This is the third in a series of articles on the four focus areas that are part of UMBC’s strategic planning process.
The primary goal of the Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group is to develop strategies and goals that will enable UMBC to continue its leadership in innovative curricula and academic programs that support and enhance undergraduate and graduate student success; prepare students for meaningful careers, lifelong learning, and engaged citizenship; and thereby maintain and enhance UMBC’s position as a national leader in undergraduate and graduate education.
Jeff Leips, associate professor, biological sciences, and Carole McCann, professor and chair, gender and women’s studies, bring significant experience in building programs at UMBC to their roles as co-chairs. Leips has helped implement major curriculum and program changes in UMBC’s undergraduate biological sciences, including new interdisciplinary minors. McCann has spent her career building the emerging scholarly area of gender and women’s studies, and also was part of the workgroup that developed the new global studies program.
The Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group is examining the current profile of faculty, students and mix of programs; lessons learned from studies of retention and graduate rates at UMBC and elsewhere, as well as additional measurements for success; best practices at peer institutions and nationally for supporting curricular innovation; how best to balance existing and new programs and instructional duties of faculty; enhancement of classroom infrastructure, technology and faculty development; and best practices in faculty rewards and recognition. (A complete list of the Innovative Curriculum and Pedagogy strategy group research questions is available here.)
McCann says that one of the challenges that comes with studying curriculum and pedagogy is anticipating the changes that inevitably come with each new generation of students. “Classes aren’t static. Faculty have to reinvent classroom strategies and need the support to develop new approaches to student learning. At the same time, UMBC’s commitment to diversity takes continued thinking and planning.”
Leips adds, “It’s hard to predict anything except that change will happen, and whatever we develop, we know that will eventually change as well. So we look for ways to help keep the classroom flexible. For example, the “clicker” technology we’ve used in recent years to engage students in biological sciences is already changing. We have to keep up with technology and integrate changes, using them effectively for the benefit of our students.”
The group also will need to look at graduation and retention rates at UMBC and other institutions. “These are very important factors in our strategic planning. It’s one way of getting a sense of whether we are meeting students’ needs,” explains McCann. “But then we have to go beyond the stats and think about how we can measure our effectiveness in terms of what kinds of professional and public lives our students go on to. There’s also a balance in what programs we offer with regard to traditional liberal arts education; it’s not just about the latest fad in classroom techniques.”
“Any university has to facilitate our ability to respond quickly to change, both in the classroom and in the world,” says Leips. “We also need to think creatively about infrastructure and faculty support.”
Leips said he and McCann are thinking about creating subcommittees within the group to do research into teaching and learning at UMBC, and also what peers are doing. “We’re committed to doing the research to address the questions, not assume we already know the answers, as we engage with the group and the campus,” he shared. They also will engage with focus groups, meet with stakeholders, and attend faculty meetings.
“It’s an important moment for UMBC,” McCann reflects. “We’re used to relying on a simple organizational structure, and our work is now more complex and diverse. How do we build a process so we can support our planning, what to do, when to do it, and for what purpose? We can’t do everything at once, but we can plan.”
