One of our Western Civilization Postdoctoral Fellows, Dr. Nicole Hudgins, was recently awarded a CTAC grant from the Center for Teaching Excellence for her proposal, “Critical Thinking on the Web: Assessing the Value of the Internet to the Practice of History.” The project will expand upon Dr. Hudgins’ Western Civilization course assignment, which asks students to evaluate history-related Web sites.
Initiated by the Provost, Mason’s Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum, or CTAC, is jointly managed by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and the Office of Institutional Assessment. Development of critical thinking is a part of George Mason’s Mission and one of the six Student Competencies in Higher Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. CTAC builds on previous faculty and staff work to support Mason’s mission to strengthen critical thinking within all students. The aims of this initiative are to:
- Increase awareness of the central role played by critical thinking in the education of GMU students.
- Support faculty development of assignments, projects and programs that develop students’ use of and fluency in critical thinking.
- Disseminate the results of faculty projects to the Mason community.
- Sponsor workshops and activities to support faculty innovation and course redesign.
October 16, 2008