Courses to include new requirements

FAYETTEVILLE — New requirements for undergraduate students will be embedded in a broad set of courses as approved Wednesday by faculty members.

Faculty members in May 2018 adopted 11 learning objectives for students that include ethical reasoning and engagement with global issues.

“It’s not just about passing a course. It’s, literally, can you do what those outcomes say,” said Kevin Hall, a civil engineering professor and member of the General Education Core Curriculum Committee.

The faculty senate approved 103 courses that include content tied to one or more of the 11 new learning outcomes.

For content in each of the courses, faculty members can say “we think this course will meet this [learning] outcome, and this is how it meets this outcome,” Hall said.

The goal continues to be a fall 2020 implementation of the new learning outcome requirements, Hall said.

Courses on the list are existing courses or previously planned new classes, Hall said, rather than courses created specifically to match up with the new learning outcomes.

Remaining unchanged are core course requirements.

To earn a bachelor’s degree, students attending any public university in Arkansas must complete a 35-semester-hour core fulfilling requirements in five areas: English/communication, mathematics, science, fine arts/humanities and social science. Students at UA need at least 120 hours to earn a degree.