Faculty Core Guidelines by Category
VI. Humanities
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of the humanities in a core curriculum is to expand students' knowledge of the human condition and human cultures, especially in relation to behaviors, ideas, and values expressed in works of human imagination and thought. Through study in disciplines such as literature and philosophy students will engage in critical analysis, form aesthetic judgments, and develop an appreciation of the humanities as fundamental to the health and survival of any society.
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REQUIREMENTS:
- New courses approved for the core curriculum must be non-advanced courses except for substantiated reasons justified and approved on a course by course basis.
- The request must show how the course intends to meet the exemplary educational objectives, as set forth by the Coordinating Board. This shall be done by including a syllabus that addresses the appropriate objectives.
- To meet Coordinating Board requirements that core courses be evaluated, requests for new core courses must present processes and procedures for evaluating course effectiveness in regard to appropriate objectives and must delineate how the evaluations will be employed in course development.
Relevant guidelines derived from the CB's Criteria for Evaluation of Core Curricula appear below:
- How is the course consistent with the appropriate elements of the core curriculum component areas, intellectual competencies, and perspectives as expressed in "Core Curriculum: Assumptions and Defining Characteristics" adopted by the Board?
- How are the institution's educational goals and the exemplary educational objectives of the core curriculum recommended by the Board being achieved?
- What processes and procedures are being used to evaluate the course and its contribution to the core curriculum?
- How will the evaluation results be utilized to improve the course and its contribution to the core curriculum?
- The course must require substantial writing (at least 3,000 words, including at least one piece of work done outside of class and returned to the student prior to the end of the semester or term with the instructor's written evaluation of grammar, style, and content).
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EXEMPLARY EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:
- To demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
- To understand those works as expressions of individual and human values within an historical and social context.
- To respond critically to works in the arts and humanities.
- To articulate an informed personal reaction to works in the arts and humanities.
- To develop an appreciation for the aesthetic principles that guide or govern the humanities and arts.
- To demonstrate knowledge of the influence of literature, philosophy, and/or the arts on intercultural experiences.
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