Task Force on General Education Revision
Charge
Recommend goals for a general education program which reflect the character of the University and prepare our students to be successful and effective in their future roles in the 21st Century.
The task force should organize its work into several phases. Throughout the entire process, the task force should reach out to the university community (faculty and students) to: 1) solicit ideas and views; 2) communicate the committee’s process and progress; and 3) build incremental support for the task force’s recommendations.
Phase One:
- Develop knowledge and understanding of the nature and role of general education by reading appropriate literature, reviewing other exemplary general education programs (i.e. best practices), studying relevant trends and innovations, etc.
- Develop a general education mission statement and a statement of educational principles that will guide subsequent recommendations.
- Recommend a comprehensive, appropriate, and measurable set of student learning goals/outcomes including those germane to our public affairs mission.
- Review the status of the current general education program (in light of the above student learning outcomes and assessment results) and communicate the findings to the faculty.
- Address pedagogy and student success goals as they pertain to general education.
- Address faculty roles and the need to involve all faculty (liberal arts and professional) in general education.
- Consider the impact the general education program will have on all students and especially transfer students, both incoming and outgoing.
Phase Two:
- Design a general education curriculum that:
o intentionally cultivates the above student learning goals/outcomes
o recognizes that in addition to breadth of knowledge, general education also includes the cultivation of various capacities, skills, attitudes, values, etc.
o recognizes that responsibility for general education should be shared by the faculty – in liberal arts, sciences, and professional programs – as well as well as by those leading co-curricular entities and activities
o values learning to integrate ideas as well as the application of learning to address social and community problems.
- Recommend an assessment plan which will allow the university to gauge the effectiveness of its program and recommend revisions that lead to improved student learning.
Phase Three:
- Play an active role in guiding the committee’s recommendations through the approval and implementation processes.