General Education - 2008

News & Announcements

Telephone numbers

Main office: 215-204-8518

Dr. Goldblatt, Director: 215-204-1820

Dr. Gumery, Associate Director: 215-204-2072

The University is launching the General Education curriculum in 2008. Although it won't kick in fully until the fall semester, many departments will be running pilot sections of new courses in the spring semester.

How will this fundamental change impact the First-Year Writing Program?

We put some of the questions that we have received to Dr. Eli Gldblatt, the director of the Program.

Frequently Asked Questions

About the New General Education Curriculum

What is the difference between a Core Curriculum like the one we have, and a General Education program?

The biggest difference between the new Gen Ed Curriculum and the old Core is that the new curriculum is a revision: a result of a long (& painful) process of negotiation and battle.  As writing teachers, we understand revision better than most faculties do; curricular revision is sometimes necessary just to shake things up and make folks feel something new is possible.  What Temple has added most of all is a consciousness that assessment has to be built into the pedagogical approach and the program design.  This is something First-Year Writing has had in place for over 10 years, and other areas are looking to us to show how assessment can lead to further improvement in curriculum, book selection, training, and support.

Starting in 2008, the old FYW courses will be renumbered as following:

1001 (old 40) becomes 0701 (from the spring semester of 2008)

1011 (old 41) becomes 0711 (from the spring semester of 2008)

1002 (old 50) becomes 0802 (from the fall of 2008)

1012 (old 51) becomes 0812 (from the fall of 2008)

These will ALL be 4 credit courses meeting for 4 contact hours a week.

Why is Temple University making this change, and when will it take effect?

The change was being urged even during Provost Jim England’s time in the mid ‘90’s, but President David Adamany put it in motion.  The new curriculum starts taking effect in the Fall 2008 semester, but as you can see some of the course numbers will be changing sooner than that.

Why will the new version of our composition course - to be called Analytical Reading and Writing - be four credits instead of three?

The change to four credits was written into David Adamany’s plan a couple of years ago, but it had been discussed long before that.  For a while we tried to push 4 credits/3 contact hours + other activities, but finally most instructors as a pivotal meeting last year voted to embrace the full 4 contact hours, provided that we redesign conferencing requirements to allow for small group conferences as well as individual meetings, and a more flexible policy toward class meetings in small groups.  This acceptance for 4 contact hours made the approval of 4 credits by the General Education Executive Committee (GEEC, believe it or not) go more smoothly.

The great advantage of 4 credit hours for all First-Year Writing courses is that lecturers teaching in the program will be guaranteed that no administrator could ever up to the course load to 4/4, and it also provides greater flexibility to offer 1 or 2 literature/general education courses to FYW lecturers in the year-long schedule.  Adjuncts who teach 1002  (802) will be getting a raise because of the additional credit hour.

How will the course be different from what we teach now?

Our goals and objectives will be largely the same as before.  The courses will still be focused primarily on building students’ abilities to make academic arguments, write fluently and with a reasonable mastery of Standard English and academic conventions, reflect effectively on their writing process, and pursue research productively using both electronic and print media.  The basic model syllabi will be tailored to meet the 4 contact hour requirements, but the expectations and rubrics—4 sequenced essays in each course culminating in portfolios assessed in teaching circles—will remain the same.

We are in the process now of editing a text generated by our own faculty for the basic writing course (40/1001 soon to be 701).  You will be hearing soon from Rachel Groner and John O’Hara, who will be editing the home-grown anthology between now and late February.

Will there be a sample syllabus for us to use or to work from? When will we be able to see a version of the course we can use for next fall?

We are working on sample syllabi now and we should have models and texts available by the end of the spring semester.  Remember that veterans of the program are welcome to develop their own syllabi as long as the 4 sequenced assignments follow the outline of the rubric in each course.

Will we still be using Signs of Life, or will there be a new reader? Will another reader be added as an alternative?

The model for next year in 1002 (soon to be 802) will still be built on Signs of Life.  There are plenty of alternatives available; please ask in the FYW office for any help you might need in choosing a different text.  We anticipate holding more public sessions to discuss the change over, and the presentation time at the winter end-of-semester awards luncheon will be devoted to General Education.

This page will be updated as we get more questions.

New course numbering

As of the summer sessions of 2007 the FYWP courses have been renumbered in line with the University policy. You will find a full explanation by clicking here.

First Year Writing Program © Temple University2007
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FYWP@temple.edu