Benefits Of / Barriers To Curricular Change

[spork]

This IHE article on Guilford College caught my attention: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/02/guilford-college-changing-way-it-does-most-everything.

The change to the curriculum isn't going to determine whether Guilford survives. The university's website copy on the "Edge" is meaningless marketing drivel, so I doubt it's going to boost recruitment. Maybe it will help with retention. Who knows. But what I find most interesting is breaking the semester academic calendar into a 3-week session where a student takes a single course and a 12-week session of multiple courses. In my courses, I usually run out of steam at twelve weeks; everyone is dragging by week 14. And I would love to be able to teach a 3-week credit-bearing course off campus during the regular academic year, when students are full-time status and on financial aid. But our business office would probably try to kill any initiative like this because of the possibility that it might reduce room and board revenue. And there are undoubtedly faculty who would object to depriving students of three weeks' worth of their wisdom on gen ed subjects that the students couldn't care less about.

[polly_mer]

As I was reading the article, I have to wonder why a student would choose what seems like an annoying combination of several good ideas in a place that's still starting new instead of picking one of the great, established choices.

For example, Cornell College's One Course at a Time Curriculum seems much more appealing if the idea is to focus intently on one thing.  The older I get, the more appealing that seems as a way to learn.

A 3-week experience is such a great idea that many places offer a winter intersession and summer experiences to meet that need.  Trips are great in a three-week block, which again is why many places offer them.

The desire for true experiential learning can be met many places through internships--either alongside courses or as a whole term/summer spent somewhere.  From observations on the internship/experience provider-side, people tend to get more out of a longer planned experience where one can conceive, implement, and revise a whole project.  A series of one-offs is also less appealing for us to plan than a continuing relationship where we see students learn and grow into their roles.

I have to wonder why transition to 12 weeks + 3 weeks instead of going to straight up 10-week quarters with 3-week intersessions to give a year-round experience.  For our online cohorts, we did 8 week sessions in 2-session blocks with planned 2-to-3-week breaks between blocks.  Our students told us they liked the year-round aspect so they could finish sooner, but breaks were needed to be able to focus on other parts of their lives.

[marshwiggle]

From the article:

These are real-world engagement-driven classes designed to enhance and inspire students' other course work. Possibilities include research with faculty members, internships for credit and travel to, say, Hawaii and Japan with expert professors to explore collective memory and identity after World War II, or to Norway to compare its prison system with that of the U.S. These are not hypotheticals: this fall alone, students will be traveling to not only Norway, but to Spain, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere in the southeastern U.S.

Thi$ all$ound$ wonderful. I wonder how many $tudent$ will jump at the$e opportunitie$?

[polly_mer]

From the article:

These are real-world engagement-driven classes designed to enhance and inspire students' other course work. Possibilities include research with faculty members, internships for credit and travel to, say, Hawaii and Japan with expert professors to explore collective memory and identity after World War II, or to Norway to compare its prison system with that of the U.S. These are not hypotheticals: this fall alone, students will be traveling to not only Norway, but to Spain, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere in the southeastern U.S.

Thi$ all$ound$ wonderful. I wonder how many $tudent$ will jump at the$e opportunitie$?

Super Dinky College had a reasonable number of students in certain programs sign up for tours like these for winter intersession and May term.  Indeed, some of the best scholarships included covering full costs of two of these experiences over the four years of enrollment.  Other students cited recurring experiences like these in social work as a reason to pick Super Dinky College over cheaper State U.

The bigger problem I see is these experiences aren't unique enough to meet untapped market potential.  This situation is slightly better than advertising our cars have four tires and a radio, but it's more like "and you can sign up for OnStar" instead of something truly special.

[spork]

[. . . ]

I have to wonder why transition to 12 weeks + 3 weeks instead of going to straight up 10-week quarters with 3-week intersessions to give a year-round experience.  For our online cohorts, we did 8 week sessions in 2-session blocks with planned 2-to-3-week breaks between blocks.  Our students told us they liked the year-round aspect so they could finish sooner, but breaks were needed to be able to focus on other parts of their lives.

Maybe the bean counters insisted on keeping students off campus during the summer so that facilities could be rented out -- on the assumption that this had historically generated more revenue than the likely number of students who would remain in the dorms for a summer quarter.

[spork]

"Faculty recalcitrance, which has its virtues, tends at present to be a discordant fiddling while institutions burn."

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/16/faculty-should-be-less-recalcitrant-when-it-comes-new-ideas-opinion.

[downer]

"Faculty recalcitrance, which has its virtues, tends at present to be a discordant fiddling while institutions burn."

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/16/faculty-should-be-less-recalcitrant-when-it-comes-new-ideas-opinion.

The comments on that article are on the spot. You come in as a young faculty member full of enthusiasm for making improvements. But a lot of the time the lack of clear results, the effort coordinating with other services which turn out to not be well organized, and the administrative fads and fashions manage to beat the enthusiasm out of you.

[fast_and_bulbous]

"Faculty recalcitrance, which has its virtues, tends at present to be a discordant fiddling while institutions burn."

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/16/faculty-should-be-less-recalcitrant-when-it-comes-new-ideas-opinion.

The term "snared governance" gave me a chuckle. Definitely on point. I was on the academic senate during gen ed deliberations and wanted to gouge my eyes out with knitting needles. I think I have PTSD from that completely useless more than five year process that resulted in more confusion and stupid requirements that did not address the issues for updating (HAH) it in the first place.

[marshwiggle]

"Faculty recalcitrance, which has its virtues, tends at present to be a discordant fiddling while institutions burn."

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/16/faculty-should-be-less-recalcitrant-when-it-comes-new-ideas-opinion.

Well, at least they're not treating students as <harumph>customers!</harumph>