Ways Syllabus Guidelines

What It Is (Essential Elements)

Ways of Thinking, Ways of Doing (Ways) takes a unique perspective on the idea of “breadth.”  Unlike the breadth requirements of other institutions, Ways focuses on two other important aspects of university education.  First, we emphasize both “thinking” and “doing”—that is, teaching students how to view the world differently, how to conceptualize it from various angles, and how to use those new intellectual capacities in new ways.  Second, we emphasize synthesis and integration—we do not see the individual Ways as separate, but part of an overall intellectual profile and set of complementary capacities.  

What We Need

We need a detailed description to understand how students are experiencing the "thinking" and "doing" of the Way.  Based on the Way, students should have a significant experience analyzing, inquiring, reasoning, expressing, or engaging in the Way.  These are "action" verbs and should describe how students are achieving these capacities.  The Way is a major focus of the course, not a byproduct.  The syllabi should reflect aspects of Ways—what are students expected to do with the ideas, concepts, skills presented in class.  Crucially, not only does a Way course reflect a unique and intense learning experience in a discipline, but it is also a part of a larger picture.  

What Syllabus Should Include

• Reading lists.
• The methodology of how students are demonstrating the way of "doing" and "thinking" such as detailed assignments, projects, presentations, and coursework.
• Grading logic.

Common Misconceptions

While a course may be approved as a Stanford course within a discipline, The Ways are capacity-based and the rationale for satisfying Ways is concept and "practice" based, requiring detailed information demonstrating this experience. Thus, we require a detailed syllabus, so that the BGB can assess its conformance to the Ways breadth requirement(s).

What It Is (Essential Elements)

AII courses provide a significant experience in the use of interpretive or philosophical modes of inquiry to explore and understand cultural objects (e.g., art, literature, theatrical works, etc.) or the means of their apprehension (e.g., the mind, beliefs, etc.) as appropriate.  By “significant experience,” we mean one that is more than incidental—an experience sufficient for students to begin to understand both the method and meaning of such inquiry, and the role it plays in human culture.

What We Need

We need to see how students engage in AII, both in the way the course is described and also in terms of the assignments given them. Provide details about the interpretive frameworks-- readings, and so on, in the syllabus.  It is useful for students to understand how the course gives them the capacities that AII endows.

What Syllabus Should Include

• Class schedule, including reading assignments.  
• Brief elaboration of course goals, making clear how they align with leaning outcomes of AII.
• Brief elaboration of the methodology/style of course (seminar, lecture, etc.).
• Brief characterization of written assignments which should make clear how the assignments serve the learning goals.
• Brief characterization of expectations of students (should make clear that meeting these expectations is instrumental to achieving stated learning outcomes.  (e.g., Students should come to class prepared to ...   In essays students are expected to ...).

Common Misconceptions

AII is sometimes confused with CE.  AII is the "study of" (aesthetic and interpretive inquiry), or learning through reflection, of the arts. CE is the learning through the "practice of" creative expression (doing) such as dance, art, acting, writing, designing, etc.  Also, it is sometimes confused with SI, which sometimes deals with the study of culture as a social phenomenon, whereas AII specifically works with artifacts, objects, media and their particular aesthetic interpretation.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

AQR courses complement FR courses, providing a focused experience in inferential and inductive reasoning.  Students actively apply these methods of reasoning through direct manipulation of data, models, software, or other quantitative experience.  (Courses that discuss or interpret the results of such analyses but without active involvement in the performance of the analysis itself are not suitable.)

What We Need

We need information on what the students will be learning in terms of analytical tools. For instance, how many assignments will involve data analysis and with which software. The "doing" component of the course fulfilling the AQR requirement includes the use of computational or statistical software in at least four assignments.

What Syllabus Should Include

List of all homework assignments (number and content), that demonstrate this.  At least 4 assignments need to focus on statistical and numerical computations.

Common Misconceptions

Courses that study decision making under uncertainty, best practices in quantitative sciences, or explain that correlation is not causation are not  appropriate unless the students themselves are analyzing multiple data sets themselves using software.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

Through a combination of instruction and mentoring, CE courses offer students significant opportunities to study the creative process and at the same time acquire the requisite skills to "practice" creative expression themselves.

What We Need

We need to understand how students are "practicing" or "doing" creative expression.  We need detail on the nature of any creative projects the students will undertake: how is the creative component structured, how much of the workload do the creative assignments represent, what specific creative skills are the students expected to acquire, and how is the acquisition of these skills monitored and assessed?

What Syllabus Should Include

• Brief overall description of the course, including how the learning goals fulfill the CE requirement.
• The creative skills that students will learn, examples of the type of creative projects to be undertaken, and how progress is monitored.
• Weekly assignments and readings.
• Description of assessed work (plus breakdown of grading percentages).

