A Case Study on Developing and Implementing Practical Liberal Arts Courses: Focusing on Local Resource-Based Liberal Education

This study aims to overcome the limitations of junior college liberal arts education, which has struggled to establish its identity within a dual structure dominated by vocational training, by exploring a practical liberal arts education model connected to the local community. To accomplish this, it analyzes the development process and implementation outcomes of two courses— “Local Creative Tour” and “Local Creator Startup”—which were designed with the goal of fostering local creators. The two courses are structured around learning themes that progress from understanding local resources and society, to field visits regarding the utilization and industrialization of those resources, and further to the development of business ideas using local resources. The courses are implemented through team-teaching by local creators, local tours, and team projects aimed at local revitalization. As a result, a pre- and post-test analysis on students enrolled in 2024 revealed statistically significant improvements at the p<.001 level in three core competencies: sense of community, problem-solving ability, and convergence competency. Through these courses, students reported enhanced understanding of the local community, participated in field visits, engaged in team projects, and interacted with local experts, which enabled them to understand learning materials within the real context of the local community. This created a learning ecosystem that allowed for authentic experiential problem-solving. In particular, experiences using Daegu’s cultural, historical, and industrial resources provided students with opportunities to rediscover the meaning of the region and to explore their roles as members of the local community.