Proposing a Core for the new Carolina Core Curriculum
Thank you for your interest in designating a course for the new Carolina Core curriculum! In 2009 the Faculty Senate approved new general education learning outcomes for what is now known as the Carolina Core and distribution requirements were voted on in 2010. It’s now time to identify courses that can be used to meet the Carolina Core requirements.
Courses for the Carolina Core can include existing general education courses that are being modified to fit the new Core learning outcomes or they may be entirely new course proposals. Please note that for existing general education courses you will have until December 2012 to have these designated for the Core; this “grandfathering” means that when we launch the Carolina Core curriculum in Fall 2012 all of the existing general education course may still be used to meet the new Core requirements for one semester. Any general education not designated as a Carolina Core course by December 2012 however will not count as a Carolina Core course. Please submit your proposals as soon as possible since it will take several months for most proposals to go through the full USC approval process and be voted on by Faculty Senate. We want our students to have the courses that they need and to move to the new Core with minimum disruption.
Resources are provided below for use in designating a course for the Carolina Core. For each of the 10 learning outcomes there is the Context Statement that gives some background on what the course intends to do for students. Please read this carefully as you consider what your course proposal should look like. There’s also a rubric as to what the syllabus for the particular course needs to include. As we receive examples of course proposals that meet the new guidelines we will post these, too. You may also find it useful to look at the general template and Carolina Core Requirements for a syllabus.
Please note that the Carolina Core curriculum offers the option of overlay courses (hyperlink to information on this to distribution requirement table which explains this – link is down right now.) Overlay courses must meet the requirements of both outcome areas (e.g., History and Information Literacy). We welcome proposals for new overlay courses and anticipate that these will be popular with students.
The last resource that we provide is the Course Proposal Submission Form. This form can be found at this link: Carolina Core Course Designation Approval Form.
Once your proposal is submitted the Carolina Core Committee Specialty Team in each learning outcome area will be reviewing course proposals. A content expert and representatives from other colleges serve on these teams to assure us that both core competency in the discipline area as well as applicability for all students are reviewed.
Questions?
Please consult your Academic Program Liaison or APL as he or she is familiar with the Carolina Core course proposal process and can answer your questions. You may also find it useful to spend some time on this Carolina Core website to learn more about the general education program at Carolina.
We look forward to seeing your course proposals! Thank you for all you do for our Carolina undergraduate students.