Universities Add Classes to Meet Interests of Students, Faculty

By Jeff Raymond, The Oklahoman

Jan. 20–At the University of Central Oklahoma, Chinese martial artist and film star Jet Li is as much a part of English study as Geoffrey Chaucer.

Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and other Western classics will continue to be taught at the 15,500-student university, but classes evolve as English study evolves.

Fall- and spring-semester course-tracking documents from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the University of Central Oklahoma show how often courses are added and deleted, which areas are growing and what is driving creation of new, sometimes quirky, classes, such as “Kung Fu Films & Literature,” which is in the current course catalog.

“There are a lot of disciplines that are sort of feeding film studies as a discipline,” said associate professor John Springer, who oversees film studies at UCO.

“Obviously,” he said, “film is the 20th century medium par excellence.”

UCO had the greatest number of pending undergraduate courses — 69. Overall, twice as many were added than were deleted.

One common denominator among the three schools is forensic science. Prime-time, shape-of-the-blood-spatter crime shows have spawned degrees, majors, certificates and courses in examining crime scenes for clues and evidence using science and technology.

Growth areas at the three universities include Internet security, environmental and health care engineering and policy, and at OU, human relations.

UCO film courses illustrate one big factor behind course creation — student interest.

‘An academic program’ Polls showed students were interested in studying cinema, so in 2000 the university established a film studies minor.

The classes have been a hit, but sometimes students come in thinking all they have to do is sit back and watch their favorite films. The courses require much reading and essay writing, and one graduate course doesn’t include required movie-watching. By the time students are in graduate school, they should already have seen the classics.

“I want to make clear that what we’re building here is an academic program and not just a collection of courses that sounds fun to people,” Springer said.

Until about 10 years ago, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education signed off on new courses. Now, the three universities approve their own at various administrative levels.

“They are often driven by either faculty interest or student interest,” said Gail Gates, OSU associate vice president for undergraduate education.

Alumni groups, exit interviews, suggestions from professional associations and industry groups and accreditation requirements also drive many of the additions. Poor student performance in certain areas may suggest a change is needed.

“So there’s a whole variety of things that come into play,” Gates said.

Gates said OSU asked departments every few years to strike seldom-offered classes from their lists.

Documents from the three schools show courses seldom are cut, although they often go through name changes and credit modifications.

“A lot of times with new courses, (professors) start them as a special topics course — they’ll kind of try it out,” she said.

Springer, who serves on UCO’s Academic Affairs Council, which considers curriculum changes, said the review process for new courses was rigorous, peer-reviewed and not guaranteed to be successful for faculty.

“You can’t do it any quicker than a year, and sometimes it takes several years,” he said of creating courses.

—–

To see more of The Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com.

Copyright (c) 2007, The Oklahoman

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.