Draft suggests core-course learning goals

FAYETTEVILLE -- Core educational requirements under a draft proposal from University of Arkansas, Fayetteville faculty members would formally emphasize ethical reasoning, diversity in the United States and global awareness.

Ten learning goals for UA undergraduates have been developed over the past year by a group of 13 faculty members, said David Jolliffe, chairman of the General Education Core Curriculum Committee.

He said at a town hall-style meeting Wednesday that the ideas have yet to be formally presented for approval, with the immediate goal to get more feedback on the measures.

Jolliffe, an English professor, said approval would involve the university's faculty senate, a larger group that has no further meetings scheduled for this academic year.

He said that the goals complement the state's existing minimum core requirements, which consist of 35 semester hours fulfilling five areas: English/communication, mathematics, science, fine arts/humanities and social science.

"Those hours will still be there," Jolliffe said. But "rather than simply courses you need to take, we've reshaped it so that we're thinking about this as goals that students achieve when taking these courses."

Students at UA need a minimum of 120 credit hours to graduate.

The committee recommended "core" goals tied to understanding academic subjects, plus "value-added" goals relating to ethics and critical thinking, diversity and international awareness.

Other recommendations include having students take more courses with a "substantial writing/speaking/multimodal communication component," support for an electronic portfolio system and the creation of thematic links between courses satisfying requirements.

Metro on 04/29/2017

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