General Education at North Carolina State University: An Overview

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General Education at North Carolina State
UniversityAn Overview

• Presented by
• Dr. John Ambrose
• Interim Vice Provost for
• Undergraduate Affairs

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GER Task ForceCharge

• The Provost has charged Undergraduate Affairs
  with conducting a complete review of NC State
  Universitys General Education Requirements
  (GER), including
• Purpose
• Structure
• Function
• Assessment

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Purpose of GER at NCSU

• Rationale The program in General Education
  established the foundation for a lifetime of
  intellectual discovery, personal development, and
  community service while preparing students for
  advanced work in various academic and
  professional disciplines.

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Purpose of GER at NCSU

• Objectives Through the teaching of courses
  offered in each of the following subject areas as
  well as in the delivery of the academic
  disciplines, the General Education program will
• 1. Provide instruction that enables students to
  master basic concepts of a broad array of the
  intellectual disciplines.

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Purpose of GER at NCSU

• 2. Help students develop versatility of mind, an
  ability to examine problems individually and
  collaboratively from multiple perspectives,
  including ethical and aesthetical perspectives.
• 3. Provide students the guidance and skills
  necessary to become intellectually disciplined,
  to be able to construct arguments that are clear,
  precise, accurate, and of relevant depth and
  breadth.

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Purpose of GER at NCSU

• 4. Encourage students to take personal
  responsibility for their education, including the
  ability to find, evaluate and communicate new
  information, setting the stage for life-long
  learning.

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Current GER Structure

• Divided into 7 categories
• Mathematical and Natural Sciences
• Science, Technology Society
• Humanities and Social Sciences
• Writing, Speaking Information Literacy
• Physical Education
• Computer Literacy
• Foreign Language

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Current GER Structure

• Students choose from a menu of courses for each
  category
• Each category has unique objectives that
  outline what students should learn from courses
  in that category
• Currently, courses are approved for the category
  menus by the Council on Undergraduate Education

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Current GER Structure

• Some courses on the approved lists were grand
  fathered and have not been reviewed or approved
  by CUE using the current guidelines
• Currently, students must complete from 50 to 53
  hours of approved courses to satisfy the GER
  requirements

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Current GER Structure

• Specifically . . .
• Math Nat Sci 20 hours
• STS 3 hours
• HSS 21 hours
• WSIL 7 hours
• PE 2 hours

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Current GER Structure

• Specifically . . .
• Computer Literacy no required courses this is
  completed through integral curriculum content in
  the discipline
• Foreign Language no required courses FL 102
  proficiency required
• STS the three hours may be double counted
  with another GER requirement

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Current GER Structure

• Approved courses by category
• Math Nat Sci 118 courses
• STS 165 courses
• HSS 537 courses
• WSIL 59 courses
• PE 70 courses

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A Brief History ofGeneral Education at NCSU

• How did we get here?
• Provosts Forum (Fall 1978)
• Ad Hoc Committee on the Baccalaureate Degree
  Requirements (Jenkins Committee, 1979)
• Provosts Forum Committee on Core Curriculum
  (1981)

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A Brief History ofGeneral Education at NCSU

• How did we get here?
• Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences
  (1985)
• Commission on Undergraduate Education (chaired by
  George Bland, October 1985 April 1987)

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A Brief History ofGeneral Education at NCSU

• How did we get here?
• Council on Undergraduate Education (chaired by
  Robert Sowell and Victor Jones, April 1988
  March 1992)
• Current GER structure in place in 1993
• PE requirement reduced to 2 courses in 1996

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A Brief History ofGeneral Education at NCSU

• How did we get here?
• Writing and Speaking requirement reduced from 9
  hours to 7 hours in the 2002-2003 academic year
• Moved to current course-based assessment model
  starting in 2001

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Peer Institutions with GE Structures similar to
  NCSU (Categories and menus)
• Duke University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Pennsylvania State University
• Texas AM University
• University of California Davis
• University of Georgia
• University of Illinois

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Peer Institutions with GE Structures similar to
  NCSU (Categories and menus)
• University of Wisconsin Madison
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
  University
• Georgia Tech and Georgia have begun to assess
  student learning outcomes in GE
• Texas AM is beginning to assess student learning
  outcomes in GE

