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6967 DOCUMENTS OF THE GENERAL FACULTY PROPOSAL TO AUTHORIZE ONE- AND TWO-HOUR COURSE FLAGS On behalf of the Educational Policy Committee, Professor Lawrence Abraham (kinesiology and health education and committee chair) submitted the proposal below to authorize one- and two-hour course flags. The secretary of the Faculty Council has classified it as general legislation. Sue Alexander Greninger, Secretary The Faculty Council PROPOSAL TO AUTHORIZE ONE- AND TWO-HOUR COURSE FLAGS Proposal1 Recent revision of the undergraduate core curriculum includes attaching flags in writing, quantitative reasoning, global cultures, cultural diversity, ethics and leadership, and independent inquiry to three-credit courses which include appropriate content and evaluation. Courses of fewer than three credit hours may also bear a flag so long as the course content and grading are commensurate with the following. Flag Type Minimum Requirement Writing For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Quantitative Reasoning For 3-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 3/4 of the grade Global Cultures For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Cultural Diversity For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Ethics & Leadership For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Independent Inquiry For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Background and Rationale Document 5155-5163 of the General Faculty authorizes flags in writing, quantitative reasoning, global cultures, cultural diversity, ethics and leadership, and independent inquiry to appropriate courses “of three or more credit hours.” Several colleges have requested that certain courses that meet the relevant Faculty Council criteria in all respects except for the minimum hour requirement also be allowed to bear flags. Last fall the Educational Policy Committee reviewed this situation with respect to the writing flag, and agreed that it is reasonable for a course of less than three credits to bear a writing flag, as long as there were no reduction in the quantity or quality of writing and writing evaluation. 1The proposal was modified on April 6, 2009, by the Educational Policy Committee. 6968 UGS has also received proposals to add flags of other types to courses of fewer than three hours. Representative examples include a proposal to add the Ethics & Leadership flag to CE 171P: Engineering Professionalism and a proposal to add the Independent Inquiry flag to GEO 173H: Research Methods. UGS recommends the flexibility to add flags to 1- and 2-hour courses not only to accommodate the disparate teaching formats of the colleges and schools, but also to preserve content similarity within courses offered with multiple hour values (e.g. COM 125, 225, 325). On March 9, 2009 the Educational Policy Committee discussed this issue and voted unanimously for this proposal to guide the assigning of flags. The next table shows the current and proposed minimum requirements. Flag Type Current Requirement Minimum Requirement Writing “include writing assignments that constitute at least one-third of the final grade in the course” For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Quantitative Reasoning “at least half of the course grade must be based on the use of quantitative skills” For 3-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 3/4 of the grade Global Cultures “at least one-third of the course grade…” For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Cultural Diversity “at least one-third of the course grade…” For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Ethics & Leadership “at least one-third of the course grade…” For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Independent Inquiry “at least one-third of the course grade…” For 3-hour courses: 1/3 of the grade For 2-hour courses: 1/2 of the grade For 1-hour courses: all of the grade Posted on the Faculty Council web site on March 31, 2009.