Southwestern makes major curriculum change

Southwestern makes major curriculum change

Written by Shannon Colletti Friday, 13 June 2008

Liberal arts college will begin offering 32-course degree

In March, Southwestern University faculty approved the adoption of a four courses per semester curriculum. The university has always had a fairly traditional curriculum, found at most universities, where students usually take at least five three-hour courses per semester.

“For several years, we have been looking at a model that’s more congruent with what you see at most national liberal arts colleges,” said Jim Hunt, Ed.D., university provost. “We have been working through our government structure to develop a plan to make that kind of move.”

In the new model, students generally will take four courses per semester. Each course is worth four credits. (Hunt added they will no longer use the term “hours.”) As a result, it typically takes 32 courses — four courses per semester times eight semesters — for a student to graduate. There will be a provision, however, allowing students to take more than four classes if needed.

“What we did was just come to agreement on certain principles,” he said. “Now what we have to do is work out the details of what that looks like because it impacts different departments in different ways.”

When Southwestern University’s officials and board of trustees approved the Strategic Plan for 2010 in the spring of 2001, one of the initiatives was to determine what they thought the ideal course load for the students should be, Hunt said. He added that they had done some curriculum revisions about four years ago, but had not yet addressed course load.

About two years ago, a faculty member brought forth a proposal for the new curriculum model. The university’s public affairs council — made up of faculty, staff and two student representatives — reviewed and discussed the proposal. In March, the council presented it to the faculty, who voted in favor of it.

Some well-known liberal arts colleges, such as Williams College and Swarthmore College, use the four courses per semester model. Harvard University also adheres to it.

Southwestern’s motivation for initiating this type of curriculum is to let students concentrate their energy on fewer courses, resulting in a deeper focus on each.

“It’s primarily because it allows students the opportunity to go at greater depth in their courses and not be spread quite as thin as they are over a number of courses,” Hunt said.

The model may have some limitation, however, because the students are exposed to fewer areas of study. However, Hunt said the plan does not really change the balance between the general education and the major classes needed and that students will continue to take a large portion of their classes in general education.

“[The students] will still be taking a variety of courses in a variety of areas, but, at least in our opinion, they will be able to look at those courses in greater depth and will have learned more about those areas instead of taking more courses and having more of a superficial understanding of things,” he said.

Hunt said the earliest the new model will go into effect is this fall, but it is more likely to be the 2010-2011 academic year.

“There will be quite a bit more discussion about how this will be implemented and how you phase students into it,” Hunt said. “Obviously it will begin with an entering class, but you’ll still have other students who are here and need to get their courses as well. There is quite a bit of logical things that need to be worked out.”

The Paideia Program: Connecting classroom work to the real world

In 2002, Southwestern University began the Paideia Program, an honors program and enriched liberal arts experience, said David Gaines, Ph.D., director of the program. The program’s third cohort graduated last month.

“This program is Southwestern doing better what it does best: enhancing students’ liberal arts educations and connecting them to the worlds beyond campus,” he said.

What it is

Paideia is defined on the university’s website as a program that “engages students in learning by building a culture of connections and reflections and by integrating in-class and out-of-class academic and nonacademic experiences.” The program promotes connections among academic courses, intercultural and diversity experiences, civic engagement, collaborative or guided research and creative works.

The only one of its kind, Paideia is a program that matches 10 students in various fields of study with one professor, with whom they remain for six semesters. During that time, the students and professor engage in seminars and interdisciplinary experiences to share their expertise from different areas of study. The students are expected to present their work to a larger community before they graduate.

“Even people in liberal arts colleges become increasingly major-driven and specialized, and Paideia takes people from different majors and gets them to see a more holistic sense of connections between the work they do in all of their classes and also between that work in class and the larger society,” Gaines said. “[Paideia] is very much tilted toward and interested in students who have an intellectual curiosity and energy and citizenship, if you will.”

Students apply to the program during the spring semester of their freshman year. They must be in good academic and disciplinary standing to be eligible. Acceptance is based on written essays and recommendations. Approximately 90 percent of those who applied were accepted last year, with the program becoming increasingly selective each year, Gaines said.

About one-third of the eligible student body as well as 27 faculty members from 21 different departments are involved in Paideia.

Students who complete the program earn up to six credit hours of upper-level electives, receive up to $1,000 to be used toward Paideia-related expenses and graduate with Paideia distinction.

How it started

Gaines said university president Jake Schrum had the initial idea for the program while Southwestern was engaged in its master planning process in 2001. Schrum worked with provost Jim Hunt and eventually presented the Paideia proposal to the Priddy Charitable Trust in Wichita Falls in response to its wide-ranging request in this region for programs that would transform the liberal arts. The Priddy Foundation then awarded Southwestern funding to launch the program.

“Paideia” is a Greek word that means the total sum of one’s educational experience, Gaines said, adding that the word is used across the country in a variety of ways.

“It is a nice term that captured the spirit of what the initial proposal was about and what the program continues to be about,” he said.

Paideia graduates talk

Mary-Luisa Berges is a Paideia and Southwestern graduate who joined Teach for America.

“From Paideia I received a host of things, namely an appreciation for the diversity and eclectic thought of my cohort members,” Berges said. “As a group, we recognized that community impact required more than thought and conversation, but individual and sustained group action that will directly affect the society we were so impassioned about changing. This led me to join Teach for America where, as a teacher in New Orleans, I see the effect of my hard work in a community that, post-Hurricane Katrina, has never been so open for change and improvement. I carry pieces of my cohort into my classroom every day.”

Mitch Barnett graduated from Paideia and Southwestern in May 2007.

“I would recommend Paideia to other students because it provides one with an opportunity to experience a learning process unlike any other,” Barnett said. “The Paideia process is completely special and unique. The program was a cornerstone of my Southwestern experience.”