Curriculum review process begins with call for input

As the review of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences' Curriculum 2000 kicks into gear, committee members are emphasizing the need for input from the University community.

The current review of Trinity curriculum will focus on what it means for students to receive an interdisciplinary education in the 21st century. Work has begun with weekly meetings of the "Imagining the Duke Curriculum" committee, which has started by analyzing models from other universities and gathering feedback from students and faculty across Duke.

The committee is working toward ideas that will make the curriculum not only easier for students to understand, but also more representative of the opportunities available at Duke—including nontraditional programs such as Bass Connections and DukeEngage, said committee chair Suzanne Shanahan, associate director of the Kenan Institute of Ethics.

"Simplification and integration are two key objectives," Shanahan said. "We want whatever we do to be evidence-based change."

The review began last month and is scheduled to take three years. This year is known as the "diagnosis" stage of the review, focusing on determining the areas of the curriculum that will be targeted for change. The review will seek to ensure that the current Curriculum 2000—which was introduced in 2000 and last modified in 2004—is still working as well as it originally did, explained Thomas Robisheaux, chairman of the Arts and Sciences Council.

"Students tend to treat the current learning matrixes as boxes to check off, and not even realize why they're checking them off," Robisheaux said. "The T-Reqs can create a checklist mentality about one's education, instead of a holistic approach."

Although the Imagining the Duke Curriculum committee includes just professors, it is complemented by an advisory committee that brings together faculty, administrators and students. In an address to the Arts and Sciences Council earlier this month, Shanahan emphasized that they would like to gather additional perspectives of individuals from across the University, encouraging all faculty members to attend the committee's weekly meetings. She noted that the committee's process is fluid and they are open to input.

"Really, we're eager to talk to anyone and everyone who will speak to us.... I don't think we've fully envisioned a timeline yet," Shanahan said in her address to the council.

Gunther Peck, a member of the advisory committee, also stressed the importance of collaboration at the Arts and Sciences council meeting. Changing the curriculum will involve collaboration between many different groups and will require balancing competing interests.

"The challenge of a curriculum review is a political one," said Peck, Fred W. Shaffer associate professor of history and public policy. "The problem will be moving large bodies of people toward a common goal."

Robisheaux said the Arts and Sciences Council wants to encourage students to take a variety of courses for the sake of knowledge—not just to fulfill necessary requirements. He also noted that there is room for improving the way that interdisciplinary and global programs fit into the Duke experience. The review will focus on how to integrate programs including DukeImmerse, Bass Connections and Duke's global education programs into Trinity's curriculum.

"We're going to ask what these programs show us about learning in new and interesting ways," Robisheaux said.

Robisheaux pointed out that despite the rise of online education, Trinity's focus will remain on traditional classroom-based educational methods. The University wants to ensure that its curriculum is both unique to the University and relevant in the rapidly changing 21st century, he said.

“This is what Duke does—not necessarily Chicago, or Columbia. This is what Duke does in a liberal arts education,” Robisheaux said.

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