CURRICULAR RENEWAL IN THE LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES

In April, 1998, Wesleyanâs faculty approved the following legislation to establish a multi-faceted program of curricular renewal. In brief, the program consists of three wide-ranging initiatives, all concerned chiefly with education outside the major. These initiatives, each designed to put a distinctive stamp on Wesleyan education, are: (1) an extensive mapping of the curriculum that will point students to courses where certain capabilities are taught, and to various strategies for creating relationships among their courses outside the major and for taking them in appropriate sequence; (2) a concerted campaign to enlarge our repertoire of engaging and inventive courses suitable for non-majors; and (3) a computer-aided advising system that will greatly enhance studentsâ awareness of their own educational goals, the facultyâs expectations, and the resources of the curriculum. The legislation (as amended and passed by the faculty) and more detailed commentary on the legislation follow.

The Student Electronic Portfolio is an individualized web page designed to convey academic and personal information about a student to advisors and other audiences. Each studentâs portfolio would consist of a (standard) academic section and an (optional) personal section. Information in the academic section--consisting, among other things, of the name of the student, name of the faculty advisor(s), and the studentâs academic history and current academic schedule--would be entered by the registrar and could not be changed by the student. Information in the personal section would be entered by the student; it could include, for example, the studentâs choice of academic papers, works of prose and poetry, mathematical proofs, lab reports, scanned images of artwork, video clips, information on extracurricular activities, travel, career goals, interests, and so forth.

The student, the faculty advisor, and the class dean would have access to the entire portfolio. Students could grant other persons (such as faculty members writing recommendations or potential employers) access to one or both sections of the portfolio either by designating them as guests or by giving them the password; they could also disable the privacy system if they wished the personal section of the portfolio to enter the public domain on the World Wide Web. Wesleyan would maintain the portfolio for ten years after the studentâs graduation.

Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) is the part of a studentâs academic program not devoted to fulfilling a major. In this context the principal meaning of "liberal" is "liberating." In LAS, students should be exposed to a broad range of knowledge and skills that individual faculty believe are useful or crucial. Much of a studentâs first and second years, and some of the third and fourth, is devoted to LAS study.

The intention is not to label all courses, but only those that stress imparting one or two of the capabilities in question. The EPC believes that some capabilities conveyed in a liberal arts education (such as capacity for effective citizenship"), though important, are best addressed extra-curricularly. Others (such as textual analysis and experimental reasoning) are so deeply embedded in the content of numerous existing courses that they require no additional emphasis. Still others, such as familiarity with basic computer programs, are best taught in non-credit or possibly in partial-credit settings.

The EPC believes that certain capabilities deserve special emphasis in full-credit courses. All can be taught in numerous departments and programs, but students are unlikely to gain sufficient exposure to them unless the faculty takes special action.

The designated capabilities are not intended to provide an exhaustive taxonomy of the curriculum, but rather to emphasize certain clearly defined and relatively discrete skills, competencies, and modes of thinking that can be addressed in courses across the curriculum.

Writing: the ability to formulate a cogent argument in clear, correct English; attention to the process of writing, including drafting and revising; attention to conventions of writing in the various disciplines, including accepted forms of documentation.

Speaking: the ability to inform, engage, and persuade an audience; to choose levels of discourse appropriate to an occasion; to develop an argument; to facilitate and summarize a discussion; to use evidence, logic, and rhetoric with the desired effect.

Reading non-verbal texts: the ability to derive meaning and make critical assessments from the study of cultural objects and events other than written texts; to understand various non-verbal notations and codes; and to translate between the verbal and non-verbal, for example, by conveying a picture in words, or a verbal text in music.

Many courses of this designation would be drawn from certain departments and programs of Division I, such as Art and Art History, Theater, Music, Film Studies, and Dance, where students can learn to "read" a painting, building, performance, etc., and to comprehend and employ codes such as labanotation in dance, architectural and stage designs, or musical notation. Others would come from departments and programs such as African-American Studies, American Studies, Anthropology, East Asian Studies, English, and History, in which courses sometimes pay special attention to aural, visual, and material culture.

