General Education revision (updated 2-19-2020)

54th Senate Meeting Documents
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UPDATE (2-19-2020)

The General Education Working Group is using the feedback they received in the fall from campus, the various advisory groups, and the General Education Committee (GEC) to put final touches on the proposed GE revision. Because of the new emphasis (in the Mission and Goals) on global experiences for our students, we are working with the subcommittee of the UWL Internationalization Advisory Group that focuses on curriculum to ensure that students will be getting as much of a global experience from the proposed new GE program as possible. Once that work is complete, we hope to have another draft proposal out to campus for feedback by the end of March. We anticipate that the upcoming draft will be very similar in terms of categories to the one that is currently posted on the GE Revision web site, although there will likely be differences overall. We appreciate your patience. 

NEW General Education Program Proposal (DRAFT 10092019)

The second draft of the new 41-credit General Education program is available for feedback.

This proposal has already been vetted this fall by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC), the General Education Committee (GEC), and the Logistics Advisory Group (an ad hoc group of faculty and staff approved by Senate last year). 
 
If you have been following this work, you will see that the proposal is not much different from the one sent out last April 2019, it just has more details added. We met with department chairs in April and May, and we also presented the proposal to GEC, to solicit feedback that was used to make changes over the summer.
 
We will be taking feedback in three ways throughout the rest of October:
  1. Conversation or email to one of the GE Working Group members (listed on the front of the proposal)
  2. Qualtrics survey (https://uwlax.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0iTsbbvkAreOPsN)
  3. Comments at one of two open sessions in 3130 Union (11 am to noon Tuesday, Oct. 22; 2:15-3:10 pm Wednesday, Oct. 23)
The ultimate goal is to take a final draft to Faculty Senate for approval (ideally this fall), followed by at least a one year period of preparation prior to implementation. 

The link to the proposal can be found here. Thanks for your continued interest as we try to remodel the program to make it better for our students!

New General Education Mission Statement/Program Goals

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.

General Education Working Group (GEWG)

Current* Membership expanding section
  • 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

GEWG Meeting Minutes expanding section
Advisory Groups to the GEWG expanding section

The development of three Advisory Groups to the GE Working Group was approved by Faculty Senate in '18-'19: an Assessment Advisory Board, a Logistics Advisory Group, and a Student Advisory Group. (Student Association also approved the development of the Student Advisory Group). 

The Assessment Advisory Board convened to begin discussion of assessment strategies and development of SLOs for the draft proposed model, with the knowledge that the proposed model is a draft, and therefore still quite fluid. Work continued over Summer 2019 by a sub-group of the full committee. The full membership of the AAB includes:

  • Patrick Barlow (IRAP)
  • Natalie Solverson (IRAP)
  • Megan Morey (GEAC)
  • Cordial Gillette (GEAC)
  • Chad Vidden (GEC)
  • Anup Menon Nandialath (GEC)
  • Bryan Kopp (FYS)
  • Darci Thoune (FYE)
  • Alternate: Karen Hart (GEAC)

The Logistical Advisory Group convened in Fall 2019 to provide feedback to the GEWG proposal that was developed over Summer 2019. The membership of the LAG includes:

  • Robert Allen (Mathematics & Statistics)
  • Jo Arney (DIrector of Student Success)
  • TJ Brooks (Economics)
  • Linda Dickmeyer (Communication Studies and SoE)
  • Scott Johns (Admisions)
  • Robin Tuxen (Textbook Rental)
  • Bart VanVoorhis (Psychology)
  • Jan Von Ruden (Registrar)

The membership of the Student Advisory Group has not been determined as of September 2019. 

GEWG '18-'19 Timeline for Phase II ("the categories")

April 2019

May-August

September

Bring GE program draft structure to campus- get feedback from GEC, Deans, Department Chairs, web site

Use feedback to continue working on structure while Assessment Advisory Board works closely with GE Working Group to develop SLOs

Seek campus feedback on structure/SLOs via web site, open sessions (Dates and times TBD)

October 2019

November?

TBD

Modify structure and SLOs as needed

Get feedback from campus

Repeat as needed

Bring final structure/SLOs to Faculty Senate for approval

Implement!

Informational Readings

  1. Gaston, P. L., & Gaff, J. G. (2009). Revising General Education - and Avoiding the Potholes. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
  2. 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.
  3. Rising to the LEAP Challenge 
  4. PowerPoint AAC&U High-Impact Practices that focuses on general education.
  5. Resources made available from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
  6. General Education AAC&U Action Team Overview, Summary and Notes.
  7. GEC Report on Size and Purpose of UWL General Education Program, Spring 2017
Comments or Suggestions