As part of the Core Self-Study conducted in the 2018-2019 academic year, in the Fall semester, all students currently enrolled in one of the four Common Core (CORE) courses (151, 152, C&I, SP) were surveyed on their experience(s) with the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum (LACC). The survey generated ~860 total responses, or around 29% of the enrolled student body. The survey, designed by the Core University Professors, asked students to rate how well their CORE component fit with the 13 Goals of a Colgate Education and asked for information on how much students knew about the CORE prior to matriculation, how the CORE influenced their education at Colgate, and how well they understood the goals of the CORE. Students were also asked to write short responses on how well they felt the CORE course they were taking fit into their education, what they felt the most important aspect of the CORE curriculum was, and what was one way the CORE could be improved.
Review an overview summary of the responses, including some analysis of the short answer responses.
Also, review the full textual responses, anonymized to remove indication of particular instructors.
Overall, students are generally satisfied with the CORE. Approximately 70% of students agree that they have a good understanding of the goals of the CORE, and over 60% of students agree that the CORE plays an important role in their growth as a student.
Most students feel that each of the CORE components meets most of the 13 Goals of a Colgate Education, and many students feel like the CORE exposes them to new topics, approaches, and interdisciplinary connections, and causes them to think differently about their place in the world (5 = strongly agree, 1 = strongly disagree).
Students were asked “What, to you, is the most important aspect of the Colgate Liberal Arts Core Curriculum.” In their responses, students value the “well-rounded” education they receive from the CORE (16.4%, the most frequent response), and many students appreciate that the LACC allows them to engage with different perspectives on a particular topic (12.2%). A subset of these students appreciate that the core challenges their preconceived notions of the world and/or biases (1.6%). Students also value the opportunity to improve their critical thinking (3.4%), and reading, writing, and other academic skills (4%), while other students feel that the Core is valuable because it allows them to better understand the world around them (3.7%), and will make them better, more responsible citizens (2.8%).
This is not to say, however, that the students don’t feel that there are areas that can be improved. Students were also asked “What is one thing you would like to see changed or improved about the Colgate Liberal Arts Core Curriculum?” A close read of the narrative responses leaves the impression that some students are dissatisfied with one of the CORE components (a conservative estimate is ~9%), though which component varies greatly from student to student and was largely based on the particular instructor that they had for that CORE component. Overall, many students (10.9%, the most frequent response) would like more “options” or “variety” writ large - more sections available; more options for Core Communities and Identities (CI) and Core Scientific Perspectives (SP); and more variety in what Core 151 and Core 152 offer. Many students like the concept of 151 and 152, but would like to see a variety of courses on specific topics within the “Legacies” and “Challenges” umbrellas, similar to the “menu” style courses offered by CI and SP (5.8%). Students would like to encounter more diverse texts (8.6%, the third most frequent response), with more representation of women and non-”Western” authors. Other students (6.5%) would like to see more relevance of the topics/texts (especially in 151 and 152) to current societal issues (climate change, racism, etc.) For the courses with “shared” content (151 and 152), students would also like greater uniformity in workload and grading standards (3.9%). (Please note that although these percentages appear low, students were only asked to list “one thing,” so the percentages underestimate overall student support for these ideas).
Obviously, the CRC recognizes that the revised LACC should be shaped by the faculty, not by student surveys. However, we believe it is important to provide this data to the community as we feel like there is a lot of useful information in the student survey which can help our collective thinking as we start to model a revised CORE curriculum. Given Colgate’s commitments in the 3rd Century Plan to support efforts to address issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campus, we believe that it is especially important to be responsive to students’ desires for increased diversity in the texts that they encounter in CORE classes, especially those of non-Eurocentric origin. At the same time, we are cognizant that this may create challenges for faculty who believe that they do not have the background and training to teach texts outside their fields of expertise. We look forward to seeing ideas for curricular models that can address these competing issues. Please don’t hesitate to contact the CRC here if you have any further questions regarding the content or analysis of the student survey.