New faculty receive one course release their first year for general new faculty orientation of which the seminar is a major component. In order to designate a course as Speaking Intensive a faculty member must submit a Speaking Intensive course proposal form specifying how the three goals for Speaking Intensive courses will be met in the course. The proposal is reviewed by the Academic Policies Committee, a CLA committee comprised of faculty members from all division of the college, the Dean of the college, and the registrar. If accepted the course will be designated as Speaking Intensive. Courses designated SI are limited to 25 students.
Every department now offers SI courses.
Over three-fourths of the Hamline faculty have participated in faculty development seminars to prepare them to teach Speaking Intensive courses. We believe our program is very successful. In systematic surveys, students report that their SI experiences contribute to their learning as well as provide opportunities to achieve a higher level of communicative competence. Faculty report that students achieve a greater depth of understanding of material than typically happens in a lecture course. We have completed one long-range study which shows that graduating seniors are significantly better communicators than they were as entering first year students.