4th Credit
A key objective of the first phase of CCRP was to open up questions about expanded credit courses in the form of fourth-credit courses and flexible (or variable) credit courses. In all cases, adding a fourth credit, or piloting a four credit version of a course, was merely one approach to deepening or expanding student learning. Documented below are three different directions for the conversation around expanded credit. Many other possibilities were raised in the first year but not yet captured fully as cases. Other directions for fourth credit courses include variations on research and writing projects, new media labs, fieldwork, and section discussion.
Jose Bowen, Art, Music & Theatre
In the first example, Jose Bowen experiments with a way to offer a fourth credit to some students in a large survey course, and to do so in a way that makes the course better for all students, whether they are taking the fourth credit or not.
By offering an additional credit to students who acted as discussion leaders, José addressed two issues in his Jazz History course: 1) managing a large enrollment, and 2) offering this small group of discussion leaders the opportunity to engage deeply with the subject matter. More . . .
George Mihaychuk, Slavic Languages
George Mihaychuk's experimentation with an optional fourth credit is a smaller, more traditional model, where students engage a fourth credit in a form of tutorial.
George is rethinking the requisite research paper in his course. With a flexible 4th credit, he is looking to engage students more actively in the research and writing process of developing a paper related to Russian literature. More . . .
Philosophy Department: Mark Murphy & Alisa Carse
Also emerging out of the first year of the CCRP was a thorough discussion undertaken by the Philosophy Department, led by the CCRP participants, Alisa Carse and Mark Murphy. They have devised a proposal and an assessment plan to track two fourth-credit experiments in the gateway course and in some courses in the major.
The Philosophy department is considering two proposals for curricular reform: 1) to introduce variable credit courses at the bridge (100) level for potential majors; 2) to introduce 4-credit courses to strengthen existing 3-credit requirements for the major. More. . .