web viewuntil fall 2012, the collegiate seminar program consisted of four chronologically sequential...

TO: Beth Dobkin, Provost

FROM: Valerie Burke, ChairAcademic Senate

DATE: March 30, 2015

RE: Senate Action S-14/15-38CANew Course Approvals:Collegiate Seminar 001, Critical Strategies and Great QuestionsCS 002, Western Traditions ICS 102, Western Traditions I for Transfers Students

At the March 25, 2015 meeting of the Academic Senate, the attached new course proposals for Collegiate Seminar 001, 002 and 102 were approved on the Consent Agenda. The proposals were unanimously approved by the Undergraduate Educational Policies Committee (UEPC) at its March 9, 2015 meeting by a vote of 8-0-0. All documents related to this proposal can be viewed at the UEPC website (http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/faculty-governance/undergraduate-educational-policies-committee-uepc/agendas.)

This action was assigned Senate Action #S-14/15-38CA.

Attachments

cc: President James A. Donahue Vice Provost Richard Carp

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New Course ProposalCollegiate Seminar 001: Critical Strategies and Great Questions

1. List School, Department, course number and course titleDepartment, School Affiliation: Collegiate Seminar Program, Undergraduate CollegeCourse Number: CS 001Course Title: Critical Strategies and Great Questions

2. Justification for the course

Context for course submission The course is the first in the required four-course sequence of the Collegiate Seminar Program, a required component of the undergraduate graduation experience for all students, classified under the Habits of Mind area of the Core.

Until Fall 2012, the Collegiate Seminar Program consisted of four chronologically sequential required courses (Greek Thought; Roman, Early Christian, and Medieval Thought; Renaissance and Early Eighteenth-Century Thought: and Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Thought) and two additional elective courses, Multi-Cultural Thought and World Traditions. The recurring issues addressed within the Seminar Program concerned text selection and the best way to insure that teachers were truly discussion leaders, conducting their classes as shared inquiries into the issues posed by the texts. The Program was primarily concerned with structuring a certain kind of classroom experience for students, and in service to that goal focused its attention on texts and teachers.

Prior program reviews had raised questions about learning outcomes, especially as related to writing development. Though there was also some question about how the outcomes were achieved within and across sections, no follow up work was conducted to redesign outcomes at that time.

Beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, and in conjunction with Core Curriculum reform, the Seminar Program inaugurated a new curriculum, one organized primarily around learning objectives and student experience. The curriculum revisions capture the spirit of the SMC Core to be “developmental” and “integrated.” The Collegiate Seminar offers the majority of courses in the first of three Core areas, Habits of Mind. To better prepare students for the experience of Seminar, the first Collegiate Seminar course was moved to the spring semester so that students could adjust to college life, guided by the FYAC experience, and already have completed one course in composition, English 4.

Justification for Collegiate Seminar 001 The learning outcomes for Seminar fall under four headings, Critical Thinking, Shared Inquiry, Written and Oral Communication, and Seminar-Specific Outcomes. Learning outcomes are scaffolded across four courses, one of which will be taken each year.

COLLEGIATE SEMINAR LEARNING OUTCOMESSeminar Specific Learning Outcomes: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:

1. Understand, analyze, and evaluate challenging texts from different genres and periods. 2. Comprehend the intellectual threads that connect works both backward and forward through history.3. Relate the works studied to their own experience and to notions of authentic humanity.4. Reflect on prior knowledge and assess one’s own process of learning.

CRITICAL THINKINGCritical thinking within Seminar is grounded on the processes of analysis, synthesis and evaluation necessary to read with understanding. Through careful reading, listening, and reflection, which lead to a solid

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understanding of the texts, critical thinking allows students to make perceptive insights and connections between texts, Seminars and ultimately their life experiences. Critical thinking within Seminar also includes skills that allow for sound judgments to be made when multiple, competing viewpoints are possible. Seminar is a place where reading critically is transformed and integrated into a habit of mind, providing students with the tools to question the authority of the text and the foundations of their own assumptions. In short, critical thinking allows students to recognize, formulate and pursue meaningful questions, which are not only factual but also interpretive and evaluative, about the ideas of others as well as their own.

Critical Thinking Learning Outcomes: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to: 1. Distinguish the multiple senses of a text (literal and beyond the literal).2. Identify and understand assumptions, theses, and arguments that exist in the work of authors. 3. Evaluate and synthesize evidence in order to draw conclusions consistent with the text. Seek and identify confirming and opposing evidence relevant to original and existing theses.4. Ask meaningful questions and originate plausible theses. 5. Critique and question the authority of texts, and explore the implications of those texts.

WRITTEN AND ORAL COMMUNICATIONA mind is not truly liberated until it can effectively communicate what it knows. Thus the Collegiate Seminar Program seeks to develop strong written and oral communication skills in its students. Students will develop skills that demonstrate an understanding of the power of language to shape thought and experience. They will learn to write and speak logically, with clarity, and with originality, and grow in their intellectual curiosity through the process of writing.

