Clark University
Clark University's website is well designed and makes it easy to find various opportunities. A unique program that they have is the Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) program, starting from the student's first year leading up to a capstone for seniors to create a final deliverable related to their major of study. The capstone seems to be an integral part of the LEEP curriculum that all students follow throughout their undergraduate careers, and a way to take all that is learned in the classroom through this curriculum and put it into action.
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Prior to the capstone project, Clark students also take part in a Problems of Practice course that allows them to partner with professors, graduate students, and experts at various organizations to tackle real-world problems.
Observations & Recommendations
(Theory: Baxter Magolda's Self-Authorship)
Observations
The LEEP curriculum guides students through a journey towards self-authorship. Through the first-year intensive courses, students are encouraged to select a course that they are interested in and explore. This allows them the opportunity to learn more about something they're interested in and challenge what they might already think (How do I know?), further develop this area of interest (Who am I?) and make friends with similar interests (How do I want to construct relationships with others?).
Addressing these questions as early as the first year might have students starting to question other aspects of their lives too, leading to a Crossroads. Through the hands on curriculum provided by LEEP, students have the opportunity to further explore their ways of knowing, themselves, and their relationships through learning.
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Recommendation
Baxter Magolda states that reflection is needed for progression to the third phase of self-authorship, or Becoming the Author of One's Life. It is not clear if or how reflection is implemented throughout the LEEP curriculum, so ensuring that students are able to continuously reflect on their epistemological, intrapersonal, and interpersonal development through revisiting those three questions - How do I know?, Who am I?, and How do I want to construct relationships with others? - throughout each stage of their journey through the LEEP curriculum could further assist students in creating the foundation necesessary to progress through the Crossroads phase.