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Show ask forces probing archaic academia ByLIDIAWASOWICZ Managing Editor sl Thomas King's 11 task Forces researching proposals for up-University up-University education and are be-;:0 be-;:0 produce some concrete recom- : Dgram is the first time any w or group of committees has a overall look at the functioning of the campus. Because the task forces are seeking completely new answers to common campus problems, success of the project could have far reaching effects on other schools. Dissatisfied with the University's approach ap-proach to education, Dr. King organized spring quarter 1 1 committees to define major campus problem areas and propose possible solutions. Of these task forces, five have been meeting since May and have come up with specific, although not yet final, recommendations. Objectives Three Fold The Task Force on Reward Systems has focused its attention on a three-fold objective: to specifically define the current cur-rent reward system, which influences the way faculty spend their time; to inventory inven-tory all of the pressures that motivate faculty to behave as they do; to determine deter-mine whether the present methods of rating good teaching and teaching techniques techni-ques are adequate. Committee members have been faced with questions, such as, "Should the University expect individual faculty members mem-bers to excel in all three areas: leaching, research and service to the Uniwisity'.'" Although a quorum of uieinbeis has not met during the summer, and the opinion of the majority is unknown, many agree with task foice member Dave Roll, assistant professor at the College of Pharmacy, who contends that "the greatest deterrent to quality insliuclion at the undergraduate level has been the traditional preoccupation of the Univeisi-ty Univeisi-ty with research and with requiring ic-search ic-search of all faculty membeis tegaulless of their inclination." Teaching Vs. Research According to Dr. Roll, the idea that if one is to be a good teacher he must do reasearch is outmoded, and "in tact llieie is no correlation between leaching ability and research ability." "My purpose is not to ilowngiadc the importance of the researcher, but lalhet to elevate tire status of the Icaiiu'i, Currently, the tcacliiiig-oricnlcil piolesvn is a second-class citien on the campus. He is paid less, may not be gi anted tenuie and is promoted less often," noted Di. Roll. Convinced of the need for change, (Continued on page 4, column I ) Trends forming in task force probe... "I think the best type of evaluation is based on the concept con-cept that if someone is a great teacher, his students are great students," expressed Dr. Della-Piana. The task force plans to submit to the adminstration a recommendation recom-mendation that the University implement the proposed changes on an experimental basis for about two years and that in 1975, at the latest, the procedures proce-dures and policy proposed by the task force by re-examined. disturbing totally the ordinary functioning of the University. Experimental Colleges "We want the Experimental Colleges to be a place where people can pursue the learned ideas and explore the basic concepts con-cepts which they have previously taken for granted. We want to give students the opportunity to participate in a creative approach ap-proach to education, to get inside in-side of knowledge, to examine the kind of 'truth' that's outside would probably learn much more by going to Kennecott than by reading a textbook or listening to a lecture in a' classroom," class-room," said Dr. Clarke. The emphasis in all experimental experi-mental colleges would be on ways of learning as well as on subject matter. The experimental experimen-tal nature of the colleges would vary widely but all would shape their efforts around a community communi-ty of learning and would aim to get away from faculty prescription prescrip-tion programs, course and credit (Continued from page 1) members of the Task Force on Reward Systems have made recommendations, re-commendations, which are to be finally approved by a quorum of members by fall quarter. The committee's recommendations to the administration state that "each department be required to determine proficiency for each instructor (on teaching, research, community service, University service) at least at the time of recommendations for salary Increase In-crease (merit), promotion, tenure ten-ure and retention," and that "departments be required to submit documents on their judgements." Since, according to the committee, com-mittee, the present methods for teacher evaluation are not well developed, the task force will provide some sample procedures for obtaining documentation (to be completed by Nov. 1, 1971). Want to Develop Models "We want to develop models, to be tried on an experimental basis, which could be used to evaluate each faculty member on some definite, periodic interval," The subcommittee has contacted industries from which the University Univer-sity buys to determine the possibilities of establishing work internships