Extra-disciplinary Seminar Guidelines
The portions in bold have been highlighted as elements that faculty need to consider in
designing the course.
According to the General Education Plan:
3. Extra-disciplinary Seminar (200 level)
This course expands a student’s experience beyond the major by exploring a common theme from
other perspectives. Each instructor will develop a unique course that reflects the common theme.
Other attributes of this course shall be:
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Mandatory for all undergraduate students who have completed a transitions experience;
Students may fulfill this requirement during the Sophomore/P2 or Junior/P3 years;
Addresses the Critical and Creative Thinking general education learning outcome and
one other general education learning outcome of the instructor’s choice;
The student shall place qualifying artifacts that this course generates in his or her portfolio;
Shall be outside the student’s college or division (in the case of Arts & Sciences majors);
Class size shall be restricted to 18 students per section;
Explores a common theme as recommended by the General Education Committee and
selected by the faculty. All seminars shall address the theme in some way;
Pedagogy must include active learning;
All members of the faculty may submit proposals for Extra-Disciplinary Seminars to the
General Education Committee for approval;
The Extra-disciplinary Seminar may satisfy other requirements of degree programs that the
colleges establish.
Theme: Globalization
Learning Outcomes:
To create a standardized outcome for all of our sophomore and junior students, the General
Education Committee recommends that the course include a written assignment as one of
the two artifacts. This written assignment should have at least one substantive revision
process to improve the written communication process.
1. Critical and Creative Thinking:
2. One other learning outcome: The General Education Committee has limited the
Extra-disciplinary Seminar to only TWO total outcomes: Critical and Creative
Thinking and one other outcome of the instructor’s choice.
Active Learning Pedagogy:
What constitutes active learning can be a somewhat confusing and elusive topic.
The following links are meant to help define and provide examples of creative assignments
and activities that include active learning. According to Bonwell 1, active learning in the
college classroom is characterized by:
There is less emphasis placed on information transmission and greater emphasis
placed on developing student skills;
There is greater emphasis placed on the exploration of attitudes and values;
Student motivation is increased (especially for adult learners);
Students can receive immediate feedback from their instructor; and
Students are involved in higher order thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
In summary, in the context of the college classroom, active learning involves students in doing
things and thinking about the things they are doing.
Some common active learning activities include service learning projects, group
discussions, role plays, journals, and online discussion board.
Additional ideas of active learning activities can be found at these websites:
http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/
http://bioeducate.ascb.org/activelearning.html
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cts=1330901166
729&ved=0CEUQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fctl.fsu.edu%2Fexplore%2Fonlineresources
%2Fdocs%2FChptr8.pdf&ei=Ue9TT_S5F8bUgAfF3sjXDQ&usg=AFQjCNGMzkFBt2hCV5mE3
jRmdzcYFMennw
http://oir.fod.msu.edu/oir/TeachingMethods/active-learning.asp
1
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?hl=en&q=http://www.ydae.purdue.edu/lct/hbcu/d
ocuments/Active_Learning_Creating_Excitement_in_the_Classroom.pdf&sa=X&scisig=AAGB
fm0LzBlPxIdLdm89bnvkOogwcMQClg&oi=scholarr