New hire aims for entire curriculum updates by 2011

By Kirsten Clancy

Big changes should be expected for the entire UK curriculum in the next two years. The new Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education said his number one priority is to revamp UK’s General Education Program.

Michael D. Mullen, who took the assistant provost position in August, said the entire program will be changed in  Fall 2011, though certain changes are being implemented now.

These changes were a topic of discussion at the Academic Affairs Committee meeting Tuesday.

David Randall,  chairman of the University Senate Council, said 60 experimental courses were offered during the 2009 summer session.  These courses were evaluated to see if they met learning outcome requirements.

This spring, 20 new courses will be offered as General Studies requirements, Mullen said.  These courses will be evaluated at the end of the year.  The Board of Trustees will vote on the changes to the General Education Program in Fall 2010, and the changes will be implemented for Fall 2011.

Mullen said he wants this transition to be natural.

“We don’t want (students) to feel like they’re part of a grand experiment,” he said.

Courses that do not meet requirements when evaluated at the end of the year will have the opportunity to revise and resubmit their curriculum, Mullen said.

Randall said a major concern of the program is the transferability of classes among colleges, especially among colleges in Kentucky, and community colleges.  He said the senate chairs of other Kentucky schools are all involved in reforming their General Education Programs as well.

“They’re watching what we’re doing here,” Randall said.

Randall said the current University Studies Program has been in place for 20 years.  The major changes will be in teaching style, which will give students the skills to learn more independently.

“We’re going from an educational basis where the student is taught, to where the student learns how to learn,” he said.

There will be 10 categories of courses with dozens of courses approved in each category, Randall said.

“We know what the courses are, now is the time to develop those courses,” Randall said.

Ernie Yanarella, a political science professor on the board of faculty trustees, chaired the committee meeting. Yanarella said curricular development usually takes roughly nine years, while the current development has only been happening for four and a half years, which is a major accomplishment.

Yanarella said the previous program had not been evaluated in a long time and needed to be “brought into the 21st century.”

“Along the way, it lost its way,” Yanarella said. “It was a creature of 20th century conditions.”