Curricular Innovation

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Phase I: Curricular Innovation Ideas

The form of the communications sent to us ranges from formal proposals including a rationale and implementation plan to one-paragraph ideas; from one-sentence pleas to consider remedies for current curricular problems to long reports and documentation of innovative ideas that have been instituted at other colleges and universities. Some are content-focused and some concern the infrastructure that supports the curriculum. We wanted to encourage anyone to share, even informally or briefly, a good idea which the CEP might develop or incorporate into a plan.

All of the ideas, including those raised at forums, have been recorded in this web site in abridged form. We have tried not to misrepresent ideas in the assignment of a title and brief description. Please correct us if we did. Some language is taken directly from the communications sent to us. Full text of these ideas, with attributions to their authors, are now part of the four archives located in Phase II.

We hope that as people read this list they will continue talking to each other and to us (the CEP) about the curriculum. New or expanded ideas may be spawned by such dialogue, and we welcome that.

"MINI"-TUTORIALS

Instead of offering a full-blown tutorial, consider the following modification: Within the "standard" course format, break up into tutorials twice during the semester, each time for one week. This would provide a great way to work on re-structuring arguments: the students write a draft, have a tutorial, then revise the paper. While many students may be terrified of the idea of tutorials, they have usually found them in practice to be really rewarding and not at all the scary experience they'd expected. It would be a good idea to add this component to most writing-intensive courses, both for its own sake as an enhancement to teaching writing, and to provide more students with a taste of the tutorial method. To do so, however, it is important to keep enrollments small.

AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE

We could think about counting American Sign Language (ASL) as one way to show competency in foreign languages. ASL is already taught during Winter Study, and that might be sufficient (even though enrollments might skyrocket).

WCMA: IDEAS FOR CURRICULAR INNOVATION

The College Museum of Art is in a strong position to enhance interdisciplinary teaching initiatives (e.g., LabelTalk) as well as service learning opportunities (e.g., Museum Associates Program, Summer Internships, Work Study Internships) at Williams. Although these programs already exist, there is certainly room for -- and interest in -- their expansion.

A METHOD TO ASSESS WRITING SKILLS DURING FIRST DAYS

The CEP should consider implementing a program that uses a) the screening of first-year student writing, and b) a writing course that is required for those with substandard writing. In a manner parallel to the Quantitative Studies program, all first-year students would sit down during first days and write a full page on an assigned topic. There could be a choice of assigned topics. The papers would be assessed by a group of evaluators. All scores would be given to first year faculty advisors, who would provide help in setting up student schedules if writing scores indicated action was required. Clearly, the English department could not be expected to take on the additional load of remedial writing instruction without additional staffing devoted to this task. Perhaps it would be useful to consider a staffing model similar to that used by the Mathematics department for the Quantitative Studies program, but other possibilities exist as well.

DIVISION II STUDENT RESEARCH PROPOSAL

One of the best current programs at Williams is the research collaboration between faculty and students in Division III, and one of our challenges is to figure out ways to extend this model to the other divisions. In Division II one could envision faculty (in religion, anth/soc, political science, econ, psych, etc.) offering courses on specific subjects like "refugees" or "humanitarianism" or "social welfare." These courses would be half-time courses during the semester and focus on providing students with background information on these subject areas. At the end of the semester (winter study or summer vacation), students would begin internships in relevant agencies dealing with these issues on a practical level. During their internships, students would e-mail faculty on a regular basis, discussing their experiences and ideas that have emerged in seeing problems up close. At the end of the internship, students would write final papers on a topic integrating practical and theoretical work they had done.

IMPROVE ADVISING: ELIMINATE DOUBLE MAJORS

We could give students better advice about course selection by officially recognizing only a single major. To help students select courses outside their major, the faculty in a given department should provide guidance in the form of clusters of four or five courses that would form some sort of coherent grouping (we can call it a "minor" or whatever we like).

ALTERNATIVES TO A REQUIRED COURSE IN QUANTITATIVE STUDIES

Just as many different disciplines can teach writing, many disciplines can teach quantitative skills. One can imagine a number of courses scattered over the curriculum that are specifically designed to address this issue. They could be in physics, biology, psychology, and economics, for example, in addition to mathematics. Completion of one such course would be required for graduation. If there are many such courses and we allow students to choose whichever one course they want, then each student could presumably engage the study/meaning/analysis of quantitative data in a context that is interesting to that student.

INTRODUCTORY COURSE ON GAY/LESBIAN/QUEER STUDIES

Several faculty members have tried in the past to jump-start an interdisciplinary, introductory course on Gay/Lesbian/Queer Studies. There would be considerable interest from both faculty and students in trying again, and this kind of course seems to fit many possible interdisciplinary models. A course on Queer Theory has been mentioned as another option. It would also work, although a more introductory level course would perhaps attract more students.

DEPARTMENTAL RETREAT TO RETHINK BASIC QUESTIONS OF EDUCATIONAL MISSION

Each department should be asked to hold a retreat. In these retreats faculty should talk about what they want students to learn about their discipline, and how they want them to learn it. These discussions should lead to an evaluation of specific courses and requirements in each department. Though we as faculty all practice education by being teachers, few of us know that much about it, or have studied it or apprentice taught in any meaningful way. We came into education through our love of the discipline, not through an interest in the educational process itself. It is possible that some groups will need guidance about how to have these discussions.

