepts and ideas but also as Manuscript received 1 June 2015; accepted 21 Dec. 2015.
critical recruiting tools. But if we seek to maximize the value of a
college experience by placing greater emphasis on resource-inten- GSA TODAY | www.geosociety.org/gsatoday
sive activities such as independent research, field training, and
writing, we must find ways to deliver other critical aspects of their
training more efficiently.

One example of such efficiency is the hybrid approach to intro-
ductory courses, where high-quality online lectures and learning
exercises are supplemented with in-person discussion sections,
laboratory exercises, group problem solving, and formative and
summative assessments. This approach is entirely consistent with
the goals of “flipped classrooms” and “active learning,” which
critically require enhancing the quality of out-of-classroom
learning. By reducing the demand to provide live lectures, such an
approach frees up resources required to provide more emphasis
on high-value activities, even in large enrollment classes. At the
extreme end of this spectrum are experiments such as Arizona
State University’s Global Freshman Academy. Although touted as
a means to expand access to higher education, it can also be
viewed as a way to focus resources where value is greatest.

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