for which students could receive money and academic credit on a class, quarter or six-month basis. The internships could substitute for various requirements of particular majors or be supplementary to a student's curriculum. "We also talked about incorporating small businesses on campus in which University faculty and students would be involved. Students could create the business, choose their own product and manufacture it themselves. " Task Force on Freshman Year under the chairmanship 0f Lowell Bennion, associate dean of students. The purpose of the program will be to provide the freshman with "the opportunity of making his initial experience at the University educationally and humanly rewarding," according ac-cording to Dr. Bennion. The present freshman year has numerous inadequacies. The freshman can go through his first year without building a close relationship with a single teacher or with his peers in a classroom setting. He often experiences the University as a stranger in a big city. The freshman is typically either channeled into a set curriculum cur-riculum (as in nursing or engi- : neering) or is given a potpourri of courses. He may be intellectually intel-lectually turned off by the large, impersonal classes. Students have some freedom in choosing classes, but thereafter there-after are given only minimal opportunity to explore individual indivi-dual interests. Many of the fresh-out-of-high-schoolers are confused and lost as they encounter the freedom and complexity characteristic of their role as University students. The final problem with which ' the Task Force on Freshman Year is concerned with is the fresh- . man's lack of understanding of the resources of the University and of his own capacity to function func-tion effectively in the University environment. i Two One-Year Seminars i To overcome these limitations ' in the freshman's learning pro- . cess, the task force is proposing an experimental program, which will include two types of one- . year seminars. An academic seminar, attended at-tended by freshmen in groups of 12, will provide the student with in-depth intellectual experiences in some aspect of his field. The academic seminar professor profes-sor will choose his own subject and project his own course. He will strive to build a relationship with each student in his class and to assist the 12 in interacting inter-acting with each other in an informal group. The teacher will be assisted by : an advanced student who will help in teaching, tutoring and ; advising the students. The as- ; sistant will receive five hours ; said Gabriel Della-Piana, committee com-mittee chairman and director of the Bureau of Educational Research Re-search and of the Center to Improve Learning and Instruction. Instruc-tion. One proposed model for evaluating eva-luating teachers is based on the concept thai what is most important im-portant is what and how much students have learned from a particular professor rather than what students like or dislike in a certain teacher. "Students' opinion of a teacher is important, yet it should not be used as the only criteria for distinguishing between be-tween a good and a bad professor. profes-sor. I think it's essential to emphasize em-phasize what happens to students, stu-dents, what they can produce, as a result of having had a particular particu-lar professor," expressed Dr. Della-Piana. In order to test his success as an instructor, any teacher could volunteer for a formal evaluation, evalua-tion, which would include an exam given to a cross-section of the class by the administration to measure the students' achievements. achieve-ments. The test results could tell the administration , as well as the teacher, how well the objectives set forth by the professor were being accomplished. Concerned with developing a program with a creative approach ap-proach to education, members of the Task Force on Experimental Experi-mental Colleges have defined the basic elements which must be present if the program is to succeed. These include a provision of alternate structures for learning; an exploration of new ways of learning; a response to student desires for more say about programs, pro-grams, teachers, teaching, etc.; an arrival at other paths to undergraduate un-dergraduate education than a pursuit of degrees through recognized reco-gnized departments; a creation of communities of learning-centers learning-centers of identity for students and faculty. Other proposed components of the Experimental Colleges comprise of a confrontation of many important tasks needing to be done in the outside world with some of the resources in students, faculty, knowledge, expertise ex-pertise and attitudes of the academy; aca-demy; an addition of some challenges chal-lenges to ways the University-college, University-college, departments, etc. -now functions and the accomplishment accomplish-ment of all these goals without great sums of money, new buildings build-ings and equipment and without of books and tests and reports," said Lori Clarke, task force chairman and assistant professor of English. Experimental