Newswise — Students returning to classes at Boise State University on Aug. 27 will begin a new curriculum regimen that redefines baseline elements of the undergraduate education offered at the university.
Called the Foundational Studies Program, the new four-year program is designed to infuse students with lifelong learning skills and perspectives to help them thrive and grow as world citizens and in arenas far beyond the specifics of their chosen degree programs.
“The idea is that your college education is really a springboard. When you leave with a degree in hand, you’re not really done,” says Dr. Tony Roark, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and one of five key administrators who have led the collaborative wide-ranging process to create the program.
In the western tradition, the university is a home for the exploration of all the truths that make up the human experience. Yet, as modern universities like Boise State focus on economic development and the creation of a specialized, professional workforce for an increasingly technical economy and society, students run the risk of missing out on a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the world in which they will work and live.
The Foundational Studies Program curriculum is centered around several new courses — Interdisciplinary University Foundations courses and the capstone Finishing Foundations course — required of all students at specific points during their undergraduate progress. These university-wide courses, team-taught by senior faculty members from all areas of campus, are designed to build on a series of learning outcomes within the topical clusters of writing, oral communication, critical inquiry, innovation and teamwork, ethics, and diversity and internationalization.
Additionally, students will take one to three new courses specific to their particular major called Disciplinary Lens and Communication in the Discipline courses. These courses will help students understand what role their chosen area of study plays in society, how that discipline is viewed generally and why it is important, as well as how those working in the discipline communicate with one another and those outside of the discipline.
“The people who have shepherded this have a lot of confidence in the skills and commitment of our faculty,” says Vicki Stieha, Foundational Studies Program director.
The program’s development began in 2007 with the formation of a 17-member faculty taskforce charged with reforming the university’s core curriculum. Since that time, more than 300 faculty and staff have helped craft the principles behind the program through forums, focus groups and workshops.
The entire curriculum is designed to help students become familiar with the kinds of inquiry central to higher education, including asking questions, debating ideas, research, innovation and problem solving. They incorporate teamwork and extend the educational experience beyond the classroom to include co-curricular activities such as international experience, service-learning, internships and participation in student government. There is an emphasis on written and oral communication, and on understanding both complex and natural phenomena and diverse human behavior.
“A university degree should be as much about understanding how and where one’s expertise contributes to the larger world as it is about developing skills and understanding in one specific area of focus,” says Stieha. “Every student should know how those studying other topics view and interact with the world.”
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