CHANGE IN A DEGREE, MAJOR, OR SUBMAJOR
Check Exactly One:
| Change in: | Degree |
x
|
Major | Submajor | ||
| Deletion of: | Major | Submajor |
Total Number of Credits in Program:
(if "change in" is checked - even if credits remain the
same)
|
33
|
Before Change |
36
|
After Change |
|
Program Title:
|
History (BSE) |
|
Sponsor(s):
|
Seth Meisel, Elizabeth Hachten |
|
Department(s):
|
History |
|
College(s):
|
Letters and Sciences |
|
Other Programs Affected:
|
Education |
|
Effective Term:
|
Fall 2001 |
I. Exact description of request
FROM:
LICENSURE - 40-43 CREDITS
TO:
Licensure 40-43 Credits
B. MODERN U.S. HISTORY. SELECT 6 CREDITS HIST 740-125, 740-141, 740-190, 740-305, 740-306, 740-307, 740-314, 740-317, 740-324, 740-362, 740-390, 740-394, 740-401, AND CHCN 615-310
B. MODERN EUROPEAN HISTORY. SELECT 3-6 CREDITS HIST 740-155, 740-333,
740-351, 740-352, 740-367, 740-372, 740-375, 740-381, AND 740-460
UNIQUE REQUIREMENT (5-6 CREDITS)
HONORS IN HISTORY:
Students must file an application for Honors in History with the Department
Chairperson during the first semester of their Senior year. Honors in History
can be earned by completing the following:
a. 3.5 or above GPA in the History majorII. Relationship to mission and strategic plan of institution, and/or College/Department goals and objectives: One of the History Department’s key missions is to provide training for future teachers of history and social studies. The History (BSE) major is one of several major and minor programs that serve the needs of that group of students, and certifies students to teach history at the secondary level. All of these programs need to be revised in light of changes in the way that Wisconsin teachers are licensed as well as the recent revisions to the UW-Whitewater core curriculum.
b. Minimum of 3 History credits at the 400 level (in addition to 740-499).
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is currently undertaking an extensive restructuring of the guidelines for teacher certification, shifting the emphasis away from the completion of specified courses to standardized examinations that test required "content knowledge." These proposed revisions of the History BSE major represent the History Department’s current judgment of how best to prepare our students for these examinations. We should note, however, that the DPI is still in the process of clarifying the exact nature and content of the examinations; future revisions of the education majors and minors may become necessary. We are going ahead with our proposed revisions now since last year’s changes in the core curriculum make it impossible for us to delay
The History department last revised all its major and minor programs in 1994, when the introduction of the new core curriculum necessitated significant changes in history offerings. The changes were driven to a great extent by expediency in light of the heavy staffing demands placed on the history department by the need to service the required history core course (The U.S. Experience in World Context, 900-120. In particular, it forced a reduction in the number and variety of 100- level courses that the department was able to offer. The two-semester American history survey sequence had to be dropped, leaving the history core course as the only introductory American history course offered on campus
The recent revisions in the core curriculum have necessitated yet another overhaul of all our majors and minors. The history core course is no longer required of all students but is instead an alternative to Global Perspectives. As a result, the history core course itself is becoming more global in focus, and less of an American history course. It can no longer serve to fill the gaps in our lower level offerings in U.S. history. Luckily, the decreased demand for sections of the history core course makes it possible for us to again offer a larger number and variety of 100-level courses (especially in American history).
