Inquiry group #8 met on 9/26. All members of the group were present.

We began by discussing the current Gened goals, and comparing them with both the "Instructional Goals" listed in the Catalog, and the Gened discussion group's proposed statement on "Liberal Arts and Sciences at the College of Charleston." After some general discussion (noting preferences for and/or concerns about various formulations of the College's goals), we set about the task of providing a revised list of goals. We tentatively proposed the following list. [In brackets, I include the source, if any, of the goal statement. IG refers to the catalog statement of institutional goals, G&O refers to gened goals and objectives.]

1. To develop reading, writing and oral communication skills [G&O, #1].

2. To develop, through a strong core curriculum, basic knowledge in the humanities and arts, mathematics and the sciences [revision of IG #2].

3. To develop critical thinking and problem solving skills and to provide training in the methods of scholarly and scientific research. [This goal will include sub-goals that cover familiarity with information retrieval systems; Combination of IG #3 and G&O #2]

4. To encourage intellectual curiosity and lifelong learning [G&O #4].

5. To help students understand and respect people from diverse backgrounds and cultures to encourage development of a global outlook [IG #6].

6. To introduce students to the political, social, economic and scientific issues of their time [IG #7].

In sum, we felt that the current Gened goals ignored some important elements (especially training in scholarly inquiry and familiarity with specific knowledge areas) that were addressed in the Catalog's list of instructional goals. Like many other groups, we simply couldn't make sense of G&O #7 ["enhance affective development."]

In addition to developing these specific goals, we seemed to be moving toward consensus on two additional points: First, we felt that simply stating these goals in a single sentence was not sufficient. We plan to add short paragraphs explaining more specifically what someone who meets this goal should be able to do. Our sense was that the current goals are vague and subject to a variety of different interpretations. We think the addition of further comments will clarify the goal and indicate possible modes of assessment. Second, there was (I think) agreement that extra- and co-curricular activities will provide important means to achieve some of these goals.

Todd Grantham
Department of Philosophy
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC 29424-0001
(803)- 953-8011
granthamt@ashley.cofc.edu