ASCRC Minutes 4/15/08

 

Members Present:  I. Crummy, J. Graham, E. Henderson, S. Lodmell, J. Luckowski, P. Muench, S. Smillie L. Tangedahl, H. Thompson, G. Weix

Members Absent/Excused: J. Blunt, R. Bangadi, K. Nalty, M. Nielsen, P. Silverman,

 

Ex-Officio Present: M. Hoell, D. Micus, A. Walker-Andrews


Chair Thompson called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.

 

The minutes from 4/8/08 were amended and approved.

 

Communications:

·         Chair-elect Weix provided an update from the Faculty Senate meeting.  The consent agenda, service learning courses and NC grading items were approved.  A senator requested clarification that developmental courses did not count toward graduation.

·         Chair Thompson attended the American Association of Colleges and Universities Workshop at the request of the Provost.  It primarily focused on interdisciplinary programs.  UM should assure that any new interdisciplinary programs have appropriate content.   

·         Members were encouraged to attend the faculty governance meetings with the CAS Dean candidates. 

·         Members were reminded to attend the open forum on general education tomorrow.  Subcommittee members have been asked to attend to explain their reasoning.

 

Business Items:

 

Curriculum follow-up

·         The Science Subcommittee reviewed the Mountain Studies proposal and indicated that it is an excellent proposal from the science perspective. The associated new courses were not reviewed separately.

The Social Science Subcommittee also had a favorable review.  However, the chair was not in attendance to provide feedback from the subcommittee regarding proposed new courses.

It was noted that the title of GEOG 338 differed from what was listed in the catalog. Another question was why a graduate course was included in an undergraduate minor.   Chair Thompson will invite the requestor to next week’s meeting.

·         The deletion of the Central and Southwest Asian Option in Geography was approved with one abstention.

·         BMED 195, Cancer Biology was approved for the science perspective.  It was an oversight that it did not get reviewed in the fall.    


General Education

·         Modern and Classical Languages objects to the inclusion of American Sign Language (ASL) in requirement III.   Currently ASL fulfills the symbolic systems perspective.   The objections are based on the three issues:  ASL is not a natural language, it does not teach about a non-American culture, and the credits are not equivalent to first year language courses. Professor Morrison is out of town until April 20th and could not comment.  She developed the following ASL learning goal at the request of Professor Weix.:

o   Converse in American Sign Language demonstrating both receptive (visual comprehension) and expressive (manual production) proficiency. 

 

·         The Mathematics Literacy Subcommittee recommended revisions to the language.  These were approved by ASCRC along with additional editorial corrections.

·         The following correction was also made to the second ethics criterion

(b)  Individual Rights and Liberties (exemplified by Kantian ethical theory, or the ethical theories behind the Bill of Rights of the United States and the United Nations Charter on  Universal Declaration of Human Rights; basic concepts include "fundamental rights," "justice," and "liberty");

Professor Weix suggests that there be a moratorium on curriculum review to allow ASCRC to review general education courses.  However, according to the bylaws the courses should be reviewed by the General Education Committee, preferably some of the same members that served on the subcommittees that developed the criteria and outcomes will be reviewing courses.

Consideration of increasing the  upper-division credit requirement

·         Chair Thompson will draft a report for the committee to consider next week.  There will be resistance to any increase above three credits.  Given that the campus will need time to adjust to the general education changes and determine whether the introductory and foundational language will significantly affect the availability of upper-division general education courses, it might be better to delay any additional changes to requirements.
 

Qualitative differences between course levels

·         Professor Weix met with Melanie Hoell to define the differences between the course levels.  However, they decided at this point it was best not to confuse the issue of introductory and foundational.

Good and Welfare

None

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.

 

 

 

Mathematical literacy implies an appreciation of the beauty of mathematics, an ability to apply mathematical reasoning, and an understanding of how mathematics and statistics are used in many arenas. Individual courses may address the properties of numbers and matrices; an exploration of how mathematics is applied outside the classroom; an investigation of three dimensions; the notions of precision, tolerance, and accuracy; how to use data analysis and probability; and, as an overarching goal, mathematical reasoning and problem solving. Mathematical literacy may be obtained through the study of topics such as the properties of numbers, mathematical modeling, geometry, data analysis and probability, with the overarching goal of learning mathematical reasoning and problem solving

Mathematical literacy cannot be achieved in a single course.  However, for the purposes of general education, the mathematical literacy requirement  can be will be considered to have been met by any one of the following:

 

1) achieving a grade of C-or better in one of the following courses which address different aspects of mathematical literacy: Math 107, 109, 111, 112, 117, 121, 130, or a mathematics course of 3 or more credits for which one of these is a prerequisite.

 

2) achieving a score of 50 or better on the CLEP College Algebra Test, the CLEP College Precalculus Test, or the CLEP College Mathematics Test.

3) passing the Mathematical Literacy Examination administered by the Department of Mathematical Sciences. To qualify to take the Mathematical Literacy Examination, a student must have achieved a score of 630 or better on the SAT Math exam or a score of 28 or better on the ACT Math exam. A student may only take the Mathematical Literacy Examination only once. Further details are available from the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

 

Students must complete the mathematical literacy requirement by the time they have earned 30 credits; if not, they must register for a mathematical sciences course every semester until they have completed the requirement. Because many other courses at the university assume some mathematical literacy, it is strongly recommended that all students complete their mathematical literacy requirement as soon as possible.

 

 

Criteria
Any course which satisfies the mathematical literacy requirement must have as its primary goal to teach the use of mathematical reasoning and problem solving at a college level. Department of Mathematical Sciences approval is required.

 

Learning Goals:
Upon completion of the mathematical literacy requirement, a student will be able to effectively apply mathematical or statistical reasoning to a variety of applied or theoretical problems.