Quantitative Reasoning: the use of mathematical and numerical ideas and methods to describe and analyze quantifiable properties of the real world.

Elements of this capability include (1) making reliable measurements, (2) formulating a mathematical theory or description, and (3) solving mathematical and numerical models to explain the data and predict outcomes. Recent advances in personal computer technology and software enable even non-specialists to engage in very high levels of quantitative reasoning. In addition to many courses in mathematics, computer science, and the physical sciences, some courses in the biological sciences and the social sciences would naturally address the development of this capability. A few courses in art and architecture and electronic music could be suitable as well.

Ethical Reasoning: The ability to think rigorously about moral issues, to understand what is at stake in them, and to construct a cogent moral argument; the ability to recognize the moral dimensions of private and public (including academic) life.

In giving this designation to courses, the university would not be endorsing any particular moral system or encouraging casual ad hoc moralizing. Students in such courses might well give serious consideration to more than one side of a personal or policy dilemma. They would certainly discuss how to distinguish moral from other sorts of claims, how to evaluate the evidence used in support of such claims, and how to test the consistency of a position and its coherence with other moral commitments. Ethics courses in the Philosophy department would qualify, along with a few existing courses in the humanities and social sciences. Additional courses, for example those focusing on issues of social justice and public policy, could be altered to stress reflection on moral reasoning.

Cross-cultural competence. Knowledge of another culture, including its language and history, is intrinsically valuable; it also fosters a capacity to understand oneâs own culture in a new light, to learn about additional cultures, and to understand cultural "otherness" theoretically.

"Other cultures" include cultures of the past and United States cultures other than the studentâs own. Students would determine what, for them, is a "culture other than their own." Faculty would identify cultures that can be studied in some depth in the Wesleyan curriculum--and, where appropriate, through Wesleyan-approved study abroad--and recommend groups and sequences of courses accordingly.

None of these three new ways of linking and grouping courses would impose requirements on students or appear on a transcript. Thus they need not be strictly defined or distinguished from one another. They would however be embedded in the advising software. The cluster in particular would be useful to a group of faculty with an academic interest that cannot yet support a certificate or major.

Cross-referenced Courses. By agreement among faculty members, the description of a course could be accompanied by a cross-reference (e.g., "See also Sociology XXX") with a hypertext link to the description of the second course. Cross-referencing would be a mere finding tool, quite distinct from cross-listing. It would require approval of the academic deans and would remain in place as long as the courses existed and the affected faculty members approved.

Pathway. A sequence of courses mapped out by faculty members who wished to highlight interdepartmental links less obvious than the common subject matter of the cluster. Pathways would be approved by the academic deans and reviewed periodically to ensure that the listed courses still exist. No faculty organization would be needed to maintain a pathway, and faculty members would be designated as pathway advisors only at their own request. A pathway would receive no budgetary support.

Cluster. A group of courses on a common subject, along with advice to students on how to choose and arrange them in sequence. Clusters would require EPC approval, but not faculty vote. The faculty members sponsoring a cluster would have to designate an advisor or advisors each semester; they would, in turn, be eligible to apply for program funds.

Certificate. (Certificates, already in existence, are described here for purposes of comparison only.) At present Wesleyan has two certificates: International Relations and Environmental Studies. A certificate requires approval by the EPC and the faculty. It consists of a list of courses, possibly grouped in different categories, from which students must choose a certain number. Its structure is sufficiently loose, and the number of qualifying courses sufficiently large, so that regular planning is not required. We recommend that certificate programs be required to designate an advisor or advisors each semester, and be allowed, in turn, to apply for a small program budget. The certificate is recorded on studentsâ transcripts.

Courses Suitable for the Liberal Arts and Sciences. Wesleyan already has numerous excellent courses suitable for non-majors, but it is difficult for students to identify them all (particularly those that also serve as courses for majors) or to find reliable counsel on which to choose. The new advising system would clearly identify all such courses and, where appropriate, indicate at what stage a student would ideally take them, and in what sequence.