Written and Oral Communication Learning Outcomes: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:1. Recognize and compose readable prose, as characterized by clear and careful organization, coherent paragraphs and well-constructed sentences that employ the conventions of Standard Written English and appropriate diction.2. Recognize and formulate effective written and oral communication, giving appropriate consideration to audience, context, format, and textual evidence.3. Analyze arguments so as to construct ones that are well supported (with appropriate use of textual evidence), are well reasoned, and are controlled by a thesis or exploratory question.4. Use discussion and the process of writing to enhance intellectual discovery and unravel complexities of thought.

SHARED INQUIRYShared inquiry is the act of reasoning together about common texts, questions, and problems. It is a goal of Collegiate Seminar to advance students’ abilities to develop and pursue meaningful questions in collaboration with others, even in the context of confusion, paradox, and/or disagreement. Through the habits of shared inquiry students will carefully consider and understand the perspectives and reasoned opinions of others, reconsider their own opinions, and develop rhetorical skills.

Shared Inquiry Learning Outcomes: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:1. Advance probing questions about a common text or other objects of study.2. Pursue new and enriched understandings of the texts through sustained collaborative inquiry. 3. Reevaluate initial hypotheses in light of evidence and collaborative discussion with the goal of making considered judgments.4. Engage in reflective listening and inclusive, respectful conversation.

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Course design began with these learning outcomes. The courses still base student achievement on participation (50%) and writing (50%), but these two broad areas now are defined through the assignments relating to the four categories of learning outcomes. Likewise, the design still attends to the texts, but also is more intentional about the methods and pedagogies necessary to achieve the outcomes, by students and instructors alike.

Thus, this first course in the sequence, taken by first-year students in the spring, focuses on Critical Strategies and Great Questions. Classroom discussions center on texts, but the course also addresses in a deliberate way skills important for serious discussion, successful shared inquiry, and clear expression, and so classes include such things as discussions of the learning goals, brief writing exercises, instruction in annotating texts, and exercises in accurate and respectful listening.

The readings were chosen and arranged primarily to support the students in achieving the course’s learning outcomes; thus while they include canonical texts such as the “Declaration of Independence” and Homer’s Odyssey, they also include such accessible and immediately intriguing readings as Ursula LeGuin’s “Those Who Walk Away from Omelas” and Sherman Alexie’s “What You Pawn I Will Redeem.” The sequence of readings is designed to lead to the acquisition of skills fundamental to seminar, particularly those listed under “Critical Thinking” and “Shared Inquiry” (for the Seminar 1 catalog descriptions and full reading schedule see Appendix B.)

In Seminar 1, the writing requirements are also deliberately chosen and sequenced. Students are required to write three essays, the first two of which are exercises in textual analysis, requiring students to read closely, write clearly, and support their positions with textual references. Finally, the students write a self-reflection, in which they comment on their progress toward mastery of the Seminar’s learning outcomes. Thus students are required to evaluate their own learning in detail and to continue to practice the critical thinking skills the Seminar emphasizes.

3. Student PopulationThis course is required of all undergraduate, first-year students, in their spring semester. There are approximately 35 sessions each year.

4. Relationship to present College curriculum

This course is part of the Habits of Mind Core requirements, along with three other collegiate seminar courses, two composition courses, and an upper division writing course in the discipline.

5. Any extraordinary implementation costs

Not in terms of course materials. It should be noted, however, that the Collegiate Seminar Program has instituted a new faculty orientation and training program for the new curriculum. This program, called "Formation" is required of all faculty prior to teaching in the new courses. It is in its third iteration, and now consists primarily of online training and classroom visits and reflection. Faculty complete "modules" related to the skills and learning outcomes expected of students.

6. Library Resources See attached library review by Sharon Walters.

7. Course credit and grading options

The course meets 195 minutes per week, for 1.00 credit. 8. Prerequisites, corequisites (If applicable)

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There are no prerequisites per se. The course assumes that students have completed English 4, although some have completed 3, not 4. It also assumes students are enrolled in the FYAC program.

9. Course description wording for the appropriate College catalog

Seminar 1 Critical Strategies and Great QuestionsThis first seminar develops the skills of critical thinking, critical reading and writing, and shared inquiry that are foundational to the Collegiate Seminar Program. Students learn strategies for engaging with a diversity of texts, asking meaningful questions about them, and effectively participating in collaborative discussions regarding them. Reading and writing assignments are specifically designed to support students’ gradual development of these strategies and skills. The reading list is current but subject to modification. From some texts selections are read.

