LTC Lunch - Considering A&I

As the only course required for every Carleton student, A&Is carry a lot of weight in the Liberal Arts curriculum. But what exactly are A&Is, and what do we want students to get out of them? Are they courses on “how to college?” Introductions to the Liberal Arts? Primers in particular academic disciplines? How much of the A&I experience should (or even can) be standardized across sections, and how much should be left open to the instructors’ discretion? How have the perspectives and needs of first-term students changed since the college first began offering A&Is? It’s highly unlikely that we’ll settle any of these questions in 50 minutes, but we’ll start the conversation by having some experienced instructors share their priorities for successful A&Is and then opening the discussion out to the audience.