By Laura Acuff, Opinion Editor
All incoming freshmen and transfer students in the fall of 2010 will be the first to experience a transformed liberal arts core curriculum, approved by a vote of the ACU faculty in May 2007.
“This really fits in with ACU’s 21st Century Vision because it’s innovative, it’s distinctive, it’s going to help our graduates. It’s going to create a stronger, better prepared graduate for the world ahead,” said Dr. Charles Mattis, dean of the First-Year Program and chair of the university core curriculum implementation team, which includes representatives from all of the university’s colleges.
The change comes after survey results indicated ACU graduates were not meeting expectations in skills, such as writing and speaking, as well as hoped, Mattis said. And while the university’s core curriculum has not faced dramatic overhaul in 20 years, Mattis said he is confident the change will be positive.
“We’re raising the bar, and I think our students will be challenged more, and they will be better for it,” Mattis said. “If we’re going to be a premier institution for Christian higher education, then these are the changes we need to make to get there.”
Some of the changes to the curriculum affect foreign language, English and speech requirements. Mattis said math skills also were a concern, but officials hoped to incorporate more quantitative thinking throughout the core curriculum rather than increasing the number of required hours of mathematics-related courses.
Although the number of hours required per student to graduate will not change, students will take a 3-hour Cornerstone course instead of the 1-hour University Seminar course currently required.
The Cornerstone course is described as “a three-hour integrative, interdisciplinary course designed to introduce ACU students to the liberal arts core by confronting challenging issues and promoting a positive way of inquiry and engagement,” according to the Final Report to the ACU faculty by the General Education Review Steering Committee as presented in March 2007 and amended April 18, 2007.
While “U-100,” as the University Seminar class commonly is called, is a course to prepare “for transitions,” Mattis said the new Cornerstone course focuses more on the skills needed to enter a collegiate learning environment. Coursework will prepare students for the “academic challenges” of college, and new students will rely more on peer leaders to ease through the transitions of entering college life.
To extend the credit from one to three hours, the university decreased the required number of physical education courses by one.
Mattis said the required Biblical studies course, Christianity in Culture, may be restructured to a 2-hour class that focuses more on living missionally through vocation. The change would enable the course to retain an element of culture while being more suited to capping a college career.
Although the alteration would reduce required hours of Biblical studies courses, Mattis said the amount of theological exposure students experience at ACU should not decrease, at least partially because of the integrated core in the new core curriculum.
The integrated core will consist of three 3-hour courses, taught by two or three professors, pertaining first to identity, then to community and, lastly, to ideas beyond the community and the individual.
“Theology is built into really all of the integrated core courses,” Mattis said. “I think you could make the argument that we’re actually providing more.”
This semester, Dr. Stephen Johnson, assistant professor of Bible, missions and ministry, and Dr. Steven Moore, assistant professor of English, co-taught a pilot of the first integrated core course, centered around human identity.
Mattis said the class was a success and, showcased as a sample class for visiting Presidential Scholarship applicants this semester, was popular with visitors.
Students can register for a pilot of the second course in the integrated core series for the fall 2009 semester.
While core curriculum changes will not affect students enrolled and attending ACU prior to fall 2010, Mattis said he would not be surprised if many students took the integrated core courses by choice.
“When you get two different faculty from different disciplines talking about one issue, it’s a much richer experience,” Mattis said.
The final portion of the new core curriculum will consist of a Capstone experience. The more structured requirements will enable students to think critically and analytically about the experiences that already cap most degrees, such as internships, final coursework or senior recitals or art shows.
Adjusting the core curriculum has raised questions of whether dual-credit, Advanced Placement and CLEP credits still will be accepted in place of ACU courses.
While students still will receive credit from such endeavors, Mattis said curriculum changes may require students to pay more attention to scheduling.
Even if the credits fail to replace core curriculum coursework, Mattis said they might contribute toward major coursework requirements and always could be used as electives as a last resort.
“What we’re doing with the core is we’re saying, ‘You know, you can’t take these courses in high school; you can’t take these courses at Cisco,'” Mattis said. “These courses are ACU-distinct and they’re innovative and they’re going to best prepare our students for the world that’s out there.”
Dr. Chris Willerton, dean of the Honors College and professor of English, said many students in the Honors College bring outside credit to their ACU education.
“Honors thinks of AP credit mainly as a problem because it takes away credit that students might be taking for honors,” Willerton said.
However, he said he understands, especially with the economy in recession, the benefits of outside credit, despite his belief that such credits cannot compare in quality to the honors courses offered at ACU.
Overall, Willerton said he urges students not to overreact to the changing curriculum.
“Things are evolving very quickly as we work out details,” Willerton said. “Some things are changed from week to week. It’s a caution to Optimist readers. Don’t latch on to any one detail. Always ask for an update.”
Mattis said he hopes to see the core curriculum’s changes finalized by the end of next semester, ready to appear in the catalogue for students registering for fall 2010 classes.
In the end, he said he expects the changes to reflect positively on the university and its graduates.
“This change is who we are,” Mattis said. “Change is who ACU is. And it raises the bar.”