Colleges would not provide a substitute for disciplines, dis-ciplines, but would be cross-disciplined. cross-disciplined. "Students would analyze beauty and truth in every subject art, music, math, philosophy, physics. They would raise questions, such as, 'What is the connection between biology and engineering? Do they ever come together?' "I know one student whose dream is to pursue nursing and literature. She can do so, presently, pre-sently, but it will take a couple years longer than if she weie pursuing one major. Yet, why should xit take longer?" expressed ex-pressed Dr. Clarke. Allowing students to attain a general "University degree" is one of numerous recommendations recommenda-tions being considered by the Task Force on Experimental Colleges which aims at giving the students opportunity for a less structured, more liberalized education. edu-cation. "Although you'd want both at times, you don't always need a desk and a blackboard to learn. An ecology group, for example, counting, lectures, academic assignments, as-signments, etc. The colleges would strive to eliminate all conventional con-ventional methods and stuctures which might limit learning. Faculty and students would shape specific programs, courses and experiences, perhaps filling out general designs created by the group establishing the colleges' col-leges' identity. A relatively small part of a student's program would be taken exclusively in one of these colleges, 30 to 50 hour equivalent. equiva-lent. University Degree Depending on the nature of the college, students could meet its requirements and still take conventional majors or, if they so desired, they might work for a "University degree" in a particular parti-cular college. "Cooperation with departments depart-ments should make it possible to use relcvent experiences in an Experimental College to meet requirements in a department. And department courses might meet the requirements for the 'University degree'," said Dr. Clarke. Another experimental program pro-gram is being planned by the n "1 1 11,6 Utah Chronicle, Summer Edition, Am- 1 1971 S ..'humanized learning, student power ... individual study in lus own stated task," exnrPPH u. MJ W Vl for individual study in his :;tin education. : t students will meet weekly tandahalfhoursandwUl , : j five hours General Edu-! Edu-! 'a credit. wanion to the academic at the practical seminar 1 students in three major University resources and flaming process; personal :(!0praent and career and life 'inning- . ... Ut practical seminar will two hours General Educa-credit Educa-credit and will meet weekly '.one and a half hours with Ijngand other assignments to ''out between classes. -ft had hoped to start the ,,,aminthe fall. However, we y purpose is not downgrade the im-0nce im-0nce of the rentier, re-ntier, but rather 1 elevate the status jthe teacher. Cur-gly, Cur-gly, the teaching mted professor is :mnd class citizen ithe campus. " :B not yet gotten the curricu-.1 curricu-.1 together. The Freshman in Program will go into effect J quarter, 1972, for certain," :i Virginia Frobes, committee 'aber and special assistant to j Provost. lie Task Force on Teacher-iner Teacher-iner Relationships is dealing ithe most difficult question n the future of the Univer-3,iccording Univer-3,iccording to Pete Grundfos-', Grundfos-', committee member and ilant dean of students. "The a that we can't agree on any arete recommendations is iiptomatic of how difficult 2 problem is," said Dean sifossen. Hie task force, under the airmanship of Mitch Schorow, j concerned with defining the Wing teacher-student relation-5(s relation-5(s and how they should be aged. "The problem is that we have :rs with biases on every .e of the issue, and the people biases would like to have 2lr point of view adopted as y ," remarked Dean Grund- n. - the biases cannot be !' d since the existence of the ttee is based on an asser-l asser-l 'hat the present teacher- ' relationships are inade-. inade-. d need to be changed, the dean. following are the ideas of grundfossen, also held by 1!T task f0rce 'trso"al Growth Important University operates ;hT tradltl0nal concept ! P"mary funct'n of a 'S t0 exPand knwl-JJto knwl-JJto transmit it to the I fttatiQn.. Many of. the members believe that !( 15 too limited and that "sity should take E2flityforthe Per" w its students- of 'Univl V f us believe that Vers'ty failed even at its own stated task," expressed Mr Grundfossen. The present educational system sys-tem is producing a one-sided individual; one who has learned tomemorize books and lectures and to regurgitate the memorized memor-ized information at the appropriate appropri-ate time, i.e. during tests. The student concentrates so much on grades, credit hours and degrees that he has no time to assimilate knowledge, noted Mr. Grundfossen. Grundfos-sen. The University should teach students how to tap information resources instead of how to take notes, memorize and regurgitate. "We need to teach students how to utilize resources which help solve problems and how to make decisions. We need to help students stu-dents increase