WINTER STUDY COORDINATOR

We should consider the creation of a new administrative position of "Winter Study Coordinator" as well as the development of a Winter Study Curricular Plan for the Coordinator to act on. Responsibilities of the Coordinator might include:

  • Actively pursuing creative individuals, both locally and afar, to get involved in Winter Study;
  • Working directly with chairs to pursue adjuncts of particular interest to their respective departments;
  • Acting as facilitator for faculty members to promote innovative or experimental formats;
  • Evaluating programs similar to our Winter Study but offered at other institutions;
  • Overseeing required preparatory independent study (WSP 99) workshops for students;
  • Coordinating a series of campus-wide events during Winter Study, perhaps concluding with an exhibition/presentation of student independent works.

JEWISH STUDIES AS A PROGRAM

Jewish Studies should be moved from the status of a Cluster to a Program. Jewish Studies is not well served as a cluster, nor would it be well served as a department. Jewish Studies should become a co-ordinate program that can exist alongside of and draw resources from the related departments of Religion, History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Anthropology, as well as the related programs of African and Middle Easter Studies and Womenıs and Gender Studies.

MORNING ATHLETIC PRACTICES

What if the athletic "practice slot" were moved from 4:00pm to 7:00am? Although it might be grueling, it would cut down on the amount of conflict with academics, decrease the use of alcohol in general, and would still allow students to participate seriously in both academics and athletics.

EXPORTING THE WILLIAMS MODEL

We should think about ways to increase the number of Williams graduates who go on to teach at other colleges and universities.

MINORS

Many students want to concentrate somehow in more than one department. The obvious current option -- double majoring -- probably puts too many constraints on their schedules and often comes at the cost of other intellectual or artistic pursuits. A minor might make better sense academically. A minor might, for example, require 2/3 of the courses that a major requires, and might include a requirement of two or three junior level courses.

SCIENCE COURSES FOR THE NON-SCIENTIST

It might make sense to reduce the competitive pressure on science departments offering "science for poets" courses for the Division III requirement. We could create some sort of overarching structure, such that each department would be expected to contribute some finite FTE to a more common effort to present science for the non-scientist, with all enrollments in such courses to be shared amongst the participating departments.

ABOLISH THE P.E. REQUIREMENT AND THE SWIM TEST

It is hard to see our current Physical Education requirement or our mandatory swim test justified on strictly curricular grounds.

CREDIT FOR NON-WILLIAMS COURSES

We should not give students credit towards a major (and perhaps also not towards a degree) for courses taken in high school, as we currently do with AP, IB, and other high school credits. What about other college courses, such as transfer courses, make-up work, abroad programs, and so on? Do the courses taken elsewhere meet the same high standard that Williams courses are expected to meet?

SUPPORT AND PROMOTE CONTRACT MAJORS

We should do what we can to encourage students to do the kind of thinking required in putting together one's own coherent program of study. A proliferation of contract majors would be a source of intellectual vitality at the College.

THE FUTURE OF INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

In the event of a faculty courseload reduction from 5 to 4, we should consider an incentive structure or set of requirements for departments to contribute staffing to interdisciplinary programs. Without such incentives, it is likely that many programs will falter. One other solution, in the event of a faculty expansion, would be to allocate some of the new faculty positions to programs. Programs are by nature interdisciplinary, and should therefore receive more support.

INCENTIVES FOR TEAM TEACHING

We should consider offering summer development money, equivalent to that offered for tutorials, to teams of faculty that develop a course across departmental or, especially, divisional boundaries. Generating incentives for co-teaching within departments should also not be overlooked, as the range of teaching methods within a given department may be strikingly broad. Perhaps such courses could be double-counted, so that they do not shrink the departmentıs effective FTE.

NARRATIVE EVALUATION SYSTEM (NO GRADES)

As part of a truly ambitious curricular overhaul, we should consider moving to a narrative system of grading in which professors paint a precise portrait of each student at the end of the semester via a written paragraph or paragraphs as opposed to the traditional letter grade. A non-graded system better facilitates the expression of intellectual curiosity and the cultivation of intellectual independence. Attempts at grade "deflation," as a direct response to grade inflation, are far less likely to foster such intellectual vitality. One large obstacle to moving toward the narrative system, however, is the potential (perhaps substantial) increase in faculty workload that it would entail.

WILLIAMS IN NEW YORK

A one-semester residential program limited to about 15-20 students per semester, offered in both the fall and spring semesters. Each semester, Williams in New York will provide coordinated tutorial/internship opportunities in several key institutional areas, with four or five students concentrating in each sector. Specifically, the program will require students to take one double tutorial on a specific topic and do a related half-time internship, complete with a major term project. The program will have a resident director who is a member of the Williams College faculty. In addition to other duties, he or she will organize a regular series of alumni/ae speakers and will lead a required intensive seminar throughout the semester. Examples of curricular concentrations might include: Art History and the Contemporary Performing Arts, Business and Law, Criminal Justice, Mass Media, Municipal Government and Social Service Policy, The History of New York, Medical Science and Urban Public Health, Environmental Science and Public Policy.

MARK HOPKINS TUTORIAL PROGRAM

We should focus less on the content of the curriculum than on our instructional mode. To this end, we should make tutorials our "flagship" program, thus reversing the downward trend in tutorial offerings since the program's inception. Expansion of the program by, for example, 75-100 additional tutorial courses would require 15-20 new FTEs. Tutorials could be listed separately, and first, in the course catalog. An increase of this magnitude would probably necessitate a renaming of the program (e.g. the Mark Hopkins Tutorial Program) based on a major fund drive. Tutorial FTEs could be managed via a process distinct from the CAP's ordinary allocation round.

LIBRARY RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Librarians and faculty should work together to develop new research intensive courses that foster creative and expansive use of library resources. Research competency should be presented in a progression, developing skills for lifelong learning. Research intensive courses should be clearly identified in the College Bulletin, particularly at the 100 & 200 level.

