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At the centennial annual meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider introduced the LEAP Challenge, the next phase of AAC&U's Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) initiative. The LEAP Challenge calls on all colleges and universities to engage their students in "Signature Work" that will prepare them to integrate and apply their learning to a significant project.1
Signature Work does not describe any one pedagogical practice or educational approach. A Signature Work project can take on many forms, though it must meet several criteria. First, Signature Work requires student agency and independence: students choose the topic and form of the project, and complete much of the work independently, with guidance and coaching from faculty, staff, or community partners, over the course of a semester or a longer period of time. Second, the project must be integrative, meaning that it requires students to draw on the skills and knowledge they have developed across many disciplines, through their general education and their major, and through cocurricular activities. Finally, Signature Work project must address "big problems"-students should apply their learning to real-world issues that matter to society and to the student.2
It's important to note that while the term Signature Work may be new, the learning principles it embodies are drawn from the pedagogical practices AAC&U's member institutions have engaged in for many years. This article highlights some of the work being done at eight institutions of higher education to bring
Signature Work to all their students. I have focused on three broad categories of learning practices-applied and community-based learning, capstones and culminating experiences, and e-portfolios-that, as practiced at these colleges and universities, exemplify integrative, student-centered learning at a broad range of institutional types, from research universities to community colleges. This survey is by no means comprehensive, but the examples here represent some of the crucial aspects of Signature Work as currently practiced in the field.
Community engagement and applied learning
With its emphasis on applied learning and active inquiry, Signature Work often occurs in the context of students' engagement with communities outside the classroom. Not only does community-engaged learning require students to address real-world issues, raising the stakes for students' personal investment in their learning, but the problems students...