10. Course content: Reading ListPlato, “Allegory of the Cave”LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”Woolf, “How Should One Read a Book?”Al Ghazali, “Manners to be Observed by Teachers

and Students” Seneca, “Moral Epistle #88” Supreme Court, Korematsu v. the United States (1944)Alexie, “What You Pawn I Will Redeem”Martin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”Thucydides, “Mytilenian Debate,” “The Melian Dialogue”Johnson, “Melvin in the 6th Grade”Genesis 22Ptolemy, AlmagestBrome Abraham and Isaac Cervantes, “The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious”Galileo, The Starry MessengerMo Tzu, “On Universal Love”Matthew 5 –7, “Sermon on The Mount”Carson, Silent SpringSpiegelman, Maus Epictetus, The Handbook (The Encheiridion)Sophocles, AntigoneAristotle, Nicomachean EthicsHomer, The Odyssey

Sample Syllabi and Class Plans (attached) 1) José Feito syllabus F20122) Rashaan Meneses syllabus F20123) Eleen Rigsby Class Plan F2012

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New Course Proposal

Collegiate Seminar 002: Western Tradition I

1. List School, Department, course number and course title

Department, School Affiliation: Collegiate Seminar Program, Undergraduate College

Course Number: CS 002

Course Title: Western Tradition I


Context for course submission

The course is the second in the required four-course sequence of the Collegiate Seminar Program, a required component of the undergraduate graduation experience for all students, classified under the Habits of Mind area of the Core.



Beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, and in conjunction with Core Curriculum reform, the Seminar Program inaugurated a new curriculum, one organized primarily around learning objectives and student experience. The curriculum revisions capture the spirit of the SMC Core to be “developmental” and “integrated.” The Collegiate Seminar offers the majority of courses in the first of three Core areas, Habits of Mind. To better prepare students for the experience of Seminar, the first Collegiate Seminar course was moved to the spring semester so that students could adjust to college life, guided by the FYAC experience, and already have completed one course in composition, English 4.

Justification for Collegiate Seminar 002

The learning outcomes for Seminar fall under four headings, Critical Thinking, Shared Inquiry, Written and Oral Communication, and Seminar-Specific Outcomes. Learning outcomes are scaffolded across four courses, one of which will be taken each year.


1. Understand, analyze, and evaluate challenging texts from different genres and periods.

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2. Comprehend the intellectual threads that connect works both backward and forward through history.3. Relate the works studied to their own experience and to notions of authentic humanity.4. Reflect on prior knowledge and assess one’s own process of learning.

CRITICAL THINKINGCritical thinking within Seminar is grounded on the processes of analysis, synthesis and evaluation necessary to read with understanding. Through careful reading, listening, and reflection, which lead to a solid understanding of the texts, critical thinking allows students to make perceptive insights and connections between texts, Seminars and ultimately their life experiences. Critical thinking within Seminar also includes skills that allow for sound judgments to be made when multiple, competing viewpoints are possible. Seminar is a place where reading critically is transformed and integrated into a habit of mind, providing students with the tools to question the authority of the text and the foundations of their own assumptions. In short, critical thinking allows students to recognize, formulate and pursue meaningful questions, which are not only factual but also interpretive and evaluative, about the ideas of others as well as their own.




SHARED INQUIRYShared inquiry is the act of reasoning together about common texts, questions, and problems. It is a goal of Collegiate Seminar to advance students’ abilities to develop and pursue meaningful questions in collaboration with others, even in the context of confusion, paradox, and/or disagreement. Through the habits of shared inquiry students will carefully consider and understand the perspectives and reasoned opinions of others,

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reconsider their own opinions, and develop rhetorical skills.


As with the first Collegiate Seminar course, course design for CS 002 began with these learning outcomes. The course still bases student achievement on participation (50%) and writing (50%), but these two broad areas now are defined through the assignments relating to the four categories of learning outcomes. Likewise, the design still attends to the texts, but also is more intentional about the methods and pedagogies necessary to achieve the outcomes, by students and instructors alike.

This second course in the sequence, taken by second-year students in the fall focuses on the great works of the Western Tradition. The list includes selections from the readings previously required in "Greek Thought” and “Roman, Early Christian, and Medieval Thought” as well as readings chosen for their appropriateness in fostering the learning goals.

It is important to note that this course is not intended to be a "return to old seminar." As with the first seminar, classroom discussions center on texts, but the course also addresses in a deliberate way the developmental nature of the skills important for serious discussion, successful shared inquiry, and clear expression. It is still expected that class time be dedicated to conversations about how the course is going, how the group is doing, as well as the text-based discussions.

In these Seminars, the primary focus is on discussion of the texts. To advance the developmental nature of the curriculum, however, instructors also incorporate activities that reinforce the lessons of the first Seminar – brief writing exercises, discussion of learning objectives, peer observations by students.

The writing requirements for this course mirrors and builds upon those of Seminar 1. Students write textual analyses and, at the end of each course, a reflection on their own progress toward mastery of the learning objectives. The instructors have access to their students’ prior self-reflections, and thus can track their students’ progress through the Seminar sequence. The writing requirements form a developmental progression across the four courses of the sequence

3. Student Population

This course is required of all undergraduate, second-year students, in their fall semester. There are approximately 35 sections each year.




Not in terms of course materials. It should be noted, however, that the Collegiate Seminar Program has instituted a new faculty orientation and training program for the new curriculum. This program, called "Formation" is required of all faculty prior to teaching in the new courses. It is in its third iteration, and now consists primarily of online training and classroom visits and reflection. Faculty complete "modules" related to the skills and learning outcomes expected of

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students.

6. Library Resources

See attached Library Review by Sharon Walters.