LITERATURE-BASED SCIENCE COURSES

These courses are an attempt to expose students to the original literature in a given field in a format that combines classroom discussion with intensive writing. A given course usually centers around a specific area of cutting edge research in the field. The course is constructed by putting together a series of articles, with primary focus on recently published papers (review articles should be used only sparingly). There are no examinations in the course. Rather, every two or three weeks a short paper is assigned, based on a precisely defined question.

CENTER FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

One dozen faculty, four from each division, would be appointed to a term as named scholars in Interdisciplinary Studies. Scholars would divide up into teams of three, one from each division, and would be charged with developing a course (or courses) that focuses on a topic and integrates the perspectives of different disciplines. Scholars would have their offices clustered together for the duration of the course. One could also imagine the creation of an electronic publication at Williams that is devoted to interdisciplinary studies. Finally, student research assistants could be employed by each faculty "team" in the summer before the course is offered.

GEOGRAPHY

Williams should consider hiring in the broad area of Geography, a suite of disciplines that emphasize the spatial relationships of environments, structures, peoples, etc. More specifically, the infusion of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) -- a quantitative approach to linking and displaying geographic data -- into a variety of classes would be aided greatly by having a GIS practitioner on campus.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FLUENCY

Williams should require that all students graduate with fluency in a language other than English. Students could test out of this requirement if already fluent. (note that this is somewhat different from a foreign language competency)

SERVICE LEARNING CLUSTER

We should consider creating a cluster of classes (composed of at least one from each major) in which a significant portion of the class would involve application of in-class knowledge to the community.

"SPECIAL" SENIOR YEAR

Students would have the option of treating senior year just like any other, but they would also have the option to do specialized work, which would allow them to focus more exclusively on those things about which they are most passionate. An example might be to allow seniors to let their thesis or independent study projects count as more than one class.

DANCE MAJOR

Creation of a major in Dance should at least be considered, especially given the Performing Arts center that looms on the horizon.

CARIBBEAN STUDIES CLUSTER

Create a Caribbean Studies cluster, potentially including such courses as:

  • Sustainable Development in Caribbean Countries
  • Geomorphology of the Caribbean Islands
  • Marine Resources and Fisheries in the Caribbean
  • Caribbean Politics
  • Caribbean Linguistics
  • Caribbean Literature
  • History of Spanish Caribbean Countries
  • History of French Caribbean Countries
  • History of English Caribbean Countries
  • Dynamics between Dominican Republic and Haiti
  • Religious Sects
  • Economics: Tourism in the Caribbean

SUBMISSION OF NUMERIC GRADES

Professors should have the option of submitting numeric grades instead of letter grades, to allow for greater precision in calculating student GPA. Under this model, letter grades would still appear on the transcript, but the numeric differences within a given letter grade (e.g., both a 3.17 and a 3.49 can be reported as a B+) would not be lost upon calculation of GPA.

WRITING INTENSIVE FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS

We should consider implementing required first-year, writing intensive seminars with enrollments limited to twelve. Not only would these courses assist in improving student writing, but also they would provide all first-year students with a taste of the small seminars that liberal arts colleges should be known for. As it is, students can complete their first year having taken only large (50+), lecture-based courses. Such a requirement would work best if all relevant departments were required to offer the courses.

INTERDISCIPLINARY ADDITIONS TO THE MAJOR

Allow each department to require an additional n courses toward the major (where n is in the range 2-4). The catch is that these courses could not be courses "owned" by the department. They would have to be either interdisciplinary courses or courses cross-listed in other departments. Departments could use these courses to enhance significantly the breadth of knowledge of their majors.

INTEGRATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY WITH HUMAN AFFAIRS

The integration of science and technology with human affairs is of central importance to the Williams mission. It is not the only question on the agenda of the liberal arts as a public profession, but it is an essential question. When considering curricular innovation, we should be urged to draw upon the small but significantly experienced cadre of faculty who have worked on the integration of natural science with the social sciences and humanities.

SERVICE LEARNING AT WILLIAMS

Williams is well positioned to emerge as a leader in the development of service learning programs for small selective institutions. There are many good reasons to do this. The proposal specifically recommends the following:

  1. Develop an integrated array of service learning opportunities (some curricular, some extracurricular) that capitalize on the potential of service learning to contribute both to academic mastery and moral development, and provide a progression of opportunities to deepen student's learning.
  2. Develop opportunities with different geographic foci, but a strong local component.
  3. Develop key resources and support services and help faculty and other college entities (OCC, Chaplain's Office, etc.) implement service learning pedagogies.

EXCHANGE PROGRAM WITH SPELMAN COLLEGE

Create an exchange program between Williams and the all-women's historically black college in Atlanta.

ADVISING LINKED TO FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS

We could improve both the advising system (with respect to faculty/student contact) and give students a taste of the small class experience by creating a program of small, 8-10 student seminars, required for first-year students, in which the professor was also the academic advisor to each of his/her students. Though the course would only last one semester, the hope would be that the advisor-student relationship would last all four years.

INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES ON DIVERSITY

We should explore the possibility of developing a series of interdisciplinary courses -- possibly at the sophomore level -- on issues related to the diversity of the world in which we live. All students would be required or strongly encouraged to take a subset of these courses. We should also revisit the Peoples and Cultures requirement.

TECHNOLOGICAL COMPETENCE AND DIGITAL LITERACY

We must consider technology as a part of the content of the curriculum, by establishing a technological competence and digital literacy requirement and by developing courses to fulfill the requirement. Technology should not be viewed merely as a way to deliver a pre-established curriculum, but must be integrated as a subject of investigation and instruction.

