terms, practices, and outcomes
What connections
do we make?
What about those
connections is
meaningful?
across courses
through reflection
linked to the world
Major as not in the center?
Many connections, vertical as well as horizontal
Connections annotated
Major more integrated with gen ed
Gen ed qualities rather than courses
Role of the personal life
How People Learn
•Transfer
•Prior Knowledge
•Novices and Experts
•Mental Maps
•Contextualized Practice
•Explicitness
•Meta-cognition/
Reflection
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









Meta-cognition
Account of process
Account of learning
Synthesis: making knowledge
Exploration
The development of a theory
Connection of prior and new knowledge
Connection of the prior and the new in the context of the
new
Self-assessment generally
Self-assessment in terms of outcomes
Goal-setting
Other . . .
ENGLISH
These guidelines include: an
interdisciplinary component to the class
that encourages students to draw links
between more than one discipline;
a reflective component that encourages
students to reflect critically on the
integration of their education; and
a real-world component that encourages
students to consider how the skills they
have learned as English majors translate
into other contexts.
History 397X
Ideas that Changed History: An Integrative Course
UMass Amherst, Fall 2011
Course Description.
This class is about history—how we conceptualize it, how we write it, how we use
it. The class is not about a specific time or place but is about the nature of history
in general. Some of the questions that will arise in the class about the discipline of
history are:
•Why do humans in general take an interest in history?
•Why do people in some societies take more of an interest in history than in other
societies?
•How relevant is history to understanding and solving important problems in the
world today?
•What kind of problems lies outside the scope of history?
•Is the study of history a science or an art?
•How has the study of history changed since the eighteenth century—what is the
history of history?
•How does history relate to other disciplines such as economics and philosophy?
The class fulfills the General Education Integrative Experience
Requirement.
•How has your basic vision of history been shaped by specific
courses you have taken in your history major?
•Has your work in history been affected by your other General
Education courses?
•If you have not yet thought of how your Gen Ed courses (other than
HS) can relate to your major, how can you better connect these dots
before you graduate?
•History is generally not regarded as a “career track major—but
how can you relate history to your intended professional goals?
(1) Students will be asked to describe
past Gen Ed and past history
courses and to reflect on the
implicit or explicit methodologies
of those courses.
(2) Students will give oral reports and
do collaborative work.
(3) Each student will be asked to link
the study of history to a real world
problem that interests them. They
will research the problem and
selectively apply their prior
historical and Gen Ed learning in
this project.
Sport Management
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Students will apply critical thinking skills
and academic concepts to the development
of strategic responses to real-world
problems (IE Criterion Three);
Students will reflect on their career goals
and expectations, knowledge and skills
developed through their sport management
major, and Gen Ed learning experiences (IE
Criterion One);
Students will practice research, writing, and
communication skills as they evaluate
business situations and develop and support
alternative solutions (IE Criterion Two);
Students will work effectively as a team to
identify and reach project goals (IE
Criterion Two); and
Students will apply and synthesize their
prior work in the major through application
to “real world” issues (IE Criterion Three).
Geosciences
Proposing a new 3 credit, multi-instructor, multi-theme,
discussion-based seminar on the physical and human
dimensions of real world problems in the fall, followed
by a new 1 credit faculty- supervised individual project
in the spring, to be presented at an end-of-year research
symposium. Students will center their IE experience on
applying what they have learned at UMass to addressing
real-life environmental issues. The fall seminar will be
focused on one or two issues (chosen each year by the
instructors) which are current, critical, well-defined, and
capable of being "solved," "mitigated," or "assessed" by
an interdisciplinary team of geologists, earth systems
scientists, and geographers. The spring semester will
provide students a supervised opportunity to explore an
issue in more depth. This project will culminate in a
presentation at a departmental student research
symposium.
Anthropology
The initial IE offering in Anthropology
will be a modification of an existing class
“Alternative Spring Break: Wampanoag
Indigenous Program.” The course will
integrate the Gen Ed learning objectives
of critical thinking and taking
interdisciplinary perspectives with the
Anthropological learning objectives of
reflection, community engagement, and
the application of theory and methods.
In addition, students will learn and
practice oral communication within the
community and present to the annual
Native Studies Symposium.
COMMON THEMES
multiple contexts
connections across contexts
linkage to the world (another context)
questions arising from this exploration
the public/the world/audience
EXPLORATION?
ANSWERS/THEORIES?
FINDINGS?
ANTICIPATIONS?
DIALOGIC?
CLAIMS?
EVIDENCE: TYPES?
THE PERSONAL?
EXAMPLES?
MODELS?
DESIGNING IE
OUTCOMES (3 criteria)
INFORMAL ASSIGNMENTS (prior: where have they been?)
FORMAL ASSIGNMENTS (bringing what together?)
(LINK BETWEEN THE TWO?)
THE ROLE OF AUDIENCE
CRITERIA?
MODELS (academic, public)
terms, practices, and outcomes