THE EDUCATIONAL MODEL
Integration of Learning Experiences
Student success in integrating the five ways of learning into a coherent pattern of educational growth and personal development is Boricua College’s most important goal. Three features of the College’s programs are directed toward that goal.
Student-Facilitator Partnership
Neither detailed planning nor comprehensive documentation and assessment can ensure the integration of a student’s learning experience at Boricua without the work of the Faculty Facilitator — the key figure in the College’s educational program. Performing a faculty role virtually unknown in traditional institutions, Boricua’s Facilitators are responsible for the educational development of twenty to twenty-two (20-22) students with whom they meet individually (Individualized Instruction), and in small groups (Colloquium), each week of the learning term. In a transactional process, the Faculty Facilitator and students work to achieve a synthesis, or gestalt, of the skills, knowledge, values, and experiences the student encounters at Boricua. As the following diagram shows (See below) the Student-Facilitator partnership becomes the interpersonal focus of integrated learning at the College.
Learning Contract
Learning begins with an integrated individualized plan that takes shape in the student’s Learning Contract. At the beginning of every academic term, each student, with the assistance of a Faculty Facilitator, plans a personalized Learning Contract for the term. The contract specifies the student’s educational goals for the term, how the five ways of learning will be utilized to achieve those goals, and how the student’s progress will be evaluated at the end of the term.
Assessment Portfolio
The assessment portfolio contains the student’s learning contract, all exercises, Instructional Modules work, examinations, other work produced, faculty evaluations and assessments of student achievements for the term. This portfolio serves as documentation for both the student and the college by which to determine a student’s educational progress at Boricua and the efficacy of the curriculum.