Siena College is one of a select group of 21 institutions across the nation chosen by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in the new Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction. The Consortium is part of a multi-year project to improve teaching and learning in the humanities, explore new approaches to online education, and promote collaboration among smaller private liberal arts colleges.
A $1.38 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the work of four-person teams from each participating institution over three years. Two faculty members from each team will develop new upper-level courses in the humanities, pilot the courses in 2017, revise the courses, and offer them again in 2018 to students from all the participating colleges. Two administrators on each team—the chief academic officer and the registrar—will focus on institutional support for online learning, policies for sharing courses, and other aspects of institutional collaboration. The teams will come together for three national workshops, beginning in August 2016.
CIC President Richard Ekman said, “Online teaching and learning has tremendous potential to sustain the humanities at smaller liberal arts colleges. By sharing courses that might be under-enrolled at a single institution, humanities programs can maximize the use of their instructional resources and offer their students a wider range of high-quality courses.”
Siena faculty members will create and teach two courses. French Professor Janet Shideler will create a course on Quebec Civilization and Spanish Associate Professor Marcela Garcés will prepare The Spanish-Speaking World through Film.
“These courses will be exciting additions to Siena’s curriculum. Not only will our excellent faculty members share their expertise with students throughout the Council of Independent Colleges campuses, but Siena’s students will also have the opportunity to experience courses taught by faculty with different expertise from other institutions. The ability to add interesting depth to curricula throughout the humanities is terrific. I am grateful to Professors Shideler and Garcés for their willingness to try innovative approaches to enhancing our pedagogy and offerings,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Margaret E Madden.
New York-based Ithaka S+R, a leading research and consulting service for academic innovation in the digital environment, will advise participants and evaluate the entire project. Deanna Marcum, managing director of Ithaka S+R, said, “We are delighted to partner with CIC again on this important project. Thanks to a cohort of CIC institutions that have collaborated since 2014, we already know that online humanities courses can produce excellent results for students. This new Consortium provides an opportunity to learn more about innovative approaches to pedagogy, faculty support for online learning at smaller liberal arts colleges, and new approaches to collaboration—and then share the findings with other institutions.”
The first meeting of the Consortium will take place in Alexandria, Virginia, August 7–9, 2016. Presenters will include prominent national experts in online learning.
More information about the project and the participating institutions is available on the CIC website at www.cic.edu/OnlineHumanities.
Consortium for Online Humanities Instruction (2016–2018)
Participating Institutions
Bloomfield College (NJ)
Carlow University (PA)
Carroll College (MT)
Carroll University (WI)
Claflin University (SC)
Clarke University (IA)
Concordia University Texas (TX)
Gettysburg College (PA)
Lasell College (MA)
Mount Mary University (WI)
Northwestern College (IA)
Randolph-Macon College (VA)
Rosemont College (PA)
Shenandoah University (VA)
Siena College (NY)
Simpson College (IA)
St. Edwardʼs University (TX)
St. Olaf College (MN)
Ursuline College (OH)
Walsh University (OH)
Wesleyan College (GA)
The Council of Independent Colleges is an association of 765 nonprofit independent colleges and universities and higher education affiliates and organizations that has worked since 1956 to support college and university leadership, advance institutional excellence, and enhance public understanding of private higher education’s contributions to society. CIC is the major national organization that focuses on providing services to leaders of independent colleges and universities as well as conferences, seminars, and other programs that help institutions to improve educational quality, administrative and financial performance, and institutional visibility. CIC conducts the largest annual conferences of college and university presidents and of chief academic officers. CIC also provides support to state fundraising associations that organize programs and generate contributions for private colleges and universities. The Council is headquartered at One Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. For more information, visit www.cic.edu.
