I recently took part in a meeting of a small committee that will be working on reformulating some of the introductory courses here at GCU. Part of the reasons is to improve the rigor of the courses as well as help link the content with a given course to the next courses in the sequence. While everyone on the committee has some excellent ideas, the small number of individuals involved limits our idea capacity. Many companies have used "crowd sourcing" to help in the innovative and design process of new or reformulated product and services. Although this paradigm might not be appropriate for every product and every redesign, I believe in this situation garnering the thoughts and opinions of those in the blogosphere could be useful. My question is for those to teach introductory courses (UNV-103, UNV-104, and PHI-105) is what are some of the positive aspects about the courses and what are improvement areas. Keep in mind, we are trying to connect the material between courses and prepare students for future academic and professional success. For those of you who receive students coming out of introductory courses, what material you like to see added, subtracted, or altered to improve educational outcome and prepare students for the demands of a college program.
Thanks,
Eric
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Hi Eric, I teach PHI 105 and I think some of the positives are that the students finish that class with the realization of how important critical thinking is to every area of their lives. I think that if we can work with the team in that area and the content lead to make changes to help enhance what we have that would be wonderful. We have added weebly sites for things like the fallacies assignments and we have added tools for how to write a proper thesis statement as part of the journey for that class. Take care. Matt.
Dr. Nordin,
I teach primarily the CWV-101 course, which is usually the 5th or 6th course in a student's course of study. I often find that my students who have difficulty writing at a college level are unaware of the resources that GCU offers through the writing center and ThinkingStorm. It would seem as though incorporating these resources into some of the introductory courses would accomplish the dual purpose of both making students aware that GCU offers such services (already paid for in their tuition) and help them to see the value in utilizing these services so that those who need them will be more likely to continue using them in future classes.
Blessings,
--Eric Hernando
Hello Matt:
Thank you for the feedback. Certainly using Web 2.0 technologies can be helpful. Do you think the course does enough to connect the material to real-world situations? Let me know what you think.
Thanks,
Eric
Hello Eric:
Great points about making sure students are aware of all of the great resources available through GCU. I think students often focus solely on the completion of the assignment, and not on the process. By incorporating writing resources within the structure of the assignment, meaning the instructions include accessing writing resources, perhaps we can improve the quality of writing from some of our students.
Thanks,
Eric
Hello Eric,
I am so excited you are discussing this issue! With all of the changes to the introductory courses, there has been much discussion about collborating and sharing tools to aid in writing and critical thinking across the curriculums. I teach English and we now have a new curriculum coming soon, and of course utalizing all introductory courses to help build upon and improving writing skills seems vital. It is important to provide imediate materials and resources to the students. However, it is equally imporatant for instructors to be aware of the "big picture" as far as what is happening in each course. Currently we are compling resources for writing to make available for evryone. What are some of the most prominant deficiencies in writing of students in courses beyond English 105?
Thanks,
Rebecca
Hi, Eric.
This is an important initiative, one that has been taken up also by Rebecca Foy and Rob Krise, the Content Leads for ENG-105 and CWV-101, respectively. It would be beneficial for OFTF to have a keener understanding of how the introductory courses are scaffolded. It was with this thought in mind that we included a review essay in the revised version of ENG-105, which will help students be better prepared for the Role Model Review assignment that they encounter later in CWV-101.
Regarding PHI-105, the AAC has been discussing whether or not to replace it in the first-year sequence with a Psychology course, so be alert for an announcement on this issue.
Best wishes,
Brian
Hello Rebecca:
Thank you for your feedback and great point about how instructors need to see the "big picture", extending beyond the current course. One of the things I like to tell my students is the writing is a scaffolding process, in which students improve their skills and build you knowledge each course. Regarding your question about writing skills after ENG-105, I have not taught any of those courses, but hopefully someone else can respond.
Thanks,
Eric
Hello Brian:
Thank you for posting this vital information. It is good to see that changes are being made to improve the educational outcomes for out students.
Eric
Hi, Eric
Having recently jumped into the role of student in an online program, I took a deep breath as I entered this scholarly community. Our job as instructors is to show them, through expectations and parameters, how this community should function.
In life, there are varying expectations and our language, mannerisms, and level of professionalism all adjust to our environment. Setting the bar high helps prepare them for future courses and this new world of academics.
Hello MaryBeth:
Good point about setting expectations high in the beginning to help our students adjust to their new role as online learners. I am sure your emerging experience with beginning an online learner yourself will help you to create new and innovative ways to help your students adjust to their new role. Good luck in your program.
Thanks,
Eric