Minutes
Curriculum Committee
Tuesday, December 3, 2002
Members: James
Swartz (Chair), Gerald Adams, Diane Robertson, Andy Hamilton, Jerry Lalonde,
Jake Omvig, and Devan McGranahan. Guest: Helen Scott
Agenda:
- The minutes
from the 11/19/02 meeting were approved.
- The revised
course proposal form was reviewed and approved.
- The committee
began a discussion of faculty compensation for independent study projects
other than MAPs. The focus of the discussion surrounded 297's, 387's, and
397's although it was noted that the faculty does engage in other independent
study projects such as internships and plus-2's. Helen Scott shared with the
committee her experiences with independents over the last ten years. Her general
impression is that there is a lot of variety in what faculty and students
do together for an independent project. Except for looking at a minimum amount
of contact between student and instructor and the general structure of the
proposed outcome, she cannot really examine much more about the merits of
the proposed project. The merits are left in the hands of the faculty sponsoring
the project. She does make certain that the students rather than the faculty
member is writing the proposal. There is always a wide range of proposals.
For example, Individual reading projects can vary not only by department but
can also by faculty within the same department. It is hard to quantify any
independent project. What factors would one use to quantify an independent
in regard to giving faculty teaching credit? How does one determine the number
of student credits to give to an independent? How many independents would
be equivalent to a course? How can one translate the size and scope of a project
into a specific number of student credits/teaching credits? For some faculty
the preparation for an Individual reading is equivalent to the preparation
for a class. Everyone agreed that both student time and faculty time are limited
and that independent projects are important for both students and faculty.
There is no question that the college values these types of projects because
we are willing to offer them for credit. The committee will continue this
discussion second semester. The Dean and Associate Dean will bring some data
to the committee next semester on the nature and number of independents done
at Grinnell over the past several years.
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