Running head: CASE STUDY #1 1

Case Study #1

Hector Solis-Ortiz

Loyola University Chicago

January 20, 2015

CASE STUDY #1 2

There are a lot of factors that go into creating a curriculum or core requirements

for any given university. As I began looking at the different institutions there were

differences in university’s core. Certainly there were many factors to consider as to why

they were different. Some depended on where these institutions were located, whether or

not they were private or public, or what fields of study students were going into. In

hopes to gain a wide perspective of the different curricula that exists I looked into an

array of institutions that I would aspire to work at to gain a better understanding of what

these institution asks of its students. These institutions included San Jose State

University, Pace University, Columbia University, Brown University and The University

of San Francisco. I decided to look into private universities, public state university, and a

Jesuit institution to see how the core differs.

San Jose State University is a large California public institution. It is also my

alma mater so I am quite familiar with the core requirements that they ask students to

complete. Their curriculum is based off their “A-E Requirements” (San Jose State

University, n.d.). Each letter in this requirement represents a different subject matter in

order to gain the “basic knowledge of an educated person” (para. 1) as they like to note

on their website (San Jose State University, n.d.). These A-E requirements include:

basic skills, science and math, humanities and arts, and social sciences, and human

understanding and development (San Jose State University, n.d.). Within each respective

requirement students have the option to choose their own elective course. Even though

there are basic requirements there are also subsets within each requirement. For example,

even though the A requirement means to gain “Basic Skills,” in order to attain that,

students need to have a firm grasp on three components: oral communication, written

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communication and critical thinking and writing. This means students would need to

take a total of three classes that would add up to 9 units in order to fill that requirement,

one for each component. Most of these requirements fall under an umbrella focus and

require taking additional classes in order to fulfill the overall letter objective. Looking

through the entire curriculum in order to fulfill the core, students must complete 39 units

of the general education requirements. Throughout this process students have autonomy

to choose whichever electives fall under each requirement as long as those classes go in

line with their specific field of study. The curriculum definitely differed as my critical

lens looked into private institutions.

Pace University is a private university in New York City and they have structured

their curriculum differently from the aforementioned institution. Their core is quite

extensive and requires students to fulfill a minimum of 44 credit hours. Their core is

broken down into three sections: foundational knowledge, areas of knowledge, and

inquiry & exploration (Pace University, n.d.). Section 1 of the foundational knowledge

includes: English, public speaking, and foreign language. In order to fulfill the

requirements students have limited options of which classes to take. In this section there

are opportunities to test out of some required course materials if the students feel as

though they are competent in a certain subject area. For example, one of the mandated

courses in this particular section is a computing foundation core course. If students want

to test out they have the chance to do so. They would also be eligible from being exempt

based off standardized test scores such as the SAT (Pace University, n.d.). Section 2

deals with areas of knowledge that include: civic engagement, history and human

behavior. Finally, Section 3 deals with inquiry and exploration which explores subjects

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of arts and sciences. Pace University’s core is interesting in that they are very specific in

the requirements it asks of its students, but it does not allow for students to customize

their own academic experience and they do not have a vast assortment of classes to

choose from to fulfill each section.

Columbia University is also a private institution, but is a part of the Ivy League.

Their curriculum is more refined and precise as to what they value and what they want

their students to get out of their experience. They state in their website, “the nation’s

oldest and most renowned Core program...it is comprised of a series of small discussion-

based seminars exploring foundation texts, enduring documents and exemplary

experiments in literature, philosophy, history, music, art, writing, science,” (para. 1) most

if not all of these course are seminar based to ensure a sense of participation with others

in the classroom (Columbia University, n.d.). The curriculum is based off studying the

classics and is very intentional in providing a seminar based approach to their courses.

The most interesting part of their curriculum is that they do not have set classes that

students can take because they have to customize it based off a student’s field of study

with their specific advisor. In order for a student to fulfill the core requirements they

must go and take some form of physical education. This was very interesting in that the

previous schools did not have an emphasis on this particular aspect and did not require it

in order to graduate. Even though Columbia is an Ivy League I was mistaken in believing

that most of the institutions that fall under that category might follow the same structure.

Brown University, also a part of the Ivy League is a liberal arts based institution

had a vastly different approach in that they have an open curriculum. This allows the

student to choose what they want to study and finding courses that complement their

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interests and field of study. On their website they state, “our open curriculum ensures

you great freedom in directing the course of your education, but it also expects you to

remain open to people, ideas, and experiences that may be entirely new” (para. 4) even

though students have the liberty to construct their own core they still have to meet the

liberal learning objectives in their studies (Brown University, n.d.).

Brown has a set of eleven learning outcomes that students have to meet and

choose courses alongside their advisor that would fulfill those requirements. These

include: speaking and writing, understand difference among cultures, evaluate human

behavior, history, science, foreign language, humanities and arts, reading, internship,

research, and diversity (Brown University, n.d.). This approach was very interesting in

that it allows students to fully take ownership of their education. Students need to meet

with their academic advisors each term in order to come up with a plan of what type of

what their major is going to be and find classes that complement their field of study.

