Many students and parents first encounter Open Curriculum when investigating such schools as Brown University, Amherst College, Hamilton College or NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Studies. As with any initial encounter with a new concept, there is always a bit of confusion.
There are three types of curricula implemented across most US universities. Besides Open Curriculum are the Core, best exemplified by the Great Books programs that serve as a common core among such schools as the University of Chicago, Columbia University and St. Johns (in Annapolis and Santa Fe, NM); and, Distribution Requirements, requiring students to take courses across a range of fields to enrich their learning. A good example of distribution requirements embedded in the curriculum is the BU Hub at Boston University. ( https://www.bu.edu/hub/) Some schools mix a core with distribution requirements, such as at the University of Chicago, or Yale University through its selective Directed Studies program.
Structuring a curriculum with mandatory classes is standard practice. The Open Curriculum, in contrast, stimulates students by allowing them to engage directly in determining what they want to study and why. They can’t simply default into a pre-scripted curriculum and passively participate according to the prescribed paths offered. They must set their courses and by taking action to direct their efforts they become engaged stewards in their learning.
Another feature of the Open Curriculum is that it is ‘a culture of student choice bounded by advising.’ (The Teagle Foundation, Open Curriculum White Paper, June 2006, p. 7) The relationship among the students and faculty advisors is strong and vibrant. It creates students motivated to determine their best approaches to a variety of subjects, and then drive their motivation in the selected classes and excel. (Use an example of Werner von Braun—who was an indifferent Calculus student till he developed an interest in rocketry and then excelled by all measures). In an open curriculum it’s about learning by the student, not delivery of content by the teacher. Emphasis is placed on problem solving, promoting creativity, curiosity and independent thinking.
There are 11 colleges featuring their rendition of Open Curriculum. As mentioned, among the best known are Brown, Hamilton, Grinnell, Smith College, Wake Forest, Wesleyan, Amherst, University of Rochester, and Vassar. This article features the open curriculum at Brown and Wake Forest.
While the concept of an open curriculum has roots in the early 1900s with John Dewey, the famous philosopher, educational theorist and psychologist, its origins at Brown were in 1969, at the recommendation of a student-faculty committee proposing freedom for students to design their own programs of study. The committee sought to banish the fear of failure from educational endeavors by allowing students to take as many pass-fail courses as they wish, redacting all failing grades from external transcripts, and not penalizing students who drop a course up to the final week of classes. Independent study and collaborative research with faculty was encouraged. Moreover, the curriculum placed a premium on creativity, innovation, independent thought and interdisciplinary exploration.
If one thinks the idea of an Open Curriculum has merit, but isn’t willing to jump in with both feet, as at Brown, then one might consider Wake Forest’s approach. Wake has a regular, structured curriculum with ample distribution requirements, but it also offers motivated students who desire more flexibility in their studies an open curriculum allowing them to select their own courses and prepare their own path to master a subject or field of special interest. Admission to the program is restricted to ‘motivated, mature students’ with special interests, and academic records ‘reflecting achievement and responsibility’.
In essence, to make an open curriculum truly productive, which might be defined as using freedom to seek wisdom, requires students willing to work hard to discover the truth in their fields of passion. If this sounds appealing you might enter this elite approach to education, in which there are few barriers to excellence.