Subcommittee on Core Curriculum Minutes 2014-08-22

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Julia Metzker at 1:00 p.m. in Arts & Sciences 2-51.

Attendance

Voting Members Present: Nancy Beasley, Roberta Gorham, Mary Magoulick, Cara Meade,
Julia Metzker, Joe Mocnik, Brandon Samples, Patrick Simmons, Amy Sumpter, Sheryl Winn, Dana Wood
Non-Voting Member Present: Kay Anderson,
Regrets: Ruth Carter
Guests: Kelli Brown, Yi Kathy Liu

Discussion Items

Distinctiveness of the Core: Provost Brown stated that she would like to see GC1Y and GC2Y become signature courses on our campus. We need to discuss – and share – how these two courses make our curriculum distinctive. We also need to speak about them in a way that is meaningful to individuals outside our immediate campus community (i.e., prospective students and parents). In addition, the GC2Y is a four credit hour class and that additional hour is supposed to be an hour of engagement. Students report inconsistent experiences in these sections. We may need to consider reducing it to a three hour course or begin hold everyone equally responsible for a meaningful fourth hour/learning beyond the classroom experience. She has asked Tom Ormond to pull together a group to discuss the core curriculum, and this would be a good discussion item for SoCC as well. The committee discussed some issues related to the core, including the speed with which the core was implemented, the lack of faculty development to assist with core course development, and confusion over the fourth hour. SoCC agreed to discuss these items and send recommendations to the Provost.

Assessment: Cara Meade requested that the committee develop a schedule for inviting faculty to SoCC and discussing how to assess their areas of the core. Now that the immediate pressure of the SACS COC review is over, now is the perfect time to begin doing the type and level of assessment that many areas really wanted to do.

Committee Goals and Work: Julia Metzker suggested that we might want to have some small subgroups to look at each of the major goals that we have for the coming year. She also suggested that the committee develop two or three person review teams, similar to grant review teams, to thoroughly review, present, and champion courses to the larger committee. Committee members also suggested that having a rubric to evaluate course proposals would be helpful; Julia will begin working on a rubric for the key areas.

Next Meeting

The committee’s next meeting will be Friday, August 29, 2014, at 1:00 p.m. in Arts & Sciences 2-51. At this meeting, the committee will begin discussion on options for addressing the global overlay shortage and students being unable to complete graduation requirements.

The meeting schedule for the remainder of the semester will be as follows:

Week Date Location Meeting Focus & Agenda
2 8/29 A&S 2-51 Global Overlay
3 9/5 A&S 2-51 Global Overlay
4 9/12 A&S 2-51 Global Overlay (tentative)
5 9/19 A&S 2-51 Core Assessment
6 9/26 A&S 2-51 Core Assessment
7 10/3 A&S 2-51 Core Assessment
8 10/10 A&S 2-51 Core Assessment (tentative)
9 10/17 A&S 2-51 Core Leadership
10 10/31 A&S 2-51 Distinction in the Curriculum
11 11/7 A&S 2-51 Distinction in the Curriculum
12 11/14 A&S 2-51 Distinction in the Curriculum
13 11/21 A&S 2-51 Distinction in the Curriculum
14 11/28 Thanksgiving Holiday
15 12/5 A&S 2-51 Wrap-up

Adjournment

The committee adjourned at 2:00 p.m.