M I N U T E S
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
College of Letters and Sciences
Meeting of September 2, 2010
A discussion was held on curriculum planning within the college. The question posed by the chair was "Is our curriculum meeting the strategic priorities of the college especially the following: 2) Increase interdepartmental and interdisciplinary activities; 6) Increase coherence and integration of General Education/Liberal Education; 7) Prepare our students to be global citizens; and 9) Increase recruitment, support, and retention of students from under served groups.
Ellen Davis said there is interest among the Biology faculty to renew the GENED Core science course 150 Science and Technology in Society. In the past this course was taught by more than one Science Dept. Now the number has been changed and it is only taught in the Chemistry Dept.
Beth Olson reported on the Psychology Department's initiative to assess students' critical thinking skills across the curriculum. Jeff Heinrich commented that the Economics Department has realized that their curriculum focuses too much on content knowledge rather than essential skills. Other committee members felt that many students compartmentalize their learning and therefore do not apply skills learned in one class to other classes (e.g. critical thinking skills learned in one class are not applied in other areas where it could be helpful). The chair urged the members to continue this discussion in their departments.