Critical Thinking Steering Committee Minutes

19 September 2007

1. We agreed without dissent on the need for improving critical thinking among our students.

2. We agreed without dissent that COL 101 and/or 151 is the means we will begin introducing students to the language of critical thinking.

3. Consensus was that the requirement of COL 101/1551 at this time is premature; often the comment was heard that we are a "year premature." The consequence was dropping item #4 from the COL 101 proposal that requires COL 101/151. This also eliminated the Testout.

4. Several faculty stated that advising students into COL 101/151 is a good idea, especially with respect to Learning Communities.

5. There was discussion regarding spreading COL 101/151 throughout the first year of study, but there was an equal amount of discussion noting that such spreading undermines significantly the effectiveness of getting the language into the student's vocabulary.

6. There was discussion regarding the relationship of COL 101/151 and an ACT of 19. That requirement may now be moot.

7. There was discussion of faculty buy-in and how this is critical to the process as COL 101 is only the initial experience with critical thinking. It is essential to the critical thinking initiative that faculty continue using these concepts and language in coursework throughout degree programs. That point seemed to be understood by the Steering Committee, but was not agreed to in any formal way as some departments are reported to have not bought into the concept as a whole.

8. We agreed to continue the discussion at a meeting next week which Dr. Johnson will organize.

Submitted by Steve Estes