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Committee pushes for new core curriculum |
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
by JILLIAN SWORDS
News Reporter
The Academic Policies and Procedures Committee (AP and P) passed two proposals Wednesday that will restructure the undergraduate general education curriculum at Appalachian State University.
The General Education Task Force’s May report suggested the bulk of the changes in these proposals.
According to the report, the university’s core curriculum is, with the exception of minor alternations, largely unchanged since the 1960s.
Committee
Chair Dr. Jeffrey A. Butts said in the mid to late 1980s, core
designators were added to the curriculum, along with various other
changes.
Butts said the current system is out-of-date compared to other schools in the state system.
“I think the AP and P agreed with the task force that this was a better
model for education today because it’s much more clearly
interconnected,” Butts said.
The first prospectus passed, effective in fall 2009, requires a first
year seminar and first year writing course, a second-year writing
course, four semester hours of a quantitative literacy course, two
hours in a wellness literacy course, and 29 hours of “perspectives.”
Perspectives course requirements include eight hours of science and at
least three hours each in fine arts, history, and literary studies for
general studies.
Like the old core curriculum, the new prospectus will be 44 total hours.
However, a three-hour junior writing course in the student’s major and
a one-hour “Senior Capstone Experience” are also required outside of
the general curriculum.
The latter will be designed in each department to show how well the
student can integrate concepts, abilities and principles from what
they’ve learned in their core classes into their major area and vice
versa.
The committee noted that several classes, including US 1150 Freshman
Seminar and ENG 1100 Introduction to Literature, will be deleted as a
direct result of the proposal’s passing.
General Education Faculty Coordinator Dr. Michael W. Mayfield said
major concerns for the first proposal included the availability of
necessary resources to thoroughly restructure the curriculum.
“A lot of time will have to be invested [in changing the system] but
those of us on the [General Education] task force obviously think it
will be worth the time,” Mayfield said. “[We hope] students will see
the changes not as another obstacle…or hoop to jump through but as
something to be appreciated and integrated, to gain them more useful
knowledge bases and skills.”
Mayfield said during the committee meeting, a student speaker voiced
concerns about getting rid of the current freshmen seminar classes
because they teach invaluable skills.
However, some students feel differently about freshman seminar classes.
“[Freshman seminar] was more of a hassle than anything else…you just
had to be there,” junior criminal justice major Jordan M. Lamb said.
“What I learned in there wasn’t very relevant to anything else in
college.”
The second passed proposal created a new course prefix, UCO (University
College), and added UCO 1200 First Year Seminar as a class.
The proposal said the new required seminar courses would introduce
students “to interdisciplinary approaches to significant topics;
active, inquiry-based learning; and membership in the university
community.”
The third proposal, which was not voted on but remanded to a
subcommittee of the AP and P, discussed the approval process for the
new curriculum.
The document proposed a General Education Council, administered by a
director of general education, various other administrators and
tenure-track faculty representing each academic department.
The final proposal had some major concerns about governance, Mayfield said.
Butts said after evaluation by the subcommittee, the document will be brought before the AP and P again Nov. 28.
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