COLLEGE INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

The principal feature of such courses would be that they address an intellectually stimulating topic that draws on expertise from at least two and preferably all three divisions, but would be coordinated by only one faculty member. Courses would be granted to faculty on a competitive basis and could be offered only for two years, at which point they could be folded into a department's offerings if so desired. This would push the college-wide competition forward. Such courses would become a seedbed for creative interdisciplinary work without the organizational encumbrances entailed by programs. Some possible topics are: In Times of Plague, Evidence, Coming of Age, Madness, Genetics, and Violence (this last course is already offered in the Williams curriculum).

CREATION OF A FOURTH DIVISION

One means of giving a greater number of Williams students the experience of truly synthetic, interdisciplinary modes of thinking would be to create a fourth division of the college. Division IV would be based on modes of inquiry, not content. One could not major in Division IV, but all students would be required to take several D4 courses. Such modes of inquiry might include:

  1. Student-centered and experiential learning;
  2. Team, non-competitive learning;
  3. Community-based learning;
  4. Interdisciplinary courses that cut across divisions.

An alternative idea would be to have a Division IV comprised of all Programs at Williams.

NEW, ENVIRONMENTALLY LINKED COURSE CLUSTERS

Field and Landscape Studies; Global Studies -- Global Change; Urban Studies; Geography; Ecological Design; Systems.

NEW, BIOLOGY LINKED COURSE CLUSTERS

Clusters allow students and faculty to identify members of other departments (and even divisions) who share scholarly and/or teaching interests. Expansion of the cluster structure would highlight the interdisciplinary aspects of the biology curriculum. Possible new clusters might include Mathematical Biology, Biophysics, Bio-informatics, Global Studies, and Culture, Illness, and Health.

MODIFIED WINTER STUDY

We should consider doing away with most faculty-taught courses. Instead, students would complete Winter Study by carrying out independent projects or by taking an experiential, interdisciplinary, community service, or otherwise innovative course. Faculty involvement might include: a) supervising and evaluating independent projects; b) presenting 1-2 public lectures; c) organizing a coordinated set of public lectures by invited speakers; or d) teaching an innovative WSP course.

NEW, ENVIRONMENTALLY FOCUSED INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

The Berkshires: Environmental, Economic, and Cultural Landscapes
International Politics of the Environment
The History, Design, and Biology of Gardens
Urban Studies and Environmental Policy -- From Grassroots to Skyscrapers
Environmental Thought and Literature
Social Science and the Environment
Issues in Environmental Studies: An Interdisciplinary Approach

LAB-DRIVEN CLASSES

Williams should consider adopting more classes that are lab-driven, rather than lecture-driven.

INTIMATE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOPHOMORES

We should consider creating both a set of tutorial courses aimed at sophomores and restricted to sophomores (number to be determined) as well as sophomore seminars that are limited in size, writing intensive, and attentive to developing such other abilities as research skills, speaking skills, etc. The community could decide whether or not such tutorials/seminars should be required of all sophomores.

NEW DEPARTMENTS IN LIEU OF NEW PROGRAMS

More attention should be given to establishing new departments in lieu of new programs. If new disciplines have arisen -- as they surely have -- then new departments should be established, possibly with hires in that department who will be supplemented by contributions from other departments, in the model of Environmental Studies or Asian Studies. In addition, we should institute regular reviews, including "sunset provisions," on existing interdepartmental or interdisciplinary programs.

CAVEATS ABOUT PROPOSALS

We should be wary of the following four assumptions that are bandied about in the Williams community:

  1. that interdisciplinary teaching and learning are inherently better than disciplinary teaching and learning;
  2. that "all courses should be Peoples and Cultures courses;"
  3. the idea that discussion classes are, by definition, preferable to lecture classes;
  4. the notion of a mandatory interdisciplinary class to be taken by all sophomores.

AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES

We need to support and strengthen this program. The college needs to provide better incentives to departments for staffing and/or create new administrative structures that will facilitate its reliability of offerings.

COMPUTER LITERACY

Required computer course or a computer competency requirement, such as the PE requirement.

FIRST-YEAR YEAR-LONG CORE COURSE

In order to provide some common intellectual ground, all first years would take a course designed by a group of faculty and taught in small sections. In this model, "there is absolutely no pretense that the syllabus represents the most important things every student should learn .... The texts chosen need to be important, complex, and interesting, but they are understood to be a not-quite random sampling, organized around a theme that shifts from year to year, rather than some kind of 'canon' of great texts." Each year a committee of faculty select the core syllabus for the following year, with the opportunity to change a small percentage (say 20%) of it each year. This model might dovetail nicely with some form of sophomore tutorial program.

WRITING REQUIREMENT

Create a writing-intensive course or courses that would be required of all students.

DEPARTMENTAL CORE

There should be a core body of knowledge that all majors in a given department share. Not all departments currently supply/require this core.

CREDIT HOURS

Could we consider a credit-hour system in place of the current 4-course per semester model? A credit-hour system can add flexibility, particularly for courses with an experiential or service component, labs, certain music courses, etc.

NOVEL CLASS FORMATS

Some courses may work better outside of the standard meeting schedule. Could professors be free to experiment with the format, e.g. 5 days a week for one-half hour each class? Might some larger classes -- particularly in the humanities -- meet two days a week for lecture and then have split (smaller) sections for discussion on the third day?

DIVISIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Instead of the current requirement of three courses per division, what about two? What about four? What about doing away with the divisional requirements altogether?

EXTERNAL DEPARTMENT REVIEW

The process should be reinvigorated, under the direction of CAP and CEP. This would involve significant preparation on the part of department and the CAP/CEP prior to the review itself. The administration must also be willing to more seriously consider intervening in departments whose current practices are not meeting their, or the College's, mission.

