General Education revision (updated 1-25-19)
Strategic Planning
These are the key findings and recommendations from a team of UWL faculty, including some who attended a national workshop on general education sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The Faculty Senate invites campus constituents to review the work included on this page to help create a common foundation regarding an examination of UWL's General Education Program.
After a summer of work by the GE Working Group, and three open fora and two rounds of Qualtrics surveys to elicit feedback, the Faculty Senate approved the new General Education Mission Statement and Program Goals on October 4, 2018. Thank you all for your help and feedback in this process so far!
The next step for the working group is to continue working with campus to develop assessable program outcomes and a structure for the GE coursework. Please look for requests for help on this part of the project in 2019.
Current* General Education Working Group Membership
- Colin Belby** (Geography & Earth Science; recent GEC chair)
- Sam Cocks** (Philosophy; recent GEC member)
- Natalie Eschenbaum (English; SEC, Senate Chair)
- Anne Galbraith (Biology; recent Senate Chair, current GEC member)
- Tav Hawkins** (Physics; SEC)
- Shelley Hay** (Global Cultures & Languages)
- Adam Hoffer (Economics)***
- Heather Hulett (Mathematics & Statistics)
- Kenneth Shonk (History; SoE affiliation)
Previous members: Lauren Mason-student, Fa17; Aaron Bhatoya-student, Sp17; John Nunley- Economics, Fa17; Laurie Miller- Economics, Sp18; Nadia Carmosini-Chemistry and Biochemistry, Sp18
*Current membership as of June 2018
**Members who attended the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Institute on General Education and Assessment in Chicago (Sp17).
***Joined January 2019
General Education Working Group '18-'19 Timeline for Phase II ("the categories")
MAY |
JUNE |
AUGUST |
|
Collect feedback from department chairs by attending all College Chairs Meetings Organize all feedback from open fora, website, student focus groups, August 2017 brainstorming session |
Start from the beginning: use feedback to develop a mission statement and program goals |
Seek campus feedback on mission statement, program goals Open Fora Monday, 8-27 and Tuesday, 8-28, at 2pm each day, in 150 Murphy, and again Tuesday, 9-25, at 1:10pm in 150 Murphy |
SEPT-OCT |
NOV-MARCH (tentative) |
APRIL 2019? |
|
Seek campus feedback on mission statement, program goals, begin to develop assessable program outcomes that are in-line with mission statement and program goals Bring mission statement, program goals to Faculty Senate for approval |
Continue work on assessable program outcomes and a program structure that are in-line with the mission statement and program goals Seek campus help and feedback on SLOs |
Bring GE program outcomes and structure to Faculty Senate for approval |
Meeting Minutes
Summary of FYS Updates and GE Working Group activities (Phase II) August to January 2019
Summary of GE Working Group activities (Phase II) July 2018
Summary of GE Working Group activities (FYS) July 2018
Summary of Student Focus Groups April/May 2018
Summary of GE Working Group activities (FYS) February to June 2018
Summary of GE Working Group activities (Phase II) February to June 2018
Summary of GE Working Group activities August 2017 to February 2018
Informational Readings
- Gaston, P. L., & Gaff, J. G. (2009). Revising General Education - and Avoiding the Potholes. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
- Hanstedt, P. (2012). General Education Essentials: A Guide for College Faculty. John Wiley & Sons. In particular the first two chapters: Structuring General Education and Some Examples of Integrative Curricular Models.
- Rising to the LEAP Challenge
- PowerPoint AAC&U High-Impact Practices that focuses on general education.
- Resources made available from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
- General Education AAC&U Action Team Overview, Summary and Notes.
- GEC Report on Size and Purpose of UWL General Education Program, Spring 2017