Senate's First Annual Curriculum Institute

October
1999
Curriculum Committee Chair

Over 100 faculty members, articulation officers, curriculum deans and vice-presidents attended the first annual Academic Senate Curriculum Institute held on July 28 - 30, 1999, at the Disneyland Pacific Hotel. The goal of the Curriculum Institute was to provide resources to colleges to run effective curriculum committees, plan curriculum and programs, and write integrated course outlines as suggested in the many statewide Academic Senate documents on curriculum. Participants were asked to bring to the Institute curriculum success stories, curriculum dilemmas and samples of course outlines.

Diane Glow, San Diego Miramar, started the hands-on workshop with an explanation of how to write course outlines in which course objectives, course content, student assignments, and methods of evaluation are aligned. Action verbs using Bloom's Taxonomy in writing objectives that span from mastery of knowledge to demonstration of critical thinking skills were explained.

Bill Scroggins discussed a potpourri of curriculum issues, including effective curriculum process, prerequisites, distance vs. traditional education, and the curriculum process. John Nixon, CIO at Santa Ana College, joined Bill in a discussion of Tech Prep and joint programs with high schools, including the issue of granting college credit for high school courses.

Jolayne Service, from the Chancellor's Office of the CSU system discussed the process of getting a course evaluated for fulfilling IGETC and CSU GE Breadth requirements. Bob Stafford, San Bernardino Valley College, discussed the articulation process and general concerns articulation officers face. Lois Yamakoshi, Los Medanos College, explained her work on the community college articulation project (CCAN). She showed how the CCAN matrix works to identify comparable math courses at different colleges.

Loretta Hernandez, Laney College, discussed some of the curriculum issues in writing up courses for occupational programs, including the requirement to address SCANS criteria. Ophelia Clark, City College of San Francisco, contributed valuable information on vocational curriculum issues. Beverly Shue, Los Angeles Harbor College, used a sample course outline form from her college to show how to include SCANS competencies in vocational courses.

Jane Sneed and Vivian Ikeda, City College of San Francisco, discussed specific curriculum issues in writing up courses for ESL and Basic Skills, and Sandra Erickson, City College of San Francisco, presented information on the TIMMS report. Craig Justice, Chaffey College, discussed the Zero-Unit Lab to meet CalWORKs requirements.

Finally, the Curriculum Institute included a presentation by Ric Matthews, San Diego Miramar, on teaching a course by linking two sites. In the end, the participants walked away with a binder of curriculum resources, sample course outlines, and success stories - and a headful of curriculum facts.