DIIA Assuming Varied Roles in Supporting Core Curriculum Development
With the recent announcement that DIIA and Undergraduate Studies (UGS) will be teaming to create online professional development modules for Signature Course faculty, DIIA assumed yet another important role in implementing the vision of the Commission of 125 for a core curriculum. The Signature Course program is the centerpiece of curriculum reform envisioned by the commission. Designed to help first-year students master essential skills for higher education, the courses will focus on problem-based learning from an interdisciplinary perspective.
The goal of the Signature Courses is to help first-year students master the skills required in higher education by focusing on problem-based learning from an interdisciplinary perspective. Distinguished faculty recommended by their department chairs may choose from three class formats: small seminars with 15-18 students, large lectures with 40-240 students, or Difficult Dialogues seminars with 20-25 students.
With its expertise in integrating pedagogy, instructional technology, and assessment, DIIA will be involved from beginning to end in the development of the Signature Course collection.
On the front end, DIIA’s specialists in curriculum, instruction, and technology will team with UGS to develop resources to help prepare Signature Course faculty to teach critical thinking skills to first-year students. It is expected that the online modules—featuring diverse media including text, graphics, audio, video, and animation—will be available as well for use by secondary and higher-education faculty throughout the state.
DIIA will also be in the forefront of preparing the many teaching assistants who will be essential for the core curriculum. At the request of UGS Dean Paul Woodruff, DIIA has developed a training program for graduate student instructors (GSIs) to cultivate teaching skills for Signature Courses as well as for another special core curriculum course sequence, Difficult Dialogues. The training emphasizes strategies for engaging large classes, fostering diverse learning environments, and incorporating a substantial writing component. And through its ASPECTS professional development series, DIIA offers GSIs ongoing training in areas central to the core curriculum, with certificate series titled Assessment, Leading Discussions, Teaching Research Skills, Teaching with Technology, and Understanding Your Students. The ASPECTS menu now also includes the certificate series titled Teaching through Writing, addressing the core curriculum’s central pedagogical approach of integrating writing and speaking to promote active learning.
On the back end, DIIA’s specialists in assessment and evaluation will be assisting faculty in determining whether Signature Courses are producing the exemplary outcomes that the core curriculum will be targeting. Already, in support of UT Austin’s self-study for reaffirmation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, DIIA’s outcomes specialists have worked with UGS in developing the assessment portion of the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), which focuses on the Signature Course initiative as a primary vehicle for enhancing student learning at UT Austin.
Dean Woodruff shared his vision for the Signature Courses in a December address to UT Austin’s Association of Professionals in Student Affairs. He characterized the core curriculum as a spine, in contrast to the more conventional notion of a foundation. Woodruff’s goal is to develop a “strong vertebrate curriculum,” integrated across all the years of undergraduate study. To prepare first-year students to realize the full benefit of this rich core, the design of Signature Courses will have five goals: to be interdisciplinary, relevant, writing- and speaking-intensive, research rich, and resource rich, exploiting UT Austin “gems” such as the Blanton Museum and the Harry Ransom Center.
Coming and going, DIIA will be lending its signature expertise to helping UT Austin achieve its signature dream.