Virtually every student at
Bucks must, at one time or
another, take an Integration of
Knowledge course. But many
students aren’t happy about it.
Many students interviewed by
the Centurion say the courses are
poorly organized and that the
multiple-instructor format is
confusing. They also complain
that the classes have little to do
with their majors, and worry that
INTG credits won’t transfer.
Almost every major that Bucks
offers requires an INTG course in
order to graduate, according to
Barbara Ford, the director of
transfer services. Some of the
majors that don’t require an
INTG course to graduate, such as
nursing, combine the skills that
are taught in the INTG classes
into other required classes.
Many students believe that
INTG classes don’t transfer to
four-year schools, but Ford says
that is incorrect. “There are more
colleges that accept the courses
than ones that don’t; typically
they transfer over as electives to
other schools,” said Ford.
But Phil Coles, a 25-year-old
journalism major from
Quakertown who took the
Culture and Affluence INTG
class last semester, said that didn’t
happen in his case. “I’ll have 60 credits at the end of this
semester, 57 of them will
transfer to Temple, but my
Integration of Knowledge
class won’t transfer,” said
Coles. “That INTG class was
a big waste of time and
money.”
According to Dr. Annette
Conn, provost and dean of
academic affairs, “The beginning
of INTG courses at
Bucks began in the late 80s
when the academic head at
the time put together a committee
to look at the core curriculum.
That committee
evolved the idea of
Integration to Knowledge.”
Conn added, “This is a capstone
course, a course to take
place at end of a student’s
[term] to integrate what they
have learned throughout
their [study]. Topics like science,
social science and critical
thinking.”
The INTG classes, according
to the Bucks website, are a
writing-intensive, teamtaught
course that examines
themes from perspectives of
multiple scientific, cultural
and societal disciplines.
This means there are many
assignments due over the
course of the semester that
must be turned in to the multiple
professors teaching the
class. Also, there is a group
project that must be completed
by several students working
together.
Some students, like Matt
Fedor, 22 from Levittown, say
the group project is the most
difficult aspect of INTG classes,
because Bucks students
typically work outside jobs
and live at home, making
scheduling meetings outside
of the classroom difficult.
Conn said she receives a
wide range of student feedback
about the course. “Lots
of students love it, lots hate it
and lots wish they don’t have
to take it. Some say it’s the
best course they’ve ever had.”
When asked if the negative
feedback ever resulted in
revisiting the core curriculum,
Conn said that it was
“assessed a few years ago and
it never came up.”
Kaitlyn Spangenberg, a 21-
year-old graphic design
major from Quakertown, said
she didn’t have a problem
with the multiple teachers;
according to her, she only
kept in contact with one of
the three professors teaching
the class and managed to pass
without much input from the
other professors leading the
course.
But she added, “I never
would have taken the class if
it wasn’t required… I was
home-schooled, so the online
portion of the class was easy
for me but the class was
pointless, it was a waste of
time and money and had
nothing to do with my
major.”
Lior Shulman, a 22-year-old
journalism major from
Ivyland, also seemed to run
into difficulties with the multiple-
teacher setup. “It’s only
one class but having three
teachers makes it like having
three classes.”
However, some students
had good things to say about
the classes. Shulman also said
that his Art of Science and
Nature class has made him
aware of environmental problems
and possible solutions.
Many have had to take several
INTG classes because
they found the first or second
attempts at passing near
impossible. “I had to get out
of it,” said Kevin Yorke, a 21-
year-old journalism major
from Newtown who took the
Race and Racism INTG
course. “I couldn’t deal with
it; the lack of communication
between the teachers and students
was the worst part
about it.”
Yorke added that having
multiple teachers was a problem
because “they didn’t
seem to know when one
teacher’s job started and
another finished.”
Brian Jacobs, a 34-year-old
business major from Yardley
who recently passed the creativity
class, was one of the
few students interviewed
who knew that the school he
planned to transfer to would
accept the INTG credits. Even
though the course would
transfer as an elective to
Rider University, he was still
unsatisfied with the course.
“It wasn’t at all what I expected
and it was completely useless
to me.”
A Bucks employee and fine
arts major who requested
anonymity took the INTG
creativity class four years
ago, and was displeased with
what he had to go through.
“I tell people who are planning
to transfer to other
schools not to bother taking
it,” he said. “It wasn’t what I
thought it would be. They
sucked the creativity right
out of it.”
According to Bucks’ course
catalog, 15 INTG courses are
scheduled to be offered for
the fall 2008 semester, ranging
from The Art of Science
and Nature to War and Peace.