their self awareness-who they are in relation rela-tion to their peers and to experienced experi-enced adults in the community. "We need to teach leadership skills, how to make decisions in a coooperative process. We need to teach basic skills of verbal and non-verbal communication. We need to give the students a greater sense of community and community responsibility. "We need to focus heavily on increasing integrity, on ascertaining ascertain-ing that values and attitudes and behavior are integrated. We need to increase the students' esthetic sense. According to the dean, the present "star system" is inadequate, inade-quate, limits the student's learning learn-ing process and should be changed. "In the star system, the teacher is the star, who receives all the rewards money, an office, of-fice, segregated rest rooms, reduced re-duced rates at the book store, better access to the library. "The star comes into the classroom and tells the pupil all he knows, assuming that what he knows is all that others should know. In the process of getting One proposed model for evaluating teachers is based on the concept that what is most important impor-tant is what and how much students have learned from a particular parti-cular professor rather than what students like or dislike in a certain teacher. the information across to the students, the star learns more than his audience. Teacher Neglects Students "The toughest part to overcome over-come is the assumption that students are here to learn subjects; sub-jects; teachers are experts in subjects; therefore, teachers should practice in becoming more expert. The expertise of a teacher is usually judged by his peers on the basis of how much research he has published. In the process of becoming more expert, ex-pert, a teacher may neglect the "We'need to change the structure struc-ture to reward teachers for teaching so that they will have some incentive for helping stu-nts stu-nts grow. In the present Lu, twe, the classroom is a place where teachers feed their egos showing students how much they know. "Changing the structure will be difficult. We have developed a student who is highly obedient system oriented and authority oriented. The student knows that if he sits in the classroom Allowing students to attain a general "University degree" is one of numerous recommendations being be-ing considered by the Task Force on Experimental Ex-perimental Colleges. and appears to be paying attention atten-tion to the star, he wil' he rewarded in the end with a degree." said the dean. Structure Breaking Down "Fortunately, this structure is breaking down, that is, people with degrees have an increasingly difficult time getting a job. The diploma is thus becoming less and less of a reward," noted Mr. Grundfossen. The dean believes an improved im-proved classroom situation would include minimal lecturing and maximum student participation. participa-tion. Students would be given a bibliography of about 40 books, with five required readings. The quarter would be divided into five parts, for discussion of each book. Students would analyze the books in small groups. The teacher would sit in on the groups, not correcting every error er-ror but adding points missed by the students or commenting on the students' assumptions and conclusions. The students would make up their own exams and be graded on test and verbal participation by fellow classmates. "Students learn better from themselves than from a teacher. They can't grow in an environment environ-ment where the professor is the undisputable authority and the student the passive listener," concluded Mr. Grundfossen. The Task Force on Work-Study Work-Study Program has been divided into two subcommittees: Jobs for Credit and Jobs for Money. Jobs for Credit subcommittee's subcommit-tee's discussions have centered around three possible recommendations. recom-mendations. "Opportunities at the University Univer-sity for accredited work experience experi-ence related to particular majors are much more numerous than many students realize. We would like to communicate these opportunities op-portunities to a wider range of students," said Virginia Frobes, subcommittee chairman. The subcommittee has contacted con-tacted industries from which the University buys to determine the possibilities of establishing work Internships for which students could receive money and academic aca-demic credit on a class, quarter or six-month basis. The intern-ships intern-ships could substitute for various requirements of particular majors ma-jors or be supplementary to a Lent's curriculum Tne mdus- tries have shown interest in the proposed program, said Dr r robes. Students Form Businesses "We also talked about incorporating incor-porating small businesses on campus in which University faculty fac-ulty and students would be involved. in-volved. Students could create the business, choose their own product and manufacture it themselves," said the chairman. The third proposed recommendation recom-mendation is that the University's Universi-ty's businesses develop internships intern-ships for