This fall, the College of Arts and Sciences expanded its pilot curriculum for first-year students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The four-course College Foundations program, which has tripled in size since its debut last year, now offers roughly 300 first years an early look at the College\u2019s upcoming<\/a> curriculum overhaul. The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with faculty and students about their experiences<\/a> and how the program has changed since its first iteration<\/a>.<\/p>\n Half of the students in College Foundations are taking \u201cKite,\u201d a humanities and qualitative social sciences course, along with a writing seminar. The other half are enrolled in the quantitative-focused \u201cKey\u201d alongside a first-year seminar. Come spring, students will swap into whichever of the two courses they are not currently taking.<\/p>\n Next fall, these four courses will be part of the new College curriculum starting with the Class of 2031 \u2014 along with simplified general education requirements and changes to electives.<\/p>\n Curriculum leaders<\/p>\n Get the DP delivered straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n Sign Up<\/a><\/p>\n College Dean Peter Struck, who is also teaching a Kite section this fall, said College Foundations has the potential to strengthen a \u201ccommunity of inquiry\u201d and allow students to tackle \u201cinteresting, challenging, provocative questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Developing the new curriculum, he said, is an \u201citerative, changing process\u201d where \u201cthe syllabus for each of the courses is meant to change year to year.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere were some pieces that needed adjustments,\u201d Struck explained. \u201cSometimes there were books that were just a little bit too long, or were too abstract, or didn\u2019t exactly support the multiple points of view that we wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n For Struck, one of the most \u201cexciting\u201d parts of the curriculum is introducing College Fellows \u2014 upperclassmen who serve as peer mentors and learning assistants and facilitate \u201cconversation inside of the classroom.\u201d Currently, there are two dozen student fellows, but Struck hopes to have 100 by next year.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re trained to understand the breadth of knowledge that\u2019s here at Penn, so they can help students pursue an interest in a place that they might never have known,\u201d Struck said.<\/p>\n English professor Jed Esty will oversee<\/a> the development and rollout of the new curriculum starting next January. Esty is tasked with constructing a \u201cthoughtful, integrated, holistic approach to choosing a course of study.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He emphasized that career preparedness and an open, exploratory mindset \u2014 one that doesn\u2019t require students to commit to a major right away \u2014 can go hand in hand. Esty added that both Kite and Key can engage students in community, civic learning, and free debate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen everybody in the community shares some common points of reference \u2014 the same problem set in Key, or the same interesting text from Kite \u2014 you can walk around this campus and meet any one of your 1,400 classmates and know that they\u2019re working on some of the same big ideas,\u201d Esty said.<\/p>\n \u201cThat creates the possibility for a deep, residential, intellectual life,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s what college should feel like.\u201d<\/p>\n Kite and Key instructors<\/p>\n Philosophy professor Daniele Lorenzini, a Kite instructor who helped design the curriculum, said the seminar is meant to give students space to explore beyond their immediate interests.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the main things that the students last year \u2014 at least in my class \u2014 found really important was the way in which this class type allowed them to resist a little bit of the pressure that can be felt at Penn to professionalize,\u201d Lorenzini explained.<\/p>\n English professor Paul Saint-Amour, who also teaches Kite, said that one of the program\u2019s goals is for students to become \u201cthe agents of their own educational process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t really a course like Kite at the College right now,\u201d he said, noting that his class exposes students to topics spanning a range of disciplines, historical periods, and geographical areas.<\/p>\n As the program prepares to expand to the entire incoming College class, Saint-Amour said it will also call on faculty to step outside their areas of expertise.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who teaches Kite is going to be teaching mostly material that is outside of their discipline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Math professor Mona Merling, a Key instructor, said her class accounts for differing levels of student experience in quantitative reasoning and data analysis by emphasizing \u201cthoughtful participation\u201d instead of memorization, test-taking, and \u201chigh-stakes performance.\u201d<\/p>\n In Merling\u2019s view, this format allows students to focus on \u201casking questions, testing ideas, and making mistakes and learning from them.\u201d<\/p>\n Merling said she hopes that students \u201ccan make better-informed judgments\u201d and \u201cremain open to reconsidering their views\u201d after taking the course.<\/p>\n Teaching and learning assistants<\/p>\n Many of the students leading lab sections in Kite or Key bring experience from last year \u2014 either as former mentors or as participants in the program themselves.<\/p>\n College senior Lexi Walker, who has been a teaching assistant for Key since last year, said her \u201cstudents are responding very positively.