General Education at RIT

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General Education at RIT

• September 2008

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Briefing Agenda

• Project Description Two Phases
• Phase I Draft White Paper Phase I
  Conceptualization of RIT General Education
  Learning Outcomes Assessment
• Phase I Draft White Paper Review
• Phase II Concept Implementation An Agenda for
  Action
• The Next Steps
• Acknowledgements The Team

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Project Description

• Phase I carried out largely at a
  philosophical level to articulate the desired
  educational outcomes.
• Phase II hammer out a General Education mask
  that achieved the educational outcomes with
  plenty of choice and self-determination for the
  students.
• Stan McKenzie, November 2004

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Project Chronology

• Winter 2004 - 2005 Stan McKenzie initiates
  review
• Spring 2005 Project Exploration/Definition
• Summer 2005 Academic Council project
  review/endorsement
• Fall 2005 Faculty (CLA, COS, NTID) team
  recruited
• Fall 2005 - Summer 2006 Phase I RIT General
  Education Conceptualization
• General Education Learning Outcomes
• Assessment Criteria
• October - December 2006 Community review of
  Phase I Draft White Paper
• Spring 2007 Faculty Team review, assessment,
  incorporation of community feedback
• Summer 2007 - Spring 2008 Phase II Concept
  Implementation An Agenda for Action
• August 2008 Draft White Paper to Jeremy Haefner

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Phase I The Key Questions

• What do we expect RIT graduates to know
  (knowledge base) and to be able to do (skill
  set)? -- general education learning outcomes?
• How do we determine whether RIT graduates have
  acquired the knowledge base and mastered the
  skill set? -- general education assessment tools?

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Phase I The Key Boundary Conditions

• Regulations of the Commissioner, New York State
  Education Department
• RIT Strategic Plan Category of One University
  Uniquely Blending Academic Programs with
  Experiential Learning for Student Success.

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Learning Outcome I

• The problem with communication is the illusion
  that it has been accomplished,
• George Bernard Shaw
• Communication - communicate effectively in both
  individual and group settings through effective
  written, oral, visual multimedia expression and
  comprehension

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Learning Outcome II

• Not being known doesn't stop the truth from
  being true., Richard Bach
• Intellectual Inquiry - acquire, assess, organize,
  interpret, analyze, synthesize, archive and apply
  qualitative/quantitative data connect,
  interrelate, integrate and apply knowledge and
  principles in different modes of intellectual
  inquiry construct logical and reasonable
  arguments, hypotheses, theories and theses

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Learning Outcome III

• A people that values its privileges above its
  principles soon loses both.,
• Dwight David Eisenhower
• Ethics, Values Social Responsibility -
  identify, describe and analyze ethical issues in
  social, political, environmental, economic, and
  scientific/technological situations across
  different cultures and diverse populations in the
  global society and apply in personal,
  professional and community settings

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Learning Outcome IV

• We live in a society exquisitely dependent on
  science and technology, in which hardly anyone
  knows anything about science and technology.,
  Carl Sagan
• Scientific, Mathematical Technological Literacy
  - basic concepts, principles, and methodologies
  of mathematics and the physical, life, and social
  sciences applied to personal and professional
  situations critical science/pseudo-science
  assessment impact of technology on society and
  the environment

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Learning Outcome V

• "Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating
  knowledge to all the generations of the world.,
  Leonardo da Vinci
• Artistic Literacy - appreciate, interpret, and
  evaluate creative/artistic expression in
  different media relative to the cultures of their
  creation/cultivation describe how issues in
  multiple disciplines may be addressed through
  creative expression and innovative practice

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President Destlers Vision for RIT
Imagine an RIT
Communication Scientific,Mathematical
Technological Literacy Artistic Literacy
Creativity
Innovation
Imagine An RIT
Ethics, Values Social Responsibility
Intellectual Inquiry
Integration
in which General Education is characterized by
Creativity, Innovation Integration
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Phase II Implementation Strategies Three Key
Drivers

• RIT Community feedback on Phase I White Paper
• Decadal MSA reaccreditation visit team report
• President Destlers vision for RIT programs
  Creativity, Innovation Integration

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Phase II An Agenda for Action 1

• move rapidly to define explicit learning
  outcomes for all its programs, including most
  particularly general education
• Inventory current general education offerings
  against the General Education Learning Outcomes
• Report to the Faculty, Administration,
  Trustees, and Students of the ROCHESTER INSTITUTE
  OF TECHNOLOGY

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Phase II An Agenda for Action 2

• Imagine an RIT where creativity, innovation and
  integration pervades all that we do.
• Explore a general education integrative learning
  experience.

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Phase II An Agenda for Action 3

• sufficient resources be allocated to provide
  sustainable progress in the development of a
  student learning assessment model
• Develop phased approach to assessment of student
  learning for General Education Learning Outcomes
• Report to the Faculty, Administration,
  Trustees, and Students of the
• ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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Phase II An Agenda for Action 4

• institutionalize assessment responsibility and
  expertise in an Institute-wide administrative
  organization that can and will support and
  encourage the development and application of
  assessment tools by all of RITs colleges
• Develop a system of collecting, archiving, and
  managing assessment data (the e-portfolio)
• Report to the Faculty, Administration,
  Trustees, and Students of the
• ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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Phase II An Agenda for Action 5

• approaching some critical junctures that will
  be important for institution-wide understanding
  of general education goals and objectives. is
  on an informed pathway, and the team recognized
  this, lauds it, and encourages continued
  progress.
• Explore opportunities to ensure coherency and
  integration of general education across the
  curriculum and across RIT.
• Report to the Faculty, Administration,
  Trustees, and Students of the
• ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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The Next Steps

• working with the ICC and the Academic Senate to
  seek approval of the conceptual framework of
  student learning outcomes and an assessment
  strategy to measure those outcomes (Fall 2008)
• a phase 1 pilot of the recommendations from the
  task force will encompass a select number of
  current general education courses and will
  develop an assessment approach to measure student
  learning outcomes data and analysis from this
  pilot program will also be included in the Middle
  States letter. (2008 - 09 academic year)
• far reaching discussion across the faculty about
  the results of the pilot and how we will
  incorporate what we have learned into a new
  approach to general education that we will be
  proud to call an RIT Innovation (2008 )

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Acknowledgements The Players

• Leadership Team
• Jeremy Haefner, Provost Senior Vice President
  for Academic Affairs
• Chris Licata, Senior Associate Provost
• Stan McKenzie, Provost Emeritus
• Andrew Moore, College of Liberal Arts
• Glenn Kist, College of Liberal Arts
• Robert Ulin, College of Liberal Arts
• Ian Gatley, College of Science
• Laurie Brewer, NTID

• Faculty Working Team
• Anne Coon, College of Liberal Arts
• Lisa Hermsen, College of Liberal Arts
• Marianne Gustafson, NTID
• Ron Jodoin, College of Science
• Joel Kastner, College of Science
• Marilu Raman, NTID
• Pat Scanlon, College of Liberal Arts
• Katie Schmitz, NTID
• J. Matt Searls, NTID
• Sean Sutton, College of Liberal Arts
• Kristen Waterstram-Rich, College of Science
• Bob Clark, Project Facilitator