RAIRE/CAS Grant Proposal
Transforming
Research Into Teaching
1999-2000

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IMPORTANCE OF INTL 240 TO THE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES PROGRAM AND THE UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

Perspectives on International Development is a required core foundation course for International Studies majors, and is a prerequisite to the other International Studies (INTL) courses on international development. It is a component course in the FIG, International Perspectives, and also qualifies as a multicultural group requirement. The course is cross-listed with Sociology (as Professor Weiss is a sociologist).

This course is a prerequisite for three INTL courses:

  • INTL 420: International Community Development
  • INTL 421: Gender and International Development
  • INTL 422: Aid to Developing Countries

It therefore will set an important pedagogical precedent for students as they pursue the comparative international development track within the International Studies Program.

Many other students, aside from International Studies Program majors and potential majors, also enroll in this course. The past two cycles of this course offering had 144 and 142 students respectively. This course is highly interdisciplinary, attracting undeclared major students as well as students from such departments as History, Anthropology, Romance Languages, Humanities, Sociology, Arts and Administration, Business Administration, Political Science, Geography, Environmental Studies, and Women Studies.

In addition, a significant number of students will be introduced to the Social Science Instructional Lab (SSIL) staff and services. SSIL will work closely with Professor Weiss to document the proposed interactive research module to be shared with other faculty members adding instructional technology components to their course curriculum.

INTL 240, Perspectives on International Development, will consist of two weekly lecture meetings and one weekly discussion section run by a GTF. Enrollment remains high for this course; the usual enrollment is 140-150 students, with six discussion sections (two per each GTF).