Moral Reasoning Class Tries Innovative Sections

Students in one of this spring's Moral Reasoning courses will have a novel experience: meeting in a section without a teaching fellow.

Thomas Professor of Divinity Harvey G. Cox announced Wednesday at the first meeting of Moral Reasoning 30, "Jesus and the Moral Life," that the course will offer three different types of sections.

"All the sections will entail some degree of student leadership, but the sections will vary on the basis of size and the degree and mode of teaching fellow supervision," Cox said in a statement yesterday.

The sections will range in size from 20 students meeting with a teaching fellow to five students who meet on their own, said Ellen Sarkisian, associate director of the Harvard Danforth Center for Teaching and Learning, who is helping to administer the sections in the course.

Traditionally a very popular course, Moral Reasoning 30 last spring attracted 1022 students. This year, the enrollment will be limited to 300 students.

Cox said he decided to experiment with different types of sections to allow individual students to learn in an environment in which they think they can "best facilitate their own learning."

Course leaders will determine grades for students in sections without teaching fellows by a system similar to the one for conventional sections, said Rene Ruttiman, the course's head teaching fellow.

Sections will count for 10 percent of all students' grades, no matter which section format they elect, Ruttiman said. Although he would not say exactly how the grades will be determined, Ruttiman said that half of the section grade will depend on a special presentation in section, and the other half will depend on participation.

The first type of section will be the traditional group of 15 to 20 students and a teaching fellow, Sarkisian said. In one of these, students will take turns leading the discussion on topics chosen from their sourcebook.

"Mentored Clusters"

Sarkisian described the second type of section as a "mentored cluster" of five students who will hold discussions independently. A teaching fellow will keep close tabs on their progress and meet with them occasionally, she said.

In the third section type, Sarkisian said, students will select about five classmates and meet with them without the direct guidance of a teaching fellow. Ruttiman will have extra office hours open only to these students, and members of the independent sections invite him to attend some of their meetings, she said.

Students may choose which kind of section to take and may change sections at any time during the semester, according to teaching fellows.

Professor of Education and Public PolicyRichard J. Light, who was appointed by PresidentDereck C. Bok in the fall of 1986 to evaluateundergraduate education in the College and othercolleges, praised Cox's experiment with thesections.

"It's like a new drug company coming up with acompetitor for Tylenol," Light said. "They try itand see if it works."

Light said that in the last few years nothingsimilar to Cox's proposal has been attempted atHarvard, but that there have been "scattered"attempts at other universities.

Students planning to take the course had mixedreactions to Cox's proposals. Some praised theidea, but guessed that the students in theindependent sections might not meet as regularlyas they should.

Others said they preferred traditionalsections. "People who like to be absorbed in largeclasses tend to like to be in large sections too,"said Felicia D. Phillips '88. Phillips said sheplans to choose the traditional section becauseshe wants a teaching fellow's guidance and theperspectives of as many fellow students aspossible