Each semester, several courses are taught across a variety of departments with an “experimental” label attached to them. These experimental courses allow professors the opportunity to design and implement new material or subject matter that is not currently offered through their department.
Experimental courses may only be offered once—as a sort of trial-run—before being sent through various campus governing groups to become an officially approved course. Students can identify experimental courses partly through the course number ending in an “88.”
Interim Associate Provost for Assessment and Curriculum Melanie Blood approves experimental courses and puts them directly into the schedule for the following semester, allowing these unique courses to bypass the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the Student Senate.
“Because these courses are only offered once, they’re not part of majors and they don’t carry [general education status] because those have to be approved,” Blood said in a phone interview with The Lamron. “Once a course has been taught, if the faculty member likes it and the department thinks it’s going to fulfill a useful service for them, then they go ahead and put it through the regular campus process.”
Among the many experimental courses offered this semester are Marine Biology, Science Communication, Monster Mash and Applied Portfolio Management.
Assistant professor of biology Mackenzie Gerringer teaches both Marine Biology and Science Communication. Marine Biology looks at life in the oceans, studying themes such as biodiversity, adaptation to marine environment and human influence on ocean life. Science Communication is about communicating science to a wide variety of audiences across multiple platforms, focusing on both writing and presenting using a range of media, from children’s books to social media.
“I’m personally interested in both of these subjects and I think they’re a good fit for the biology major here,” Gerringer said. She said that she feels science communication is especially beneficial at a liberal arts school because it allows students to cross disciplines they may have not otherwise been exposed to.
Biology major senior Emma Mancino is taking Marine Biology this semester and appreciates that it’s different from what the biology department has offered in the past.
“It seemed like something new that I could take that was interesting to me,” Mancino said. “It’s a different pace than my other biology classes. Most of my biology classes are test based but here I get a lot of other assignments so it’s a lot more diverse. I think it creates a better environment.”
Monster Mash, an experimental fine arts course taught by professor of art history Lynette Bosch, covers the art, literature and film that focuses on monsters from prehistoric times up to the modern world.
“We hit the highlights in terms of monsters from the beginning to now, always with the goal of trying to determine what they tell us about the social world. [We study] how this sort of culture, looking at horror and monsters, reflects social issues,” Bosch said.
The idea for this class developed out of Bosch’s long-running interest in horror, and she felt that the topic would translate well into an interdisciplinary course. Horror is also a universally understood concept, according to Bosch, seeing as how virtually everyone has been to a horror movie or read a horror novel.
“I thought it was a very accessible way to get at the material, and I think it’s neat and different,” she said.
In the School of Business, Applied Portfolio Management is an experimental course hoping to build upon students’ experiences in the Student Managed Investment Fund. While this on-campus organization allows students the chance to manage $330,000 in real money for the Geneseo Foundation, faculty in the School of Business wanted to figure out if they could run the fund more like a wealth management firm.
“We said, ‘how do you put an academic structure around that so students can apply what they’ve learned in earlier classes,’” lecturer of business and Applied Portfolio Management professor Robert Boyd said. “I’m experimenting with what is the best structure to run a student managed investment fund as a wealth management experience for students to see how it applies to the real world.”
The inspiration for this course arose from a problem Boyd was having putting a full wealth management process into place. Before this experimental course was in place, the Student Managed Investment Fund was relying purely on student interest and those volunteering their time to be a part of it. Now that there’s a class with academic backing and college credit associated with it, Boyd feels students will be more engaged and committed to the experience.
Economics major junior Connor Hargrove is currently enrolled in Applied Portfolio Management and says it’s his favorite class he’s ever taken.
“This class definitely allows me to apply the skills I’ve learned in a more realistic setting. It provides really good leadership experience,” he said.
If a department decides that an experimental course would be beneficial to their permanent course catalogue, they fill out a form and send it to the Provost’s office, according to Blood. From there, the course moves through the UCC, which is one of the standing committees of the Student Senate. Blood stressed that there are student representatives on this committee, allowing students to have a voice in these course discussions throughout the entire process.
Once the UCC approves the course, it goes through two readings at the Student Senate for ultimate approval.
“Generally, the process is fairly smooth,” Blood said. “Generally, people trust one another to put forth great ideas and it usually can happen within one year that a new course can be a part of the curriculum.”
Professors especially value the learning and growth opportunities that accompany teaching experimental courses. These courses allow faculty the chance to expand their curriculum and change with the times.
“You think up something that is not part of your standard curriculum,” Bosch said. “How you adjust is with experimental courses, you want to see how they work. You don’t just want to introduce a new course out of the blue, you need feedback from students, test what works and doesn’t work.”
Boyd echoed these same sentiments.
“We learn by doing experimental courses. If we’re not doing experimental courses, are we staying on top of everything? … That’s what experimental courses should be about. What is new, what is changing, how do we adapt,” he said.u