On Monday, October 19, 2009, the Chair of the University Senate and the Provost officially announced the Spring 2010 pilot of the “I” Series, the signature of the nascent General Education Program. “I”-Series courses begin the transformation of General Education at the University of Maryland. They are designed to investigate significant issues with imagination and intellect with a belief that they will inspire future investigation and provide concrete mechanisms to implement innovative ideas. They will challenge students to wrestle with the Big Questions and examine the ways in which diverse intellectual traditions address them, offering a students not only new intellectual domains to explore but also new ways to think about contemporary problems like the energy crisis but age old dilemmas like ecological sustainability.

In our world, things change. And then they change again.

And so it goes. So every now and then, the University must make sure that the education of our students keeps up with all that change.

Ira Berlin, University Distinguished Professor of History, leads the Task Force appointed by the Provost and by the University Senate and charged with updating General Education at the University of Maryland. Berlin says the

job of this Task Force is critically important. 

“We in the U.S. worry about health care because it accounts for some 15 percent of our economy; in comparison, CORE is more than 30 percent of our courses, the currency of the University, Berlin said. “So any change in general education is a tremendous issue for all of us,” he added.

Our present CORE General Education requirements were created in the late 1980s and put into effect in 1990. CORE gives students broad knowledge through requirements in more than 10 disciplinary areas. For each student, CORE adds up to about one-third of credits earned at Maryland. Students in all majors must complete CORE requirements to receive a Maryland bachelor’s degree.

Changes over the past two decades — changes in disciplines, technologies, pedagogies, and even in the nature of knowledge — mandate revisions to General Education at this time. Many major debates and issues in the world are absent from lists of required courses.

“Big questions about big issues” form the signature of the Task Force’s work toward new requirements for General Education. The “I” Courses, a set of innovative and inspiring courses on big issues, will be the foundation for the new plan. Students will take one or more of these courses when they first arrive at the University.

A test run of the I-Course concept is set for the Spring semester, when 24 of these “big issue” courses will be offered to freshmen and sophomores. The list for the Spring semester pilot program includes such courses as “Cross-examining Climate Change,” “HIV/AIDS in a Global Perspective,” “Information 3.0,” and

Above: Distinguished Professor Ira Berlin, Chair of the General Education Task Force

“Acting Human: Shakespeare and the Drama of Identity.” A complete list of Spring I-courses may be found here. The Task Force announced the new courses and the professors who designed them on Oct. 19.

Beyond the I-courses, Task Force requirements will include four to five categories from which students choose one or two approved courses. Such topics as “Natural Sciences” and “Theory in Practice” have been discussed, but no final decisions have been made. Finally, the Task Force plans to retain requirements for “Fundamental Studies” for each student --courses in writing, mathematics and other foundations for studies in higher education.

“Many areas have been recommended to us for the requirements,” Berlin said, “such as health and wellness, civic engagement, diversity, global studies, and others.” The Task Force hopes to integrate these suggestions in the final set of requirements. The full proposal for new requirements will be sent to the University Senate and to the Provost in December.

For more information visit: http://www.provost.umd.edu/GenEd2009/