Plans to revamp the College's sophomore summer program, including the implementation of a block schedule system, are currently being discussed by College administrators. Final changes are unlikely to be executed for several years.
At the Fall term general faculty meeting on Oct. 8, College President James Wright proposed several potential changes to sophomore summer, pointing to a desire to make better use of the term.
"For 30 years it has evolved but it has not been strategically and intellectually managed by the faculty and the administration," Wright told the gathered faculty.
In his comments, Wright floated ideas including block scheduling, the integration of professional school professors teaching undergraduate courses and increased assimilation of the Hopkins Center, Tucker Foundation and other campus resources into a thematic learning program.
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt said that the proposals enumerated by Wright are among several currently being discussed among administrators.
"The idea is, let's look at the sophomore summer, and let's think out of the box about ways that we can take this time that we have all these students here and intensify it, and make this time even more unusual than it is," Folt said.
In particular, Folt highlighted the potential for three-week intensive blocked courses and the creation of an overarching "great issues" program as two proposals that have been at the center of discussion.
The block classes system, similar to programs currently in place at schools like Colorado College, would allow students to split their Summer term courses into three intensive three-week, one-course blocks.
This change might allow for the incorporation of off-campus study during the Summer term, Lindsay Whaley, associate dean for international and interdisciplinary studies, said. Whaley added that this option might be particularly attractive to students who are limited in their ability to go abroad during other terms as a result of athletic or extracurricular commitments.
"It's a way to take some of that head knowledge and tie it to some sort of experiential knowledge," he said.
If implemented, the block scheduling option would likely be limited to certain courses, Folt said, though a student who elected to take these courses would have to select all blocked courses.
Folt also acknowledged certain drawbacks of block scheduling, noting that the structure might not be appropriate for disciplines like foreign language study, and limits the ability of students to draw connections between their courses.
"It separates the multidisciplinary aspect of a curriculum," she said.
The idea for a "great issues" program mirrors a similar program implemented at Dartmouth after World War II in the hopes of instilling students with a better sense of their world, Folt said.
The proposed program, in its current conception, would bring together faculty from both the undergraduate and professional schools, as well as outside scholars, to discuss the controversies and questions facing society.
"[The program] would create a shared experience of great issues," Folt said. "It would bring together the whole campus around these issues that are both cultural and global."
It is as yet undecided whether the program would be extracurricular or involve some sort of required component like faculty-led discussion groups.
Folt emphasized that all plans to rework sophomore summer are still under consideration.
"Right now my job is to work with the faculty to look and investigate the complications of these proposals and the beauty of what they can do," she said.
Any changes would likely be tested out over the course of one or more Summer terms. The College would then gather feedback from both students and faculty before making permanent changes. Folt said that it was unlikely any changes would be made this summer.
"A lot of discussion is going to be necessary in order to make sure that any innovations and ideas make sense for Dartmouth," Whaley said.
