College Abbrev: LAS

Department Prefix: LAS

Proposal # 1

Short Proposal Title (10 words or less):

Modify Freshmen seminar and create new degree requirement

I X

II X

III X

IV

V

VI

VII

Check

Course Changes

Course Number(s)/Title(s)

Change course’s offering semesters

X

Reword the description of a course

COL 101 Freshman Seminar

Delete a non-shared course from the catalog

X

Change course’s departmental prefix, title, number, or prerequisite²

COL 101 Freshman Seminar

Add or Delete LAS Focus Area ^{1, 2}

Other clerical changes

Check

Program Changes

Affected Program(s)

Reword description of program

Other clerical changes

Check

Course Number(s)/Title(s)COL

X

Add a new course^{1, 2}

COL 201 Introduction to Critical Thinking

Change course level from lower to upper or upper to lower division^{3, 2}

Delete course if in another department’s degree or a prerequisite²

Change course’s prerequisites if non-departmental

Change a course’s credit hours

Check

Program Changes

Affected Program(s)

Add new major, minor, associate, certificate, emphasis area, or option^{2, 4}

Title change of existing program or emphasis^{2, 4}

Delete existing program⁴

Change an existing major, minor, associate, or emphasis area’s requirements²

X

Change Entrance and/or Exit Requirements

All Associate and Baccalaureate degree programs

Change Certification Requirements

Brief Description:

COL 101: The title change reflects the broadened scope of the course, and Western’s change to university status.

COL 201: Create a course which introduces the vocabulary and processes of critical thinking for transfer students This course is an introduction to the language and processes of critical thinking for college transfer students.

Degree Requirement changes: Require all associate and baccalaureate degree recipients to complete either COL 101 or COL 201 or HON 195.

Brief Justification:

COL 101: MWSU has placed the development of critical thinking as point of focus in its new strategic plan and as an AQIP action project. With this proposal the teaching of the vocabulary and processes of critical thinking will become the dominant feature and study skills and campus orientation will take a diminished part of the curriculum. It is proposed that this course become the foundation of Western’s critical thinking across the curriculum initiative as described in the MWSU 2007-2009 AQIP action projects.

COL 201: MWSU has placed the development of critical thinking as point of focus in its new strategic plan and as an AQIP action project. This course will introduce to the language of critical thinking in use in Western’s critical thinking across the curriculum initiative. Since these students should be more capable of doing college level work and more familiar with the college experience, critical thinking will be taught at a faster pace and the instruction of study skills and campus orientation are not included. In addition, a test out provision will be made available for those students who feel they already have good familiarity with critical thinking.

Degree Requirement changes: To accomplish Western’s critical thinking across the curriculum initiative, students must be introduced to the language and processes of critical thinking very early in their university experience. The critical thinking language and processes taught in these three courses (COL 101, COL 201, HON 195) will be used in general studies and major courses at Western. This introduction will free instructors from having to repeat the foundational language of critical thinking in each of their courses.

Depart.

Chair’s Name

Endorsement

Comments

ART

Allison Sauls

Yes X?

No

We endorse with serious concerns. Art faculty does not find adding more courses to graduation requirements attractive. We are concerned about academic rigor in Freshman Seminar as well as workload problems associated with adding yet another requirement for Freshmen. Also we are concerned about the delay of getting students started in the major. We feel that this last point will seriously hurt department recruitment and ultimately have a poor outcome for retention.

BIO

Yes X

No

We support the concept of the courses but are concerned about implementation in term of faculty load. We think it is important to have regular faculty involved in teaching these courses, but have not heard of a viable solution to the problem of faculty availability that exists in many departments, including ours.

CHE

Ben Caldwell

Yes

No X

Altering COL101 to include critical thinking is fine in principle; however we are concerned about requiring ALL students to take the course, which will reduce the number of available elective courses, especially in highly prescribed majors with little or no room to spare. We, too, are concerned about removing regular faculty from majors courses to teach COL101 & substituting adjunct faculty in majors courses. Full time faculty teaching COL101 are not likely to be invested & make it a priority. Perhaps departments should be required to show how they are already using elements of critical thinking in their curricula before forcing additional requirements on them. If having a common vocabulary is important, faculty can be trained in the jargon.

CST

John tapia

YesX

No

CMP

Ken Lee

Yes X

No

ECO

Pat Mcmurry

Yes

x

No

We agree with BIO, CHEM, EFJ, and others concerning staffing and resources. We have great difficulty finding qualified adjunct faculty as it is. Pulling F-T faculty from their normal teaching load and replacing them with adjuncts will reduce the efficacy of our department in educating our students. If the Administration would authorize us to add another F-T faculty, then we could effectively participate in the COL program. If such classes have a proven track record of improving critical thinking, and if the Administration will commit to providing the appropriate F-T faculty resources to this major initiative, then we would support it

EFJ

Mike Cadden

Yes X

No

If the administration will calculate what each department’s contribution to this will be (1 section for every X currently offered) and then provide the appropriate faculty funding, I’m in support. For us, however, the support needs to come in the form of full time faculty since we are at our limit in finding qualified adjuncts; more part—time faculty is not the answer for us.

