Goddard College

degree criteria. In addition to fulfilling academic criteria in the subjects of the arts, the humanities, mathematics, natural sciences and social sciences, undergraduate students needed to demonstrate critical thinking and writing, understanding of social and ecological contexts, positive self-development, and thoughtful action within their learning processes.
The college used a student self-directed, mentored system in which faculty issue narrative evaluations of student's progress instead of grades. The intensive low-residency model required that students come to campus every six months for approximately eight days. During this period, students engaged in a variety of activities and lectures from early morning until late in the evening, and created detailed study plans. During the semester, students studied independently, sending in "packets" to their faculty mentors every few weeks.
When low-residency education began at Goddard, packets were made up of paper documents sent via the mail. Since advances in …