By Jared Crain, Campus Carrier Deputy News Editor
Upperclassmen, and particularly sophomores, now have the opportunity to make a curriculum decision no other class has had to make.
This year, the Academic Council has implemented a switch from the traditional general education requirements for students to the new Foundations curriculum.
General education required students to complete courses designated in different subject groups. Every student had to take two communication courses, three social sciences, five humanities, three mathematics and natural sciences, three health and kinesiology courses and two electives. This is 18 courses, or 51 to 52 credit hours.
While offering many of the same courses as Gen-Ed, Foundations has revised the previous subject groups to four “Learning Goals”: Effective Communication, Mathematical Inquiry, Intercultural Knowledge and Foundations of Knowledge. Foundations of Knowledge is broken up into humanities, arts, social and behavioral sciences and natural sciences. Foundations only requires students to complete 43 to 44 credit hours as opposed to 51 to 52.
Dean of Students Debbie Heida described the new Foundations curriculum and the opportunity for upperclassmen to switch as a way to adapt to major or course adjustments.
“Under your catalog you came in under a set of general education guidelines,” Heida said. “You’re bound by the catalog you come in under, but you could shift catalogs if you wanted to for good reason.”
Kirsten Taylor, last year’s chair of the Academic Council committee, said Foundations makes it more clear to the students why they are required to enroll in courses that don’t count toward their majors or minors.
“In the old system, with so many courses in each area of the curriculum, students often felt confused and conflicted about why they were required to take so many general education courses not connected with their major,” Taylor said. “While there is still a close matchup between Gen-Ed courses and Foundations courses, the new curriculum more clearly tells students why they are taking a certain class and what role these courses play.”
Taylor emphasized that Foundations still requires students to take many courses beyond their majors and minors. Like Gen-Ed, Foundations adheres to the purpose of a liberal arts education by exposing students to many different disciplines.
Interim Provost Andrew Bressette served on the Academic Council and Foundations Committee to vet courses for the new Foundations curriculum. He reiterated that the new catalog lessens the number of required course hours and enhances learning goals.
“Learning outcomes are better articulated, and there’s more flexibility as to what courses might count for,” Bressette said. “This curricular flexibility more easily opens the option for students to add a minor or a double major.”
Sophomore representative of the Academic Council Committee Caroline Stiles explained that freshmen this year came in with Foundations set in stone, without an option to change. However, sophomores and some juniors will have the option to switch to this new catalog depending on how far along they already are into general education and how compatible it is with their majors.