David Arendale’s History of the Integrated Learning Course: Creation, Conflict, and Survival

This short video tells the story how in 1972 the Integrated Learning (IL) course was developed at the University of Minnesota to meet the academic and cultural transition needs of their TRIO Upward Bound summer bridge program students as they prepared to enter college. The IL course was an early example of a linked course learning community. A historically-challenging college content course such as Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology or Law in Society was linked with an IL course. The IL course is essentially an academic support class customized to use the content of its companion class as a context for mastering learning strategies and orienting students to the rigor of the college learning environment. The history of the IL course provides lessons for creating, sustaining, and surviving daunting campus political and financial challenges that could face any new academic or student affairs program. The TRIO program leveraged its modest budget and personnel for the IL course approach which flourished and withstood changing economic and political forces that could have terminated the innovative approach to academic support. Lessons from this history of creation, conflict, and survival could be applied to other programs in a postsecondary setting.

David Arendale

At the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, David Arendale served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction with the University of Minnesota and Manager for the Educational Opportunity Association Best Practices Clearinghouse. While he became an emeritus faculty member in May 2019, he continues his writing, research, public service, and public speaking. Arendale is devoting more time to use of social media such as websites, YouTube channels, podcasting, and Twitter to communicate in addition to publishing in print and on-line open access journals

http://arendale.org
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David Arendale’s History of Supplemental Instruction-PASS: The first 25 Years

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David Arendale’s Leader Identity Emergence of Study Group Facilitators Publication