麻豆传媒

Presented to the M膩noa Faculty Senate by the General Education Committee (GEC) for a vote of the full Senate on March 13, 2019, a motion to assign focus designations to courses rather than instructors.聽 Motion to defer consideration of proposal until three conditions are met by the M膩noa Faculty Senate on March 13, 2019 with 31 votes in support; 19 votes opposed; and 2 abstentions.

The three conditions:
1) the need for this change is documented with systematic, and not anecdotal, data as to how the current system of focus courses has negatively affected students;
2) a clear plan and process for implementation is developed and attached to the proposal; and
3) department consultation takes place.

Presented to the M膩noa Faculty Senate by the General Education Committee (GEC) for a vote of the full Senate on November 20, 2019, a motion to assign focus designations to courses rather than instructors.聽 Motion is not approved by the M膩noa Faculty Senate on November 20, 2019 with 18 votes in support; 21 votes opposed; and 4 abstentions.

MOTION TO ASSIGN FOCUS DESIGNATIONS TO COURSES RATHER THAN INSTRUCTORS

WHEREAS, 麻豆传媒course Catalog descriptions, and all General Education designations except Focus, are course-based; and

WHEREAS, course-based Focus designations contribute stability and simplicity for students planning their courses of study; and

WHEREAS, courses that are offered sometimes with, and sometimes without, a Focus designation have led to confusion and have hindered student success or increased time-to-degree; and

WHEREAS, the preparation of instructor-based Focus proposals and renewals by multiple instructors who teach the same course adds redundancy to the workload of faculty instructors and the faculty boards that review and approve proposals; and

WHEREAS, the External Review Team commissioned in AY2017-2018 by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM) recommended strengthening General Education by moving to course-based Focus designations1; and

WHEREAS, the AY2017-2018 self-study of General Education at UHM raised the issue of using course-based Focus designations to simplify the curriculum proposal process2; and

WHEREAS, course-based Focus designations contribute consistency and clarity to the role of those courses in the General Education curricula and student learning objectives at all levels in UHM, and this benefits the design, practice, and assessment of curricula at all levels in UHM; therefore

BE IT MOVED, that the University of Hawaii M膩noa Faculty Senate supports the assigning of Focus designations to courses rather than instructors starting in AY2020-21.

BE IT FURTHER MOVED that the University of Hawaii at Manoa Faculty Senate supports that exceptions be made for Directed Reading/Research courses (typically numbered 399 or 499) and for 鈥淭opics鈥� courses which cover a variety of different topics under the same course number. These courses may be eligible for instructor-based as well as course-based designations.

BE IT FURTHER MOVED that all current Focus designations, whether instructor or course-based, shall continue to have that designation until they come up for renewal.

References

1Filer, K., Moreno, J., Rhodes, T., and S. Shananhan.聽 University of Hawaii at Manoa General Education External Review Team Report.聽 Spring, 2018. p. 6 .

2General Education Program Review Steering Committee, Findings from the Internal Review of General Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, AY 2017-2018, p. 27.

Supporting Information聽