Introduction / IDS 3920 / Spring 2004

Concept
 

We have made a commitment as a university to make environmental education an integral part of our identity. One of our university-wide outcomes is that all students will develop "an ecological perspective." A way to accomplish this perspective is to devise a course, or group of experiences, with an environmental focus that all FGCU undergraduate students must complete, and in which faculty from all five colleges would be involved. Because "ecology" applies to our total living space and interrelationships, human and natural, it is relevant to all our disciplines and professions. Thus, an ecology course would touch on all nine of the university-wide goals and outcomes, and more. Students would not only be introduced to FGCU values, they would participate in them.

Goals

The University Colloquium is an interdisciplinary environmental education course designed to explore the concept of sustainability as it relates to a variety of considerations and forces in the environment. In particular, we will consider ecological , social, ethical, historical, scientific, economic, and political influences. The course goals are:

• to provide a "sense of place" and an understanding of the unique ecological features of the environment of which you are a part,
• to assist in achieving the Florida Gulf Coast University learning goal of developing "an ecological perspective" and in teaching the related outcomes that the student will 

  "...know the issues related to economic, social, and ecological sustainability, analyze and evaluate ecological issues locally and globally, participate in projects requiring awareness and/or analysis of ecological and environmental issues;"

• to provide experiences to assist in moving toward achieving the eight other FGCU learning goals and their related outcomes.
• to enable a working understanding of sustainability, of environmental education, and of ecological literacy.

Process

Study will be through reading and discussion, writing, and extensive field experiences.  Students will reflect upon and demonstrate their learning through analysis in short papers and a reflective journal.  The integration of these learning experiences will be expressed as a final project in the form of a paper, poem, web page, song, PowerPoint presentation, or other mode of expression negotiated by the student and the instructor. Students are to write five short reflective papers on the questions raised by certain readings, as assigned.  Journals are to be kept regularly and shared with the instructor.

Successful completion of the course requirements will earn three-credit hours and completion of this requirement for graduation from Florida Gulf Coast University.  Grades will be earned based on an assessment rubric which provides the weighting of and standards for assignments.  The course is officially designated as a writing intensive course, it will require at least six thousand words of graded writing assignments and will satisfy a portion of the Gordon Rule requirements for graduation (State DOE Rule 6A-10.030). 

Instructors and students are from the Colleges of Business, Education, Health Professions, Arts and Sciences, and Professional Studies, making this truly a university-wide enterprise. The University Colloquium meets in multiple sections with a maximum of fifty-four students and two or three instructors per section. Each "section" meets weekly for one three hour session either on campus or at a field site. Many activities take place in "discussion groups" of a maximum of eighteen students and an instructor. Within sections, students are invited to form "study groups" to work together on readings and to travel together to field trip sites. Any student who misses the first three classes of the semester will automatically be dropped from the course.

Some off-campus field trips require limited travel time in addition to the contact time and on occasion an hour at the end of class.  Students are expected to also visit a sixth field trip site in addition to the five visited in class.   This requirement may be met by an additional trip on your own, subject to instructor approval.  These experiences are to be documented in the journal.

• Required papers are in the form of short academic essays and should follow the guidelines of the American Psychological Association (APA) or the Modern Language Association (MLA).
• APA guidelines may be accessed electronically at http://www.lessonplanspage.com/apamain.htm. 
• MLA guidelines may be accessed electronically at http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocMLA.html.
• Individual instructors will provide assistance with the writing of academic essays. 
• Electronic tutoring is available at http://condor.fgcu.edu/SL/CSH/Tutor/lg_writingassistance.htm. 
• Students may wish to check the Writing Center web-site first for instructions at http://condor/fgcu/edu/SL/CSH/Tutor/lg_twriting.htm. 

Make sure to bookmark the course website located at URL http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/colloquium

 

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Florida Gulf Coast University Official Website 2003