Welcome to "Refocusing the Curriculum: a Symposium on the
Reform of the General Education Curriculum." We look forward
to greeting you in person when the symposium gathers on April 16,
2004. In the meantime, we offer this site to enable participants
to anticipate the program for the day and to plan your visit to
Penn's campus.
Penn's College of Arts and Sciences has been experimenting with
an alternative to its general education requirements with a random
sample of each class admitted since the fall of 2000. Our experiment
is two-fold: we are investigating the effects of a different set
of degree requirements on the educational programs our students
construct for themselves; and we are experimenting with an approach
to curriculum reform that is different certainly from anything
we have ever attempted at this campus.
As our experiment approaches its conclusion, this symposium offers
an opportunity for leaders of change in undergraduate education
to compare notes about the processes as well as the substance of
reform as we have been pursing it on our various campuses.
We look forward to seeing you in April.
Rebecca Bushnell
Kent Peterman
Eric Schneider
We are grateful to the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education (FIPSE)
for a 3 year grant, part of which makes this symposium possible.
.
