Many of you have heard me argue against the term guided pathways in favor of a participle with connotations that I find more compelling: guiding pathways. The present participle suggests to me a more open, engaged, mentoring approach to pathways, which fits better with the liberal arts. As I have often quipped, the Yellow Brick Road was a guided pathway, and look what happened: Witches, Forks, and Flying Monkeys.
In the spirit of guiding pathways, I’d like to start a conversation about serving CoReq students in a more effective, focused way, a way that leverages faculty expertise along three different axes: the developmental ed experts, HUMA1301 Great Questions, and the LA Gateway. CoReq is moving in the direction of an INRW/ENGL1301 pathway, so let’s envision a thoroughly integrated curriculum, to maximize the clarity of the student’s trajectory and simultaneously the effectiveness of support services along the way.
What if we adopted the philosophical framework of the LA Gateway, fused it with the sense of a community of scholars focused on Big Questions, and infused the curriculum with the gap-closing know-how of dev ed?
The LA Gateway brings to the table a set of guiding values that would serve our CoReq students well: Student-centered course design, equity and inclusion built in from the ground up, and responsiveness to stakeholders — like the professors who are waiting for our CoReq students along their pathways into the future. The LA Gateway also encourages effective practices endorsed by a number of organizations and faculty, like building courses around “big questions” and providing students a “discipline toolbox” — ideas central to the Great Questions curriculum.
Speaking of which, Great Questions professors have built not merely a curriculum but a course structure that invites collaboration and encourages a sense of belonging at the table, no matter who you are or where you’re from. Those characteristics have proved invaluable for students who have taken CoReq HUMA1301GQ, so why not leverage these skills to establish a curriculum and atmosphere conducive to that same sense of belonging and scholarship? The enterprising INRW professors who have taken the GQ training as well-positioned to help us create that winning combination in a revitalized INRW/Comp I curriculum that supports student progression by emphasizing intellectual accomplishment rather than deficits.
And when it comes to progression, the entire CoReq mission is freighted on the expertise of developmental ed professors and “deep partnership” between them and the credit professors. Deep isn’t about saying hello in the hall; it’s about adopting an integrated approach to teaching, complete with the communication needed to give the curriculum life and empower students to accomplish.
What are the advantages of a uniform curriculum pathway for CoReqs? Among other things, we will begin to generate a fund of experience that will allow us to improve our service to students across the whole mission. This collaboration to create a CoReq curriculum needn’t stop when the courses roll out. Why not establish an ongoing process of faculty collaboration, informed by course outcomes and longitudinal data, of continual discussion, engagement, and improvement. And that process will be much more effective for its focus and coherence.
And there’s more: Suppose we got really serious about turbocharging student progress. Suppose we put in place tutors who knew the CoReq curriculum and who were therefore prepared to help any CoReq student who showed up? Yes, diversity in approach and content is hugely important; in fact, it’s a cornerstone of the liberal arts tradition — but so is acquiring foundational skills that permit entry into that Great Conversation. CoReq is a special mission for a special group of students — students who need to learn not only skills that fill gaps but also the skill of leveraging the strengths they bring in the door. We can do this.
I find this vision of CoReq future, a CoReq guiding pathway, inspiring, and I hope you do, too. Shall we get to work — like, today?
I know that we are still reeling from rapid change, but this challenge has brought us a unique opportunity to regroup and revitalize. Let’s put together a team from the English Comp Gateway, Great Questions, INRW, and the intrepid profs who are already teaching CoReq, and reimagine what the CoReq curriculum might look like. As I said, we can do this.