The course meets 195 minutes per week, for 1.00 credit.

8. Prerequisites, corequisites (If applicable)

CS 001

Presumably students will also have completed English 4 and 5, though there are some exceptions.


Seminar 2 Western Tradition IEmploying and building upon the strategies of critical thinking, critical reading, and shared inquiry learned in the first seminar, students will read, write about and discuss a selection of classical, early Christian and medieval texts from the Western tradition. The reading list is current but subject to modification. From some texts, selections are read.

10. Course content: Reading List

Gospel parablesSappho (selections)Aeschylus, The OresteiaThucydides, History of the Pelopennesian War Euclid, GeometryPlato, MenoAristotle, Nicomachean EthicsTerence, The BrothersLucretius, On the Nature of the UniverseVirgil, Georgics Plutarch, CoriolanusAugustine, ConfessionsHildegard, Scivias Boethius, On the Consolation of Philosophy, bk 1Marie de France, Nightingale, et al.Dante, PurgatorioChaucer, The Canterbury Tales

Sample syllabus #1 (Sweeney)

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Collegiate Seminar 002: Western Tradition I

Fall 2014 Dr. Frances M. Sweeney

Dante 203 Office: Dante 332

MWF 9:15- 10:20 Phone: 925.631.4443

Office hours: MW 11:45 – 1 Email: [email protected]

and by appointment

Course Overview

Welcome to Collegiate Seminar! Since 1941, Seminar has been at the core of the academic experience of Saint Mary’s students. It will introduce you not only to great texts and authors, but also to a method of reading as a group and building an understanding of texts through careful reading, discussion, and writing. Our task is to read each work carefully and to enrich our understanding of it by shared inquiry, discussion and oral and written analysis and reflection.

This is the second of your student-centered seminars. All seminars are participatory learning environments where we all work together to learn. At the most basic level, a good discussion depends on everyone coming to class prepared: having read and thought about the material. It also depends upon our ability to be good, respectful listeners. All ideas are welcome at the discussion table. We are here to learn from, and to encourage each other to see more than we would have seen alone, and to ask questions we may not have thought to ask in reading alone. As a reading community, you are, then, responsible for each other’s experience of both the text and the discussion. Please remember that the conversation is yours. Try to ask questions not only of the text, but also of each other, in the spirit of understanding better each contribution, thought, and interpretation.

Learning Outcomes

These are the program outcomes:

Critical Thinking: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:

a Distinguish the multiple senses of a text (literal and beyond the literal).b Identify and understand assumptions, theses, and arguments that exist in the work of authors.c Evaluate and synthesize evidence in order to draw conclusions consistent with the text. Seek and identify confirming

and opposing evidence relevant to original and existing theses.d Ask meaningful questions and originate plausible theses. e Critique and question the authority of texts, and explore the implications of those texts.

Written and Oral Communication: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:

a Recognize and compose readable prose, as characterized by clear and careful organization, coherent paragraphs and well-constructed sentences that employ the conventions of Standard Written English and appropriate diction.

b Recognize and formulate effective written and oral communication, giving appropriate consideration to audience, context, format, and textual evidence.

c Analyze arguments so as to construct ones that are well supported (with appropriate use of textual evidence), are well reasoned, and are controlled by a thesis or exploratory question.

d Use discussion and the process of writing to enhance intellectual discovery and unravel complexities of thought.

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Shared Inquiry: As a result of their participation in the Collegiate Seminar Program, students will grow in their ability to:

a Advance probing questions about a common text or other objects of study.b Pursue new and enriched understandings of the texts through sustained collaborative inquiry.c Reevaluate initial hypotheses in light of evidence and collaborative discussion with the goal of making considered

judgments.d Engage in reflective listening and inclusive, respectful conversation.

Course requirements

I) Class Participation............................................................................................. 50%

Students will be graded on both the quantity and the quality of their responses to the text, and to each other, as we weave the strands of a real, meaningful, and exciting conversation. I will keep careful track of your classroom participation. We will talk about the grading process for seminar participation as we go along and it will be more fully explained in a separate handout.

The following two kinds of writing will also contribute to your overall participation grade. There will be a penalty for any missed assignments:

1) Peer and self evaluations: Students will be complete periodic evaluations of themselves and their peers relating the learning outcomes and CS modules to our ongoing work. These will be graded on a credit/no-credit basis.

2) In-class written observations: We will use reflective writing as a way of thinking during class session. These are short free writes on a prompt. The prompts will ask you to reflect upon the readings, and our discussions, in an “off-the-cuff” manner. Sometimes this kind of writing will take place before our discussions, sometimes in the middle as an extension of discussion, and sometimes afterwards as a synthesis.

II) Writing assignments................................................................................ 50%

1) Exploratory writing (daily). The purpose of exploratory writing is to improve your writing skills in an informal setting and to stimulate thinking about issues, questions and problems raised by our readings. This kind of writing lets you “think out loud” on paper (or a computer screen) without having to worry whether your writing is effective for readers. Although organization, correct sentence structure, neatness and spelling are less important, this is a great place to practice your writing. These will be both open-ended (you develop question and possible answer) and focused (I provide a prompt). When you free-write you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and write non-stop for a set period of time, usually ten minutes. You will receive more detailed tips on how to do this as I introduce these assignments.

