[2622] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: [Mit-talk] Recommendations for new GIRs
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Tim Abbott)
Tue Oct 17 10:37:54 2006
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:36:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: Tim Abbott <tabbott@mit.edu>
To: Mike Barrett <radmike@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <2b7d45bc0610170704q6866f7e9pc2f94b3834188ed3@mail.gmail.com>
Cc: Tyson C McNulty <tmcnulty@mit.edu>, mit-talk@mit.edu, bc-talk@mit.edu,
random-hall-talk@mit.edu, ec-discuss@mit.edu,
Laura Nicholson <lnicks@mit.edu>
Errors-To: mit-talk-bounces@mit.edu
Generally, this sort of report results in a special faculty committee
(with students on it) being formed to decide how to implement the
recommendations (I guess if the faculty really hates them, they just throw
the recommendations out instead, but that's unlikely). The
recommendations suggest that it should be a subcommittee of CUP (the
committee on the undergraduate program), which seems rational. I think
it's being discussed at the faculty meetings tomorrow and next month, but
I believe the decision as to what to do with this report will be the
responsibility of this not-yet-formed subcommittee of CUP.
By the way, my understanding is that by subcommittee of CUP, they mean
almost totally independent committee associated with CUP, as opposed to a
committee consisting of a subset of CUP (that's certainly what CUP's
Subcommittee on the Communication Requirement is).
The Student Advisory Committee (edcomm-sac@mit.edu) is trying to collect
feedback so that they can present to this implementation committee a clear
summary of student opinion on the various proposals.
-Tim Abbott
On Tue, 17 Oct 2006, Mike Barrett wrote:
> What sort of process is in place in terms of who decides what "final plan"
> to implement? I kind of thought that this report was the result of so-called
> community feedback, but obviously they either already disregarded some of
> the ideas people've been bringing up, or they didn't get enough feedback in
> the first place. But is it Deans who decide? The different departments? Will
> the student body, and faculty all vote on some final plan? Or is it the
> taskforce?
>
> By the way, how do the chem/bio departments feel about their GIRs not being
> mandatory anymore? And are there people out there that think 8.01 could just
> as easily have been put in the same category? As an engineering major I
> would have had to take it anyways under whatever plan, but what about people
> in HASS, Course 9/7/18 etc.? I mean, once you open the door to not creating
> a common science vocabulary, etc. why did 8.01 stay on there while the other
> two got non-mandatory'd? Don't get me wrong, I only used the 5.112 (which I
> stupidly took over 3.091) once in my other coursework, and it just involved
> knowing which side of the periodic table was left or right. And I never
> touched any bio stuff since AP bio, so I don't really care too much about
> those two being voluntary. But I'm just wondering if the same argument holds
> water for 8.01 as well.
>
> mike
>
>
> On 10/16/06, Jessica H Lowell <jessiehl@mit.edu> wrote:
>>
>> There's going to be a survey and online forum up soon, and a town hall
>> meeting
>> at 2pm in the Bush Room next Sunday. The SAC to the Task Force, which is
>> a
>> group of students, will be compiling opinions and writing a student report
>> in
>> response to the task force report over IAP. You can get involved with
>> them by
>> emailing edcomm-sac@mit.edu.
>>
>> - Jessie
>>
>> Quoting Tyson C McNulty <tmcnulty@MIT.EDU>:
>>
>> > This thread is great and all, but could someone remind me (us) what
>> > the next point of action is if we want to voice our opinion about
>> > these potential changes to the people in charge? A petition? A
>> > survey? It seems like there should be something we could do besides
>> > repeatedly agree with each other.
>> >
>> > Because yes, it bothers me a lot.
