Academic Affairs Committee Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

10:00 a.m., Kearns Hall 205

*************************************************************************************NOTE: The remarks of the Committee and others are summarized and not verbatim. The taped recording of this meeting is available in the Office of the Provost.

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Attendees:

Brandon Palmer (Chair), Humanities Richard Aidoo, Humanities

Dustin Thorn, Science Teresa Burns, Science

Jamia Richmond, Education Dennis Rauch, Business

Amy Fyn, Kimbel Library Brianne Parker, University College

John Beard, Provost Office Dan Lawless, University Registrar

Absent:

Richard Costner, Education Greg Thornburg, Enrollment Services

Guests:

Nicholas PritchardNelljean Rice

Michael Pierce

A. Call to Order

Brandon Palmer welcomed all in attendance and called the meeting to order. A motion was made by Brianne Parker to accept the minutes from the September 10, 2013, meeting. Upon committee vote, the minutes were approved as written.

B. Chair Report

No Chair Report was given.

C. Information on the new Core Curriculum: Nicholas Pritchard

Nicholas Pritchard, Chair, Core Curriculum Committee, presented the committee members on the proposed upcoming changes to the Core Curriculum. The following is information given to the committee members regarding these proposed changes:

For the past two years, the Core Curriculum Committee has worked to develop a new vision for Coastal Carolina University Core Curriculum. This process has been faculty driven and is based on data accumulated through seven years of assessment of the Core Curriculum. The Committee looked to address the following concerns with the current Core:

Non-alignment of existing goals and outcomes with the mission statement
Poorly designed student learning outcomes for the Core Goals that hinder assessment of actual student learning
Desire to provide students with more engaging course options on all core areas and to move away from general survey courses
Increasing the focus on students as “consumers” of the Core
Increasing ease of transferring courses between majors and institutions
The increase in hidden prerequisites for core courses, along with the need for courses to be open to all students, not just one group of majors

The philosophy behind the new vision is to provide a general education to all students, regardless of major. The Committee identified the core as having two interrelated components, Core Skills (Core Goal I) and Core Concepts (Core Goal II). Core Skills are the cognitive skills that students need to be successful in college and in future working lives. Core Concepts is the exposure to the liberal arts in order to develop a broader understanding of the world around him or her.

Hidden prerequisites and competency levels are two issues that the Committee wants to address in the revised core. Before this draft moves to further, we would like your input regarding these issues in light of the core and the skills courses. As you read through thisdocument, please keep the following in mind:

Courses in Core Goal I (Core Skills) should not have prerequisites.
Courses in Core Goal II (Core Concepts) should not have prerequisites, unless it comes from a course in Core Goal I (Core Skills)
Courses in Core Goal II (Core Concepts) can be interdisciplinary
The Committee is interested in providing students with opportunities to demonstrate expertise/competency, allowing them to receive credit for core hours through AP tests, placement tests, etc.

The proposed changes to the core would incorporate 30-40 hours of core classes.

Mission:

The purpose of the Core Curriculum is to provide an educational foundation in the liberal arts tradition that promotes free inquiry and creative and critical thinking.

The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to develop skills in the following: critical thinking and reasoning, written and oral communication,and quantitative and information literacy.

The Core Curriculum provides opportunities for students to apply these skills in the practice of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts in the context of global and diverse cultural perspectives.

I. Core Skills

Goal: The Core Curriculum seeks to develop skills in reasoning, reading, writing, and quantifying, as well as a variety of information and communication skills

Objective: Students will utilize these skills in order to understand, question, revise, and generate knowledge.

Critical thinking and reasoning