COLL 350

The COLL 350 requirement enhances students’ knowledge and facilitates their critical analysis of the workings of power, privilege, and inequity in U.S. society and globally, past and present.  The goals of the COLL 350 are:  1) to provide students with a rigorous academic space in which to explore differences in perspective while foregrounding reasoned and respectful discussion as the means for achieving common ground; 2) to deepen students’ understanding of justice, equity, and the value-laden processes of social inclusion and exclusion through institutional, cultural, and normative practices that are both historical and ongoing.

To meet these pedagogical goals, COLL 350 courses will:  1) examine social norms, institutional practices, and patterns of belonging and marginalization by exploring race and at least one other key social category including, but not limited to:  class, disability, ethnicity, gender expression, gender identity, immigration status, language, religion, sex, and sexual orientation; 2) emphasize respectful dialogue among students as an integral component of the course; and 3) enable critical reflection by requiring students to make substantial and sustained connections between the course material and contemporary life in the United States.

COLL 350 Learning Expectations (i.e., what the faculty expects students to learn and be able to do in COLL 300 courses)

Students will:

1. Identify and explain the workings of power, privilege, and inequity in the United States society, historic and ongoing, with a focus on race as it relates to the course.
2. Articulate how race and other key social categories covered by the course have shaped social norms, institutional practices, and patterns of belonging and marginalization.
3. Critically evaluate processes of institutional marginalization and exclusion.
4. Demonstrate the ability to discuss and engage complex and sensitive subjects through respectful dialogue.
5. Critically reflect on their experience(s) by making substantial and sustained connections between the course material and contemporary life in the United States.

COLL 350 Pilot Course Portfolio Description

Course Portfolios show how courses address the COLL 350 learning expectations above. A course portfolio includes the following:

1. Course Syllabus (required) – the EPC suggests including COLL 350 language.
2. Narrative (required) – briefly describes how learning expectations are met through course experiences.
3. Instructions for Student Assignment(s) (required) – instructions to students for completing assignments that address the learning expectations above. In some cases, a single assignment may demonstrate all expectations.
4. Samples of Student Work (required) – a high-, mid-, and low-performing sample of student work for each assignment described in the Narrative.
5. Additional Materials (optional) – materials that further demonstrate to reviewers how assignments address learning expectations (e., grade distributions, rubrics/grading guides, comments, etc.).
6. Course Portfolio Rating Guide – completed by reviewers after evaluating the portfolio.