A new core curriculum for Monmouth College students went on line this year with what the college believes will allow students more flexibility to take the classes they want and need while still engaging in the core college values.
“This flexibility means that students have more opportunity to take the courses that they want in a schedule that works for them,” said Core Curriculum Coordinator Stephanie Baugh.
Before the Core Curriculum was integrated, students would have to take one Integrated Studies course (INTG) every year in order to meet the graduation requirements. However, now these requirements are built into certain classes found within every major, so that the classes can meet multiple requirements at once. In addition, students do not have to take these classes in any particular order.
Stephanie Baugh believes the biggest strength of the Core Curriculum is how it connects to the college’s Core Competencies, To Inquire and Analyze, To Synthesize and Create, To Communicate and Interpret, and to Become Engaged Learners. The three types of courses that students will give students: Foundations in reading and interpretation, Inquiries into multiple ways of learning, and Engagement into multiple diverse communities, languages, and cultures.
“providing students with multiple types and layers of engagement with a central concept mean[ing] that students have the opportunity to practice and develop mastery of that concept throughout their college careers,” said Baugh
This curriculum change was funded in part by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant for $200,000.
Jacob Duncan - Staff Writer