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Undergraduate
Curriculum and Policy
January 26, 2006
INFORMATION
NOT ENOUGH FOR A QUORUM
Present: L. Baures, J. McKinzie, M. Pomije, R. Schirmer
Business:
UCAP met to discuss begin discussion of the recommendations from the
Academic Excellence Task force. The notes below summarize points
of that discussion. No official stance or recommendations were
formalized. UCAP will continue discussing this final report
before drafting our response.
Section 1: Enhancing Curriculum
Recommendation 1: Increase the amount and quality of student writing in
degree programs and in general education. (page 2)
Discussion included:
• consensus that writing quality must be increased,
• need to expose student to all different types of
discipline specific writing styles,
• but to really refine the writing quality in their
chosen field(s) of study,
• concerns that capability of current upper level
students are too low,
• admission standards include better writing or some
other type of assessment,
• coordinate outreach to k-12,
• can 128 be increased for some areas, or can 128 be
designed more efficiently from ‘top to bottom’,
• acknowledgement that some degree programs may need
to look very objectively at what is called “gen ed” in that program
(also linked to 7 & 8),
• university wide writing center makes sense to take
responsibility off instructor, can easily address general grammatical
issues, but can writing center address discipline specific writing
adequately, center must be staffed by qualified personnel from all
sub-disciplines,
• would it be more effective to teach one writing
intensive course at the intro/general ed level and the other at a more
advanced discipline specific level (see discussion for recommendation
#2), advocate for more than creation, but have perhaps define mission
be tailored to meet freshman and sophomore level general concerns while
holding discipline specific concerns be held in departments of
discipline,
• need more opportunities for faculty to become
comfortable and to acquire the necessary skills needed for grading
writing intensive materials,
• discussion of writing intensive throughout program
and the associated level of work with that,
• need to have students write consistently to build
their skills and continue to refine them and some issues associated
with that such as dictate too much for assessment within programs
Recommendation 2: Increase standards in degree programs (page 3)
Discussion included:
• could writing skills be included in degree program
standards,
• could there be a mechanism to recognize courses in
programs that are writing intensive but not in general ed, there are
several courses of this type and the ability to acknowledge them may
also bring the recognition to those courses, courses of this type could
also be possibly considered as a second writing intensive course, can
be used to refine basic skills to discipline specific skills,
• communication standards in all aspects including
verbal (oral) and visual need to be noted or imbedded in program
standards,
• recognition in program standards of critical
thinking standards,
• support of the concept that encourages programs to
increase GPA standards above 2.0 as noted in this recommendation.
Recommendation 3: Accreditation and Program Review (page 3)
Discussion included:
• recognition that some accreditation processes are
prohibitively expensive,
• recognition that resource allocation, funding
and/or fund raising strategies may need to be adjusted or altered to
meet department’s requests,
• recognition that the greater whole of the college
or university must also be recognized,
• belief that accreditation of one program cannot
result in the detriment of another program,
Recommendation 4: Clarify admission, retention and graduation standards
within majors and enforce pre-requisites. (page 3)
Discussion included:
• admission standards in writing abilities,
• recognition that some programs/colleges would be
more affected than others,
Recommendation 5: Capstone experiences and external connections. (page
4)
Discussion included:
• recognition that curriculum would need to be “time
appropriate”, that is, assessing discipline specific writing at this
stage would not serve students as effectively as doing so earlier,
Recommendation 6: Adoption of +/- option to the grading system. (page
4)
Discussion included:
• pros and cons (including perceived) of shaded
grading,
• student lobbying and the effect on both grading
processes,
• whether or not all professors would have to
participate,
• what would happen with team taught courses,
• recognition that this is an issue that has strong
opinions on both sides,
Recommendation 7: In addition to current First Year Experience
seminars, develop and implement a “discipline based” first year
seminar. (page 4)
Discussion included:
• could this be college based instead,
• could this be used to see how “we” (the colleges)
are similar and how we are different,
• may be able to be structured to meet recommendation
8,
• goals of both writing and verbal communication are
worthy,
• critical thinking seeds could be started early,
• concern that keeping it within a college would not
foster enough exposure to other fields and/or styles of communication,
• acknowledgement that some degree programs may need
to look very objectively at what is called “gen ed” in that program
(also linked to 1 & 8),
• 128 credit cap issues
Recommendation 8: Develop and implement a common reader program as part
of the first year experience courses (FYEX). (page 5)
• Discussion included:
• could it be multidisciplinary,
• too difficult to meet currently worded goals,
• acknowledged value in the shared experience,
• selection process of books,
• development of general parameters for each outcome,
• creation of a true freshman class,
• 128 credit cap issues,
• acknowledgement that some degree programs may need
to look very objectively at what is called “gen ed” in that program
(also linked to 1 & 7),
Respectfully submitted:
Marie Pomije
UCAP Faculty chair 2005-06
Current AY05-06 Proposal
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