Curriculum and Program Development Proposal
CSB/SJU GERMAN FACULTY WORKSHOPS
June 14-15 and August 9-10, 2005
Excellence and Coherence in the German Curriculum
Zusammenarbeit zugunsten unserer Studenten,
des Deutsch-Programms und des Salzburg-Programms
Working together for the good of our students,
the German Program and the Salzburg Program
The curriculum of the German section of MCL features a traditional liberal arts approach focusing first on language acquisition and then, in the upper division, on topics of German culture and literature. In the past ten years, leading liberal arts colleges and universities have explored new avenues of integrating culture and grammar in all courses and of making the German major, double major and minor more accessible and relevant to a broader range of students. For example, some colleges offer a specific track titled within the German major titled German Studies which allows students to take cognate courses in philosophy, history, international economics and management and other departments which would in turn count toward the minor or major in German. In turn these departments support their majors in choosing German as a possible second major. German faculty may also choose to teach courses like, From Enlightenment to Romanticism, which could include literary texts, but may also include an historical or economic overview, or a comparison of art, music and literature of the periods.
In January 2005, the German Section of MCL completed a curricular Self Study as part of departmental review. Keith Anderson, Professor Emeritus of Saint Olaf College (German Department) served as consultant and program evaluator. His report covered many aspects of our German curriculum, co-curricular programs and study abroad opportunities. His final report urges to us strongly to convene as a German faculty to clarify our curricular vision and goals for the future so as to establish a basis for sound curricular enhancement and a renewed sense of common purpose within the faculty. Out of this vision and these goals should emerge new courses, a restructuring of some of our existing courses, more rigor in our major and minor, emphasis on grammar in every course from elementary to most advanced, better cooperation with cognate departments (those whose courses occasionally feature German topics), an enhancement of the immersion aspects of our study abroad programs and creation of an additional study abroad opportunity for more advanced students (in Salzburg, Leipzig or another university)
Our Self Study includes some 400 pages of new data, student feedback and valuable comparative statistics from peer colleges. We have been so busy in the last few months collecting the data that none of us has had the chance -- even individually -- to ponder their implications. Now is the time, while the data are still fresh and the external consultant's report is hot off the press, to study the consultant's recommendations as a group and to map out future directions in some detail.
Objectives
This workshop will allow us to 1) discuss thoroughly the recommendations and critiques which resulted from our January 2005 departmental review; 2) create a sense of common purpose in German faculty; 3) research and discuss the German curricula of some of the finest colleges and universities in the nation (e.g., Middlebury College); 5) research and discuss the study-abroad component (in Germany or Austria) of colleges whose curricular offerings and requirements are stronger than ours; 4) re-envision our own curriculum at every level. In addition, we will enlist an excellent outside facilitator who will: (a) help us come to a consensus on what our major strengths and weaknesses are in the German curriculum; (b) help us develop a shared understanding of our most important goals and values; (c) hone our collegial interaction skills so that as colleagues we can go beyond our individual fields of expertise to solve some of the more complex issues of our departmental review; (d) help us take advantage of the ways in which our various teaching interests, pedagogical approaches, areas of research, co-curricular leadership, involving students in research, ways of directing study abroad, and other contributions to the curriculum can be a source of rich complementarity in our program; (e) guide us in creating concrete work plans and syllabi as well as recommendations to strengthen the study abroad component of our curriculum.
What we intend to do …
In preparation for the workshop each of us will study the data and student reviews included in our department (German section) self-study as well as the final report from Keith Anderson
Day 1 (Tuesday, June 14, 2005)
I. 8:00 – 8:30 In preparation for our workshop's external facilitator, participants will review their notes on the data of our Self Study as well as the final report of our department's external reviewer. During this half hour participants will complete short notes or essays (free-writes) about aspects of these documents they find most salient in terms of this purposes of this workshop. These notes will provide a basis for discussions throughout the workshop.
II. 8:30 Workshop participants convene for coffee and breakfast and to enjoy each others' company
III. 9:00-12:00 Workshop Facilitator, Linda Marrin, orients us to the purposes of the workshop and gets our input. ● Applied research on Effective Teamwork ● Understanding and Making the Most of Personality Difference and Complementarity in the Workplace ● Review of the German Section's Successes and Past History with References to the Self Study and Consultant's Report
Lunch and continuation of discussions
III. 1:00 - 3:30 ● More on Effective Teamwork ● Review of effective vision and mission statements ● Small group work ● Developing a new Vision ● Using the new vision to develop a Mission for German (and for Austria and Leipzig or another university) ● Small group work (shift partners) ● Identification of 3-5 broad priority areas for German (and Salzburg and Leipzig or another university) ● discussion
Day 2 (Wednesday, June 15, 2005)
IV. 9:00 – 12:00 ● Ranking our Priorities ● Developing goals under each priority ● Prioritizing goals under each heading ● Developing concrete work plans ● Complete a planning matrix for the highest rated goal in each area
Lunch and continuation of discussions
V. 1:00 – 2:30 ● Present work plans to large group ● assign new goals and plans to work teams (e.g., basic goals for each course GERM 111-312) ● Develop a plan to monitor timelines and progress ● Discuss resources and expertise that may be needed for each plan
VI. 2:30 – 3:30 ● Discuss the Agenda for our August 9-10 workshop days ● Complete the workshop evaluation form ● Final remarks and details.
Describe the benefits to the CSB/SJU community. ● Our German students at the lower level will experience a more rigorous and coherent program of studies in which their successive professors will be more in tune with each other's goals, content and methods.
Students of German 212 (HML) will experienced more rigor in content and levels of expectation. We may devise new 2-credit courses in intensive language preparation for study abroad and an additional 2-credit cultural immersion course during students' semester in Salzburg. Additional immersion summer courses may be offered at CSB/SJU or elsewhere to prepare students for the experience abroad. ● We may form more formal links with the "cognate" departments of economics, history, philosophy and other programs for the sake of diversifying our curriculum (e.g., allow Greg Schroeder's German History course to count toward the German major if a student does reading, research, oral tests, and writing in German). ● We will enhance the immersion aspects and academic rigor of our Salzburg Program. ● We will explore establishing an additional full-immersion term abroad, for example at the University of Leipzig or another university, for upper-division students who are prepared for it (we had this years ago, sending up to 2-3 students a year). ● Now is the time for this workshop because we have just completed Departmental Review and because of the necessity to dovetail our planning with new initiatives in the Center for International Studies.
EVALUATION PLAN
Assessment of the workshop will be carried out by all participants and a final assessment report will be written by Mark Thamert and another colleague. The following questions will be addressed: What was accomplished in the project? How well were the objectives of the project met? What impact will this project have on the education of CSB/SJU students and the wider faculty, especially those in related departments? How could the Faculty and Curriculum Development Committee or the various CSB/SJU offices be of more assistance in implementing supported projects in the future?