Motion US99/00-2 ­ Amend Criteria for Satisfying Group Requirements

  1. Before submission to the Senate, Ggroup satisfying courses proposed by departments or individual faculty must be reviewed by at several levels:

·        By the curricular committees of the various colleges and schools

·        By a joint committee chaired by the Registrar and including the members of the CAS Curricular Committee and two representatives appointed by the deans of the others schools and colleges.

·        By University Committee on Courses chaired for this session by the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies.

The second committee is also charged to review such courses as do not meet the standards set in point (2.) immediately below and to negotiate a solution with the sponsoring department. 

  1. Group satisfying courses must be numbered at the 100, 200, and 300 levels. Lower division courses must be offered annually, and upper division courses at least biannually every other year”. Approved courses must be at least 4 credits each.
  2. Upper division group satisfying courses must provide depth and rigor beyond that of typical lower-division general education courses. Departments must justify, in terms of content, workload, and method of instruction, the assignment of a course to the upper level.

 

4.             Completion of group requirements:

 

Within the full set of courses that fulfills all of the requirements, students may not count

more than  one course that has  the subject code of the major

or

more than three courses that have the same subject code.

Within the smaller set of courses that fulfills the requirements of each group, students must complete at least two courses that have  the same subject code.

 

5.         Group satisfying courses in Arts and Letters, Social Science, and Science must meet the following criteria:

 

Group satisfying courses in arts and letters must create meaningful opportunities for students to engage actively in the modes of inquiry that define a discipline. Proposed courses must be broad in scope and demonstrably liberal in nature (that is, courses that promote open inquiry from a variety of perspectives), [delete: rather than being specialized or designed to prepare students for a particular occupation].  Though some courses may focus on specialized subjects or approaches, there must be a substantial course content locating that subject in the broader context of the major issues of the discipline. Qualifying courses will not focus on teaching basic skills but will require the application or engagement of those skills through analysis and interpretation.

 

Group satisfying courses in the social sciences must be liberal in nature rather than being professionally oriented or limited to the performance of professional skills. They must cover a representative cross-section of key issues, perspectives, and modes of analysis employed by scholars working on the subject matter addressed by the course. The subject matter of the course will be relatively broad, e.g. involving more than one issue, place, or time. Courses with an emphasis on methods and skills will satisfy the requirement only if there is also a substantial and coherent theoretical component.

 

Group satisfying courses in the sciences should introduce students to the foundations of one or more scientific disciplines, or should provide an introduction to fundamental methods (such as mathematics) that are widely used in scientific disciplines.  Courses should introduce students to the process of scientific reasoning.

 

Guidelines for Deciding Whether a Course Qualifies for Group Status:

·        Courses that are offered for “majors only” are excluded from group status, but courses that are designed for both majors and other students may qualify. 

·        Each request that a course be given group satisfying status must include a statement identifying the parts of the Purpose Statement for General Education Requirements at the University of Oregon that are covered by the course.  Departments should also provide syllabi, note the faculty involved in such courses, and outline the frequency with which such courses will be offered

·        Departments that offer several general education courses should suggest groupings or sequences of these courses that present a coherent development of knowledge and skills.  Departmental suggestions shall be included, for advising purposes, in the New Student Handbook and in the Faculty Advising Manual.

·        A course in first year German language would not qualify for group status in arts and letters, but a course in reading Goethe in German might.

·        Courses in methods or statistical analysis would not qualify for group status in the social sciences, but courses in theory construction could.

·        Although laboratory courses are not automatically excluded from group status in the sciences, to acquire this status, the courses must not focus on techniques or data collection. 

·        Group satisfying courses must be resubmitted for renewal of their group-satisfying status by the College of Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee and then the University Committee on Courses. Reviews will be conducted on a five year cycle. The committees will select departments whose group offerings are to be reviewed each year, and request information essential for the review. At the committeesí discretion, this information may include frequency of course offerings, course syllabi, statements explaining the manner in which courses meet conditions set forth in this motion, and an overview of the departmentís group offerings.  See item 1 at the top of this page.