Ball state students may soon see drastic changes in the university core curriculum, including team-taught classes and a required immersion program for all students.
Wednesday's open forum on the proposed university core curriculum, led by task force student representatives Olufunmbi Elemo and Chris Kurtz, gave students a chance to give feedback on the plan.
The new core curriculum would be a three-tier system aimed at giving students more hands-on experience in core classes.
The first tier would incorporate both team teaching and seven fundamental subject areas. Professors and instructors of Fine Arts, Humanities and Natural and Social Sciences would combine forces to bring students several points of view on a subject.
"A course on the meaning of beauty, for example, could be taught by instructors of both art and architecture to approach that large topic from their specialized fields," Elemo said.
Tier two, which students could not start until they complete all courses from tier one, is intended to deepen students' understanding beyond the introductory level of a subject.
The third tier is a capstone or immersion course that would allow students to apply what they learned in tiers one and two.
"If students studied The City of Paris -- French, classics and art history -- in tier two, why not go to Paris and study in person during tier three?" Elemo said.
The task force is looking into adding month-long term in January or May that would meet for around five hours a day to accommodate the mandatory immersion courses. These courses would be required in addition to some majors' requirements for internships. However, there are always exceptions, Juli Eflin, chairwoman of the Core Curriculum Task Force, said.
"There can't be one immersion experience that works for everyone," Eflin said. "There have to be lots of options. You have to choose one that's right for you and your discipline."
According to the task force rules, the new curriculum could not increase tuition. Even if an extra term in January or May were implemented, tuition would have to remain the same, Eflin said.
The new core curriculum would involve the same number of credit hours -- 41 credits -- as the current system, Kurtz said.
The university plans to implement the new system in the Fall Semester of 2007 or 2008, Eflin said.
"With this new model, we are trying to shift what happens in the classroom," Eflin said. "Delivering content is just the starting point. As faculty, we need to teach students to take the content and use sound judgments from which they can act wisely in the world."
Students can view the proposed core curriculum and post comments on the web by visiting http://www.bsu.edu/academicaffairs/corecurriculum.
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