QS requirement change moves forward

David Malone, the director of undergraduate studies of the program in education, speaks Thursday.
David Malone, the director of undergraduate studies of the program in education, speaks Thursday.

Trinity College students will soon have to fulfill their Quantitative Sciences requirement in either the mathematics, statistics or computer science departments.

The Arts and Sciences Council approved an updated proposal for the change to the Trinity requirement, which was originally put forth in October. The proposal—similar to the one tabled at the December meeting—mandates that students in Trinity College of Arts & Sciences fulfill one of their two QS credits through a course offered by a quantitative studies department.

The current model allows students to take both courses in any department as long as the classes are designated a QS credit. A number of academic departments such as economics or environmental science offer courses marked as a QS credit.

“In creating this newly updated proposal, we kept in mind two objectives—to encourage faculty of the Arts and Sciences to explore new ways for students to develop QS literacy goals while at the same time, not losing what it means to be an area of knowledge,” said Jack Bookman, chair of the Arts and Sciences curriculum committee and associate professor of the practice of mathematics.

Council Chair Ruth Day, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, noted that although the updated proposal resembles the one considered in December, it is more flexible and contains three learning objectives as opposed to the five in the earlier version. The learning objectives note that students should acquire QS skill sets and then be able to analyze and apply these skills.

“There were small phrases in the original proposal that members of the [council] did not believe applied all the time,” Day said.

Several members said they questioned the exclusiveness of the three departments in offering courses under the new QS requirement.

The council needed to articulate why the three departments—computer science, mathematics and statistics—were chosen exclusively as quantitative and clarify that these departments are different but not better, said Emily Klein, senior associate dean at the Nicholas School of the Environment and director of undergraduate studies in earth and ocean sciences.

“Differentiating departments doesn’t do justice on where we are now as a University,” said Owen Astrachan, director of undergraduate studies for the computer science department and professor of the practice. “Many faculty have different areas of expertise—it has been officially cast as teaching differently, but the elephant in the room is that we know that the faculty think they do it better.”

Supporters of the proposal argued that it honored the diverse perspectives offered by faculty members of departments not marked as quantitative.

“It’s important to realize that these departments just offer a different perspective,” said senior Kaveh Danesh, Duke Student Government vice president for academic affairs. “People are trained in various ways, and the same topics are approached in a different manner.”

Danesh, who attended the meeting and also serves on the QS review committee, said the members of the DSG academic affairs committee are in full support of the proposal.

Lee Baker, dean of academic affairs for Trinity College and associate vice provost for undergraduate education, noted that the proposal values the way the three designated QS departments approach the skills outlined in the learning objectives, but the different input from faculty of other departments is valued as well.

“It is important that we put a little distance between the learning objectives [of those departments] and [those of] the area of knowledge,” Baker said. “The new proposal does that.”

In other business:

The council discussed a proposal for altering the approval pathways for undergraduate curriculum initiatives in the global context. The proposed updates to the existing approval pathways address additional considerations that are needed for programs involving clusters of courses with restricted enrollment and for programs involving travel or study outside the United States, Day said.

“[The proposal] is great in that it focuses on saving time and simultaneity,” Dean of Arts and Sciences Laurie Patton said. “It will serve as a good model for other departments who are struggling with approval pathways. Given that we have come up with an elegant solution, we will be role models to these other departments.”

The council will discuss and vote on this proposal in March.

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