Center for Learning, Instruction & Assessment (CLIA)
EXAC Courses
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The advent of the Educational Opportunity Program in 1968
eliminated cultural tokenism for African Americans, Latinos,
and poor students, and replaced it with cultural and social
diversity. It also challenged a greatly reticent academic
community to retain, graduate, and place these students it
had recruited- students who did not look, speak, and react
as did traditional students; who did not meet traditional
admissions criteria; who brought unique cultural and
psycho-social perspectives; who desperately wanted to be
understood, recognized, respected; and, who wanted to
succeed academically.
Thus, two major concerns arose-how to address this academic
reticence, due in part to unwillingness and in part to a
lack of know how, and how to stave off the revolving door
syndrome. In 1971, EOP Director Aaron Campbell, with a
mandate from Monsignor Thomas Fahy- President and John Duff-
Provost, designated the Educational Opportunity Program as
an experimental academic program with full rights to develop
and offer credit bearing general electives to meet the
unique academic and psycho-social needs of students admitted
under its auspices and to infuse heavily an understanding of
varied learning theories and application and appreciation
and respect for cultural diversity.
These experimental/non-traditional courses supplement
traditional academic initiatives/courses which did not, and
could not prepare EOP students for academic and life skills
mastery essential for their retention, graduation, and
placement (preferably in graduate/professional schools).
Today, these EXAC courses continue to develop, to enhance
and/or to promote mastery of academic and life skills. They
focus on these areas by coupling the theoretical approach
with direct application, intertwined with the
multiculturalism reflective of EOP. These courses address
culture-specific learning and behavioral theories, content
mastery and directed classroom demonstration in individual
or group settings, an understanding of obstacles to content
mastery and techniques to mitigate or eliminate these
obstacles, and anxiety produced by the fear of failure and
fear of success. In this manner academic mastery is stressed
not, merely, "passing courses." This approach is crucial to
students who firmly believe, and rightfully so for the
majority of them, that, if they do not succeed at Seton Hall
University they will no succeed anywhere.
The Educational Opportunity Program, with its academic
support programs including its offering of EXAC courses,
continues to make Seton Hall viable to culturally diverse,
educationally and/or economically disadvantaged students.
Here they become academic success stories, not revolving
door casualties.
EXPERIMENTAL ACADEMIC COURSES (EXAC)
FREQUENTLY OFFERED COURSES
The EXAC courses form an integral component of the Center
for Learning, Instruction and Assessment. Through these
courses, students are provided with instruction, materials,
academic support and tools to enhance their academic
development and mastery in highly critical areas.
A partial listing of most frequently offered courses
include:
Integrated Communication Skills
Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills
College Reading Skills
College Writing
Quantitative Processes
Test Sophistication
Dynamics of Student Development
Success Oriented Skills
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Success Oriented Skills
- Designed to provide an understanding of self-motivation,
goal oriented behavior, academic achievement and
multicultural understanding using group and individual
exercises with guided methodology in the form of audiovisual
materials, lecture, group discussion, supplemental home
assignments and community service.
Quantitative Processes
- Designed to identify and implement lesson strategies to
assist students to develop mastery in mathematical skills
required for upper division courses, computation and problem
solving. Incorporates theories of math anxiety and
strategies to overcome it.
Test Sophistication
- Designed to assist the student in the acquisition or
further extension of essential skills for mastery of
teacher-made and standardized tests. Emphasis is given to
test constructions, subjective and objective tests including
essay, multiple-choice, true-false, matching, and short
answer. Test anxiety and other behaviors which prevent
maximization of test score potential are addressed.
College Writing
- Designed to enable students to strengthen college writing
skills, enhance the ability to write with clarity and to
organize ideas through the mastery of five, and seven
paragraph essays and research paper. It incorporates
theories of writing block and strategies to overcome it.
Dynamics of Student Development
- Designed to integrate a cognitive/affective approach to
strengthening skills. It involves effective learning and its
application to college academics and mastery of life’s
vicissitudes as demonstrated by each student’s personal
growth and increased sense of responsibility. It
incorporates theories of learning, human growth and
development, and the role of students' values, attitudes and
habits is stressed with direct application.