SCUE releases five-year look at education

The Student Committee on Undergraduate Education has released its long-awaited 2001 White Paper on Undergraduate Education, a five-year analysis of undergraduate education at Penn. Issued every five years, the document covers subjects ranging from research to technology at Penn. The 2001 White Paper presents several suggestions for improving undergraduate education at Penn. For instance, SCUE describes its work developing an online research database for the Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowships. The database will contain information about research projects and faculty members' areas of expertise. SCUE hopes that the database, when established, will facilitate students' access to the Penn research community. SCUE is "looking at ways of really helping CURF come into being and be a viable place for students to go," SCUE Chairwoman Lindsey Mathews said. Past White Papers have resulted in the implementation of programs like Speaking Across the University, designed to improve undergraduates' verbal communication skills. SCUE members said the White Paper presents philosophical suggestions for improving undergraduate education at Penn -- such as quality control in lectures -- as well as tangible pointers, like encouraging professors to get to know students' names. College junior and SCUE Steering Member-at-Large Amy Simmerman said a strong point of the White Paper is that "it blends the theoretical with the pragmatic." The White Paper also suggests that Penn increase its focus on information technology, which has become increasingly central to academic life today. SCUE recommends that the University provide an introductory IT seminar for students, develop accessible IT-related courses like Computer Science Engineering 100 and create more cross-disciplinary academic programs relating to technology. The White Paper also addresses teaching assistant training. SCUE suggests that individual departments train TAs more thoroughly -- mandating a course in teaching, as well as providing weekly meetings for TAs with faculty members or other TAs. Another section of the White Paper, titled "Helping Students Make Informed Decisions," advocates the creation of a Major Advising Program. MAP will match undecided underclassmen with upperclassmen, giving underclassmen a better idea of what to expect from various majors. MAP also aims to familiarize freshmen and sophomores with the more obscure fields. In this section, SCUE also suggests posting the Penn Course Review online, which would hopefully accommodate more students than the much-sought print copies. An online course review might also speed up the turnaround from the time students submit. According to Mathews, SCUE is currently working on this proposal "to augment the advising process that exists." Finally, the White Paper addresses New Student Orientation, proposing some possible changes to the orientation in the future. SCUE members say they hope the suggestions will alleviate some problems that surfaced during past NSOs, such as the "rushed feel" of the orientation and the low attendance at orientation events early in the term. The committee hopes that the White Paper will help to improve "the universal Penn experience." "By taking action on this wealth of ideas and thinking," Mathews said, "we really can change the general culture of this school."