English 104 and 105, though longtime general education requirements for all ISU students, may be restructured.

A project to change the structure of the basic English courses has been in the works for two years. The project, called ISUComm, would replace English 104 and 105 with two University Communication courses that emphasize written, oral, visual and electronic communication.

Margaret Graham, professor of English, said ISUComm focuses on two basic principles of communication instruction: that it should be distributed over all years of undergraduate study and that it should be distributed across curriculums, even across majors.

Graham said students would not be able to test out of either class, which will be named U. Comm 112 for freshmen and U. Comm 212 at the sophomore level.

This is different from the test-out policy for English 104 and 105, which allows students to test out of both courses.

Michael Mendelson, professor of English and member of the ISUComm ad hoc committee of the Faculty Senate, said the primary feature of these classes is to integrate written, oral, visual and electronic communication.

“Our goal is to provide ISU undergraduate students communication skills required for professional success in the 21st century,” he said. “Students should be capable of not only writing but . other communication skills as well.”

Mendelson said the first-year class would focus primarily on writing while the second-year class would factor in visual and oral communication. Courses within other departments would then focus on areas as needed.

An electronic portfolio would be a part of the program that students would start at the beginning of their career at Iowa State.

The portfolio would be continued over each year and evaluated by people in each student’s major.

“This is not a question of 104 and 105 going away, but replacing those courses with new foundation courses,” Mendelson said.

The new proposal was sent to the Faculty Senate last week and will be evaluated later this semester.

“I imagine if it passes in the fall of 2002 we’ll prepare curriculum for the first-year foundation course, and we’ll begin thinking about the second year,” Graham said.

The course wouldn’t be piloted until Spring 2003 with a test audience of about 100 students, or four course sections.

The second course wouldn’t be piloted until Fall 2003. Each subsequent semester, more students would be added to the course until final integration in the 2005-2007 course catalog.

“This is very exciting, and complicated, for both students and faculty,” Graham said. “This can make foundation courses more interesting for students.”

Malik Toms, graduate teaching assistant for English 105, said the ISUComm plan would effectively solve some problems with the current system. “As is stands there’s not enough TAs to teach English 104 and 105,” said Toms. “Other departments don’t help out.”

A faculty forum is taking place to discuss ISUComm on Thursday, Feb. 28 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Campanile Room of the Memorial Union. The meeting is open to the public.