Curriculum Reform

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Curriculum Reform

• Faculty Forum on Summer 2008 Design of 4x4 Majors
• September 12, 2008

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What is a 4x4 Curriculum?

• Students take four 4-credit-equivalent classes
  each semester, most meeting 3 hours/week in the
  classroom and enhanced with outside projects
  faculty carry a 3-3 teaching load

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Why consider Curriculum Reform?

• Focus
• Resource Management
• Coherence and Distinction

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Why consider Curriculum Reform?Focus

• For students, fewer courses to increase focus
  and depth in each course fewer hours in
  classroom to increase ratio of prep to seat time
• For faculty, fewer courses to enable more
  efficient preparation fewer hours in the
  classroom to enable attention to mentoring and
  oversight of enhancements

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Why Consider Curriculum Reform?Resource
management

• Under current model, too few faculty and too many
  courses to achieve the claimed 43 teaching load
• Excessive overloads
• Excessive use of adjuncts
• Too many under-enrolled classes
• Tight classroom utilization

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Why Consider Curriculum Reform?Coherence
Distinction

• Via collectively imagined and coherently
  implemented enhancements, opportunity to bring
  a more distinctive identity to VWC education
• Students get more value for tuition Admissions
  can market that value

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Summer 4-Explore

• Faculty Exploration of how majors might be
  redesigned under a 4x4 curriculum

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4-Explore Teams

• 17 teams
• 48 faculty
• 23 majors

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Majors/Programs Examined

• Art/Art History
• Communications
• Education
• English
• Foreign Languages
• Health Human S.
• History/Social Studies
• LAMP
• Math

• Music
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Recreation Leisure S.
• Religious Studies
• Sciences
• Biology, Chem, EES
• Sociology/CJ
• Theatre

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Guidelines For Reform

• Use 3 classroom hours for 4 credits
• Enhance with student work that emphasizes active
  and experiential learning, mentored independent
  research, and connection of academics to
  community and career
• Achieve program objectives with fewer courses
• Reduce dependence on overloads, adjuncts, and
  under-enrolled courses
• Anticipate support of GS, Educ, FYE, ASP

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Results
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Course Program Enhancements

• Research/writing/independent synthesis
• Technology-supported learning
• Local and international field experience/applicati
  on
• Collaborative or integrative projects
• Increased faculty-student contact
  (Class/studio/lab/mentoring)

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EnhancementResearch, Writing, Synthesis

• Compiling of lexicon of terms concepts
• Creation of archive of photographic images
• More intentional research instruction
• Research drawing on regional resources and
  community organizations
• Expanded writing instruction
• Creation/enhancement of senior capstones
• Journaling
• Prep work for professional certification
• Increased Reading

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EnhancementTechnology-Based Learning

• Virtual Field Trips
• Field-related media analysis projects
• Web-based or televised study/exam modules
• E-portfolios

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EnhancementField Experience/Application

• Community volunteering/service learning
• Internships
• Consulting projects/local orgs as labs
• Reporting on local political or organizational
  proceedings
• Field trips and use of local environment
• Study Abroad

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EnhancementCollaborative or Integrative Projects

• Learning community linkages
• Cross-class peer critiques
• Combined Jr/Sr seminar with distinctive but
  mutually informative Jr Sr projects
• Case study developed across multiple,
  non-simultaneous courses
• Student organized film or lecture series
• Role-playing exercises (Model UN, mock trials)
• Group research projects
• Portfolio development

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EnhancementIncreased Faculty-Student Contact

• Rehearsal, performance, production
• Additional class/studio time
• Integrated science labs in non-lab courses
• Individualized Foreign Lang. development
• Writing conferences
• Individualized or group tutoring

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Survey of Participants(29/48)

• 1. Benefits?
• 2. Challenges/drawbacks?
• 3. Agreement with this statement?
• I support the forming of a representative
  committee to develop a more refined and
  comprehensive 4x4 enhanced curriculum plan for
  Faculty Assembly consideration
• 4. Questions to answer?

