SMC Core Curriculum Course Proposal Form
Fall 2014
Electronically submit this course form and attachments to the Chair of the CCC by
October 1. Please submit a separate proposal for each desired learning goal.
1. Name of Proposer: Denise Witzig
2. Email address: dwitzig@stmarys-ca.edu
3. Department/Program of Proposer: Women’s and Gender Studies
4. Name of Department/Program housing the course: WGS
5. Name(s) of Program Director/Department Chair housing the course: Witzig
6. Course Acronym, Number and Title: 126
7. Proposal is for All Sections of the course: __x___
Proposal is for instructor’s section(s) (Engaging the World only): _____
8. Course Prerequisites (if any):
9. Unit Value of Course: 1
10. Mark with an X the Learning Goal for which the course is being proposed.
(Please submit a separate proposal for each desired goal.)
Pathways to Knowledge (at most one)
Artistic Understanding – Artistic Analysis only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Creative Practice only: ____
Artistic Understanding – Both Artistic Analysis and Creative Practice: ____
Mathematical Understanding: ____
Scientific Understanding: ____
Social, Historical, Cultural Understanding: ____
Christian Foundations: ____
Theological Explorations: ____
Engaging the World (as appropriate, generally zero to two)
American Diversity: ____
Common Good: __x__
Community Engagement: ___
Global Perspectives: ____
11. Expected Attachments:
a) Syllabus: Current course syllabus, expected to contain a course description
and learning outcomes. The course’s learning outcomes must include
coverage of the Learning Outcomes associated with the Core Curriculum
Learning Goal for which the course is being proposed.
b) Teaching and Learning: A narrative that explains how the course will guide
students toward achieving each Learning Outcome and how coursework
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(e.g., papers, exams, videotaped presentations) will be used to measure
student achievement of each Learning Outcome. Please address the outcomes
directly and one by one.
Additional Guidelines:
a) While courses and individual sections within courses may vary, the Core should
provide relatively consistent experiences. Thus our expectation is that each
section of a Pathway to Knowledge course will satisfy all the corresponding
learning outcomes. We also expect that the features of any syllabus submitted
are sufficiently generic to faithfully represent all sections of the course. The CCC
relies on department chairs and program directors to oversee a reasonable
degree of uniformity in how its courses address the learning outcomes.
b) We encourage departments and programs to develop courses so that an
Engaging the World goal can apply to all sections (in which case we will expect a
representative syllabus). We also welcome proposals from individual
instructors.
c) Any course approved for the Core must provide data for the assessment of Core
Curriculum learning goals at an institutional level. Via this proposal a
chair/program director agrees to oversee the submission of the student work
necessary for the assessment of the learning goals, and that his/her instructors
of Core courses will participate in assessment exercises, if asked. Similarly, if the
proposal is from an instructor, that individual agrees to oversee submission of
work from appropriate sections of their course.
d) (Legal and Logistical Workshop) Each instructor of a Community Engagement
(CE) course must participate in a workshop each year before the course is
taught. This workshop will outline the logistical and pedagogical support the
College will be providing to CE courses, as well as provide updates on any legal
or regulatory requirements of community-involved courses. At the workshops,
instructors will be provided information about legal and logistical paperwork
that must be completed by stated deadlines in order to ensure that each CE
course / experience can run safely and effectively.
e) (Pedagogical Workshops) Each instructor of a Community Engagement (CE)
course is required to have training in the pedagogy of Community Engagement.
Faculty who have studied the pedagogy of CE or taught such courses in the past
are invited to submit those experiences to the Community Engagement Working
Group as evidence of qualification. For faculty without previous CE experience
or training, CILSA provides regular workshops each semester that will assist the
instructor in integrating the community engagement learning outcomes into
their course. (These workshops are also available for faculty who wish a
refresher.)
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f) Faculty interested in determining whether a more permanent Engaging the
World designation is appropriate for their course may apply for a one-year
“provisional” designation. Please contact the chair of the CCC and/or chair of the
Working Group for details.