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Compared to last year, she added, there are a \u201clot less students falling behind, so everybody seems to be following the material, understanding it, asking questions, and feeling confident.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I think we\u2019re all hoping for is to help students get some kind of quantitative foundation, so everyone\u2019s on an even playing field as they pursue whatever they want at Penn,\u201d Daniel Lapinski, a College senior and Key TA, said.<\/p>\n College sophomore Tamara Kohmann, also a Key TA, said the course this year emphasizes participation and general knowledge.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes it a lot less stressful for freshmen who are going into their first and second semesters of college,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n Mark Doraszelski \u2014 a College sophomore and a Key TA who participated in the Foundations pilot last year \u2014 said that the lectures have changed from last year\u2019s \u201cclassic\u201d format.<\/p>\n \u201cThe format of the lectures is completely different,\u201d he said, explaining that the course now focuses on active learning and group activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the feedback that we gave as students last year was definitely applied,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Jody Huege, a College sophomore and a Kite TA, said one of the changes from last year\u2019s pilot is a reduction in the amount of assigned readings.<\/p>\n \u201cI know last year students who had opted in were a little bit upset and overwhelmed by the amount of reading that was given,\u201d Huege said.<\/p>\n He explained that, so far, students have shown both interest and uncertainty toward Kite\u2019s assignments.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s excitement, and there\u2019s interest, but I think there\u2019s also some trepidation there, too,\u201d Huege said.<\/p>\n College senior Luke Weidemoyer said Kite aims to introduce students to major texts and ideas but also help them develop skills they can use throughout college.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of what Kite is trying to do is teach students from the beginning of their time in college to be able to focus on a task or an idea for an extended period of time,\u201d Weidemoyer explained.<\/p>\n College sophomore Leila Feldman, a Kite TA who participated in the pilot last year, said that she is still friends with many of her peers and thinks about the assigned readings \u201cto this day.\u201d She said her experiences as a student have informed her approach to serving as a TA.<\/p>\n \u201cI now get to ask the same questions to my students that were asked of me last year, but I kind of see it from a different point of view because I\u2019ve already had the conversations about the questions,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I know where to lead them a little bit and know where the conversation can and should go.\u201d<\/p>\n College sophomore Eliav Zendehdel \u2014 also a current Kite TA and former College Foundations student \u2014 said he enjoys serving as a source of advice for first-year students.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of them come to me for peer advisor questions, questions about school in general, clubs, and class,\u201d Zendehdel said. \u201cI\u2019m there not only to guide them through this class, but guide them through as they explore the College.\u201d<\/p>\n The first-year experience\u00a0<\/p>\n College first year Lisa Lu, a student in Kite, said she enjoys exploring a different topic each week without having to commit to a full semester on any single subject.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get to spread really far and wide,\u201d Lu said. \u201cLet\u2019s say something really catches your interest \u2014 you can go explore that on your own.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause there\u2019s no tests,\u201d she added, \u201cwe can explore without the stress of getting a grade on an assignment or having to study.\u201d<\/p>\n College first year Daniel Song said he is a \u201cbig fan\u201d of the interdisciplinary emphasis of Key.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just one class, but it covers so many broad topics that you\u2019re able to explore and see for yourself \u2014 \u2018Which ones do I really connect with and resonate with?\u2019\u201d Song said.<\/p>\n Although the topics vary, he said there are broader, consistent themes that anchor the course, such as \u201cverifying your assumptions,\u201d remaining skeptical of your instincts, and looking at data in context.<\/p>\n College first year Zara Nwadibia said she appreciated the \u201cinteractive\u201d parts of Key\u2019s lectures and lab sections, though she suggested adding more opportunities for hands-on learning and reducing the length of the lab period by an hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI remember one day we measured our heights and we got these fun party hats,\u201d Nwadibia said. \u201cThat was cool because we learned about histograms simultaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n Key student and College first year Dani Ibrahim described the program as a \u201cgreat concept,\u201d explaining that she enjoys the \u201clax\u201d nature of the class and the lack of homework. She pointed, however, to the intensity of the course as a possible area of improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cSince there are no quizzes, no tests \u2014 which, again, I\u2019m happy about that \u2014 there\u2019s no check for understanding,\u201d she said. \u201cI think there needs to be a bit more incentive to learn and retain the information.\u201d<\/p>\n Staff reporter Mbresa Simnica covers administration and can be reached at simnica@thedp.com<\/a>. At Penn, she studies economics and political science.<\/p>\n