Fall Syllabi Collection, Deadlines and Student Learning Outcomes
Since Fall 2014 LAS has collected 3300+ undergraduate and graduate syllabi to provide as evidence of our compliance with federal regulations concerning workload per credit hour earned and with Higher Learning Commission (HLC) standards. This effort continues for Summer and Fall 2015. Expectations for the syllabi include: each syllabus identifies Student Learning Outcomes; there is a consistent set of outcomes for all offerings of a given course (including online sections); and outcomes are phrased in a way that facilitates assessment.
Due dates for all Summer and Fall Syllabi with Learning Outcomes: July 17: All summer 2015 syllabi are due. August 28: All fall 2015 syllabi are due.
Please review your syllabi and revise as needed to support clarity for students enrolling in our courses and to help in the accreditation review process. Send your department’s designated collector an electronic versions of your syllabi as soon as you can and no later than the dates above. Each department has a system in place for their collection process; you can help staff in your department by sending your file using this naming format:
Designator_#_Instructor Name_Semester. [e.g. for Summer: PHYS_241_2_Ogilvie_SS15; for Fall: MATH_143X_C_McNicholl_F15]
The accreditation team will be requesting and examining these syllabi in September and October. An accreditation team will visit campus November 2-3, 2015. Thank you for your help in preparing LAS for its part in the accreditation review.
Questions may be directed to your department chair, Associate Dean Amy Slagell (aslagell@iastate.edu), or Stephanie Hamilton (slh@iastate.edu).
Propose a seminar for Frontiers of the Discipline! Are you doing research in an area that talented undergraduates would find compelling? Would you like the chance to generate intellectual interest and excitement among students by having an opportunity for free-flowing and critical discussions of your area of expertise in a one-credit Spring 2016 course?
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is soliciting proposals for its Spring 2016 “Frontiers of the Discipline” seminars. Each one-credit seminar will be built around the research activities of the faculty leader. If you would like to share your research with curious undergraduates, exploring with them the current issues, challenges, and potential impact of your work, please submit a proposal (no more than one page) to Stephanie Hamilton at the college office (slh@iastate.edu) by Friday, September 18. The proposal should:
• include an attention-getting title and brief course description suitable for our website • describe your research project or area • state your goals and describe your plan for the Frontiers seminar • note potential for student interest (include ideas about how you will recruit students) • identify preferred days, times and any location requirements for your proposed Frontiers section [The default time for Frontiers courses is Wednesday afternoon 4:10-5; if sharing your research would fit better in an alternative offering, such as half-semester formats meeting twice a week or once a week for a double session, you may propose that kind of course as well. Please consider how the offering time will work with potential students’ other courses.]
Each selected one-credit seminar will be limited to the first 20 students who register and will need to enroll at least 15 students in order to run. Students will be evaluated on a satisfactory-fail basis. Each faculty leader will be provided with a professional development grant of $750. Faculty who have participated in Frontiers offerings consistently speak well of this opportunity and several have found it helpful for recruiting undergraduates interested to the major and/or working in the labs of the faculty members.
For more information, check out the courses we selected to offer last spring. Please contact Amy Slagell (aslagell@iastate.edu) or Stephanie Hamilton (slh@iastate.edu) by e-mail if you have questions, and remember the deadline: Friday, September 18.