STUDENT WORKLOAD REALLOCATION

Students as well as faculty are too busy. If students and faculty are to engage in greater interaction with each other, then students may also need some form of workload or extracurricular reallocation. Athletics and other activities, as well as courses and labs, should be on the table.

GRADING

Reassess grade inflation; consider doing away with grades or including some descriptive grading; pros and cons of pass/fail grading in Winter Study; option to take divisional requirements on a pass/fail basis, with all other courses graded; consider grading on a scale from zero to 100%.

INCREASED STUDENT RESEARCH

There should be more student research on campus, in Divisions I and II as well as III. "One might hope that ultimately every student would do a thesis, independent project, or some kind of independent research with a faculty member."

CROSS-DIVISIONAL INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

Examples to date include Physics & Music Technology, Music & Theater.

CREATIVE PROCESS COURSE

Course on the "creative process," taught by creators from various artistic disciplines.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY PHYS ED COURSE

Basic multi-disciplinary PE course on how the body works, potentially drawing on physical, psychological, biological/medical, legal, and artistic aspects. The course could be combined with a PE credit program that allows students to measure the effects of physical activity and teaches useful life-long skills such as CPR.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY INTRO TO A CULTURE COURSE

Introduction to a culture or place from all angles, such as Art, Language, Literature, ANSO, History, etc. (e.g., "Japan")

AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Biology/economics interdepartmental course. The course focuses on population growth and food supply, the Green Revolution, sustainability, and technology transfer.

HUMAN GENETICS, ETHICS, AND PUBLIC POLICY

A course which combines the principles of human genetics with an emphasis on the ethical, legal, and social implications of current advances in genetic and reproductive technologies.

INTERDISCIPLINARY/INTERREGIONAL COURSES

A course that is both interdisciplinary and interregional (i.e. taught by two faculty members whose expertise lie in different regions of the world), to be followed or preceded by a mandatory Winter Study trip to one or both of the regions being studied.

LANGUAGE ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

Incorporating foreign language study (i.e. into readings, discussion, papers) into non-language courses to provide an incentive for students to continue studying and using a language beyond the intermediate level. Possibility of incorporating these as extra half-credits?

FACULTY AS STUDENTS

Faculty members would be invited each year to take one course in a department other than their own, and must participate fully in the class, including performing all readings, assignments, exams, and papers. For full participation a faculty member gets a one-course teaching reduction.

CLASS EXCHANGES

Faculty and students from one class visit another class at least once a month to foster breadth of view, awareness, and interaction.

LINGUISTICS

Linguistics is by its very nature an interdisciplinary subject that, particularly at Williams, could use expanding. Linguistics is related integrally to everything taught at Williams, from hard science to creative writing.

HISTORY OF LITERATURE

We should have a History of Literature major or concentration.

INTERDEPARTMENTAL FTEs

Should we add "interdepartmental FTEs" (i.e. joint FTEs between two departments) more frequently?

BIOLOGY, MEDICINE, AND SOCIETY

An interdisciplinary Div I/II/III program which includes a science core, a cluster of coursework that places the science in a broader societal context, summer internships, and a capstone seminar and thesis requirement. This is modeled off of a program that currently exists at Haverford College.

WILLIAMS IN WASHINGTON

Creation of a program owned and operated by Williams in Washington, D.C., one which would be require one-half on-site classwork and one-half off-site internships in Washington. In creating the program, Williams could draw from its expertise in creating and sustaining the Williams-Oxford and Williams-Mystic programs. It would be a one semester program, either during junior year or senior fall.

JOURNALISM, PHOTOGRAPHY, & VIDEO

Currently these are covered piecemeal within the Williams curriculum. No one professor or department is responsible for any coordination of these subjects.

EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION AND SERVICE LEARNING

This should become a coordinated, formalized, managed program at the College, supporting and expanding on what we currently have and creating new opportunities outside of Williamstown (e.g., internships) as well as out in the local community and perhaps even within classes. We might link Experiential Education and Service Learning with tutorials or Winter Study in creative ways.

LABWORK IN DIVISIONS I & II

We should explore this opportunity for students to field-test the methods and assumptions built into Division I/II courses. This builds on faculty efforts to teach critical and analytical skills in the humanities and social sciences and increases student-faculty interaction.

PUBLIC SPEAKING COURSE

A course on public speaking should be offered.

MANDATORY PUBLIC SPEAKING

Oral reports should be built into all major seminars and capstone courses. Alternatively, all Williams students should give a talk/colloquium at some point in their college career.

"LINKED" WINTER STUDY COURSES

We should consider an expansion of a program currently used in some departments, in which fall semester tutorials are linked to winter study field courses, i.e. students may only participate in the field course if they have taken the fall tutorial. One could also imagine tying winter study courses in with non-tutorial offerings, or making winter study courses a prerequisite for spring semester offerings.

EXPANSION OF TUTORIAL PROGRAM

Although there need not be a requirement that all students take a tutorial, tutorials should be made more broadly available -- this would require a substantial increase in staffing and funds directed toward tutorials. Faculty and students both appear to be highly enthusiastic about tutorials.

SOPHOMORE TUTORIALS OR SEMINARS

We should consider adding sophomore tutorials or seminars (12 students per class?) to bolster the sophomore curriculum and, as a result of the small classes, sophomore advising. This would also enhance students' writing and thinking skills early on.

INTENSIVE WRITING OVER WINTER STUDY

We should consider offering an intensive writing course over Winter Study. This course could be either required or optional.

