Whether it was at town meetings, department visits, or in survey responses, faculty repeatedly made it clear that one thing they believe students who graduate from Seton Hall should have in common is a high level of proficiency in certain key areas that would help to make them lifelong learners and make them uniquely equipped for life beyond college.  These “core proficiencies” were identified as follows: reading, writing, oral communication, numeracy, information fluency, and critical thinking.  While all these skills are taught at one time or another in a student’s courses, making them an important part of the core curriculum experience means that we can not only guarantee that students receive a basic grounding in them but also that they will continue to be reinforced throughout a student’s years at the university.  The often-heard lament that students seem unable to transfer what they learn from one course to another could become a thing of the past, because each year students will take courses in which one or more of these proficiencies are a focal point. 

What does it mean to “infuse” a course with one or more proficiencies?  When a course is infused, it means that a skill is deliberately addressed throughout the semester, that the grade breakdown reflects this emphasis, and that the skill is assessed in a clear and meaningful way.  For example, if an instructor chooses to infuse a course with reading/writing, then the writing students do is not relegated to just the assigning of a final research paper.  Rather, writing becomes an integral part of what happens in the course, whether this means regular in-class writing, the collection of the parts of the paper and not just the end product, discussions in class of what it means to write in that discipline (tone, audience, sources), and exams contain essay questions, not just objective questions.  When this happens, students know that reading and writing are important elements of the course, as seriously and rigorously assessed as the subject matter of the class.   

The model the core committee decided to embrace for proficiency infusion is based on principles associated with writing-across-the-curriculum initiatives, and based on just such an initiative at Seton Hall from 2001 – 2005.  Five groups were created, headed by three team leaders.  In this model, participants attend a preliminary workshop where they learn about the basics of infusion; they then decide which course they want to infuse and submit a draft syllabus that indicates some of the changes they are planning to initiate.  The group, which ideally includes several mentors (instructors who have already gone through the infusion process) and the team leaders, comes together several times a semester to share their plans and learn about infusion techniques; they also give a brief presentation at the end of each semester to illustrate their progress, as well as discuss their successes and challenges. 

In the first year (2005-06), the five groups developed draft guidelines and assessment tools for identifying and assessing infused courses.  They also developed a set of resources that can be added to by subsequent groups.  These resources will eventually become part of Blackboard-based faculty development courses containing modules that will allow faculty to learn the basics of course infusion, to compare their own work to that of others, and to engage in activities designed to help them infuse a course. 

For 2006-07, the workgroup model has been modified somewhat to encourage large course redesign at the department level.  Former participants were asked to serve as liaisons, working with their departments to 1) determine their interest and identify a large enrollment course, 2) identify the proficiency the department would like to infuse into that course, and 3) work with a department committee to have the course infused by June 2007.  In addition, faculty members continue to work on infusing proficiencies into individual courses, working both on new courses and on bringing new proficiencies to others.  The five proficiency groups would now consist of two team leaders, 3-4 liaisons, 3-4 participants doing individual course infusion, and two mentors. 

Another major part of the faculty development effort necessary for proficiency infusion is the TLTC Summer Institute.  In August 2006, interested faculty members were able to attend sessions that provided overviews of each proficiency, as well as an opportunity to consider how they might infuse a course of their own.  This was the first of what we hope will become an annual opportunity for faculty development for the core curriculum.  

The Core Committee will be determining the proficiency requirements for the entering class of 2008.   It will also be working on assessment tools so that each student’s e-portfolio can become a record of achievement in the proficiencies.  The six core courses—the two Signature courses, Core Writing I and II, the junior year course, and University Life—will all be proficiency infused.  In addition to these, our current plan is to require students to take four more courses that are proficiency infused, with at least four different proficiencies represented by the time they graduate.  While our goal is ultimately to have every course at the university infused with at least one proficiency, we also understand that this process will take time.  A recent survey indicated the numbers of infused courses available now, and to this will be added all the courses infused in 2006-07, including the large-enrollment courses.