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STRATEGIC GOALS

GOAL 1

TEACHING, LEARNING AND THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

INITIATIVE 2

Redesign key core curriculum courses to provide high-impact, engaged-learning experiences.

INITIATIVE 2

A 21st century education must prepare our graduates to thrive in a dynamic, complex, knowledge-based society. They must master material in the classroom and laboratory and be able to apply that knowledge in the real world with teams of different backgrounds, skills, and cultures. Clear connections between what is taught in the classroom and real-life and professional problems are particularly important to engage first-generation college students.

UTEP will leverage our place and strengthen our ties to our community to provide exceptional engaged learning opportunities for all students.

We will redesign our core curriculum and major gateway courses, starting with the highest-enrollment courses, to offer a unique approach to engaged learning and highlight advantages not available at other Texas institutions. We will prioritize the redesign of core and gateway courses most commonly taken by UTEP and Texas students. These courses will incorporate immersion opportunities specific to our region and provide early opportunities for engaged learning. The University will collect data and review it regularly to monitor the impact of redesigned courses on students and faculty. We will seek to embed this active-learning approach throughout the foundational academic experience. We will also emphasize the development of strong written and verbal communication skills, computational skills, language abilities, and the capacity for critical thinking and reflection – qualities that can distinguish our graduates in an increasingly automated and complex world.

We will experiment with ways that key courses can be distance-enabled to provide easy access and flexible pathways for local students, including early college students.