These exploratory assignments will be due each class, as part of your preparation for class. They should be typed, with your name, the date, and reading assignment at the top of the page. We will often use our exploratory writing in some active way during our class sessions so you should always bring a copy with you to share with the class. (15% of the writing grade)

2) Textual Analysis Essays (3 across the semester). You will complete formal analytic essays based on the reading and discussions. The exploratory writing described above will include assignments that introduce essential seminar-related reading and writing skills over time. These will offer you the building blocks you will need to tackle a more formal analytic essay – one that asks you to form a focused thesis and carefully support it with a logical argument and evidence from the texts you are analyzing. We will focus on drafts, peer feedback, citation, and polishing a final version. We also use Turnitin.com for these essays. Details of each essay are forthcoming; due dates are September 22, October 20, and November 21. (27% of the writing grade)

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3) Written Self-Assessment (1). As we near the end of the term (weeks 13-15), I will ask you to think more carefully about how you have progressed in your reading, writing and discussion skills across this first semester. I will work with you to create a clear account of your strengths, weaknesses, challenges and triumphs. This account will enter an online database so that your future seminar instructors will be able to access it. We will begin by reading your self-assessment from Seminar 1. This self-assessment process will continue throughout your four semesters in the Collegiate Seminar Program and culminate in a reflection process in your senior year. Due date is December 10. (8% of the writing grade)

Attendance The attendance policy for the course is this: after three absences, for whatever reason, two points will be deducted, for each additional absence, from the total percentage points at the end of the term. Arriving late or leaving early will also be counted as an absence if it occurs regularly. In a course like this, each of us has different strengths, and areas for development. It is expected that you will come to class ready to share, listen, and engage thoughtfully, respecting each student's differences. There will be regular individual appointments to check-in on your progress in the course in all areas. You are also encouraged to stop in during office hours or make an individual appointment whenever you have a question or wish to discuss anything!

Class Conduct

You will have my undivided attention and respect at all times. I expect the same from you:

• Please turn off and stow cell phones, iPods, and all other portable electronic devices (just like on the airplane).

• You must have my approval if you wish to use a laptop or tablet computer in session. Please confer with me your reason for wanting to do so.

• Please make sure that everything that enters the classroom with you leaves with you or ends up in the trash can.

• Be respectful at all times in your verbal and body language.

Academic Integrity

This course operates under the premise of the Saint Mary's Academic Honor Code. The pledge states, "As a student member of an academic community based in mutual trust and responsibility, I pledge: to do my own work at all times, without giving or receiving inappropriate aid; to avoid behaviors that unfairly impede the academic progress of other members of my community; and to take reasonable and responsible action in order to uphold my community's academic integrity." (Academic Honor Code)

I am available to discuss any questions you might have about the policy. Please refer to the Student Handbook for full explanation of the code.

Additional Campus Services

Center for Writing Across the Curriculum. Students of all levels and disciplines are welcome to drop in or make appointments for one-on-one sessions with CWAC Writing Advisers. The Center, in Dante 202, is open 5-8 p.m. Sunday and 2-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The phone number is 925.631.4684.

Tutorial and Academic Skills Center. Students are welcome to seek additional help in any aspect of this course through the office of Tutoring and Academic Skills (SEAS). The offices are located in Augustine ground floor and Filippi Academic Hall.

Student Disability Services. Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take into account the context of the course and its essential elements, for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Director at (925) 631.4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services.

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New Course Proposal

Collegiate Seminar 102: Western Tradition I for Transfer Students

1. List School, Department, course number and course title

Department, School Affiliation: Collegiate Seminar Program, Undergraduate College

Course Number: CS 102

Course Title: Western Tradition I for Transfer Students


Context for course submission

The course is the first required course for transfer students. It is an equally important revised course for the new Collegiate Seminar curriculum.



Beginning in the 2012-2013 academic year, and in conjunction with Core Curriculum reform, the Seminar Program inaugurated a new curriculum, one organized primarily around learning objectives and student experience. The curriculum revisions capture the spirit of the SMC Core to be “developmental” and “integrated.” The Collegiate Seminar offers the majority of courses in the first of three Core areas, Habits of Mind. To better prepare students for the experience of Seminar, the first Collegiate Seminar course was moved to the spring semester so that students could adjust to college life, guided by the FYAC experience, and already have completed one course in composition, English 4. The second is taken in the fall of the second year, the third is taken either semester of the third year, and the fourth is taken either semester of the fourth year. This course is offered to transfer students who a) have met other lower division requirements such as composition and have b) need upper division status, typically entering as third-year students. For these students, they complete two, rather than four, collegiate seminar courses.

