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Classes with Impact

ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú’s Signature Inquiries are curricular innovations designed around 5 major areas for topic-based inquiry, pushing the boundaries of pedagogy.  These courses encourage faculty and students working in different academic areas to connect in addressing vital and important needs in today's world that require understanding and solutions from a variety of disciplines.

Signature Inquiries push students to areas of study beyond their primary major(s). They feature authentic, active learning and application of knowledge, and are interdisciplinary at minimum in the course readings, activities, or methodologies. Best of all they are designed for the benefit of non-majors who can employ prior knowledge or skills from these courses into other fields.

Signature Inquiries are designed to overlap with Perspectives Areas.

Signature Inquiry Outcomes

All Signature Inquiry courses will follow these SLOs, thus by the end of their work in Signature Inquiry courses, students will be able to:

1. Investigate through active, engaged, or authentic learning that applies knowledge and identifies problems that affect people or the world around us.
2. Understand interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, or cross-disciplinary approaches through the course readings, activities, or methodologies; and/or make explicit links to other courses/disciplines in the relevant Signature Inquiry area.
3. Search for, read/listen to, and evaluate appropriate sources of information (primary or secondary) for understanding issues or seeking solutions.
4. Synthesize information and share ideas with others (informally or formally).

Designing a Signature Inquiry Class

Meeting the spirit of Signature Inquiries and refreshing the curriculum should be a goal of each department/program. It’s more than shoehorning existing courses into the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú Plan. Rather, look at the “curricular ecology” view of your program and the new opportunities the MP offers. This can be e.g. merging or reformulating existing MP courses, designing new classes, or scaling up existing courses that fit. Analyze the audience, market, and goals of your courses; and your teaching resources, and devise a programmatic strategy for Signature Inquiry. Courses in the Signature Inquiry should reflect this refreshed curricular approach in pedagogy, theme, approaches, topics, and titles.

1. Signature Inquiry courses are issue/theme-based and feature active teaching.
2. The idea of Signature Inquiries is that they are NOT the usual intro or survey courses. Disciplinary introductions or courses in the OT36 may not be appropriate. Not all current Foundation courses will be, or should be, Signature Inquiry. 
3. Student assessments in SI courses (eg. assignments, quizzes, exams) should be weighted towards authentic, active learning and engagement rather than traditional midterms and final exams. While we appreciate the need for culminating or synthesizing exams to ensure basic competencies, the purpose of "authentic" learning is to get students actively engaged in doing, searching, and creating. See “What is ‘authentic learning?” below.

What is "Authentic" Learning?

Signature Inquiry courses feature authentic learning, dependent on active learning environments that support students in making connections as they engage in the learning process. The learning outcomes of Signature Inquires reflect authentic learning frameworks. At the heart of the pedagogical model of authentic learning is the tremendous difference between “learning to be or do,” and “learning about,” and includes the following core characteristics:

• Tasks are of interest and relevant to students.
• Students actively engage in interdisciplinary exploration and problem-solving.
• Inquiry and communication are connected to the world beyond the spaces of instruction.
• Learning develops higher-order thinking, such as analyzing, synthesizing, creating, evaluating, with opportunities for discourse.
• Learning is driven by students with instructors/mentors/experts supporting, facilitating, or guiding.

Authentic learning prompts students to construct knowledge and understanding by doing, attempting, and sometimes failing as they investigate real-world situations, topics, issues, and concerns. Learning in relation to such meaningful contexts, stands in contrast to “learning about” through traditional learning in which students are supposed passive recipients of knowledge who absorb knowledge from individuals with expert knowledge.

Signature Inquiry Proposal Criteria

All MP course proposals are submitted through the CIM system. Before entering information into CIM, you should be prepared to answer the following questions and provide the requested materials. All SLOs must be met. It’s always best to fully design the course (syllabus, assignments) and then complete the CIM process.

For MP Signature Inquiry proposals, CIM will ask for the following information:

• SYLLABUS: (uploaded) The syllabus should describe to students what they will learn and do in your class and how it relates to the ÍÃ×ÓÏÈÉú Plan.  It is different from the CIM text box responses, described below, in both audience and genre.  The CIM responses are for Liberal Education Council review, Office of LIberal Education records, and documentation that courses are meeting MP outcomes.
  
  Do NOT simply cut and paste the Pillars and Signature Inquiry SLOs into your syllabus. Rather, your course content should be privileged but should reflect the Pillars and MP SLOs. They should be integrated into your narrative, unique and contextualized, and make links among the course content, student assessments, pedagogy, and the overall MP. An explanation of how and why the course fits into SI topics and pedagogy should be clear. The OLE/LEC only reviews items specifically related to content/topics, assignment/assessment descriptions, assignment weights, and pedagogy/class activities.
  
  
• BASIC CIM INFORMATION:  Bulletin description, Course Rationale (an explanation of how the course fits into your curriculum and/or the MP), Enrollment restrictions, regularity of offerings. Course-specific SLOs.
  
  
  • NOTE: These are distinct from any MP SLOs and are required of all courses regardless of MP status. You will also be asked how you will ensure that each section and iteration of the course will meet the same SLOs.
    
    
• SI TOPIC AREA: Mark the Signature Inquiry area(s) in which the course fits. You may choose up to two areas. You will be asked for a short explanation of how the course fits into the relevant SI area(s). Ideally, you should pull this from your syllabus.
  
  
• FOUR PILLARS: How will each of the Four Pillars be met? Provide specific information about how the course will meet each Pillar through e.g. assignments, activities, content, and pedagogical styles.
  
  
• SI STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES: You will need to copy/paste the relevant SLOs from this webpage into the appropriate text box of your CIM submission and then address each one separately. You will need to explain how students are achieving the outcomes by preparing one or two sample assignments for each required SLO. Materials such as longer assignments may also be uploaded to CIM.

Ready to Submit a Proposal?

When you are ready to submit for approval, you must use the Curriculum Management System (CIM) on the Registrar's website.