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Survey Q1Benefits

• Curriculum Enhancement
• B. Student Learning
• C. Faculty Efficiency
• D. Institutional Stewardship

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Survey Q1Benefit A Enhancement

• Creates valuable out-of-class enrichment
  activities
• 4th hour creates structure for developing
  projects that link classes and enable
  collaboration
• Inspires discussion and transformation that wont
  happen w/o major initiative

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Survey Q1Benefit B Student Learning

• Enables better student focus
• Supports more independent learning
• More seat/lab/rehearsal time
• Greater depth per course
• (for some) Better enables developmental sequencing

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Survey Q1Benefit C Faculty Efficiency

• Allows for integrating lab work
• Reduced/more efficient course load
• Creates time for mentoring

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Survey Q1Benefit Institutional Stewardship

• Better aligns VWC structure and challenge of
  courses with strong liberal arts colleges
• Done right, could strengthen clarity and
  distinctiveness, for recruitment/retention
• Likely fiscal benefits

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Survey Q2Drawbacks

1. Decreased courses/variety
2. Increased work
3. Coordination challenges
4. Other

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Survey Q2A Decreased courses/variety

• Loss of valued courses/concentrations
• Less flexibility in offerings or delivery
• Loss of breadth in programs more defined by
  breadth than depth
• Fewer courses to support GS etc
• Fewer elective offerings
• Course rotation share fewer 300-400

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Survey Q2B Increased Effort

• Work of transitioning students to new system
• The faculty already teaching odd credits may
  experience reform as load increase

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Survey Q2C Coordination Challenges

• If large majors expand but total course
  requirements decrease, depts with few majors
  could see drop in elective enrollments
• A cut in one program can impact
  interdisciplinary/other programs
• Danger if enhancements treated as 4th-hour
  add-ons e.g. 4 x service learning projects

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Survey Q2D Other

• Loss if reform leads to reduced use of valued
  adjuncts
• Certain issues defy consensus

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Survey Q3I support the forming of a
representative faculty committee to develop a
more refined and comprehensive 4x4 enhanced
curriculum plan for Faculty Assembly
consideration.
Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree No Opinion Somewhat Disagree Strongly Disagree
17 6 3 1 2
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Survey Q4Questions raised by participants

• A. Logistics
• B. Impact on major programs/depts
• C. Impact on broader curriculum
• D. Impact on students
• E. Impact on faculty
• F. Fiscal Impact
• G. Procedural concerns

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Survey Q4A Logistics?

• Transitioning current students?
• Handling transfer credits?
• Class schedule accommodating mix of 3-hr/4-hr
  classes? 4-hr blocks?
• Accommodating odd-hour demands for technology
  classrooms?

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Survey Q4B Impact on Majors, Depts?

• Common method for handling allied courses?
• Forced 14 course limit?
• Or, unwieldy expansion of some majors?

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Survey Q4B2 Impact on Majors, Depts

• Will dept budgets support new demands? (adjuncts,
  travel for service learning, equipment and
  support for enhancements proportionate to student
  need?)
• Will overloads be supported where needed?
• Could depts opt out?

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Survey Q4C Impact on broader curriculum?

• How will GS (need to) change?
• How will graduation standards change? (FLL,
  writing, oral competency, computer literacy)
• Oversight for ensuring that every course is
  enhanced -- and stays enhanced?
• Consistency among multiple sections of a single
  course? Problem if not?
• Can we adequately support Education?

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Survey Q4D Impact on students?

• How will students feel about trading breadth for
  depth (32 courses for 40)?
• How will student demand for electives be met
  without overloads?
• Would 4x4 system encourage good students to take
  5x5 and graduate early? Good? Bad?
• Will students really do more work on behalf of
  each class? (More time to learn less?)

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Survey Q4E Impact on Faculty?

• Will faculty accept streamlining of course
  offerings, with more basics and less variety?
• Will there be increased pressure to publish
  despite no real gain in time?

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Survey Q4F Fiscal Impact?

• What will be the financial impact if we make this
  change?
• What will be the financial impact if we dont
  make this change?

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Survey Q5G Procedural Concerns

• Would new committee reflect balance in its
  representation of professional and liberal arts
  programs?
• Would a vote on curriculum change necessarily
  involve one vote per faculty member, regardless
  of size of program or impact of change on program?

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Four Models

• Art/Art History
• Recreation and Leisure Studies
• Mathematics
• Education