ABOLISH WINTER STUDY

Faculty resources would be better reallocated if the semesters were expanded at either end and if Winter Study were eliminated altogether. An increase in the duration of each semester by at least one week and a reduction of the faculty teaching load to four courses per year would make Williams College more competitive in hiring and retaining outstanding faculty. In addition, this change would permit the College to focus its resources on the most effective part of its curriculum and away from an academically inferior program.

STUDENT INTERNSHIPS/TRAVEL OVER WINTER STUDY

The entire month of Winter Study should be dedicated to student internships and travel, required for all students.

INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM-TAUGHT COURSES

Genuinely collaborative courses, e.g., imagine a course in which professor A and professor B teach simultaneously on any given day, as opposed to the usual team-teaching model in which professor A teaches on Tuesday and professor B teaches on Thursday, and so on. Potential course topics might include Modernism, the Renaissance, or Argument.

SYNTHESIZED SEMESTERS

What if the four courses that a student took in a given semester were organized around a single broad theme? For example, a student could take courses one semester in Shakespeare, Renaissance History, and Italian Art of the Renaissance. Each professor would teach her own course, but would be aware that she was teaching in the broader context of "Renaissance Studies."

DECLARATION OF MAJOR AT END OF FIRST YEAR

Students would declare their major and the end of their first year, rather than the current policy of declaring at the end of the second. Students would still be allowed to change majors, just as they currently do, through junior year. One major benefit of this change would be to eradicate the "sophomore advising dilemma," as most students would have a departmental home (and advisor) by sophomore year. Also a caution: don't mix up advising goals with curricular goals.

FIRST YEAR RESIDENTIAL SEMINAR

Consider expanding the FRS system dramatically, such that all students in each entry would take one course together. Students could pre-register for these classes and would therefore be grouped, at least for the first year, based on these preferences.

TUTORIAL OR HONORS WORK REQUIREMENT

Requirement that either a tutorial or honors work be required for graduation, as these two are in some ways redundant. It might also be easier to implement than requiring that all students take tutorials.

TEACHING & LEARNING CENTER

Create a high-profile, centralized office for all programs that support the College mission of teaching and learning, e.g., study skills, faculty teaching development, experiential education ... like the Derek Bok Center at Harvard.

FACULTY SWITCHING DEPARTMENTS

Allow senior faculty to switch departments, provided the individual and both departments involved were in agreement?

PEOPLES & CULTURES REQUIREMENT

Courses that fulfill the Peoples and Cultures requirement that are centered around broad themes -- Marxism or Queer Theory, for example -- and would apply cross-culturally and transcend conceptions of an "other."

COMMON CURRICULUM PROGRAM (CCP) WITH RELATED 1ST YEAR SEMINAR

Creation of a department-scale program to administer approximately 36 sections (9.0 FTE's) that would offer required classes for first year students. Program would encompass both small seminars and tutorials. Each year, the program would offer 2-3 different multi-sectioned courses on themes of ambitious scope and incorporating classic and contemporary material from several disciplines. CCP courses would attempt to mainstream the techniques of the CRAAS initiative by directing special attention to promotion of skills in writing, public speaking, and bibliographic research, the latter coordinated with the reference staff of Sawyer Library. CCP would be assigned its own FTEs and would be administered by its own Chair.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCY REQUIREMENT

Demonstrated facility in one foreign language would be a graduation requirement, although many students could satisfy the requirement before arriving at Williams. Courses taken at Williams to satisfy the requirement would not satisfy the Division I requirement.

QUANTITATIVE COMPETENCY REQUIREMENT

Students who fail to demonstrate fundamental quantitative skills upon admission would be required to complete a course similar to MATH 100 (Quantitative Studies). Taking this course would not count toward the Division III requirement.

LENGTHENED SEMESTERS

Lengthen both the fall and spring semesters by one week, strengthening the curriculum, improving the conditions of teaching and learning, and allowing students to be competitive in the summer job and internship market.

WINTER SEMINARS IN PLACE OF WINTER STUDY

Winter Seminars would be a one-week program of campus-wide workshops, lectures, and service-learning opportunities that would continue WSP's role as form of outreach to alumni and talented members of the Williamstown community. Faculty involvement in WSP would become entirely voluntary.

EXPANSION OF SUMMER INTERNSHIP AND STUDY-AWAY PROGRAMS

The College's isolation is problematic in view of our increasingly cosmopolitan student body and the demands that students will face after graduation. Two straightforward ways of dealing with this include 1) increasing summer support for student off-campus internships, and 2) judicious expansion of the College's study-away programs, especially in urban areas such as Chicago and New York City.

LATINO STUDIES

Williams should develop a Latino Studies Program comparable to the existing African-American Studies Program. Eventually, the Latino Studies curriculum should have enough courses to constitute a concentration, if not a full-blown major. The FTEs currently allotted English and History for Latino Studies should be retained.

DIVISION I/II NON-MAJORS COURSES

Division III offers courses specifically designed for students who are not math/science oriented. The same sort of courses that are restricted to non-majors do not exist in Divisions I and II. It is nice to have a few classes in which you are not competing with majors in that particular field, especially if the class lies well beyond your field of expertise.

INCREASING INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE ON CAMPUS

We have a gem in the CDE, but don't seem to take advantage this fact by using the CDE as a springboard to closer ties with economies and governments of the developing countries represented. In addition, we could do much more to foster contact between undergraduates and CDE students, to the benefit of both groups.

COLORADO COLLEGE BLOCK PLAN

Should we consider the "Block Plan" currently in use at Colorado College, in which students take only one course at a time, in 3.5 week blocks? (4 blocks per semester makes for eight full courses each year)

CORE COMPETENCY REQUIREMENTS

Focus on Core Competencies as opposed to a Core Curriculum. A competency requirement doesn't require that students take particular courses, but rather that they demonstrate and/or learn particular skills. Writing, quantitative skills, laboratory and language skills are the most commonly used competencies, but others could be included. The route to fulfilling such competency requirements is quite flexible.