Brown’s core curriculum solely revolves around these learning outcomes and is not

necessarily as structured as it was at other institutions.

Finally, coming from a Jesuit institution I wanted to see what the core would look

like at another Jesuit school. The University of San Francisco’s core consists of

completing a total of 44 credit hours. “The University’s Core Curriculum embodies, the

Jesuit, Catholic tradition that views faith, reason, and service to others as complementary

resources in the search for truth and full human development” (para. 1) they do this by

completing a set of 9 core requirements (University of San Francisco). These areas

include: communication, math and science, humanities, philosophy and theology, social

sciences, arts, foreign language, cultural diversity, and service learning (University of

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San Francisco, n.d.). The requirements are similar to most other institutions except for a

couple of distinctions. Students have to complete a cultural diversity and service learning

course because it aligns with the Jesuit ideals of social justice. This requirement is what

sets it apart from all the other institutions because it is not required in order to graduate.

The hope is that students are able to see their place in the world and how they can apply

the skills that they learn while in college and give back to others. Not every institution

has the same ideal and its one of the most distinctive attributes of receiving a Jesuit

education from this institution.

Looking through the wide spectrum of curriculum that exists within these

institutions no one school was exactly the same. There were many factors that

contributed to why each institution was different and believed their core was valuable and

relevant for their students’ success. There were also a number of similarities that

occurred through each curriculum. Fink (2003), notes that a large percentage of

institutions use the lecture as a form to teach and facilitate course work and this is not

always the most effective way to teach students. Though Fink does make a good point

that a majority of the core classes are lecture style, it does not mean that it is a bad way of

facilitating a class because there might be students who respond well to that type of

environment. Most of these institutions had seminar style approach to teaching these

courses which can be a great way to interact with other students and foster and

environment of learning.

As an alumnus of San Jose State University I had to take course work that I either

did not understand or cared for and it felt as though I was binging on information that

was not transferable to what I wanted to do. Most of these classes were solely lecture

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style and were not very stimulating or significant at times. This was a common problem

that I could see with potential retention on certain courses that students take. Bransford

et.al., (1999) states, “there are limits on the amount of information that people can hold in

short term memory is enhanced when people are able to chunk information into familiar

patters” (p. 33). This is one of the main challenges with curriculum.

Pace University was very similar in their approach with their core curriculum in

that it was very extensive, but allowed the student to choose courses that fall within a

certain category. Not every school’s curriculum had a large selection of what the

students could choose to study. This is something that might be important for an

undergraduate. Students might want to feel a sense of ownership or at least have way to

have significant learning experiences in the classroom.

Every curriculum had a set of four categories students had to take that include:

math, science, reading/writing, and communication. There was not much delineation

from that model, but there were definitely distinctions on how each institution went about

in integrating those requirements.

Both Columbia University and Brown University had similar approaches when it

came to picking out classes for a student in that there is a heavy emphasis on academic

advising. Students are required to meet with their advisors each term and come up with a

plan for the year. Even though both schools are considered to be Ivy League institutions

they definitely differed in how they valued education. Columbia has a set of

requirements students must take in order to fulfill the core, but has less of a selection as

to what a student can take. Brown definitely was the most unique out of the five

institutions in that students had autonomy to build and learn their own curriculum and

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were encouraged to do so. This is a good example of having students care and make a

meaningful experience. Nilson (2010) states, “people learn better when the material

evokes emotional and not just intellectual or physical involvement...motivate people to

want to learn it” (p. 4). The fact that students are able to make their own choices and take

their education in their own hands speak to Nilson’s thought that it might encourage

students to be motivated by what they learn and actually care and make connections.

Every institution has the same goal. That goal is to make sure that their students

are learning and finding meaning in the coursework. This is not always the case. Fink

(2003) states “if we can find ways to identify and create learning experiences that

students and others can agree are truly significant, we will have made important progress

in our effort to improve quality of higher education” (p. 7). This idea is what builds an

effective core in the hope that students find significance in the work that they do and can

apply it in the future. All of these institutions have a clear vision of what they view as

being important for a student to learn, but at the end of the day it goes back to how these

classes are structured and whether or not their meaningful or effective.

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References

The Brown Curriculum | The Brown Degree. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2015, from

http://www.brown.edu/academics/college/degree/curriculum

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R.R. (Eds.) (1999). How People Learn:

Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academy

Press.

Catalog: General Information - Core Curriculum - University of San Francisco (USF).

(n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2015, from http://www.usfca.edu/catalog/core/

Core Curriculum | Columbia Undergraduate Admissions. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17,

2015, from https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/learn/academiclife/

college/core

Fink, L.D. (2003). Creating significant learning experiences: An integrated approach to

developing college courses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Info.sjsu.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2015, from http://info.sjsu.edu/web-

dbgen/narr/static/schedules/general.html

Nilson, L. B. (2010). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college

instructors. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

University Core Curriculum Requirements | Pace University. (n.d.).

Retrieved January 17, 2015, from http://www.pace.edu/dyson/current-

undergraduate-students/core-curriculum/university-core-curriculum-requirements