There are four areas within the Common Core (CC):
- Arts, Aesthetics & Creativity (A)
- Human Behaviors & Social Institutions (B)
- Literary & Intellectual Traditions (T)
- Natural World (N)
Offerings within the CC can be at either the 100-level (typically 190 or 191) or 300-level (typically 390 or 399); students are required to take one course in each of the four CC areas, and one of those must be at the 300-level.
A novel aspect of Common Core courses is that offerings can be proposed from any department, and each is to have a unique Variable Topic (VT). Accordingly, there can be multiple VT offerings, at the same level, from the same department. Unfortunately, until recently only a generic Course Description for each of the four areas in the CC was available in iGPS, and that could make it difficult for students and advisors alike to make scheduling selections, as the VT name may not provide sufficient information.
In order to address this, a separate document has been prepared in recent years for each term with a listing of not just all CC offerings (including VT, Class #, instructor and scheduling details), but with the addition of a roughly 50-word “Class Description” specific to each VT.
With iGPS, however, much of this information is redundant, and the preparation of the document can be error prone and certainly subject to becoming out-of-date as scheduling changes are made. But, it was still valuable because it nicely grouped courses by CC area and level, plus it provided the very helpful Class Description.
We’re happy to announce that starting with Spring 2022, a new tool makes it possible for faculty to add Class Descriptions to their courses that can be viewed in iGPS. This capability, coupled with the use of “Attributes” to filter search results for courses that meet specific areas of the general-education curriculum, has made the production of a separate, stand-alone, document unnecessary. The document has been prepared for Spring 2022, but this will be the last semester: Link to PDF for Spring 2022 (list of Common Core courses with both scheduling and description information).
Accordingly, advisors, and students, are strongly encouraged to use iGPS with Attribute filters when searching for general-education courses, knowing that VT-specific Class Descriptions for CC courses are now included, too.
Note that for Spring and Summer 2022 Class Descriptions have been added administratively, but faculty are encouraged to tend to their own Class Descriptions going forward.