Common Misconceptions

CE can sometimes be confused with AII and vice versa. Although the two Ways overlap to a certain extent, they emphasize different kinds of activity and practice.  CE focuses primarily on the kinds of practical creative skills that are acquired through the actual "doing" of creative expression (e.g., dance, art, acting, writing, designing, musical performance, etc.).   AII focuses rather on the critical "study of" creative works and humanistic texts with the aim of learning about and engaging in the critical interpretation of them.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

ED courses must have, as a central focus, a rigorous analysis of diversity as a constituent element across social and cultural domains.  ED courses show how diversity is produced, understood, and enacted.  Courses for which diversity in this regard is an ancillary theme, or where the student's experience of diversity is anecdotal, are not sufficient.

What We Need

We need detailed information on how diversity is being addressed in the course. How do the course readings explore how diversity is understood, articulated, practiced, and debated?  Syllabi should provide a reading list and the methodology of how students are grappling with the Engaging Diversity Way.

What Syllabus Should Include

• Detailed reading list
• Methodology of how students are engaging in diversity
• Indication of how assignments approach diversity as an organizing principle.

Common Misconceptions

"Diversity" should be understood as attached to issues of power and identity--it is a socially, culturally, and often politically differentiating force.  It is not simply "latent" difference, or variety.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

ER courses spend a majority of course time understanding ethical theories or frameworks and, in some cases, applying such frameworks to particular policy domains or cases.  Whatever the approach, ER courses must present one or more frameworks within which students can analyze ethical questions or dilemmas.

What We Need

Please explain what ethical theory or theories or normative theoretical framework(s) are to be analyzed or applied in the course. Ensure that your assignments provide students with an opportunity to engage one or more ethical framework in a significant way.

What Syllabus Should Include

• Please provide an overall description of the course and its goals. 
• Explain the required assignments and how they meet the goal of teaching students how to understand or apply ethical frameworks
• all of the required readings. 
• If there are to be guest lectures, please explain what topics they will be expected to cover. 

Common Misconceptions

Addressing an issue or topic that has a value component or is ethically important is not sufficient to be an ER course. The majority of the course must be devoted to meeting the key essential feature of ER. Courses that include ethics as a part (but not the main focus) will not be approved as ER courses.   Analysis of cases, or discussion of ethical questions in the absence of explicit presentation of one or more frameworks, is not sufficient to have the course approved for ER.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

FR courses spend a majority of course time on instruction in rigorous logical and deductive reasoning.  Active and frequent use of deductive reasoning by the students is expected.

What We Need

Many courses in this category will be standard service courses, required for majors in natural sciences and engineering. Acceptable courses must teach students the art of logical and deductive reasoning and not be historical overviews of scientific/mathematical topics.

What Syllabus Should Include

• A clear description of the course topics and homework assignments. 
• State what text and auxiliary material was used.

Common Misconceptions

Courses should include significant work, e.g. through problem sets, requiring symbolic manipulation.Courses which survey work related to formal reasoning, but not actually requiring students to work in that direction, are not appropriate.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

SI courses focus on probing questions that are of a social nature (i.e. pertaining to social arrangements, human behavior and forms of social, political and economic organization). SI encompasses a broad range of disciplinary and methodological approaches; in each case active and frequent analysis of social practices, social processes and/or their history by students is required.

What We Need

We need detailed information on the nature of the work being undertaken, such as weekly assignments, course content, or final projects.   Syllabi or course descriptions should accordingly convey evidence for such sustained analysis.

What Syllabus Should Include

• Detailed weekly assignments, course content, and projects. 
• Convey evidence for intensive and sustained analysis.

Common Misconceptions

Courses which contain limited exploration of social, political, or historical themes will not reach the threshold of intensive inquiry stipulated by the Way. 

Some courses explore social themes, but focus chiefly on the analysis of aesthetic objects or on detailed interpretation of texts, and may be more appropriate for approval under the AII rubric.

What It Is (Essential Elements)

SMA courses have as their focus an understanding of the objects/processes/phenomena of natural science.  Active use of the scientific method or scientific analysis (either model- or data-based) by students is expected to be a significant component.

What We Need

We need information about course content, topic(s) for each course meeting, readings, assignments, and exams and/or final projects. SMA courses primarily explore the ways in which knowledge about the natural and physical world is obtained, analyzed, and interpreted.

What Syllabus Should Include

• Overview of course content and topic(s) for each meeting.
• Articulate which elements of natural science provide the focus for the course. 
• List of textbooks, readings, and assignments. 
• Description of how students are evaluated (e.g. problem sets, exams, projects, papers).

Common Misconceptions

While many SMA courses consider the social context, historical development, and/or ethical implications of science, a focus on the actual use of scientific methods or analyses is essential, as well as engagement of natural science principles.  In general, colloquia-style or speaker-series courses involving rotating guest speakers or lecturers will not be an appropriate fit for SMA, since these courses rarely provide the focus and continuity achieved by a dedicated individual or small team of instructors.