GE Campus Update September 2007
General Education Campus Update
SEPTEMBER 28, 2007
First Year Experience Fall Pilot Underway
The fall First Year Experience pilot course is underway with 51 students enrolled. The course is being taught by the following faculty members representing three academic units and four departments: Keith Moreland (SOM), Suzanne Selig, Health Sciences & Administration (SHPS), John Sonnega, Health Sciences & Administration (SHPS), Marty Kaufman, Earth and Resource Science (CAS), and Stephen Landon, Theatre (CAS).
Students are studying the city of Flint inside and outside the classroom. Weekly bicycle tours take students on the road as they see first-hand the architecture of the city. A guided bus tour offers another transportation venue for students to visit further reaches of the city. The local community took notice of this course and featured as story in the Flint Journal on Saturday, September 22, 2007. The article is posted outside the TCLT (366 French Hall) and may be accessed electronically at http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-46/119045283839930.xml&coll=5
Descriptive information about the pilot course including course syllabi and course assignments, as well as faculty perspective on the design, process, and teaching of this course are being collected. To view the syllabus for this course, please visit http://www.umflint.edu/tclt/GE/first_year/index.html Look for video clips of the fall FYE faculty discussing the course in an upcoming announcement.
Faculty perspective on the planning of this course was shared in the pre-convocation workshop, Traversing Disciplinary Boundaries, held August 29th and may be viewed at http://online.umflint.edu:8080/ramgen/nw/ITS/TCLT/preconvocationworkshop.rm
Formal research on the pilot course is being conducted examining student engagement and critical thinking skills as well as faculty perspective on teaching and interdisciplinary thinking. Data will include written surveys of students collected twice during the course and face-to-face interviews of students at the end of the course. Data on faculty will include a written survey and face-to-face interviews. Data collection will begin September 28, 2007.
The 2nd Annual Student Academic Success Summit on October 19th will feature a brief presentation on the First Year Experience Pilot research and a break-out session featuring a faculty member discussing the course. Please visit the TCLT website to register for the summit (www.umflint.edu/tclt).
Winter First Year Experience Pilot Under Construction
Faculty planning the First Year Experience Pilot for winter 2008 were active throughout the summer designing the course. Faculty teaching this course represents three disciplines within one unit: Heather Laube, Sociology (CAS), Heather Seipke, Communication (CAS), and Tracy Wacker, Biology, (CAS). Details about this course will be released in the near future.
As with the fall FYE pilot, descriptive information about the course including course syllabi and course assignments, as well as faculty perspective on the design, process, and teaching of this course are being collected. The syllabus will be made available at such time it is complete. Faculty perspective on the course was shared in the pre-convocation workshop held August 29th and may be found on video at http://online.umflint.edu:8080/ramgen/nw/ITS/TCLT/preconvocationworkshop.rm
Research on this winter FYE pilot course will continue examining student engagement and critical thinking skills as well as faculty perspective on teaching and interdisciplinary thinking. Data will include written surveys of students collected twice during the course and face-to-face interviews of students at the end of the course. Data on faculty will include a written survey and face-to-face interviews. Data collection is scheduled to be completed by the end of winter semester. It is anticipated that a report on research results will be available in May 2008.
Faculty Support in General Education Course Development
Dr. Carolyn Haynes, invited expert in interdisciplinary teaching, conducted a workshop for all faculty proposing interdisciplinary pilot suites and First Year Experience pilots. This three-hour working session included in-depth information about the nature of interdisciplinary faculty work followed by discussion of specific questions and aspects of the design process and product raised by faculty developers.
The following day, Dr. Carolyn Haynes presented a half day workshop, Traversing Disciplinary Boundaries, for the full campus community. Her presentation was taped “live” and may be viewed at http://online.umflint.edu:8080/ramgen/nw/ITS/TCLT/preconvocationworkshop.rm
A 50-page resource manual on Interdisciplinary teaching was made available to all in attendance.
Hearing From Faculty: How to Weigh-in on General Education
A series of GE Focus Sessions are scheduled as an opportunity for faculty to stay abreast of general education design progress and to share their ideas, beliefs, and offer suggestions.
GE Focus Sessions begin October 9th and will be held Tuesdays at 12:00noon-1:00pm in the “Not Just Lunch” Lounge (Saginaw Room, UPAV) and Wednesdays at 11:00am-12:00noon in the Mott Foundation Conference Room, William S. White Building. Watch your email for the complete schedule and list of session topics.
In Brief:
- Look for an upcoming announcement of new Interdisciplinary Suites.
- Discussion of permanent governance structure is on-going. Your ideas will be solicited at an upcoming GE Focus Session.
Note: RealPlayer is required to view the Pre-Convocation video.