Justification for Collegiate Seminar 102

This revised course adheres to the same learning outcomes for the other revised seminar courses. The learning outcomes for Seminar fall under four headings, Critical Thinking, Shared Inquiry, Written and Oral Communication, and Seminar-Specific Outcomes. For transfer students, it is critical that the course attend to the developmental and integrative outcomes most assiduously, since they have not had the luxury of having the lower division sequence and for many, this is their first "shared inquiry" experience.

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1. Understand, analyze, and evaluate challenging texts from different genres and periods. 2. Comprehend the intellectual threads that connect works both backward and forward through history.3. Relate the works studied to their own experience and to notions of authentic humanity.4. Reflect on prior knowledge and assess one’s own process of learning.

CRITICAL THINKINGCritical thinking within Seminar is grounded on the processes of analysis, synthesis and evaluation necessary to read with understanding. Through careful reading, listening, and reflection, which lead to a solid understanding of the texts, critical thinking allows students to make perceptive insights and connections between texts, Seminars and ultimately their life experiences. Critical thinking within Seminar also includes skills that allow for sound judgments to be made when multiple, competing viewpoints are possible. Seminar is a place where reading critically is transformed and integrated into a habit of mind, providing students with the tools to question the authority of the text and the foundations of their own assumptions. In short, critical thinking allows students to recognize, formulate and pursue meaningful questions, which are not only factual but also interpretive and evaluative, about the ideas of others as well as their own.




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SHARED INQUIRYShared inquiry is the act of reasoning together about common texts, questions, and problems. It is a goal of Collegiate Seminar to advance students’ abilities to develop and pursue meaningful questions in collaboration with others, even in the context of confusion, paradox, and/or disagreement. Through the habits of shared inquiry students will carefully consider and understand the perspectives and reasoned opinions of others, reconsider their own opinions, and develop rhetorical skills.


As with the first Collegiate Seminar course, course design for CS 002 began with these learning outcomes. The course still bases student achievement on participation (50%) and writing (50%), but these two broad areas now are defined through the assignments relating to the four categories of learning outcomes. Likewise, the design still attends to the texts, but also is more intentional about the methods and pedagogies necessary to achieve the outcomes, by students and instructors alike.

It is important to note that this course is not intended to be a "return to old seminar." Classroom discussions center on texts, but the course also addresses in a deliberate way the developmental nature of the skills important for serious discussion, successful shared inquiry, and clear expression. It is still expected that class time be dedicated to conversations about how the course is going, how the group is doing, as well as the text-based discussions.

In these Seminars, the primary focus is on discussion of the texts. To advance the developmental nature of the curriculum, however, instructors also incorporate activities that reinforce the lessons of the first Seminar – brief writing exercises, discussion of learning objectives, peer observations by students.

The writing requirements for this course mirrors and builds upon those of other seminars. Students write textual analyses and, at the end of each course, a reflection on their own progress toward mastery of the learning objectives. This is more critical since it is the first time students are engaging in the process. Thus, much emphasis in this course is on the developmental nature of the course, and the reading list was designed with this in mind.

3. Student Population

This course is required of all transfer students. There are typically 3-5 sections per year.




Not in terms of course materials. It should be noted, however, that the Collegiate Seminar Program has instituted a new faculty orientation and training program for the new curriculum. This program, called "Formation" is required of all faculty prior to teaching in the new courses. It is in its third iteration, and now consists primarily of online training and classroom visits and reflection. Faculty complete "modules" related to the skills and learning outcomes expected of students.

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6. Library Resources

See attached Library Review by Sharon Walters.


The course meets 195 minutes per week, for 1.00 credit.

8. Prerequisites, corequisites (If applicable)

Presumably students have completed the lower division requirements necessary for status as late second-year or third-year transfer students.


Seminar 102 Western Tradition I for transfersThis first seminar for transfer students develops the skills of critical thinking, critical reading and writing, and shared inquiry that are foundational to the Collegiate Seminar Program. Students will read, write about and discuss a selection of classic and modern texts from the Western tradition.The reading list is current but subject to modification. From some texts selections are read.

(*Note that this description is slightly changed from the current one in the catalog to more accurately reflect the content of the course.)10. Course content: Reading List

Langston Hughes, "Theme for English B"LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”Genesis 1-11Toni Morrison, Lecture and Speech of Acceptance, Award for Nobel PrizeSpiegelman, Maus Marcus Aurelius, MeditationsPlato, CritoMartin Luther King, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”Aristotle, Nicomachean EthicsChristine de Pisan, The Book of the City of LadiesMatthew 5 –7, “Sermon on The Mount”Aquinas, Summa TheologicaDante, InfernoMomaday, "The Way to Rainy Mountain"Aeschylus, AgamemnonHomer, The OdysseyTerry Tempest Williams, "The Clan of One-Breasted Women

Sample syllabus #1

WESTERN TRADITIONS I

SEMINAR 102

PROF. HELGA LÉNÁRT-CHENG

FALL 2014

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TIME: MON AND WED 4-5:35

ROOM: DANTE 216

OFFICE: DANTE 325

EMAIL: [email protected]

OFFICE HOURS: M AND W 2:45-3:45 AND BY APPOINTMENT

Welcome to Collegiate Seminar! Since 1941, seminar has been at the core of the academic experience of St. Mary’s students. It will introduce you not only to great texts and authors, but to a method of reading as a group and building an understanding of texts through discussion. Our task is to read each work carefully and to enrich our understanding of it by shared inquiry and discussion.

