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Date: Thu, 13 Mar 1997 08:18:17 -0400 (EDT)
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From: Paul Jursa
Subject: Meeting of Inquiry Group #7, March 11, 1997
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To: gened@cofc.edu
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Inquiry group 7 worked from the report of inquiry group 17 and would like to thank inquiry group 17 for its thoughtful response to questions II 2a and II 2b for each of the newly stated Gen. Ed Goals 1-9.

1. acquire basic knowledge of the arts, humanities, mathematics, and the natural and social sciences, the languages which define and convey this knowledge, and the relationship among these branches of knowledge.

Supported by: Current Gen. Ed core courses, outdoor sculpture area/park, departmental clubs, invited lecturers, strength of academic departments on our campus, performances in Fine Arts, Special Days on campus. In addition supported by elective courses, courses in the major and minor, the open door policy of professors.

Insufficient Support: shortage of interdisciplinary relationships and insufficient advanced planning.

2. acquire an interdisciplinary understanding of major contemporary ethical, political, economic, social and scientific issuses and movements including their origins, implications and interrelationships.

Supported by: Hist 101/102, some other core courses, specifically in the social science and humanities requirements, Miscellany, Research Poster day, Spoletto/Maymester, proliferation of minors & focus studies, general philosophy that we "lay the hay down where the goats can get it" i. e. we offer many opportunities for students to learn through the courses they choose to take and the extracurricular activities we sponsor. We do not insist that students take advantage of these opportunities.

Insufficient Support: Lack of linking of courses and linking is generally not apparent to the student, no unifying interdisciplinary courses at the beginning, middle or end of the experience, underutilizatiion of Maymester grazing opportunities and other extracurricular activities. WAC programs and interdisciplinary "days" have been very successful but do not have sufficient institutional support.

3. develop a knowledge of diverse cultures, natural and human-made environments, and their global interrelationships.

Supported by: courses such as History 101 & 102 and many courses that satisfy the humanities and social science requirements, foreign language requirement or substitute courses, International program, Minority program, Study Abroad.

Insufficient Support: lack of requirement for students to take courses on the non-western world, more efforts needed, study abroad cost prohibitive, lack of scholarships for study abroad, need more exchange students on our campus and better management of exchange students.

4. develop effective reading, writing, and oral communication skills in English, and basic communication skills in a language other than English.

Supported by: the number of courses that require significant amounts of writing and courses that require significant amounts of oral participation by students, two semester English 101/102, four semester foreign language requirement, faculty work hard on student development, public speaking course, forums for student writing, Toastmasters chapter activities, SGA ofal presentations for funding, faculty-student joint presentations.

Insufficient support: No meassure or inspection for premise that English 101/102 or Foreign Language for four semesters leads to proficiency, need more writing across the curriculum, apprehension that writing skills and reading comprehension are lower than we would like, not enough recognition that a "graded paper shouldn't be dead" i. e. not much in the way of skllls development is manifest by having a end of course writing task, not enough departmental efforts to publicly display student writing projects, more oral presentations in classes, more retulaar, recurrent evaluation of communication skills in most classes.

5. develop skills in the methods and technologies of inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving, scientific research, quantitative and historical analysis.

Supported by: upper level courses in each major and general ed core courses

Insufficient support: limited external measure of effectiveness

6. employ the available resoources to retrieve, use and evaluate information from a variety of sources.

Supported by: English 101 &102 and History 101 & 102, courses within majors

Insufficient support: within disciplines limited by facilities access, disciplinary course for each major

7. set and achieve personal goals

Supported by: counseling center, health services, faculty advising, career services, strong liberal arts requirement of the college, faculty open door policy

Insufficent support: FRS does not meet its potential here. Staff support (RAs, student affairs staff, advisors, Student Wellness professionals) have not grown in proportion to our increasednumber of students.

8. work and interact effectively with others.

Supported by: more faculty are using group projects, science labs, e-mail, formal interactions in class, SGA, CAB, crowded campus forces cinorehension and interaction

In sufficient support: limited by space and design, campus corree house, lounges, parks; need a free hour in weekly schedule, more activities needed outside of departments, better linkage of Academics and Student Affairs.

9. foster intellectual honesty and curiosity, a commitment to lifelong learning, a sense of personal respsonsibility, and informed, active, responsible citizenship in a climate of civility where dialogue about intellectual debates and controversies can occur.

Inquiry group 7 had no suggestions to make on goal number 9.