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learned in one course at several points throughout the curriculum; 3) greater
emphasis needs to placed on faculty dialogue about the courses they teach so that
connections among curricular components might be made clearer and more explicit
for both the faculty and the students; 4) the place to begin with research skills might
well be at the sophomore level instead of the senior level; and 5) senior level courses
might be redesigned to function as capstone type experiences in which students must
integrate and demonstrate sophisticated and complex skills and understanding, as
well as, an ability to do both independent and collaborative work.
Conclusions
Readers should understand that not all the conclusions identified here are
derived from the experience just described. By virtue of the fact that one of the
authors (and the instructor in the research course) is an eleven-year veteran of the
chairperson’s office, some of what appears below is based on observations from that
vantage point. Many changes in departmental requirements, policies, personnel,
standards, etc. have accrued during those years, and it is difficult to separate some of
the conclusions derived from observing those changes from those of the current
experience. We should also note that the conclusions are those of the authors not the
entire faculty. While we believe that the changes we discuss below are valid and
necessary, none of these have been discussed with our colleagues and decisions
remain to be made. Having identified the perspective imposed on this section, we now
move to identify some of suggestions we would offer to improve the situation.
The first lesson learned was very pragmatic: Never volunteer to spend twelve
weeks on a task when ten will do. The instructors lost two weeks of much needed
Convention