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Virginia Tech is most similar to NCSU in its
  assessment activity
• According to the Virginia Tech web site, all
  general education instructors were to have
  carried out assessment of student learning and
  submitted reports by 2001

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Institutions with Decentralized GE Structures
  (each college sets its own GE Requirements)
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Iowa State University
• Purdue University
• Rutgers University
• University of California San Diego

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Institutions with Decentralized GE Structures
  (each college sets its own GE Requirements)
• Note that some of these institutions have
  residential colleges as opposed to disciplinary
  colleges
• The degree to which the university mandates
  certain elements of GE varies by institution

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What Are Our Peers Doing?

• Case Western Reserve University has a program
  called SAGES
• Seminar Approach to General Education and
  Scholarship
• Students are required to take four seminars
  First Year, University Seminars (2), and
  Discipline (Major)

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What Are Our Sister UNCInstitutions Doing?

• Sisters with similar GE structures (categories
  and lists)
• UNC Chapel Hill (42 to 51 hours)
• UNC Greensboro (36 to 49 hours)
• UNC Charlotte (32 to 35 hours)
• UNC Pembroke (44 hours)
• UNC Wilmington (34 to 53 hours)

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What Are Our Sister UNCInstitutions Doing?

• Sisters with similar GE structures
• Western Carolina University (42 hours)
• East Carolina University (42 hours)
• Appalachian State University (42 hours)
• North Carolina AT State University (32 to 38
  hours)

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What Are Our Sister UNCInstitutions Doing?

• Sisters with dissimilar GE structures (students
  have much less choice about which GE courses to
  take)
• UNC Asheville (47 hours)
• Winston-Salem State University (40 hours)
• Fayetteville State University (36 hours)
• North Carolina Central University (42 hours)

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What Are Our Sister UNCInstitutions Doing?

• Sisters with dissimilar GE structures (students
  have much less choice about which GE courses to
  take)
• Elizabeth City State University (33 hours)
• North Carolina School of the Arts (requires
  study in science and mathematics, along with
  specific sequences of courses in other content
  areas)

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What Are Our Sister UNCInstitutions Doing?

• Assessment of GE
• Western Carolina U. and Fayetteville State U.
  appear to have the most developed assessment
  activities among our sister institutions
• Other institutions are probably doing
  assessment but have not included this
  information on their web sites

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The Pope Study

• Study of General Education in the UNC System
  institutions
• Study prepared by staff at the Pope Center for
  Higher Education Policy
• Closely associated with the John Locke Foundation
• Traditional view of general education

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The Pope Study

• General Recommendations
• Drop Health and Wellness (lifestyle) courses
  from GE requirements
• Less (or no) emphasis on non-Western cultures
• Less choice for students more required courses

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The Pope Study

• Recommend more focus on American history,
  American government, Western literature,
  economics
• NCSU specific comments the NCSU program allows
  students to take a kaleidoscopic array of
  courses, many of which are narrow and highly
  specialized

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The Pope Study

• Unstated assumption of Pope Study approach is
  that the purpose of GE is to provide students
  with specific content knowledge in each area
• However, purpose of GE at NCSU is to provide
  students with concepts rather than specific
  content

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Where Are We Now?

• Specific example Natural Science Objectives of
  GE at NCSU
• Each course in the natural sciences will provide
  instruction and guidance that help the student
  to
• Use the methods and processes of science in
  testing hypotheses, solving problems and making
  decisions and

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Where Are We Now?

• Natural Science Objectives continued
• Articulate, make inferences from, and apply to
  problem solving, scientific concepts, principles,
  laws, and theories.

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Where Are We Now?

• Compare this to the 1993 Natural Science
  objectives
• Education in the natural sciences will enable
  the student to
• (1) develop knowledge of the major concepts,
  principles, laws, theories, and responsible
  application of science,

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Where Are We Now?

• Natural Science objectives 1993
• (2) understand the methods and processes of
  science in solving problems and making decisions,
• (3) understand the interactions of science,
  technology and society, and
• (4) cultivate interests that will lead to a
  richer and more satisfying life through a
  continuing awareness of scientific developments.

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Where Are We Now?

