Core Curriculum Programs

• Core Curriculum Description
• First-Year Learning Communities Program Description
• Learning Community Structures: Triads & Tetrads
• First-Year Seminar
• Foundations of Professional Ethics
• Learning Community Class Schedules
  
• Core Curriculum Courses

The University Core Curriculum Programs develop, implement and evaluate undergraduate academic and academic-support programs that establish a foundation for general education, provide lifelong learning skills and support the attainment of academic and career goals.

The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi core curriculum is a 45 semester-hour program of study which is required of undergraduates, and provides a foundation for all majors. Each course in this group of required courses has been reviewed and approved on the basis of its potential to contribute to the achievement of the following core goals:

• To introduce students to the content and methods of a broad range of disciplines (e.g., natural sciences, social sciences, fine arts);
• To help students develop intellectual skills (including reading, writing, speaking, listening, mathematical competency, and critical thinking) which are essential for learning in various disciplines, and for continued learning in life outside of the University;
• To provide students with multiple perspectives on, and contrasting views of, the world in which they live (e.g., various views of society, of the phenomena of the physical world, and of the relationship of the individual to society and to physical phenomena; perspectives on ethics, and on the relationships among abstract quantities);
• And to help students recognize connections between different disciplines and perspectives.

Achieving the goals listed above prepares students for academic work in the majors, enables them to develop their own goals, values, and perspectives, and helps them become reflective, productive citizens.  Visit the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for additional information about state guidelines for the core curriculum.

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The First-Year Learning Communities Program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi immerses students in an active learning environment, providing a context to integrate curricular content, to develop skills, and to develop a sense of academic community.

A&M-Corpus Christi's First-Year Learning Communities Program (FYLCP) is an innovative nationally recognized program which helps students to make successful academic and social transitions from high school to the University. In 2001, the Texas Higher Education Board recognized the excellence of the program by awarding it a Texas Higher Education Star Award. The FYLCP was the only first-year student program to win a Star Award.  In 2002 A&M-Corpus Christi was selected as one of thirteen "Institutions of Excellence in the First College Year" by the Brevard College Policy Center on the First Year of College, and in 2003 was selected as a "Founding Institution" of the Foundations of ExcellenceÆ in the First College Year project, sponsored by the Policy Center on the First Year of College and supported by the Lumina Foundation for Education.

A&M-Corpus Christi students enroll in their first year in specially selected groups of 3 or 4 classes known as Triads and Tetrads. The students and teachers within each Triad or Tetrad form a learning community. The same group of students takes all of the classes within a given Triad or Tetrad together, which gives them many opportunities to work together, get to know each other, and learn together. The teachers in each learning community also work with each other, in order to develop connections among the classes: relating content, assignments, and activities in one class with content, assignments, and activities in other Triad or Tetrad classes.

Benefits of Learning Communities

A&M-Corpus Christi's learning communities program has been built upon years of research concerning learning communities. The research indicates that well-designed learning communities benefit students in many ways. For example, students who participate in learning communities:

• Have more opportunities to express themselves orally and in writing in academic contexts;
• Develop their academic skills more fully;
• Are more engaged or involved in learning experiences and in college life;
• Experience greater intellectual development;
• Report higher levels of satisfaction with their college or university;
• Are more likely to complete their courses and stay in school;
• And tend to earn higher grades.

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All of the Triads and Tetrads include a First-Year Seminar and a First-Year Writing class. These are small classes of 25 students or less. In addition, Triads include a large lecture class (such as General Psychology or U.S. Government and Politics), and Tetrads include two large lecture classes. The classes within each Triad (or Tetrad) are "linked," in the sense that students enroll in all three classes (or four classes in a Tetrad) at once, as a "package deal."

For example, students might enroll in a Triad which includes:

• First-Year Seminar (UCCP 1101 or UCCP 1102)
• English Composition (English 1301 or English 1302)
• Human Societies (Sociology 1301)

A Tetrad which the University frequently offers consists of the following courses:

• First-Year Seminar (UCCP 1101 or UCCP 1102)
• English Composition (English 1301 or English 1302)
• U.S. History to 1865 (History 1301)
• U.S. Government and Politics (Political Science 2305)

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Triad

Tetrad

First-Year Seminar (FYS) teachers attend the large Triad or Tetrad lecture classes with their students, act as teaching assistants/graders for those lecture classes, and help their students to:

• Explore the interconnections among the Triad/Tetrad courses;
• Develop their critical thinking and information literacy skills;
• Clarify their personal values and goals;
• And develop their ability to learn through study, discussion, cooperation, and collaboration.

Enrollment in the FYS (as well as in the First-Year Writing classes) is held to a maximum of 25 students, because small-class environments help students form communities and develop their intellectual skills. First-Year Seminar, therefore, plays a central role in developing the learning communities, and enabling students to be successful at the University level.

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Foundations of Professional Ethics is the capstone course of the core curriculum. It is taught by a team of faculty members from various disciplines and from each of the four colleges in the University, who bring multiple perspectives to the study of ethical issues which arise in professional life. Students employ intellectual skills emphasized within the core curriculum, in order to address ethical problems relevant to their majors and careers.

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