students. The Office of the Business Manager has requested re-quested that the directors of campus cam-pus business services prepare a proposal for internships for which students would receive both salaries and credits, said Dr. Frobes. According to chairman Clark Whitehead, assistant director of personnel, the subcommittee on Jobs for Money has discussed four issues: the University's attitude atti-tude toward student employment; employ-ment; centralized versus decentralized decen-tralized employment office on campus; job openings posted in a centralized place; pressure developments devel-opments and marketing to create jobs for students. Women, Minorities Favored "We will recommend to the administration that the University Univer-sity should encourage student employment, that financial need should not be the only criteria for hiring students and thai women and minority students should be given preference," said Mr. Whitehead. The subcommittee is also recommending rec-ommending that all on -campus job openings be posted in a centralized office: the Financial Aids and Scholarships Office. "We don't want to take independence indepen-dence or the right of selection away from the departments. We believe that a centralized employment em-ployment office would be of service in providing competent The academic seminar, se-minar, attended by freshmen in groups of 12, will provide the student with in-depth intellectual experiences expe-riences in some aspect as-pect of his field. people for unfilled positions," said Mr. Whitehead. A centralized office would be convenient for both student and employer. "It could better match the skills of the applicant to the requirements of the employer," em-ployer," remarked the chairman. The Financial Aids and Scholarships Schol-arships Office, proposed to be the central office for on-campus student employment, would conduct aggresive campaigns for more jobs for students and consider con-sider new programs to develop jobs (students could get together to form a birthday cake service, for example). The Placement Office would be the centralized office for off-campus off-campus student employment. It would monitor all departments and businesses which deal with off-campus student placing. The other six task forces have only recently begun meeting and have not as yet come up with any specific recommendations. In general, they are concerned with the following areas: The Task Force on the Needs of the Economically Underprivileged Underprivil-eged in studying the ways in which the University may be more effective in meeting the material, social and educational needs of students whose backgrounds back-grounds are economically underprivileged. under-privileged. The Task Force on the Internal Inter-nal University and Independent Study is considering the possibilities possibil-ities of bringing the community to the University through possibilities possi-bilities of attaining degrees out- The present educational educa-tional system is producing pro-ducing a one-sided individual; in-dividual; one who has learned to memorize books and lectures and to regurgitate the memorized information infor-mation at the appropriate appro-priate time, i.e. during du-ring tests. side the traditional classiooin through correspondence couiscs, special tests, etc. Improved Communication The Task Force on ('oiiiiihi-nity ('oiiiiihi-nity Relations is identifying the many publics to which the University Uni-versity is accountable and will recommend ways and means of improved communications between be-tween the University and the community. The Task Force on Academic Sacred Cows is examining the unqucstiond traditional "sacred cows" of higher education (degrees, (de-grees, accredation, admission policies, grades, majors, etc.) and possible consequences if these were to be abolished. The Task Force on University Objectives and Priorities is seeking seek-ing to assure mutual understanding understand-ing and endorsement of University Univer-sity objectives and priorities in order to stimulate action by colleges, departments, faculty members and the adminslration. The Task Force on University Objectives and Priorities is seeking seek-ing to assure mutual understanding understand-ing and endorsement of University Univer-sity objectives and priorities in order to stimulate action by colleges, departments, faculty members and the administration. The Task Force on the University's Uni-versity's Internal Relations is assessing as-sessing feelings about the University of students, faculty and employees and the implications implica-tions and identifying the patterns pat-terns of communication within the University between its various vari-ous members. It will recommend ways in which University members mem-bers can share in campus objectives objec-tives and not feel alienated from one another. All task forces have a deadline of Nov. 1, 1971, for turning in the final recommendations. Any student interested in participating participat-ing on any of these committees should contact any of the chairmen chair-men or Pete Grundfossen in the Student Activities Center. |
