Learning to Innovate in Twenty-First-Century Community Colleges: Searching for the General Education Niche in Two-Year Colleges

Overview & Synopsis

This article explores the general education needed by newcomers to higher education that will enable them to contribute in multiple ways in the twenty-first-century workplace. In an effort to become more precise about the kind of general education that Midwestern community colleges need to create, this article approaches two questions: (1) In what ways is general education changing in response to the emerging educational demands of the twenty-first century?; and (2) In what ways are Midwestern colleges engaging general education differently to develop twenty-first-century learners and citizens capable of invigorating their region? The article reviews recent literature on general education trends and curricular innovations and profiles the role of general education in a single, forward-looking two-year technical college program. (Contains 3 notes.)