At the most basic level, a good discussion depends on everyone coming to class prepared: having read and thought about the material. It also depends upon our ability to be good, respectful listeners. All ideas are welcome at the discussion table. We are here to learn from, and to encourage each other to see more than we would have seen alone, and to ask questions we may not have thought to ask in reading alone. As a reading community, you are then responsible for each other’s experience of both the text and the discussion.

REQUIRED MATERIALS

o Photocopied Course Reader (Xanedu, 978-1-58390-134-2)o Spiegelman, Maus (Random House, 978-0-6-7974840-3)o Homer, The Odyssey, tr. Fagles (Penguin, 978-0-104026886-7)o A folder with a pocket to file your daily homework (not too dark and not plastic so that I can

write on it)

LEARNING OUTCOMES

These are the things we hope you will learn in this course:

Critical thinking: as a result of their participation in the collegiate seminar program, students will grow in their ability to:

- distinguish the multiple senses of a text (literal and beyond the literal).

Identify and understand assumptions, theses, and arguments that exist in the work of authors.

- evaluate and synthesize evidence in order to draw conclusions consistent with the text. Seek and identify confirming and opposing evidence relevant to original and existing theses.

- ask meaningful questions and originate plausible theses.

Critique and question the authority of texts, and explore the implications of those texts.

Written and oral communication: as a result of their participation in the collegiate seminar program, students will grow in their ability to:

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- recognize and compose readable prose, as characterized by clear and careful organization, coherent paragraphs and well-constructed sentences that employ the conventions of standard written english and appropriate diction.

- recognize and formulate effective written and oral communication, giving appropriate consideration to audience, context, format, and textual evidence.

- analyze arguments so as to construct ones that are well supported (with appropriate use of textual evidence), are well reasoned, and are controlled by a thesis or exploratory question.

- use discussion and the process of writing to enhance intellectual discovery and unravel complexities of thought.

Shared inquiry: as a result of their participation in the collegiate seminar program, students will grow in their ability to:

- advance probing questions about a common text or other objects of study.

- pursue new and enriched understandings of the texts through sustained collaborative inquiry.

- reevaluate initial hypotheses in light of evidence and collaborative discussion with the goal of making considered judgments.

- engage in reflective listening and inclusive, respectful conversation.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Class participation 50%

All of the following will contribute to your overall participation grade. More specific guidelines about each assignment will be forthcoming.

Reading

A good discussion depends on everyone coming to class prepared, so please follow these guidelines:

- read carefully all assigned text sections

- define new words, using a word log and dictionary. Do not skip words that you cannot define. Each quiz will ask you for two new vocabulary words.

- as you read, annotate the entire text, making notes in the margins and underlining interesting quotes

Class discussions

In any group there are natural talkers and those who are content to listen. “Still waters run deep,” and I respect your right to silence. In case you want to add a thought to our conversation after class is over, there is an “esprit d’escalier” (staircase wit) corner on our website. But don’t forget that we are here to practice the art of conversation, and that it is our shared responsibility to encourage everyone to participate. Around midterm I will offer you detailed feedback about your class participation. Twice a semester you will also receive an anonymous peer evaluation.

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Peer observations

You will be assigned to observe one particular peer twice a semester. At the end of the observation week, you will write a brief assessment of the peer’s seminar participation and turn it in anonymously, so that I can share it with the other student. Peer evaluations will be graded.

Student seminar leaders

I will divide the class into groups of two and each group’s responsibility will be to lead the discussion on the assigned day. Coordinate with your partner in advance, and on your day bring at least ten interpretive questions to class. Please submit these questions to me in writing before class through e-mail.

Daily response (due on Mondays and Wednesdays)

Type three questions about the reading assignment each Monday and Wednesday: one factual, one interpretive and one question of evaluation (for guidance see Reader page xix). Support each question with a quote from the text. You will use these questions for class discussion, and then turn it in at the end of each class.

Quizzes

There will be regular unannounced pop quizzes on reading assignments just to show that you are doing your reading. No books are allowed.

In-class writing

We will sometimes use reflective writing as a way of thinking during class session. These will usually be some form of short free writing on a prompt. The prompts will ask you to reflect upon the readings, and our discussions, in an “off-the-cuff” manner. Sometimes this kind of writing will take place before our discussions, sometimes in the middle as an extension of discussion, and sometimes afterwards as a synthesis.

Writing assignments (50% total)

Friday exploratory writing 10%

The purpose of exploratory writing is not to improve your writing skills so much as to stimulate thinking about issues, questions and problems raised by our readings. This kind of writing lets you “think out loud” on paper (or a computer screen) without having to worry whether your writing is effective for readers. So organization, correct sentences structure, neatness and spelling won’t matter as much in this format. I will always give you a question or prompt beforehand to guide your writing. These short exploratory writing assignments will be due on Fridays, and will accumulate in an online portfolio. We will often use our exploratory writing in some active way during our class sessions so you should always bring a copy with you to share with the class. Please submit your hard copy after class.

