Faculty Senate

This website contains information about, and support for, completing the processes and procedures required to submit or realign courses for inclusion in the new UNT Core Curriculum according to the criteria established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and interpreted by the UNT Faculty represented by the Faculty Senate and its Committees. 

• Key Documents
• Examples Successful Course Proposals
• Deadlines
• Guidance from the Core Action Plan
• Guidance from the Higher Education Coordinating Board
• Assessment Plan Guidance
• American Association of Colleges and Univesities Guidance
• Committee Membership

Key Documents

• Core Action Plan (UCC & OCCC)
• Required form, COC-200 with instructions (OCCC) (Note: Additional form(s) are required for new courses to the core or if any catalog and/or component area changes are being made)
• Step-by-step guide (OCCC)
• Component area to required Core Objective matrix (THECB)
• Side-by-side comparison of current vs. new core (THECB)
• Elements of the new Core Curriculum (THECB)

Examples of Successful Course Proposals

Guidance from the "Core Action Plan" (adopted by UCC and OCCC in Spring, 2012). This action plan contains a lot of useful information! Here are its Guiding Principles.

• Although the action of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has made some significant changes in the core curriculum rules and although these changes reflect significant changes in the intellectual framework for the State’s perspective on the Core Curriculum, these changes do not necessitate a significant change in the intellectual framework defining UNT’s core curriculum. Thus, the process of moving into compliance with the new State rules for the 2014 Core Curriculum will be viewed as realigning course justifications and assessment plans, rather than asking that courses re-apply for admission to the core curriculum.
• All core curriculum courses will need to submit realigned justifications and assessment plans to the Oversight Committee on the Core Curriculum and to the University Curriculum Committee, but these realignments are not to be viewed as "re-applications."  By default, courses currently in the UNT core curriculum will remain in their current component areas (with component area names adjusted as appropriate).
• The academic years 2012-13 and 2013-2014 may be viewed as “transition” years. Courses that quickly develop new assessment plans aligned with the core objectives may begin assessing toward the new objectives as soon as they are ready, as soon as Fall 2012 and no later than Fall 2014.

Guidance from The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

The THECB has created some useful documents on its website. 

• Elements of the Core Curriculum, including a Statement of Purpose and key definitions can be found here.
• A side-by-side comparison of the current core and the new 2014 core can be found here.
• A table showing which Core Objective must be assessed for each Component area can be found here.

For more detailed information check here http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/corecurriculum2014 or look at the summary here http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/index.cfm?objectid=6F049CAE-F54E-26E4-ED9F0DAC62FABF7D.  For a more detailed and lengthy discussion about the motivation behind the changes, follow the links for the documents "Designing Texas Undergraduate Education in the 21st Century" and "Revising the State Core Curriculum - A focus on 21st Century competencies."

Assessment Plan Guidance

• Process:  It is strongly suggested that all course proposals be reviewed by an appropriate OCCC committee member (by Group Number) prior to submission for consideration by the full committee. As mentioned above, you can find the full step-by-step process here. OCCC members are listed at the bottom of this website. 
• Options:  Each course submission may include an individual assessment plan or may opt in to a communal assessment process that is currently in development.  No choice is final, so if you are interested in a communal process, but uncomfortable with making that selection without a detailed plan in place, you can participate in its development and then opt in or out depending on what is created.  If you are interested in opting in to and/or working on the development of a communal assessment process, please contact Dr. Julie Glass, Co-Chair of the OCCC, at (510) 369-5811 or via email at julie.glass@unt.edu.  If the communal option is selected on an application, no assessment plan need be included in the submission to the OCCC.  Rather, the assessment of relevant Core Objectives, including data collection, would be carried out by the "institutional process" under development via a collaborative effort on the part of departments and faculty.  More information on this option is available in the Core Action Plan.   
• EEOs and Core Objectives:  There are rough correspondences between UNT's existing EEOs and the six core objectives.  Here is a table showing potential correspondences that may be useful.
• Sample Rubrics:  The Association of American Colleges and Universities has resources that may provide some guidance in the development of assessment plans.  In particular, VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduae Education) rubrics were developed for the purpose of adoption/adaption at Universities nationwide (here).  The Core Objectives are roughly aligned to the VALUE Rubrics.  Here is a table showing this correlation.  These rubrics are meant as a starting point and are intended to be modified to meet the needs of the user.  Contact one of the committee chairs if you would like any of the rubrics in MS Word format so as use them as a starting point.
• The AAC&U Assessment webpage includes other useful information about assessment in general and the VALUE rubrics, their development and use, in  particular. 

More Guidance from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

• "Give Students a Compass": http://www.aacu.org/compass/index.cfm
• A summary of some of the concerns motivating the  national trend in general education reform: http://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/le-fa10/LEFA10_President.cfm

Committee Chairs:  John Collins and Julie Glass (Ex-Officio)

Committee Membership

Group I:  Kathryn Raign (L&TC)

Group II:  Karen Harker (LIBR)

Group III:  Robert Renka (CSCE)

Group IV:  Andrew Enterline (PSCI)

Group V:  Richard Vedder (ITDS)

Group VI:  John Collins (KHPR)

Group VII:  James Swan (GERO)

Group VIII:  Stephen Dubberly (MUEN)

At Large:  Oscar Garcia (EENG)

At Large:  Jeanne Tunks (TE&A)

At Large:  Vacant

To arrange a consultation you may email your senate group representative above or send an email to:  coreconsult@unt.edu

Old Core Curriculum Site (prior to 2014)