Core Curriculum Revisions

There are currently four projects underway to refine the Core Curriculum:

1. Adding Essential Learning Outcomes to Core Curriculum classes
2. Allowing classes in the major to count as Core Curriculum classes
3. Removing major-specific requirements for upper-division general electives
4. Deleting classes that students rarely use to satisfy the Core Curriculum

Project 1: Adding Essential Learning Outcomes to Existing Core Classes

Completion Date: September 2024

In Fall 2019, Nevada State began its formal efforts to revise our Core Curriculum. This curriculum is the foundation of learning at Nevada State – it represents the skills, knowledge, and abilities that all students will gain, no matter what major they choose. As such, the effort has involved multiple stakeholders and lengthy debates as we determine how to best serve our student body. In September 2021, Provost Shields approved the new ELOs, and we began the process of integrating them into the Core Curriculum. The twelve ELOs are divided into three categories: Critical Thinking, Communication, and Community Engagement.

Resources:

1. Fall 2022 Project Description
2. Brief descriptions of the revised ELOs and evaluation rubrics
3. List of all Core classes with ELOs
4. Form to add ELOs to existing Core Curriculum classes
5. Example of a completed ELO form

Project 2: Allowing Major Classes to Count in the Core Curriculum

Completion Date: September 2023

Currently, policy (AE 15 – “Multiple Majors, Simultaneous Degrees, and Additional Degrees”) prohibits us from allowing a class to count as a major requirement and Core requirement. By changing AE 15, we can allow for “double-dipping” classes, which has several advantages:

1. It allows us to make the Core Curriculum consistent for each major. Currently, the Core is different for different majors. For example, Business Administration majors must take PSY 101 or SOC 101 to satisfy their Social Sciences Core requirement, while English majors can take whatever they’d like. Ideally, the Core Curriculum will be the same for all students.
2. It improves efficiency. With “double-dipping” allowed, students can use classes in their major to count for the Core and vice-versa. For example, a Deaf Studies major can take AM 253 (Deaf History) and have it count for their major AND their Cultural Diversity Core requirement. This makes the path to graduation easier without reducing rigor.

Resources:

1. Fall 2022 Project Description
2. Policy (AE 15 – “Multiple Majors, Simultaneous Degrees, and Additional Degrees”)

Project 3: Reducing the Size of the Core Curriculum

Completion Date: September 2023

Currently, there are several incentives to add courses to the Core Curriculum, but little reason to remove them. As a result, we have accumulated 330 classes available to students in the Core Curriculum, while students typically only need 12 to satisfy the requirements. By reducing the number of available classes, we

1. Strengthen the overall consistency of the Core Curriculum, providing a better experience for all students.
2. Reduce the overall number of courses that require the addition of ELOs

After reviewing all current classes in the Core Curriculum, we identified several that have very rarely (or never) been used by students to satisfy their Core requirements. Students take the courses but use them to satisfy major or elective requirements. These courses will be the primary target of this project.

Resources:

1. Fall 2022 Project Description
2. Proposed Core Removals (October 2022)
3. List of Core Classes and the number of students who used them to satisfy a Core requirement.