THE
FACULTY SENATE
Senate Document Number 7509S
Date of Senate Approval 04/09/09
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Statement
of Faculty Senate Action:
APC Document 60: Change
in Credit Hours for POLS 460
Effective Date: Fall 2009
1. Delete: On
page 240, credit hour total for “POLS 460 Senior Colloquium.”
460 Senior Colloquium (1)
Add: On page 240, in place
of deleted entry:
460 Senior
Colloquium (1-3)
Impact:
The
only potential impact is a slight increase in one person’s teaching load when
the number of seniors is large.
Rationale:
In
the Senior Colloquium, a component of the department’s capstone experience,
students present their research or internship analyses and then critique each
other’s papers and presentations. The
number of students enrolled has a direct impact on how much work students are
required to do. When enrollment is lower
because of a smaller graduating class, students have less work to do. If
however, a larger number of students are graduating the amount of work and time
spent in class can increase dramatically. Experience indicates the course
functions most effectively with 9 to 11 students per credit hour. We need the
flexibility of adjusting the hours to make the class productive and efficient
and the workload for students manageable. Because our object is to bring all
the seniors together, multiple sections of a one-hour course are not feasible.