CLAS Core Goals
GE CLAS Core courses provide a broad foundation of contextual knowledge and a focused practice of transferable skills necessary for a lifetime of learning. The program consciously articulates the learning process, the value of this learning, and the modes of inquiry, tools, and methods associated with particular areas of study and how they interact with each other.
Course attributes and instructor expectations
Academic expectations are clearly defined
Instructors should provide models and/or rubrics so that students understand the standards of the course. It is expected that students in CLAS Core courses will have a good understanding of how they are doing overall in the course by mid-semester and that instructors will provide students an estimate of their grade at mid-semester.
Students receive early and frequent evaluation of their work
Instructors are expected to define and motivate students to achieve academic success by providing opportunities for students to receive feedback on assignments within the first few weeks of the course; these assignments need not be lengthy, but can provide students an opportunity to practice the methods of inquiry central to the discipline(s) of the course.
A range of teaching and assessment strategies are used
Instructors should use a variety of teaching and assessment strategies throughout the semester to better engage students in their own learning and in order to reach the wide range of students with various needs in the course.
Encourage students to learn from each other whenever possible, particularly through large and small group discussions, student organized study groups, and by the use of peer mentors, supplemental instruction, writing fellows, and creative activities that engage students.
Assignments in the course will build in complexity
Courses in the CLAS Core should provide opportunities for students to build from simple and/or informal assignments to more complex and/or formal ones, giving the student the opportunity to develop and master skills that are needed for achieving academic excellence and success in the course. More complex assignments will allow students to think critically, using analysis, deduction, inference and/or other analytical strategies.
Students practice writing and communication in methods appropriate to the discipline
Courses in the CLAS Core should provide opportunities for students to learn about what different modes of writing and communication look like in different disciplines and also to practice the methods appropriate to the discipline(s) being studied in the course.