Updated core requirements to affect new freshmen

Current students who have yet to complete their Area B requirements of the core curriculum must do so by Spring 2012, when those courses will be phased out as the university adapts its new core, according to Registrar Kay Anderson.

This new core curriculum, if approved by the Board of Regents, will go into effect Fall 2011, so only incoming freshmen will be impacted by the change.

“The new core curriculum proposal has not been completely approved yet,” Anderson said.

The University Curriculum Committee, which worked on the core changes for months after it passed (through) the University Senate, has been waiting on final approval from the BOR.

In September 2010, the core curriculum was approved by the University Senate and then by President Dorothy Leland.

“From that point it had to go forward to the Board of Regents General Education Council for approval and it has been through several steps with them throughout the year,” Anderson said. “So we are waiting on their final approval in order to have permission to begin offering this new core plan for the students in the Fall.”

The BOR made some overall changes to the entire University System of Georgia’s core curriculum requirements in 2009, Anderson said. Many schools in the system, however, chose not to make any major changes.

“But Georgia College for many years has been wanting to make some changes in (its) core curriculum (and) make it a little bit more aligned with our liberal arts mission and to provide a few more opportunities that were very unique to Georgia College,” Anderson said. “We are one of a few colleges in the state that are making some major changes to their core right now, and so it’s an exciting time for us.”

The new core curriculum model includes changes for all areas: A, B, C, D and E. Area A will still include nine credit hours, but will be divided in two parts: A1, which is communication skills; and A2, which is quantitative skills. English and math classes are offered in this area. Area C will be six credit hours and Area D will be 11 credit hours and will add a technology course to the current science and math requirements. Area E hours will decrease from 12 hours to nine.

“Then our students will see a shift in the way we handle Area C, the music the art and the theater classes that our students have currently been taking as part of Area B will now become part of Area C,” Anderson said.

Area B is going through the most changes. Instead of being four credit hours, it will now be seven. GC1Y and GC2Y are the two sections for this area. GC1Y is for freshmen and covers critical thinking skills. GC2Y is for sophomores and will be focused on global perspectives. Faculty is still developing classes for Area B. This process will be ongoing, however (courses) offered in Fall 2011 are ready and they will be submitting GC2Y soon, according to Anderson.

“They are not regular courses but they‘re special topics that may be covered in time. That’s what Area B courses will be,” said Ken Farr, chair of the University Curriculum Committee. “That has been the biggest task for the university curriculum committee this year is to approve new sections of Area B.”

Faculty has been working  with the University Curriculum Committee in the process of creating these special courses in Area B.

“Our job is to approve submissions that professors have created. The administration has been encouraging the faculty to create these new sections and it have been reasonably successful,” Farr said.

“We are getting a lot of proposals and the courses seem exciting, they seem to be different kind of core. I think it will really interest students,” said Deborah Vess, special assistant to the provost and member of the University Curriculum Committee.

Current students will continue to follow their regular core curriculum. Transfer students entering in Fall 2011 or Spring 2012 will also complete the current core.

“It’s been very easy to setup this the first time around because we’ve been dealing with the freshmen entirely different than we’ve been dealing with our continuing students,” Anderson said.

Posted by Jessica Ramirez on Apr 14 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.