MORE SPECIFIC DISTRIBUTION REQUIREMENTS

A model in which the distribution requirements are less broad than the College's current Division I/II/III. Examples might include: one required course in natural science and one required course in mathematical modeling and problem solving; one required course in intensive writing; one required course that includes a significant mathematical or formal reasoning component; one required lab course which utilizes the scientific method; one required course in historical inquiry or moral reasoning.

YEAR-LONG RESEARCH REQUIREMENT

Before graduating, every Williams student would be required to engage in a year-long research project, culminating in a thesis or its equivalent. The thesis would, at the discretion of each department, be written in the junior year, the senior year, or either year. Supervision of theses would be undertaken at departmental discretion and could be done individually, in small groups, in a seminar, etc.

SHIFT FROM DEPARTMENTS TO CURRICULAR "NODES"

The starting point of any serious restructuring of the curriculum must be the explicit acknowledgement that departments, as they are currently constituted, are vestigial structures whose purpose is to protect vested interests that inhibit serious reform and discourage creative research and teaching. To this end, the College should establish a series of new curricular clusters ("nodes") that would focus on areas in which significant new work is being done, to be reevaluated every five or six years. Faculty teaching in these nodes would have significantly reduced departmental responsibilities. Examples (these are only suggestive) might include: Art and Commerce; Biology and Information; Mind and Brain; Material Studies; Media and Culture; North/South; Cities; Global Studies.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY SOPHOMORE CORE COURSE

Fifteen or so students, with three professors from different disciplines, studying a common set of books from a "collective bookshelf" to which each department has submitted one book. There would be several different selections, each on a different theme, and the thinking would "transcend disciplinary frameworks."

REASSESSING THE EIGHT-SEMESTER RULE

We should reconsider the current policy that the maximum amount of time spent at Williams, barring the limited cases of student disability, be eight semesters. Students currently make up a deficiency not by staying at Williams longer, but rather by taking five courses in an ensuing semester or by taking a transferable course at another institution over the summer. Could these deficiencies be better made up at Williams through a Winter Study course specifically tailored to them, or by a ninth semester, or by some other means, such as summer work at Williams?

FOOD STUDIES: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM

Food Studies (a program) is the perfect subject for interdisciplinary study, and in fact Food Studies is largely defined by the disparate ways in which food is approached, with various perspectives contributing to our larger understanding. A program in Food Studies would enable students to take a sequence of courses in different departments that would result in an awareness of food as an important source of knowledge about different cultures and societies, as well as an effective focus for those interested in, for instance, development economics, eating disorders, and medicine.

THEMATICALLY ORGANIZED SEMINAR PROGRAM

A multi-year, multi-disciplinary thematically organized seminar program. Themes might include, among many possible others: Health, Cities, Technological Change, Justice in the World, etc. A new seminar program would begin each year and would last 5 years. The first year would be designed for faculty organizing the seminar program to plan the next four years, recruit new faculty from different departments, and recruit a body of interested students. Over the next four years, multiple seminars would be offered around the common theme, with the understanding that the students who participate take a certain percentage of them.

CREDIT ALLOTMENT

The current system for allotting credit (i.e. one class is one credit, regardless) does not reflect the vast student workload disparities, i.e. far more in class or out of class work is required in some classes than in others. Could professors list expected hours of work per week in the course catalog, and could these expected hours correlate to different amounts of credit?

WORKING CLUSTERS FOR FACULTY

Faculty should consider cross-discipline courses taught in course clusters by small groups of faculty. The model could be enhanced by renovation of Stetson into office groups of three or four, with a small lounge/meeting area including whiteboard, data and power jacks, bookcases, workspace, etc. Each faculty cluster would then apply to be assigned to a corresponding "cluster" of office spaces.

DIVERSIFICATION OF FACULTY AND STUDENT BODY

Our curriculum is most in need of change not anywhere in its structure per se, but in the composition of those who teach and learn within the curriculum. To this end, we should use the process of curricular innovation to allow us to substantially diversify our faculty and student bodies by hiring and admitting more faculty and students of color.

TEAM-TAUGHT "PODS"

Consider the development of a set of thematically-organized interdisciplinary courses, team-taught by professors and aimed at the sophomore class. These courses would provide a sort of course-based supplement to the entry system, organized around intellectual interests. Assuming the distributional requirements are still in place, enrollment could be encouraged by allowing one such course to count toward any of the three divisions.

THEATRE AND DANCE AS A LOCUS FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY LIBERAL ARTS

  1. A more intimate and formal relationship for theatre and dance, perhaps a new Department of Theatre and Dance?
  2. An extended curriculum devoted to the application of "new technologies" (e.g. computer graphics and design, video production and post-production, lighting and optics, etc.) in theatrical productions.
  3. An initiative to invite cutting edge theatre and dance companies to work in residence on new productions at Williams.
  4. An extension of Williams theatre into the summer, based on the successful models in the sciences, perhaps even a modest summer alumni theatre in which students would be apprenticed to alumni working as professionals in the performing arts.
  5. Continuing to merge and juxtapose scholarly study (history, criticism, and theory) with theatrical practice (acting, directing, design).

OCC SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

OCC summer internships, as well as summer research in all divisions, deserve further college subsidization and encouragement.

ADVISING SYSTEM

The whole ideology behind the current Williams system needs to be changed in that the relationship between advisor and advisee needs to be stressed more. Advising should occupy a more prominent role in a professor's job description, and the importance of advisors should be stressed even more to students. The advisory relationship should last all four years and beyond.

