Ball State University faculty and staff have an opportunity to provide their thoughts on a new proposal that would revise the core curriculum program by integrating team teaching, immersion and multidiscipline courses.

The proposal was developed by the University Core Curriculum Task Force II as the result of two years of guidance from the Provost, University Senate, Academic Policies Council and Undergraduate Education Committee.  

In drawing up its proposal, the task force examined internal documents, including those that measure the strengths and shortcomings of the present core curriculum and external studies of changes at colleges and universities across the country in the last 15 years.

"There has been a tremendous shift in higher education in the last 20 years, and our present core curriculum is out of sync with general education on a national level," said Juli Eflin, task force chair and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. "Given emerging challenges in the workplace, an increasingly diverse population and an evermore interconnected world, revising the core curriculum is long overdue. 

"We believe a rigorous mix of disciplinary, interdisciplinary, multicultural and foreign studies best serve students in freeing them to think and helping them become responsible citizens," she said. "In fact, today's employers are telling us that they want graduates who have this type of education."

The core curriculum at Ball State currently is a 41-hour requirement designed to provide a foundation for a student's further academic and professional activities. Required of all students seeking baccalaureate degrees, the core curriculum includes options from across the disciplines, including arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences. The core courses are designed to help students develop fundamental competencies. All core courses include active teaching and learning strategies, reading and writing experiences, and critical-thinking activities. 

Eflin said the revision is not a list of required courses or course options, but a flexible system that would allow for variety and create a new set of challenging courses. 

"In exploring this area with faculty, we found the majority welcome the opportunity to rethink their classes," she said. "For many, it is a way to teach things they really enjoy."

In addition to learning discipline-specific content during classes in the first tier, students would develop writing, speaking, quantitative, critical and creative-thinking skills.

In the second tier, courses would explore major themes and issues from the fine arts, humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, business and technology. The third tier would require students to apply knowledge they have gained during their undergraduate education in a capstone or immersion experience. 

The proposal represents an opportunity to refashion general studies in ways that could make Ball State a national model for core curricula at mid-size state universities, said Beverley Pitts, provost and vice president for academic affairs. 

"In the next few weeks, faculty will have the opportunity to review the model and provide input," she said. "I believe the model can be the basis for a richer, more meaningful and more connected core curriculum experience for all students and that all disciplines have a role to play in a new core."

The core curriculum proposal Web site includes background information, a list of task force members and a "suggestion box" to allow visitors to e-mail their comments to the task force.

The task force plans to conduct several departmental and college-level meetings in the coming weeks to review the proposal and input over the summer. The proposal will be considered by the university's governance next year and, if passed, could be implemented as early as the 2007-08 school year.