UI proposes new core discovery program
By Nickolas Raterman Argonaut Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Education gave the University of Idaho $430,000 this fall, hoping to make the student question, "Why do I have to take these ridiculous core credit courses?" obsolete.
The UI recently received the three-year grant from the DOE, which
gives the university money to implement an experimental core
curriculum program. The UI was one of 125 institutions out of
2,000 applicants to receive the grant, Bill Voxman, the Core
Curriculum Coordinator, said.
The proposal submitted by UI to the DOE stated that many students
who come to land grant universities such as UI do not have any
interest in the liberal arts. The core discovery program makes
use of the vast resources available to land grant universities
and puts them to use in helping students understand the interactions
between all studies, Voxman said.
Currently, the UI has four core discovery courses available.
The courses are designed to be interdisciplinary, drawing on
input from faculty in a multitude of different colleges, not
just faculty members from the College of Letters and Science.
"Although about 65 percent of students at the University
of Idaho are enrolled in the professional colleges, there is
little opportunity for faculty from these colleges to participate
in the core program, thus limiting the likelihood that students
will appreciate the connections between their more specialized
vocational interests and liberal arts interests," stated
the proposal submitted by the university to the DOE.
The core discovery classes are year-long and their size is limited
to 40 students, according to the DOE proposal. Voxman said he
hopes small classes will help students develop good student to
student skills and student to faculty skills. These skills are
often lost in large classes that are taught by teacher's aides
or by faculty members who are overwhelmed by the class size,
he said.
According to Voxman, these core discovery programs will draw
on a variety of different disciplines (psychology, economics,
natural resources, and technology) and allow students to see
how these various fields interact and how one topic may incorporate
the knowledge of many different disciplines.
"Basically, the world is an interdisciplinary kind of place
and students need to know how to make connections, no matter
what their future or field work. The core discovery courses provide
an excellent learning environment for this kind of experience,"
Voxman said.
The proposal sent to the DOE also states that some of the money
from the grant will be used to support field trips to various
places that relate to the core discovery courses.
In addition to the core discovery classes, the UI will use the
grant money to establish a series of integrated science courses
that will attempt to eliminate some of the disenchantment some
students feel towards science, Voxman said.
A document available on the core Web site details the proposed
system and states, "These thematically based courses will
provide the student with the skills to analyze and evaluate scientific
claims and to make intelligent scientific and social decisions."
The DOE proposal indicated that the university would work closely
with other land grant universities across the country to aid
in the development of new core curriculum programs. UI will participate
in conferences and workshops to present their findings to other
universities.
Voxman hopes that four or five new courses can be added to the
core discovery program next year. He feels these new courses
will be vital in attracting new students to UI and boosting the
number of freshmen who stay at the university.
"We hope that these courses will open new vistas to students
and get them off to a good start here," Voxman said.
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