SEEDS Curriculum

SEEDS Curriculum Mission Statement

Education is a process of self-discovery and growth. The Montclair SEEDS curriculum encourages students to uncover what excites and motivates them. Our world faces significant social, cultural, and environmental challenges and needs citizens with passion and purpose who think critically and creatively, communicate clearly, and act ethically. The Montclair SEEDS curriculum will strengthen and build upon students’ existing skills and teach them new ways to embrace the world around them.

Documentation

SEEDS VALUES.

Social Justice and Equity.

Students will learn how different forms of inequality (social, economic, environmental, racial, gender) have developed; the history of those who have struggled against injustice; and the many ways in which inequality continues to function in present day society.

Educated Citizenry (PDF)

Students will learn to assess, produce, and communicate knowledge as informed and responsible citizens, and learn to critically evaluate the sociopolitical structures that influence information creation.

Engagement, Agency, and Leadership.

Students will learn how to engage with issues in their communities and develop the confidence and strategies to become leaders and contribute to the public good.

Diversity and Intercultural Competency.

Students will develop the ability to understand diverse cultural contexts and to communicate and function within them.

Self-Discovery and Self-Care.

Students will be introduced to multiple disciplinary approaches towards achieving a healthy, meaningful, and productive life, and, along the way, develop a sense of self.

SEEDS Curriculum Student Learning Outcomes and Rubrics.

Next Steps.

• An Interim Advisory Board has been created to lead the process of course certification during the current academic year.
• The Advisory Board will call for courses the be certified in the Foundations area of the Curriculum.

Montclair SEEDS Curriculum Implementation.

Governance.

The Montclair SEEDS curriculum will be implemented and managed by a Director and an Advisory Board.

Director.

• Should be tenured, rank of Associate or higher.
• Full description of responsibilities and compensation to be negotiated with the Union.
• Should be nominated by the Advisory Board and confirmed by the Provost.

Advisory Board.

• Should be constituted of full-time faculty.
• Elections will be overseen by the Senate in April.
• Will be constituted by 8-12 members.
• Will make recommendations to the Director on course certification, assessment processes and results, and other matters related to program administration.

Implementation.

During the implementation phase, the Advisory Board and Directors will conduct an expedited certification process for existing courses.

Certification Requirements.

• Only courses that already exist in the curriculum will be considered for certification.
• The learning goals of the course must be aligned with ONE of the 12 Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) in the SEEDS curriculum.
• The instructor(s) of the course agree(s) to participate in assessment of the course based on the selected SLO, which will involve submitting samples demonstrating student learning.
• The purpose of the course will be aligned with one of the SEEDS Values.
• Faculty agree to reflect upon their experience teaching to SEEDS values.

Things to keep in mind…

• For the purposes of provisional certification, there will be no need to change the course number, name, description and/or syllabus of the course. However…
• Faculty will teach to the rubric of the selected Student Learning Outcome and present evidence of student learning.
• At the end of the 2 year provisional period, faculty will reflect upon whether the course number, name, description and/ or syllabus of the course effectively align(s) with the SEEDS curriculum and consider making revisions appropriate to re-certification.
• Faculty will briefly reflect upon their efforts to address SEEDS values in their course.

Timeline

• From October to January we will focus on courses for the Foundations area of the curriculum.
• Starting in February 2024 we will start certifying courses in the Explorations area.

• Last Call: We have completed temporary, two-year certification of 220 classes. If there are any remaining classes that your department plans to submit, the deadline is March 28.

Course Certification

Procedures for Provisional Certification

We are fast tracking existing courses for inclusion in the new SEEDS curriculum. In order to be certified, courses need to meet the following requirements:

1. The course currently exists in the MSU curriculum.
2. The learning goals of the course will be aligned with ONE of the 12 SLOs in the SEEDS curriculum.
3. The instructor(s) of the course agree(s) to participate in assessment of the course on the basis of the selected SLO(s), which will involve submitting samples demonstrating student learning.
4. The purpose of the course will be aligned with one of five SEEDS values.
5. Faculty agree to reflect upon their experience teaching to SEEDS values.

Courses certified during this transition period will be admitted for two years only, with the following understanding:

1. There will be no need to change the course number, name, description and/or syllabus of the course. However,
2. Faculty will teach to the rubric of the selected SLO and present evidence of student learning in those SLOs.
3. At the end of the 2 year provisional period, faculty will reflect upon whether the course number, name, description and/ or syllabus of the course effectively align(s) with the SEEDS curriculum and consider making revisions appropriate to recertification.
4. Faculty will briefly reflect upon their efforts to address SEEDS values in their course.

Support Materials For Chairs, Program and Academic Advisors.

In support of your efforts to align the requirements of your programs with those of the new SEEDS Core Curriculum we are providing the following:

1.- Degree Plan Template and SEEDS Curriculum Guide.

2.- Access to the list of approved courses in the SEEDS Core Curriculum. This active list will be posted and periodically updated on our website.

3.- A series of informational meetings where Kate and I will address questions about curriculum alignment, certification, scheduling, or other concerns. Click here to sign up and we will send you a Zoom link.

In preparation for this work, we suggest the following:

1.- Use the SEEDS Curriculum Guide to align the requirements of your program with those of the SEEDS curriculum. You might recommend that students in your majors take specific courses to fill individual SEEDS requirements.

2.- Use this opportunity to identify whether your program requires courses in the 2002 General Education program (for example, does your program lists specific courses such as WRIT 105 or 106 as pre-requisites). If this is the case, we suggest starting the process of revising/removing these pre-requisites so that your students are not limited to the options offered under the previous General Education program.

3.- Aim to complete your new curriculum guides by May 1^st.

Acting SEEDS Advisory Board

Contact Information

Katherine McCaffrey

Professor, Anthropology

Phone

973-655-7560

Email

mccaffreyk@montclair.edu

Esperanza Brizuela-Garcia

Associate Professor, History

Phone

973-655-7561

Email

brizuelagare@montclair.edu