Proposal of Common Good Course for Core Curriculum
Denise Witzig, Director Women’s and Gender Studies
dwitzig@stmarys-ca.edu
WGS 126: Engaging Community
1 unit course
The following description addresses the rationale for this course, specifically within the
framework of the CCC’s learning goals for the Common Good.
WGS 126: Engaging Community was approved by the CCC in 2013-14 as a pilot course
and was taught in spring 2014 as a seminar in gender violence. It is intended as a core
requirement in service learning in Women’s and Gender Studies and, as does WGS 100,
will offer a variety of interdisciplinary approaches to issues in social justice related to
gender and sexuality. While the course topic and focus will change from year to year, the
pedagogical goals will remain consistent and in keeping with core curriculum
expectations and outcomes. Please see my syllabus for the course on gender violence
attached here. I’m also attaching a draft of the learning goals for Prof. Monica
Fitzgerald’s version of 126 on gender and electoral politics for spring 2015. The
descriptions listed below are intentionally broad to accommodate a variety of approaches
while adhering to CCC learning goals for the Common Good.
Learning goals:
As part of an engaged learning community, this course will encourage students to address
the common goals of our core curriculum to
● Reflect and write substantively on ways in which human beings find
fulfillment in community;
● Articulate in prose or through another communicative medium, a critical
account of just social order;
● Demonstrate a capacity for coherent, principled analysis of concrete social
problems.
In addition, within the discipline of Women’s and Gender Studies, students will
● Develop critical strategies to recognize and interpret intersections of gender, race,
ethnicity, sexuality and class in local and global contexts and address the ways in
which these conditions of identity are related to issues of social justice;
● Explore the connections between gender theories and practice in active
engagement with and service in behalf of community partners whose work
focuses on gender equity and justice;
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● Develop thoughtful and well-reasoned arguments in reading, writing about and
discussing gender and its relationship to a variety of issues in social justice in
local and global communities
Learning Outcomes: Student Learning
1. Reflecting and writing substantively on ways in which human beings find
fulfillment in community.
Throughout the semester, through their discussions, and assignments, students will orally
and through written assignments, critically reflect on their how gender equality connects
to the common good. How does challenging patriarchy liberate men and women to create
a more just society? How is feminism related to other non-dominant group experiences,
such as racism and homophobia. Students will reflect on their experience, using the
WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW WHAT model to examine the problem, explain its society
impact, and discuss potential solutions. Their end of semester self-reflection will require
them to integrate the course texts and themes, to come to a deeper understanding of the
cause of the problem, solutions, and their roles as responsible citizens. How are we all
connected to solving the social justice problem – and which local, regional, national and
international communities are needed to respond.
2. Articulating in prose or through another communicative medium, a critical
account of just social order.
In addition to their essays, students will write weekly critical reflections that connect the
texts and theory to offer a critical account of a more just social order. They must evaluate
their own civic responsibility, and that of the larger society. Through their assignments,
they will analyze the root of the problem, its core significance in American society, and
offer potential solutions. They will offer an evaluation of the role their service site plays
in addressing the issue, and what role, if any, other agencies, governments, and
individuals should play. In their self-evaluation they will analyze their experience in
order to answer questions such as: 1) What are the root problems of this issue? 2) How
does this social justice issue impact society? 3) How can they as citizens affect change?
4) What should be done?
3. Demonstrating a capacity for coherent, principled analysis of concrete social
problems.
Throughout the course, in students’ readings, service learning, class exercises and formal
assignments, they will be asked to critically analyze the “WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW
WHAT?” Which means, they will be expected to identify & explain the issue/experience
(WHAT); discuss its significance/relevance for individuals and the community (SO
WHAT); and then be able to articulate and substantiate what could be done and how the
issue/experience has impacted each of them individually (NOW WHAT), thereby
considering the common good both personally and socially. Their end of semester selfreflection will require them to integrate the course texts, the social justice issue, and their
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service experience to come to a deeper understanding of the cause of the problem,
solutions, and their roles.
http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/core-curriculum-committee