Abstract
Walden University was founded as a for-profit, distance learning institution in 1970. Its mission was to serve the needs of mid-career professionals who were finding access to traditional higher education difficult. It was established on the learner-centered principles of progressive education: the learning should be relevant, individualized, mentor-supported rather than teacher-directed, and experience-based with a view to contributing to the common good. This historical overview traces how progressive education principles as practiced at Walden were impacted by the need to meet accreditation requirements and later an expanded market when corporate interests bought the university and advances in technology opened the way for online learning. With uncertainties about the future of online, for-profit institutions and of Walden in particular, the university may find guidance ahead in reinvigorating its original progressive vision.
TopBackground
Progressive education is a technical term, rather than a general term that might refer to schooling that is politically liberal, broad-minded, or simply reactionary (Lawson & Petersen, 1972, 1-2). It may bear shades of these qualities in some of its forms, but essentially it is a specific approach to teaching and learning that attends to the learner rather than to what is to be learned.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Personal Development Plan: A document learners wrote after examining the Walden curriculum in which they outlined how they planned to shape each Knowledge Area Module.
Learning Agreement: A document learners wrote before beginning each Knowledge Area Module that included their learning objectives, needed resources, and their plan to achieve their objectives.
Knowledge Area Modules (KAMs): A seven-module program culminating in the dissertation that fosters content mastery through breadth, depth, and application.
Progressive Education: An approach to learning characterized by three elements: a student-centered approach focused on the learner rather than on what is to be learned; a deliberate move away from exclusive and elite notions of who should be educated; and an intention to contribute to improving society and contributing to the common good.
Student-Centeredness: A view of doctoral-level education that put the learner in control of what, when, and how much to study. The learner chose topics of interest to research in collaboration with faculty rather than the traditional instructor-centered approach.
Andragogy: Adult education and its principles and practices. Knowles (1962,1975) is credited with coining the term.