GSS

Joachim Kibirige

Yes X

No

HPG

Steven Greiert

Yes

No X

Originally, I voted yes “without enthusiasm,” because this appeared to be an a fait accompli. However, our faculty maintain that critical thinking already is taught by most faculty in each discipline across campus. We strongly advocate academic freedom from such intrusions in the classroom. We believe that “content” is far more important than our guest speaker, Dr. Nosich, suggests. Without such knowledge critical thinking cannot occur. Moreover, we believe that curriculum development belongs to the faculty and should emanate from them instead of a “top-down” approach taken by the administration. If faculty abdicate control of the curriculum, they will have no say whatsoever in the direction of the university nor in improving academic standards here. This current curriculum proposal disregards the process of curriculum development defined by the MWSU policy guide and negates the significance of the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Senate General Studies Committee. If COL 101 and COL 201 are to be required courses, then the General Studies program will have to be expanded. No current courses in General Studies should be eliminated because of COL 101 and COL 201. Clearly this will have an impact on majors, minors, and electives. Furthermore, this proposal takes the “joy” out of teaching in a creative manner.

MUS

Matt Gilmour

Yes

X

No

WITH MANY CONCERNS: the most strong being the adding of 3 credits to the BSE degree in music which is already over 130 credits.

PSY

Phil Wann

Yes

No

X

Although Psychology faculty support the critical thinking initiative and believe that COL 101 may be the appropriate vehicle to introduce critical thinking into the curriculum, we are concerned with the workload and faculty resource problems that will be created if this proposal is approved. We do not want to see an increase in part-time faculty covering discipline-related courses, and believe that the administration needs to commit to hiring additional full-time faculty in support of the COL 101 requirement.

BUS

Carol Roever

Yes

No X as currently proposed

Comments from CHE accurately express our concerns. Our department strongly endorses the development of critical thinking skills. Integrating critical thinking into our existing curriculum holds enough promise that we should explore that avenue further before requiring all to take COL 101.

CJLS

David Tushaus

Yes

No X

In addition to the concerns expressed by the Psychology faculty, I think this proposal should be tabled until additional information is available about the effectiveness of the course. The critical thinking initiative can be implemented in COL 101 while it is an elective. The critical thinking curriculum should be developed, improved, and assessed for its effectiveness. If it proves to be worthwhile, then this proposal will have the data to support this commitment of time and resources.

EDU

Richard Porr

Yes

No X

In agreement with the CJLS comments concerning details of implementation and data concerning effectiveness. This is a major proposal that impacts every student that attends MWSU and, as such, should be developed using a trial that could make this a data-driven decision. In addition, this proposal adds to the already bloated list of rules that distinguish from other universities and may impact enrollment. We need to be sure it will do what it proposes to do before we retool our majors.

ET

Virendra Varma

Yes

NoX

Critical Thinking should be an integral portion of the COL 101 course. But the course itself should not be a required course. Requiring COL 101 of all majors will reduce the number of electives and hinder development of discipline-specific content courses.

HPER

Brenda Blessing

Yes

No X

I would like for information on hope this is going to work as a graduation requirement – what group is to approve additional grad. Requirements? I agree that evaluating the pilot program first is important. This is all moving too fast – the committee did not evaluate the proposal or have enough a face to face meeting to discuss the proposal first.

NUR

Kathleen Andrews

Yes

No X

We have no evidence to support that this will achieve the desired outcomes. Why not a pilot first? Second, I am concerned how this will effect hours towards the degree – Nursing is already maxed out and we cannot drop any nursing hours.

Department Name

No Impact

Req. course

Elective course

Prerequisite

ART

BIO

X

CHE

X

CST

CMP

X

ECO

X

EFJ

x

GSS

X

HPG

X

MUS

PSY

X

BUS

X

CJLS

X

EDU

X

ET

X

HPER

X

NUR

X

Responsibility

Name/Endorsement

Proposal’s Author

Martin Johnson

Department Curriculum Chair

Martin Johnson

Department Chair

Martin Johnson

Check

Impact(s) of Proposal(s)

Explanation(s)

X

Increase in full or part time faculty

Additional sections of COL 101 will be required. These will be normally covered by regular faculty and part-time faculty. Some part-time faculty will also be needed to cover discipline courses previously covered by regular faculty who are teaching COL 101.

Increase in overload

Increase in load offset by reduction of:

Decrease in existing load

No impact existing load

General Studies Course

Required or elective course in another department’s program

Prerequisite for course in another department

X

Other impact

The proposal to require COL 101 of all first-time students will make it difficult for students in some majors to complete the degree in 124 credits. A change in curriculum committee policy is needed to relax the maximum credit hour limitations for some degree programs.

No impact

Yes

No

Support

Opposition

Neutral

Reservation

Other

Dean’s Name

Endorsement

Comments

Martin Johnson

Yes X

No

Concern

Yes