The department has taken this opportunity to strengthen the History BSE major to better fulfill DPI requirements and departmental objectives, as well as reflect current trends in the teaching and study of history. The new program mandates broad exposure to United States, western, and world civilizations in both the pre-modern and modern eras (Departmental Subject Matter Objectives #1, #2, #4 and Cognitive Development Objectives #2 and #3). This fits with the anticipated broad scope of the future DPI examinations. Our history curriculum has also been reinvigorated by the new prominence placed on global, comparative, and interdisciplinary courses in the major, which reflects the cutting edge of current historical practice. The revised major also maintains the required two-course sequence of methodological courses: a sophomore-level introduction to historical methods (740-200) and a capstone senior seminar (740-499). History 200 provides a survey of the evolution of the discipline of history and current trends in historiography, as well as an introduction to fundamental skills in historical writing, research, and analysis (including computer literacy) (Subject Matter Objective #5, Cognitive Development Objective #1 and Skill Objective #1). Students’ abilities to locate, identify, analyze, synthesize, and communicate pertinent historical data are reinforced and enhanced through the independent research project that forms the heart of the senior seminar (Cognitive Development Objective #1 and Skill Objective #1). These courses should also address the DPI guidelines’ demands that a certified teacher "understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of the subject matter meaningful for pupils."
III. Rationale:
As a result of revised General Education Requirements (March 15, 2000),
UW-Whitewater undergraduates, retroactive to fall 1994, are no longer required
to take U.S Experience in a World Context (900-120). The current
major requirements assumed that all prospective majors would have already
taken this introductory course in American history. Because this can no
longer be assumed, the newly designed major expands the number of required
introductory courses (100-level courses). In particular, introductory surveys
in American history, which have not been part of the major since 1994,
have been re-introduced into the curriculum. The revised major also adds
three credits to the total number required for completion of this program.
This change is actually a restoration of the three credits of American
history that were cut from the major in 1994 when the history core course
was made a required part of all Whitewater students’ training. Restoring
these three credits to the program allows us to increase the number of
required 100-level courses while maintaining the proportion of the major
devoted to upper-level and methods courses.
The newly redesigned BSE major responds to recent changes in the DPI guidelines for certification in History as well as the History department's evaluation of how to best prepare our graduates for their prospective careers as history and social science teachers. As a result, the History BSE major is quite different from the liberal arts major. DPI Teacher Standards makes licensure dependent upon applicant's ability to demonstrate that the teacher "understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines he or she teaches and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of the subject matter meaningful for pupils." The revised major answers these goals in two ways.
First, it refines the structure of the major, placing a renewed emphasis on breadth of historical knowledge and on survey courses. The number of credits that may be earned in 100-numbered courses is expanded from the current 6 credits to a maximum of 15 credits. Geographical and chronological breadth requirements are also built into the upper level history requirements as well. These changes are significant, as they will provide majors with a broad overview of American, western and world civilizations over time. With the move by DPI away from requiring specific courses for licensure to requiring instead a standardized examination testing content knowledge, the greater emphasis on 100-level courses, and the significant breadth requirements of the major more generally, should help students to pass the certification examination as well as prepare for their future teaching assignments.
Second, as is evident from the above quotation from DPI, the new guidelines put considerable emphasis on teachers’ mastery of the methods of their discipline, and their ability to convey those methods and modes of thinking to their students. The History BSE major addresses this need by requiring two methods courses, Historical Methods (740-200) and in the Senior Seminar (740-499), both of which develop students' knowledge of the methods of historical research and demand that they apply the skills of critical analysis to specific historical problems.
Like the liberal arts history major, this major program does provide a great deal of flexibility in course choice for students. Majors will be expected to work closely with their advisors in both History and Education to craft a program that fits their own needs, interests, and background in history.
Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of the study of history, the major continues to require two-three redits in fine arts or literature and three credits in the social sciences as unique requirements. The courses that are approved to meet this requirement, however, have been significantly broadened to include those courses that represent either important surveys of world culture or introductions to social science methodologies. As the majority of these courses are also approved for General Studies credit, we believe that the unique requirement does not represent an additional burden on students, but, with proper advising, merely guides them toward those courses that best complement their major.
Finally, we have added a departmental honors program in order to encourage and recognize outstanding achievement by students majoring in history.
IV. Cost implications: No cost implications as all course offerings are already part of the History Department faculty members' current course rotations.