Essays 30%

All of these assignments above will offer you the building blocks you will need to tackle two formal analytic essays. I will ask you to form a focused thesis and to carefully support it with a logical argument and evidence from the texts you are analyzing. We will work in stages (e.g. trial theses, outlines, drafts). There will be a variety of due dates related to each stage. These will be explained in detail in a later handout.

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Self-assessment essay 10%

As we near the end of the term, I will ask you to think more carefully about how you have progressed in your reading, writing and discussion skills. You will create an account of your strengths, weaknesses, challenges and triumphs, addressing the conclusions of your own reflective essay from Seminar 1. This account will enter an online database so that your future seminar instructors will be able to access it. This self-assessment process will continue throughout your four semesters in the collegiate seminar program.

GRADE BREAKDOWN

Class participation 50%

Friday exploratory writing 10%

Essay 30%

Self-assessment and peer evaluation 10%

GRADING SCALE

A=93-100 B+=87-89 C+=77-79 D+=67-69 F59

A-=90-92 B=83-86 C=73-76 D=63-66

B-=80-82 C-=70-72 D-=60-62

EXTRA CREDIT OPTION

You may receive max. 4% extra credit for writing reports about seminar events. Details follow.

ATTENDANCE

Class attendance is an essential part of the learning experience. Roll will be taken at the beginning of each class. Three absences will be excused. After that, each subsequent absence will remove 5% from your final grade. Any class missed, for whatever reason, is considered an absence. Doing work for other classes or any other unrelated activity (including the use of cell phones) will count as an absence. Unless it’s an emergency, please don’t go out during class. Three late arrivals or early departures also count as one absence. If you miss a class for any reason, make sure to check your e-mail and Moodle. And please bring your text to each class.

MOODLE

This is a place for posting assignments, accessing course documents and receiving important announcements. All

of our online work will happen there. If you have any trouble accessing it, contact tech services immediately.

OFFICE HOURS

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Please come and see me to discuss any aspect of the class or your writing. I am here to help you. And please feel free to make appointments if the posted hours are problematic.

CLASS POLICIES REGARDING ACADEMIC HONESTY

Saint Mary’s College expects every member of its community to abide by the Academic Honor Code. According to the code, “Academic dishonesty is a serious violation of college policy because, among other things, it undermines the bonds of trust and honesty between members of the community.” Violations of the code include but are not limited to acts of plagiarism. For more information, please consult the Student Handbook at www.stmarys-ca.edu/your-safety-resources/student-handbook

CLASS POLICIES REGARDING DISABILITIES

Student Disability Services extends reasonable and appropriate accommodations that take into account the context of the course and its essential elements for individuals with qualifying disabilities. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Office at (925) 631-4358 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be found at the following address on the Saint Mary’s website: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/sds

CWAC: CENTER FOR WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM, www.stmarys-ca.edu/center-for-writing-across-the-curriculum, offers two options for all students, of all disciplines and levels:

Writing circles: students register for the .25 course Comm 190: writing circles and then contact CWAC to select a weekly circle time. Students sign up before or during the first week of the semester. During the small-group workshops, writers discuss their own projects, at all stages of the process.

One-on-one sessions: students call 925.631.4684 to make appointments or drop in, Dante 202. Online sessions via skype are available. Fall hours: 4-8 p.m. Sunday; 12-8 p.m. Monday; 12-6 p.m. Tuesday; and 12-8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. Writing advisers guide their peers toward expressing ideas clearly, always weighing audience and purpose. Writers bring their assignment sheets and readings in order to brainstorm ideas, revise drafts, or work on specific aspects of writing, such as grammar, citation, thesis development, organization, critical reading, or research methods. They may discuss any genre, including poetry, science lab reports, argument-driven research, or scholarship application letters.

FURTHER INFORMATION TO HELP YOU SUCCEED

Office hours: Talk to me if you think you are getting lost or behind. This is a college course and we must move along at a certain pace. When you need review, or have questions, please come to my office hours. These are your hours! And please feel free to make appointments if the posted hours are problematic.

Study time: The amount of time needed to master a subject varies by person. Nonetheless, it is rare to succeed in college unless one spends generally two or three solid hours outside of class for every hour in class. For our 1,5 hour classes this means 3-4 hours of preparation per class. Your reading needs to be slow-going and careful. Read with a dictionary in hand and mark new words on the margin.

YOUR COLLEGE SAFETY NET

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I encourage all of you to be active learners and to “own” your education. This means being a self-initiator and taking responsibility for your college career. The first step in becoming an active learner is to build your college safety net. Introduce yourself to two students who are sitting next to you. Exchange email and phone numbers and write their contact information here. These colleagues will be your safety net, which means, if you are absent from class, if you want to arrange for outside study and discussion groups, these students should be available to review class material.

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web viewuntil fall 2012, the collegiate seminar program consisted of four chronologically sequential...

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