Focused Inquiry Courses. We recommend that the faculty enhance our present roster of courses available to non-majors by developing more "focused inquiry courses" (many already exist), as an alternative to traditional gateway and survey courses. Rather than attempting an introductory survey of a field, they would rapidly immerse a student in a focused inquiry of a limited domain of the field, giving increased depth at the expense of some breadth in coverage. They would, in addition, seek to engage students actively in the inquiry process. Several broad categories of such courses--categories that overlap and are meant to be illustrative rather than prescriptive--can be identified.

1) Courses that focus on enduring or classic texts, thinkers, composers, artists, etc. deemed by a faculty member to be foundational to a discipline or disciplines or to a Western or non-Western culture. Such courses might discuss possible ramifications of a work beyond its immediate sphere and era, as well as its relevance to contemporary concerns.

2) Courses that focus on major paradigms and methodologies, discussing a problem, era, event, or phenomenon and the methods by which scholars investigate and analyze it. Ideally the paradigms and methods would be situated in the discourse of more than one discipline, even bridging in some cases the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

One strategy would be to focus on the clash between paradigms. Courses could bring numerous interpretive strategies to bear on major historical processes, or bring scientific disciplines into contact with the history and philosophy of science, and with the study of science and technology in society. A related strategy, stressing diffusion rather than conflict, would be to trace the modification and elaboration of a paradigm from discipline to discipline and from era to era.

3) Courses that focus on recent research, perhaps the faculty memberâs own, that is shaking up a significant scholarly method or paradigm in scholarly understanding. Such courses would enable students to benefit from the highly professional Wesleyan faculty and would challenge the assumption that advanced research can be taught only to advanced students.

4) Courses that focus on involving a student directly with the object of study, for example with hands-on laboratory experience, field work, or the study of original texts. Students would be encouraged to ask questions and seek answers on their own, modeling the process for themselves and, it is hoped, experiencing the joy of discovery.

Linked Course. A 20-person course linked to a larger course. Such links would be arranged by two or more faculty, preferably from different departments and programs or even divisions; they would cooperate in teaching courses with overlapping content but contrasting perspectives (or perhaps contrasting content but overlapping perspectives). Students enrolled in a linked course would have to enroll in the larger course as well, but not the reverse.

The staff charged with implementing this proposal would, among other duties, oversee the labeling of courses by capability; the identification of courses throughout the curriculum suitable for LAS purposes; the mapping of courses of study in crosscultural competence; the development of linked courses; and the identification of clusters, pathways, and cross-referenced courses. The staff would receive suggestions from faculty and make suggestions to them in turn. Having identified proposals acceptable to the faculty members, departments, and programs involved, the staff would present them for approval to the deans and VPAA. (New clusters would also need EPC approval; new capability designations would need EPC and faculty approval). In no case would staffmembers be empowered to make curricular decisions on their own. They would work closely with the registrar, the class deans, and ITS in integrating these measures into the new computer-aided advising system.

Working with the faculty, the Director of International Studies would develop proposals on the study of contemporary cultures outside the United States, linking them where appropriate to overseas study, and would present them to the deans and VPAA for approval.

A Program for Curricular and Pedagogical Renewal. Organized by a faculty member with course relief and staff support, and housed in a single office with a lounge and small library, the Program would sponsor inter-departmental consultations among faculty on teaching matters, collect information on pedagogical and curricular innovations undertaken elsewhere, and bring speakers to campus. Among its first tasks would be to stimulate discussion on aspects of this legislation that faculty may find hardest to implement, such as, for example, the capability designations "speaking" and "ethical reasoning."

In addition to the new faculty slots, the EPC urges the administration to explore other ways to support LAS with supplemental teaching strength. It might, for example, fund visitors to teach LAS courses. Or it might fund visitors to teach in departments where, absent such support, the demands of the major would prevent regular faculty, particularly junior faculty, from teaching a course with unusual potential value for LAS.

Richard Elphick; Chair

Rebecca Stern, '98; Vice-Chair

Suzanne O'Connell

Mary DeMarco; Graduate Representative

William Pinch

Allegra Jones, '99 (fall semester)

Robert Rollefson

Rebecca Schwartz, '00

David Schorr

Rachel Sigman, '01

William Stowe

Christopher Willard, '99 (spring semester)

Richard Boyd: ex officio