Core proposal, 2.0

Over spring semester, Norm Jones and Charlie Huenemann met with most of the departments in the college, presenting and discussing an initial proposal for a college core curriculum. We learned two major lessons from these meetings: (1) satisfying the core should mean satisfying a student’s gen ed requirements (otherwise, the core becomes just another checklist to manage), and (2) the core needs to be at least somewhat flexible to accommodate transfer students.

With those conditions in mind, the new “2.0″ proposal takes a different attitude. Instead of thinking of the core as a set of courses all students must complete, we are thinking of the core as a set of  pathways through the university’s gen ed requirements. The core says to the student: “Here are some ways through gen ed that should make sense to you and should ultimately connect with your major.” It’s more of an advising device than a set of hoops to jump through.

Our proposal suggests five paths, each unified under a theme: Arts, Ideas, People, Politics, and World. In addition to these five themed paths, there’s a catch-all “build your own” option which is just the University’s gen ed requirements, plain and simple. This way students (or major programs) who want a unifying theme to the students’ gen ed experience can get it, and those who don’t want it, or just can’t for whatever reason, will not have to.

Our five themed paths all have a common core, which looks like this:

College of Humanities & Social Sciences Core Curriculum Ideas: Awareness and assessment of some of the great ideas that have informed western culture; exposure to pivotal texts from various times, cultures, and disciplines. HSS 1320 or PHIL 1000 or [...] ••• Global Diversity: Awareness of deep cultural differences; dynamics of cultural exchange; legacies of colonialism; methods of social inquiry. HSS 1340 or ANTH 1010 or POLS 2200 or [...] ••• Quantitative Reasoning: skills for understanding quantitative information. MATH 1050 or STAT 1040 (or equivalent) plus a QI-designated course ••• Communication: learning the fundamentals of expressing ideas clearly in various formats. ENGL 1010 and 2010 plus two CI-designated courses

What we are saying here is that it would be good for all our students throughout the college to take these courses and gain these skills. The two unfamiliar courses, “HSS 1320″ and “HSS 1340″ are our own versions of USU 1320 and USU 1340 – those courses, aimed at our students – and they would count as “USU”-prefixed courses. They would be 1320 and 1340 courses designed to meet the objectives described under “Ideas” and “Global Diversity.”

The five themed paths diverge in separate ways from this common core. For example, the “Politics” and “Ideas” paths might look as follows (please keep in mind these are just sketches; we would need to brainstorm and make more careful determinations of what classes would be under each plan).

[DRAFT - to be revised!] POLITICS ••• * Pick two: HIST 1700 or 2700 or 2710 or POLS 1100 (BAI) * Any BCA-designated course * BIOL 1010 or 1300 or WATS 1200 or WILD 2200 (BLS) * CS 1060 or GEO 1060 or 1110 or GEOG 1000 or PSC 2000 or 2010 (BPS)

[DRAFT - to be revised!] IDEAS ••• * HIST 1700 or 2700 or 2710 or POLS 1100 (BAI) * ART 1010 or MUSC 1010 or THEA 1013 or THEA 1023 (BCA) * One further BHU course * BIOL 1010 or 1300 or WATS 1200 or WILD 2200 (BLS) * PHYS 1040 or 1080 or 1100 or 1200 (BPS)

So, in all, what the proposal is saying to our students is this: we know you have to satisfy gen ed requirements. Here are five ways through gen ed, each unified by a theme that might interest you, and might complement your major.

What the proposal is saying to faculty and major programs is this: here’s a way to make the students’ gen ed experience relevant to the courses in your major. Programs may want to require a themed pathway as a premajor (for example, Political Science might require their students to complete the “Politics” path, or English might want to require either the “Ideas” or “Arts” path). Programs may even want to make the pathways more specific. Or not – it’s up to programs to decide what will work best for them. In any event, the proposal puts the students’ gen ed experiences into particular forms that should boost their relevance to the rest of the courses they take.

Questions? Thoughts? Criticism?

What’s next?

What’s next?

1. We need to gather feedback from college faculty and advisors about this proposal, and certainly do some fine-tuning. (For example, we need to incorporate the gen ed requirement of having two “USU’-prefixed courses; and do we also want to include the depth requirements into the pathways?)

2. If the feedback is generally unfavorable … well, back to the drawing board!

3. If the feedback is generally favorable … then we need to assemble small groups of interested faculty to articulate more carefully the courses included in each pathway. Self-nominations for this endeavor would be welcome!

4. We need to identify faculty willing to convert their USU 1320s and 1340s to HSS 1320s and 1340s (and procure the approval of EPC).

5. If all goes favorably, we should be able to have the system in place by the fall semester of 2012. And we may be able to promote an approximation of the system even earlier.