This study reports on a four-year project to embed academic literacy within one core course of a Bachelor of Education program. It involves an interdisciplinary collaboration between learning advisors, as literacy specialists, and lecturers, as subject specialists. It examines their roles and responsibilities and lecturers' perspectives when…

"Honors Colleges in the 21st Century" contains the work of 56 authors representing 45 different institutions, which makes this the largest and most comprehensive group of honors leaders ever to appear in print together discussing honors colleges. Particularly notable is the fact that eleven of the chapters are co-authored by individuals…

Core curricula are designed, in part, to help undergraduate students become intellectually well-rounded. To merge core curricula with the components of the scholarship of teaching and learning movement, students engaged in core curricula need capstone courses designed to aid them in retaining information over the long term and synthesizing…

The purpose of this paper is to share how physical education (PE) offers a unique place of interdisciplinary connections, contributing to coherence in the general education (GE) experience, and to demonstrate the overall value of PE, serving as a rationale for its inclusion in a GE program. A definition of GE is provided, followed by an historical…

The discipline of education is a multi-faceted system that must constantly integrate new strategies and procedures to ensure successful learning experiences. Enhancements in education provide learners with greater opportunities for growth and advancement. "Open Learning and Formal Credentialing in Higher Education: Curriculum Models and…

This paper describes an interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum innovation that links classroom learning to hands-on business and community service work. The program, called the Integrative Business Experience (IBE), requires students to enroll concurrently in three required core business courses and a practicum course in which they develop and…

Mark Van Doren, the noted literary scholar, once remarked, "The college is meaningless without a curriculum, but it is more so when it has one that is meaningless." Many current critics of undergraduate curricula in America assent to the crucial need for programmatic renewal in our colleges and universities. They bemoan the cookie-cutter…

Many universities positively impact student retention rates by aligning state competencies and undergraduate coursework with specific learning outcomes known to contribute to success. Faculty from teaching and nursing conducted interdisciplinary focus group research to gather student perceptions concerning whether skills obtained through core…

This two-part essay is a critical look at the core curriculum in the American college: a diagnosis and call for action. Several assumptions are made: that the college curriculum is a living and evolving part of human culture (and conversely, that it is not value-free); that higher education has value beyond the functions of socialization and…

A syllabus that shows the diversity of cultures should be the "core curriculum." A linear narrative of American history, a selection of significant periods and then a discussion of what was happening simultaneously in many places, and an attempt to dramatize the future are all suggested for a core curriculum. (MLW)

Proposes a science-oriented general education core, stressing the importance of serious scientific study in understanding contemporary human existence. Describes the four courses comprising the core, which use the evolutionary process as the unifying concept for the study of physics, astronomy, geology, chemistry, biology, anthropology,…

Described is science content within an interdisciplinary core curriculum at the New School of Liberal Arts, Brooklyn College. The first two years of undergraduate work consist of art, literature, history, and science within a choice of five time periods. Also offered is a science and humanities course. (DS)

An introduction is provided to the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) Program at Valencia Community College (VCC), a 2-year general education core curriculum divided into four courses. A description of VCC is followed by an overview of the program, which integrates the arts, philosophy, religion, English, mathematics, social sciences, and physical…

Rather than return to a core curriculum that reflects the structures of knowledge and education developed for other contexts and needs, the humanities should create new structures appropriate to the students', culture's, and faculty's needs today, particularly through interdisciplinary collaboration. (MSE)

Five curriculum designs appropriate for general education programs that have evolved in American secondary schools and colleges are identified: distribution requirements, required courses, correlated courses, combined courses, the integrative seminar, and core curriculum. The advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. (Author/MLW)