Institution-Wide Reform of Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology

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Students at many institutions of higher education are taught their undergraduate courses (especially the introductory courses) in non-interactive lecture based modules that allow for little faculty student interaction and little active student involvement. Often the rationale for this mode of instruction is the high cost of doing it any other way. We wish to replace many of the passive lecture based courses with interactive, hands-on, student-centered environments. The Studio Courses at Rensselaer (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering and others) have been developed to allow the replacement of the traditional lecture/recitation/laboratory courses in science, mathematics, and engineering with an alternative that promises a far higher quality course, greater educational effectiveness, and cost containment. To do this we had to break the old paradigm of high-cost/high quality courses as alternatives to low-cost/low quality courses. We wanted high-quality/reasonable cost courses. While traditional large enrolment lecture based courses can be low-cost, there is ample evidence that they are usually low-quality as measured by effectiveness, student attendance, and student satisfaction. This project is led by faculty from each discipline working together to create these new environments. Reform is taking place in all schools, all departments, and in numerous courses at the same time. The curriculum reform is managed by the Curriculum Reform Implementation Team (CRIT) under a mandate from the Faculty Senate. All changes are reviewed and approved by the Faculty Senate curriculum Committee. The end result is a better place for our students to learn and a better place for our faculty to teach.