Describing and Evaluating Curriculum by Identifying Skills, Goals, Experiences, Content and Values Mary Savina Department of Geology, Carleton College Visiting Workshop Program,

Predicting the future: What will the next 15 years hold in geoscience and geoscience education? More interested in applications More collaboration Different and broader career paths More societal relevance More complex data management tasks (from Beyond Earth System Science - Kip Hodges, 2007)Beyond Earth System Science - Kip Hodges, 2007 Visiting Workshop Program,

Trends in Higher Education Changing nature of the student body, Change in what it means to be an “educated person,” Emphasis on skills and habits of mind rather than content, Recognizing learning outside the classroom, A more cohesive and coherent first year experience, a capstone. (thanks to Chico Zimmerman, Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching, Carleton College) Visiting Workshop Program,

Thinking About Curriculum – Model #1 Emphasizing individual course titles and content: –Introductory geology (audience) –Specialized geoscience courses OR Visiting Workshop Program,

Thinking About Curriculum - Model #2 Emphasizing sequence and student intellectual development – –What are good second level courses? –What work as advanced courses? –What should students carry from one class to the next? OR Visiting Workshop Program,

Thinking About Curriculum – Model #3 – Identifying: Skills –Geoscience-specific –General Experiences Goals Values “Threshold concepts” (Randy Bass, Georgetown University) – (What are the central ideas from geoscience that are important to all students (majors and non- majors))? Other Content Visiting Workshop Program,

First fundamental question What do you want your (seniors, graduates, alumni) to be able to do? First exercise: Defining goals, values, experiences, skills, knowledge (about 20 minutes of independent/small group work followed by 20 minutes of post-it organizing and reporting out). Visiting Workshop Program,

Photos: Tim Vick and Craig McCaa

Obstacles and challenges on the way Scott Bair, Ohio State University: Advancing By RetreatingScott Bair, Ohio State University: Advancing By Retreating Other comments from this group: Visiting Workshop Program,

Photos: Tim Vick

Second fundamental question: Where in the curriculum (or co-curriculum) do students get these skills, experiences, etc.? A matrix approach to curricular design Using the curricular map Exercise 2 Mapping curriculum and identifying where in curriculum experiences, goals, etc. are situated (about 20 minutes of independent and small group work on the maps and matrix). Visiting Workshop Program,

Google Earth; Library of Congress, Historic Buildings Survey (wikimedia)

So – where do they get these skills? Visiting Workshop Program, This matrix concept has been used by the geology departments at Carleton and at College of William & Mary, as well as by other Carleton departments.

Another version of the general matrix Visiting Workshop Program,

A breakdown of one category Visiting Workshop Program, A = always; S = sometimes

More fundamental questions How can a department design (or modify) a curriculum that is true to its department and institutional values, takes advantage of its geological setting, and focuses on the goals, content, skills and experiences that students should have? How can such a curriculum be made flexible enough to respond to trends in geoscience and higher ed? How can such a curriculum be described and assessed? Visiting Workshop Program,

Thinking about assessment Use the capstone projects –Subjects and methods –Sources and experiences Use the department review process Check in with alumni Evaluate the course content Visiting Workshop Program,

Managing the department discussion – barriers and obstacles Identify principles and broadest learning objectives Identify skills, experiences, goals, values, threshold concepts, content areas Diagram or map structure of the major – as it is Identify the curricular (or co-curricular) locations of the skills, etc. Affirm (or at least acknowledge) perennial debates Check in with institutional and broader higher ed priorities Repeat more often than you think you need Visiting Workshop Program,

Connecting with institutional initiatives Importance of cross-cutting skills – not just “general education,” but also in major Quantitative reasoning, Writing Across the Curriculum, visuality, academic civic engagement, ethics, sustainability.... (Carleton has between eight and twenty, depending on who is counting) Visiting Workshop Program,