• The criticism of the Pope Study that courses such
  as Introduction to Companion Animals have no
  place in the Natural Science category is
  misplaced
• The question is Will students have the
  opportunity to learn the concepts (objectives) of
  the natural science category in a particular
  course (such as Introduction to Companion
  Animals)?

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Where Are We Now?

• Under the current guidelines, an instructor must
  have specific, measurable student learning
  outcomes that will demonstrably lead to student
  achievement of the category objectives in order
  for CUE to approve a course for addition to the
  category list

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Where Are We Now?

• The instructor must also provide an assessment
  plan how will s/he know that students have
  achieved the student learning outcomes?
• How can the course be improved or changed to
  increase student achievement of the learning
  outcomes?

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Where Are We Now?

• However, not all courses on the approved category
  lists have been approved under the current
  guidelines
• Some courses are grand fathered, and therefore
  may not have explicitly stated student learning
  outcomes
• There is a schedule for CUE review of all GER
  courses under the current guidelines completion
  of this review is several years away

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Where Are We Now?

• Timetable for existing GER courses to be revised
  according to current guidelines (all
  documentation due September 15)
• 2008 CHASS (HI)
• 2009 Textiles and CHASS (FLL PSY)
• 2010 Design, CALS (ANS, BO, FS, GN, PO),
  PE

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Where Are We Now?

• Timetable (continued)
• 2011 COM, PAMS, and CALS (BIO, ARE, SSC,
  BCH, CS, ENT, HS, MB, ZO)
• 2012 CHASS (SOC/ANT and MDS)
• 2013 COE, Educ, Nat. Res. and CHASS (PHI/REL
  and PS)
• 2014 CHASS (ENG, Communications), MUS

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Where Are We Now?

• GE Objectives in Humanities Literature
• Each course . . . will provide instruction and
  guidance that help students to
• Understand and engage in the human experience
  through the interpretation of literature (this
  must be the central focus of each literature
  course) and

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Where Are We Now?

• Become aware of the act of interpretation itself
  as a critical form of knowing in the study of
  literature and
• Make scholarly arguments about literature using
  reasons and ways of supporting those reasons that
  are appropriate to the field of study

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Where Are We Now?

• Compare this to the 1993 Literature objectives
• The study of literature introduces students to
  the many ways of deriving meaning from the human
  condition and to the many forms in which meaning
  is expressed. Studying literature also develops
  students capacity for critical analysis and
  personal expression, their aesthetic sensitivity,
  and their reading and writing skills.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• CUE has fielded several proposals for changes to
  the GE program requirements at NCSU
• CUE has ongoing conversations about possible
  changes to the GE program that are not proposals
  but should be considered nevertheless

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• CHASS has proposed reducing the required HSS
  hours from 21 to 18, so that this requirement
  will be more consonant with similar requirements
  at our peer institutions
• Associate Deans proposal

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• Recent and current CUE conversations include
• Computer Literacy changes
• PE requirements
• Environmental Sustainability requirement
• Diversity requirements
• LITRE issues
• STS list changes
• Status of the HSS Additional list

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• Regardless of what GE looks like at NCSU, we must
  assess the program
• SACS requires it
• The Principles of Accreditation
• Core Requirement 2.5 The institution engages in
  ongoing, integrated, and institution-wide
  research-based planning and evaluation processes
  that incorporate a systematic review of programs
  and services that

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• SACS Core Requirement 2.5 (continued)
• (a) results in continuing improvement, and (b)
  demonstrates that the institution is effectively
  accomplishing its mission.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• SACS Comprehensive Standards 3.3.1
• The institution identifies expected outcomes for
  its educational programs and its administrative
  and educational support services assesses
  whether it achieves these outcomes and provides
  evidence of improvement based on analysis of
  those results.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• SACS Comprehensive Standards 3.4.1
• The institution demonstrates that each
  educational program for which academic credit is
  awarded . . . establishes and evaluates program
  and learning outcomes.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• SACS Comprehensive Standards 3.5.1
• The institution identifies college-level
  competencies within the general education core
  and provides evidence that graduates have
  attained those competencies.

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Where Do We Go From Here?

• The most important reason to engage in
  assessment
• We owe it to our students.