January 15 Session Summary
General Education Focus Session
Suite Boxes: Where Does Your Discipline Fit?
January 15, 2008
12:00 – 1:00 pm, 241 French Hall
Facilitated by Michael Pardales
Attendance: 9
Michael Pardales reviewed the suites of courses as described in the general education plan, “Learning Communities and Effective Citizenship.”
An overview of the proposals for suites of courses received for the Winter, Spring/ Summer 2008 was conveyed.
A handout was distributed as a way to create discussion regarding where those in attendance thought various disciplines fit.
The following questions were raised:
- Who (what type of student) would take the suite – those within the major or purely General Education?
Ø Will current courses be “dumbed down” for general education? If so, you do not want students within the major areas to take the courses.
Ø Will there be a need to create new courses that will parallel other courses?
- Can suites cross the lines (boxes)?
- Are suites driven by the department or by individual faculty members?
- Are suites of courses viewed as semi-permanent or are “one-time” ideas allowed?
- Can one course be in more than one suite?
- How will we handle transfer issues – will UM-Flint accept similar suites from other universities, will our suites transfer?
- Why are suites in the boxes that they are?
Responses included:
- General education curriculum needs to be designed to make it work.
- Suites are intended to be taken as general education.
- Current suite boxes do not make sense – it seems there is more variation within the box than between the boxes.
- The creation of new courses is inevitable in order for there to be connections across disciplines. It was suggested that a common theme be created and then courses created around it.
- The boxes exist to provide grounding in a different discipline that a student may not receive otherwise.
- Computerized advising is a problem. Some departments do not require students see an advisor within the department prior to registering.
A second handout was distributed that removed the “boxes”. The handout was used as a starting point as a different way to look at the end goal without the boxes.
Those in attendance discussed this option. Comments included:
What makes this different than Area Options?
How is it interdisciplinary?
Could be used as a hybrid – part distribution list/part interdisciplinary
More science and foreign language should be required.