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Perspectives in the DCCCD Core

The Perspectives are embedded throughout the DCCCD Core because they served as guideposts when the Core Curriculum Committee identified courses to recommend for inclusion in the Core. The initial Core Curriculum Committee studied the THECB document Core Curriculum: Assumptions and Defining Characteristics, using that document and the Lower Division Academic Course Guide Manual as references while the committee debated possible courses to be included in the Core. The committee considered courses for each core component area and deliberated over each course. Courses which the committee deemed to advance the perspectives were easily recommended for inclusion in the Core, and those courses which seemed too narrow in focus or outside the scope of the perspectives were excluded from the Core. The faculty of some disciplines were required to demonstrate that specific courses addressed the Perspectives in order for those courses to be included. Examples follow:

  • PHED 1164 - Included as part of the DCCCD Institutional Option because DCCCD physical education faculty have developed a required component to the course which specifically addresses the health and wellness perspective. Other PHED activity courses do not satisfy the DCCCD core requirements.

  • SPCH 1311 - Included, but in The Final Recommendations of the Core Curriculum Committee as Amended by the Cabinet, the speech communication faculty were called to demonstrate that the course addressed "multicultural communication with respect to both global cultures and the diverse racial and ethnic subcultures of the United States." The committee invited discipline faculty to "review the course content to ensure that the emphasis of instruction is balanced and content is enhanced as needed."

  • Visual and Performing Arts courses which addressed appreciation and theory were included, while those courses which emphasize technique and performance courses were excluded from the Core. For example, Dance Appreciation (DANC 2303) was included, but DANC courses in ballet, jazz, or Folklorico techniques were excluded.

  • Teachers of British, American, and World Literature were required to ensure that "global themes and multicultural readings are included in selections and that those perspectives be taught in these courses." British literature was included in the Core after English faculty demonstrated that British literature addressed multiple perspectives and included writers from British colonies from the continents of Asia and Africa.

  • SOCI  2306 -  Human Sexuality was not included in the core because the committee judged that though interesting, it neither advanced the broad perspectives nor the survey of information the committee desired in core courses.

  • HIST 2321 and 2322 - World Civilization, rather than Western Civilization courses, were included as selections in the Humanities Component of the Core because they were deemed to advance the Perspectives in the Core.

  • CUST 2370 - The Core Curriculum Committee recommended that DCCCD faculty develop a new course which "provides a variety of opportunities for the study of human thought and relations through the interdisciplinary study of a significant human theme. Foundational to each offering will be a focus on moral and critical reasoning. The disciplines engaging this course might be from business, sciences, humanities, technology, arts, and/or other instructional areas."

The Committee's report, The Final Recommendations of the Core Curriculum Committee as Amended by the Cabinet (December 1998), makes clear the importance the Perspectives played in the discussions and recommendations of the committee. According to the report, " . . . the Committee believes that broad survey courses should be included in each of the curriculum areas, and it has made a conscious attempt to include courses which will help students understand both multiculturalism as well as equip them to become better citizens of an ever-changing world."