ELECTRONIC COURSES

Many of the curricular innovation suggestions will be instructor intensive, i.e. we may be suggesting a very significant increase in the size of the faculty to accommodate a particular innovative plan. In light of this, we should at least entertain the notion of offering a few very large courses that use few, if any, faculty teaching units. Certain web-based or CD-based courses could achieve this goal.

IMMERSION-STYLE LANGUAGE COURSES DURING WINTER STUDY

We should consider adding highly intensive, immersion-style language courses to the Winter Study curriculum. Successful completion of such courses might possibly allow acceleration of a student's progress through the language sequence. Such a program might necessitate a credit-hour system instead of the usual pass/fail Winter Study basis.

ADVANCED INTERDISCIPLINARY COURSES

Until a student understands several disciplines, it can be difficult for them to see interdisciplinary courses as different from a disciplinary topic. With this in mind, we should focus our efforts on developing more advanced interdisciplinary courses, courses which would require background in both subjects. Given this requirement, they would likely be quite small in size.

HALF COURSES

Many students have trouble selecting a major because they do not end up taking courses from a sufficiently large number of areas before they are forced to choose a major. "Half Courses," 6-week courses that would serve as an introduction to the discipline, would provide a substantially enhanced opportunity for students to sample the curriculum. Half courses would be as intense as regular Williams courses, but would only extend for half of the semester. Students would generally take four of these half courses in their first two semesters, but only one half course at a time.

OTHER COMMENTS AND GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

  • Class participation should count more toward a grade. This would ultimately foster greater participation.
  • Any possibility of creating a "liberal arts" core?
  • More credit for lab sciences due to more class hours?
  • What is the purpose of a "non-majors course" in a given Division?
  • Keep class sizes smaller.
  • Require students to actually meet the stated prerequisites for a course and resist enrollment pressures so that 300-level seminars can really function as advanced seminars.
  • More faculty-student interaction should be fostered outside of class.
  • Division of the day (read: athletics) leaves those students out of opportunities for faculty-student interaction.
  • Any student who wishes to write a senior thesis should be allowed to do so.
  • "Team-teaching" is as important as the interdisciplinary nature of a course.
  • Can Winter Study be made more academically "legitimate"?
  • Is there any merit to putting the results of SCS forms on-line, for all to see?
  • Can we consider optional mid-semester blue sheets?
  • Eliminate Hyphenated Courses -- there are only so many classes that can be taken at Williams. Why enforce the rigidity of having, for example, a 101 that must be followed by a 102?
  • None of our curricular innovation will work unless the college "counts" teaching and service in meaningful ways, especially if people are working more outside their disciplines and departments and also in light of increased research/publication pressures in recent years.
  • Check out the Wesleyan curricular reform website: http://www.wesleyan.edu/curricular-renewal/documents.htm
  • Pacific Lutheran Integrated Studies Program: http://www.plu.edu/print/catalog/intg.html
  • Athletics and Leadership Studies could collaborate more.
  • Transformation of Literary Studies to Comparative Literature.
  • Quality of individual faculty is unknown to students. How to remedy this?
  • Students find out about their selection into travel Winter Study courses too late, so late that the are unable to seize other Winter Study opportunities.
  • Access to online courses should be available from the online Course Catalog.
  • Williams offers several courses about fiction writing, but not enough about non-fiction writing.
  • 100-level courses in Drawing should be available to upperclass non-majors.
  • Creation of one hour (each day, each week?), named the "lecture hour," during which no classes are offered and no extracurriculars are allowed.
  • Few non-science higher level classes are offered in morning slots. It is therefore difficult for a non-science major (or some double majors) to take lab courses.
  • The point of the divisional requirement is to stretch people's minds, not to let them flee from new experiences. To this end, "non-major" courses in a particular division should be abolished.
  • CEP should create a few websites that stimulate discussion about teaching. Two examples might be a web page with suggestions about how to promote discussion in large classes (e.g. have class discussions on a listserver; split the third class of each week into smaller sections) or a web page with suggestions for improving the quality of discussion in a given class.
  • More focus on the interaction between Western and Non-western thought.
  • Current events/cultures required class.
  • Moral/ethical/service required class.
  • Expand the Political Economy program.
  • "A word of encouragement to express the hope that you will let students develop themselves and not develop the student according to a fixed model. This would not be in the spirit of a liberal arts education."
  • PE requirement should be eliminated.
  • There currently are no classes on the labor movement in the United States.
  • FRS should be expanded, but should not be made mandatory.
  • Consider offering a seminar or workshop for faculty on how to teach writing in courses that aren't traditional composition courses.
  • More classes should focus on only one or two texts for the entire semester.
  • More humanities classes should revisit texts from 101 courses in senior seminars or similar upper-level courses.
  • Look into Stanford's $1-billion drive to aid undergraduate education and creation of the Stanford Introductory Studies Program.
  • Required campus jobs or work days (a 19th Century throwback).
  • Advising senior theses: why is this not counted as part of the general teaching load?
  • Tutorials are a positive force, but some departments (particularly in Division III) should be allowed to deviate significantly from the "tutorial guidelines" in order to make these courses work better.
  • Support and promote WSP 099 projects.
  • Interdisciplinary work cannot be imposed on faculty members, but rather should rise organically from faculty from different disciplines who come together to try out new ideas. It is this latter practice that the College should support.
  • Why do we necessarily assume that the tutorial method, or "The Log" ideal is the best method of teaching? The role of other students, in addition to the professor and the student-learner, is also critical.

current CEP website

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