March 25, 2014: Raiders of the Lost Archives

The Chronicle of Higher Ed today posted a story about a wide-spread attempt to create a digital archive of syllabi from colleges and universities across the world.  I have to admit that the goal, to have the ability to trace the history and evolution of certain topics, is cool, but I can't get past the figure of speech being used by the organizers:  "the curricular black box."  Sure, this digital repository would provide all sorts of fascinating data and history, but what would be the accident we hope to explain?  What would be the accident we'd hope to avoid in the future?  It doesn't help that higher education is perceived as a constant accident waiting to happen.

How would this black box be used in tracing the decline and demise of subjects, curricula, or even entire universities?  Allow us to step forward a few years into the future and see how we plunge these archives.

• Congressional Panel Member:  Mr. Curriculum Syllabus Inspector, as you know, we are greatly concerned about the complete ignorance of the American public, and frankly most of Congress, toward the American government system.  Have you brought to us today the smoking gun that shows clear evidence that our colleges and universities have failed us?

• Curriculum Syllabus Inspector (CSI): Not directly, sir. It's a very complicated matter.

• Congressional Panel Member: How freaking complicated can it be?  Isn't that what we have that black box for?

• CSI: If you don't mind, sir, give me a few minutes to explain our review process.

• {Congressional Panel Members grumble to each other, shrug shoulders}

• CSI:  We started by identifying the last evidence of a government curriculum. We have been able to identify the last time an American Government class was taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum.  It was December 20, 2013, at Williams-Wilson College.  On that date, a take-home final exam was given that asked students to pair the legislative action with its municipality (is it a federal action, state action, or local action?).  The instructor was a Dr. Randolph T. Whistleberry.  We are assuming he either died for "retired" following this take-home action, as we have no more evidence of his syllabi in the black box.

• Congressional Panel Member:  Are you able to locate a replacement to that government class?

• CSI:  The following fall, Williams-Wilson College, offered a new course that seems to align with its competitive market.  That course was Introduction to Online Communities.  The instructor's name was listed as "TBD." It's . . . .

• Congressional Panel Member:  Wait a second?  "TBD?" What the hell does that mean?

• CSI:  To Be Determined, sir. You'll find that designation a lot in these archives.

• {Congressional Panel Members mumble to each other, shrug shoulders}

• CSI:  Anyway, this Introduction to Online Communities was apparently a catch-all course introduced by Williams-Wilson College to meet a series of needs.  The syllabus lists outcomes that range from the etiquette of blogging to the standards and expectations of taking online courses to the benefits of electronic faculty evaluations.  As far as we can tell, it ran for one year.

• Congressional Panel Member:  Just one year?  What happened?

• CSI: We are not entirely sure.  What we do know is that in Fall 2015, in other words two years after the last government class, Williams-Wilson was the first institution to run "Accountability and You."

• Congressional Panel Member:  Why does that name sound familiar?

• CSI:  Your predecessors mandated it, sir.

• Congressional Panel Member:  They did?

• {Congressional Panel Members grumble to each other, shrug shoulders}

• CSI: Yes, they did.  It was mandated that all financial-aid bearing programs have that course.  Williams-Wilson was the first to launch it as a pilot in 2015. The syllabi for it over the years have shown that it caused a lot of confusion.  The second year it ran, the school had "THIS IS NOT AN ACCOUNTING CLASS" plastered right under the course title.  The next year, it included the statement "IT DOES NOT INVOLVE ANY MATH," and the following year, they had moved the absence policy to the top of the first page with the statement "THE "YOU" IN THIS COURSE TITLE MEANS YOU [insert your name here]."  The following year, students apparently had to write their name in that bracket, rip off the cover sheet and turn it back in.  The following year, the primary faculty member overseeing the course, a Dr. Bridget Fistelstein-Droffer, may have tried a new tactic:  the course syllabus had been trimmed from 19 pages to 2 pages.  The course had been made Pass/Fail with a grading scale of 10-100 equating to a passing grade.

• Congressional Panel Member:  Shameful. 

• {Congressional Panel Members grumble to each other, shrug shoulders}

• Congressional Panel Member:  So, are you saying we should blame the pilot here?  This Dr. Feinsten-Drescher caused everything to crash?

• CSI:  That's Dr. Bridget Fistelstein-Droffer, sir, and definitely not.  That accountability course was never directly about government anyway.

• Congressional Panel Member:  So, why is government not being taught anymore?

• CSI: Here's where you need a higher level of critical thinking than simply looking at the data in the black box.  The pattern that you can see is that a lot of formerly required courses were being eliminated to fit in mandated courses, whether by government or accrediting bodies.  For instance, you may all remember the Alamo fiasco of 2014.  That was when the Chancellor substituted "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" for a Humanities' course.

• Congressional Panel Member:  Oh, the humanities!  Get over it.

• CSI: I'm just here to report my findings, sir.

• Congressional Panel Member: So, you are saying there is no logic to what has happened to American Government?

• CSI:  I believe you are saying that, sir.  And you would know.

This could actually be really fascinating, couldn't it?  It could be a great learning tool for leaders of failed institutions.  One could even start a consulting company from this.  I see the motto: "The Black Box of Syllabus Archives--C Where the World Passed U By."