>> >
>> > -tysoff
>> >
>> > On Mon, 16 Oct 2006, Laura Nicholson wrote:
>> >
>> >> Originally, I was really pleased with summary of the HASS suggestions-
>> I
>> >> was glad that someone with the power to change things said, "hey guess
>> >> what, the HASS requirements make everyone want to eat lead! We should
>> >> fix that." However, the more I read of the actual recommendations, the
>> >> less I liked. It seems to me that they've basically taken the concept
>> >> of the "HASS-D," narrowed the number of choices in class and timing
>> >> associated with it, turned them all into CIs, and then renamed them
>> >> "foundational electives." Yuck.
>> >>
>> >> Of course, the most upsetting of the proposed changes is the "HASS
>> First
>> >> Year Experience," which in my opinion promises to make students hate
>> the
>> >> HASS requirements more than the current overly-complicated guidelines.
>> >>
>> >> Throughout the entire report, the task force promotes a theme of
>> >> "unifying" the first year, which bothers a lot of people. While
>> reading
>> >> the report, I was kind of bothered by the underlying question, "Why is
>> >> it so important to "unify" the first year?" And reading between the
>> >> lines, I found something of an answer that in turn *really* bothered
>> me.
>> >>
>> >> The report list several fundamental "themes" that comprise the
>> >> educational philosophy of MIT, namely a persistent passion for
>> learning,
>> >> intellectual diversity, an innovative approach to core knowledge,
>> >> collaborative learning, and education for responsible leadership. On
>> >> page I-23, the report goes on to claim: "Our early consultations with
>> >> our colleagues and students confirmed our strong initial sense that
>> >> themes such as these are not sufficiently well communicated to MIT
>> >> undergraduates. Ideally, the first year will begin with a dialogue
>> >> between new students and faculty about this philosophy. More
>> >> importantly, students must be encouraged- and given the time- to
>> reflect
>> >> on this philosophy and become active participants in the educational
>> >> process throughout their tenure as undergraduates."
>> >>
>> >> Are they serious? With the exception of the "innovative approach to
>> >> core knowledge" (which strikes me as some obligatory tip of the hat to
>> >> those who think TEAL works), those were the reasons I *applied* to MIT.
>> >> And I imagine that's true for a lot of people here. But according to
>> >> the task force, undergraduates are unclear about MIT's educational
>> >> philosophy, so they should be forced into cookie-cutter first year
>> >> classes to learn how to be MIT students.
>> >>
>> >> Am I completely reading this wrong? Am I nitpicking about something
>> >> weird? Or does this bother anyone else?
>> >>
>> >> -Laura
>> >>
>> >>> On Fri, 13 Oct 2006, Jessica H Lowell wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>> The Task Force on the Undergraduate Educational Commons (the task
>> >>>> force that was
>> >>>> reforming the GIRs) released its final report today.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Full Report (158 pages):
>> >>>> http://web.mit.edu/committees/edcommons/documents/TF_FullReport.pdf
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Summary & Recommendations (11 pages):
>> >>>> http://web.mit.edu/committees/edcommons/documents/TF_SumRecs.pdf
>> >>>>
>> >>>> There are some things I like in there, and some things I don't.
>> >>>> I'm distressed
>> >>>> that, despite the fact that no student that I've spoken with
>> >>>> favored the idea
>> >>>> (and many left comments on the feedback site to that effect), the
>> >>>> Task Force
>> >>>> kept in their idea of a Freshman Experience humanities class - and
>> >>>> in general,
>> >>>> I find the trend to regard freshmen as separate from the rest of
>> >>>> the undergrads
>> >>>> disturbing. For the science core, there seem to have been two
>> >>>> proposals favored
>> >>>> by some faction of the Task Force, and I like the one that they
>> >>>> chose not to
>> >>>> endorse, that would have combined their computation & engineering
>> >>>> GIR and their
>> >>>> project-based experience GIR and still required everyone to take,
>> >>>> for instance,
>> >>>> chem and bio, better.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On the other hand, I like the idea of more streamlined procedures
>> >>>> for students
>> >>>> to follow who want to study abroad, and merging the HASS
>> >>>> distribution and CI-H
>> >>>> requirements.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> What do others think?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> - Jessie
>> >>>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>
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