Letter to the Virginia Tech Community

Date: December 1, 2004

To: Members of the Virginia Tech Community

From: Mark McNamee, University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

In my most recent letter, I noted that we made significant progress in defining actions designed to revitalize the undergraduate core curriculum. I further noted that we would move forward this year to implement the changes and to consider further changes. I wish to share with you our progress as we continue to renew and revitalize the undergraduate core curriculum.

The undergraduate requirement to complete coursework in fulfillment of Writing Across the Curriculum was modified to include spoken and visual communication and to enable each department/major to specify the content for this requirement. The departmental plans will be due on December 8, 2004 to the University Core Curriculum Committee. Responses will be returned to the departments early in the spring semester to enable departments and colleges to plan for course offerings in the Fall Semester 2005. Preliminary information is encouraging because many of the departments have already incorporated written, visual and spoken communication requirements into one or more of their senior-level courses.

We want to fully support the University Core Curriculum Committee in its ongoing efforts to review and respond to requests from departments/colleges to modify the course content of the core curriculum. After reviewing the charge to this governance committee the it seemed appropriate to ask the committee to include in their 2004-2005 agenda the following issues:

• To review and revitalize an assessment program for the core curriculum being mindful that university accreditation (i.e., SACS) and state competency measures (i.e., SCHEV) must be addressed;
• To propose methodology within the university governance structure to streamline curriculum approval and to remove barriers to the development of experimental courses and curriculum;
• To review the composition of the University Core Curriculum Committee for efficiency and effectiveness within the charge given to the committee.

We also appointed an ad hoc core curriculum steering committee to review existing reports and proposals developed over the past several years and to propose recommendations to me on the following issues:

a. Further steps needed to determine and articulate the purpose of the core curriculum;

b. Strategies needed to communicate more effectively the purpose of the core curriculum, both internally and externally;

c. Changes needed in the instructional methodologies utilized in implementing the core, including ideas for supporting personnel who bear the responsibility of moving the core forward;

d. Steps needed to create and support ongoing and useful assessment activity within the core (e.g., how do students learn, what do students learn, etc.);

e. Guidelines for defining and implementing a capstone experience for all undergraduate students;

f. Resource recommendations to support the core. The ad hoc committee's report is expected early in the Spring 2005 semester.

In addition, I asked Dr. Diane Bell and Dr. David Ford to join me in a series of individual visits with key stakeholders within the Virginia Tech academic community to hear their personal views on the past, present, and future challenges and opportunities related to the university core curriculum. While some duplication in responses surfaced, the following summary of responses reflects the range of thoughts of the group:

• Virginia Tech does not really have a core curriculum; at best the array of courses represents a general education requirement. Most recommended that we choose a different name to describe our "core curriculum."
• It was suggested that items of importance for all students are the core values of the university and how one navigates within the university community; a common freshman year experience; effective advising, both academic and career; the use of e-portfolios as a way to measure progress and promote integration of learning experiences; and the capstone experience.
• It was suggested that we consider within the concept of "advancing education in the general and integrative studies" that key factors for success from the administrative and instructional perspective will include: leadership (university, college, and departments); greater support for curriculum design and the scholarship of teaching; ongoing research and development to foster new ideas and concepts; central location/office for general and integrative studies; and, immediate attention to the need for effective assessment.
• We heard of a vision to place more emphasis on the common book(s), beginning with summer orientation; and the possibility that the common book could be integrated into learning communities, of which every freshman would be a member.
• It was suggested we consider using selected emeriti faculty to guide students into and through the e-portfolio experience.
• "Education of the whole person" continues to enjoy support as a basis for the core curriculum/general education experience.
• It was suggested that our challenge is maintenance and stability of the core program while at the same time allowing for innovation. Special resources are viewed as essential in promoting experimentation and change within a larger, ongoing program. One suggestion was to empower identified groups (such as honors students) to help design and test new approaches to general education.
• One recommendation was the formation of a Stakeholders Group for Undergraduate Instruction or perhaps an Executive Council for Core Curriculum Issues.
• Almost all stakeholders expressed frustration with the pace and complexity of the governance process. The university appears to be ready for substantive changes.If you have thoughts you would like to share about the present university core curriculum, I invite you to do so by emailing me at mmcnamee@vt.edu. Now is an ideal time to sustain the momentum to renew and revitalize the university core curriculum. I look forward to sharing the outcomes of these activities in the months ahead.

Happy Holidays and best wishes to you as the university moves toward the conclusion of the 2004 Fall semester culminating in final examinations and Fall Commencement on Friday, December 17th.

Mark G. McNamee
University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs