Tips for the Course Proposal Form 

  • Cross-listing: CCS courses may not be cross-listed.
  • Scheduling: Indicate the frequency with which the department anticipates that the course will be offered, and identify courses intended only for summer or otherwise planned for special scheduling. If a course is to be offered only once, please indicate the term.
  • Prerequisites: CCS courses may not have pre-requisites.
  • Course Number:  Please choose an unused course number in the 100s when you submit your course. Under some circumstances, the Curriculum Committee or ADO may need to modify that number. 
  • Grading: By vote of the Faculty, all CCS courses must employ Pass/Fail grading. Please select Pass/Fail grading on the course submission form.

About the Cover Form

Cover Forms for all Cores are located in this Google Share Drive. 

In lieu of a narrative cover letter, the Curriculum Committee asks faculty to complete the appropriate Cover Form (a fillable PDF) which asks the submitter to address that Core requirement's specific guidelines. This should be submitted with the syllabus through the appropriate form (New Course or Course Change forms, depending on whether the course is new or the Core attribute is being requested for an existing course). Other relevant materials to support your course development can be found in the CCS Resources Google drive here. 

Links to these forms and submission deadlines can be found on the Curriculum Committee's Guidelines & Forms page.

  • Core rubrics consists of “Learning Objectives” and “Guidelines.” As highlighted below, the Curriculum Committee evaluates and approves Core courses based on their adherence to the Guidelines, not the Learning Objectives. The Curriculum Committee’s review of the proposed course is greatly facilitated if each Guideline from the relevant rubric is systematically addressed, which the CCS Cover Sheet makes straightforward.

    From "University Core Requirements — Detailed" in the Undergraduate Programs and Degrees section of the University Bulletin:

    Each core rubric consists of two sections, “Learning Objectives” and “Guidelines.” Faculty have developed the Guidelines section to achieve the particular Learning Objectives of the core rubric and, more broadly, the university’s educational goals. The Guidelines are intended to be used by faculty to develop core courses and the Curriculum Committee to review core courses. The Learning Objectives are intended to provide a clear statement to students of what they can expect to learn from any given core area. Although the Learning Objectives will assist the faculty in developing Core courses and meeting the Core area’s spirit, the Curriculum Committee will evaluate and approve Core courses based on their adherence to the Guidelines, not the Learning Objectives.

About the Syllabus

  • Clear enumeration of student learning outcomes
  • Statement that the course counts towards the Critical Conversations Seminar core requirement
  • Outline of content and schedule of coursework
  • Student requirements (reading, assignments, written work, projects, etc.), including brief descriptions of major assignments and projects.
  • Evaluation criteria and grading structure (as appropriate)
  • Required course materials and reading list
  • Statement of policies regarding Academic Integrity (this statement is developed by the course proposer)
  • Required Syllabus Inserts

An incomplete syllabus may delay the course proposal review.  If a syllabus does not contain all of the items listed above, please provide a brief explanation in the cover letter.

 

CRITICAL CONVERSATION SEMINARS RUBRIC

Learning Objectives

As one of two foundational seminars in the Sound Connections Curriculum, the Critical Conversations Seminar addresses student abilities to compose, contextualize and collaborate through speaking and writing.

Composing

  • Students practice purposefully contributing to a broader critical conversation by developing questions, listening to and learning from others, and sharing ideas and information, through a variety of written and spoken communicative media.
  • Students learn to compose and speak flexibly and with integrity to address diverse audiences within and outside an academic context. 
  • Students engage in a substantive revision process with multiple drafts, demonstrating considered attention to feedback from others, and 
  • Students reflect on communicative resources (information, ideas, stylistic options, experiences, community-based knowledge) and how they might be used to achieve the goals for a particular project.

Contextualizing

  • Students identify and appreciate how ways of knowing and creating meaning differ
    across multiple contexts, communities, and disciplines. 
  • Students recognize that communicators in different contexts use words, images, and sounds differently, and reflect on how to transfer skills from one context to another effectively. 
  • Students develop and amplify reading, listening, and research skills that help in finding, analyzing, and responding to varied sources (textual, visual, sonic, multimedia) and arguments thoughtfully and with integrity. 
  • Students engage with issues of authority, positionality, and bias when exploring sources, arguments, and ways of discovering, and consider the practical, political, and ethical implications of different approaches to communication.

Collaborating

  • Students develop the ability to engage actively, collegially, and critically in a learning community through discussion, collaboration, peer feedback activities, and/or one-on-one conferences with the professor. 
  • Students develop the ability to give and receive constructive criticism, and articulate how this feedback contributes to learning and growth as a scholar and communicator.

Guidelines

Composing

  • Assign the equivalent of ca. 15-20 pages during the semester (including revisions); writing should take various forms

  • Assign two scaffolded oral presentations of at least 5 minutes each (one group and one individual presentation)

  • Discuss with students the Puget Sound Academic Integrity Policy and give students the opportunity to discuss implications and to ask questions without judgment about what is and is not considered acceptable practice

  • Assign a final portfolio that asks students to include selections of revised work from throughout the semester and reflect on their composing process

Contextualizing

  • Include information literacy activities that introduce students to different kinds of sources.
  • Include information literacy activities that require students to consider how we discover information and sources, and how we evaluate those sources for appropriateness for different purposes. Ask students to use a citation to locate the original source.
  • Examine one or more examples demonstrating social construction of a scholarly field. 
  • Assign a weekly average of 60 pages or less of reading, and acknowledge that different kinds of reading require different levels of attention.

Collaborating

  • Assign a group presentation of at least 5 minutes with 2 or more students.
  • Include at least one class workshop with a CWL Writing/Speech Liaison.
  • Include a structured Peer Review process.