General Education Committee Minutes 3/28/05

Members Present: J. Eglin, S. Greymorning, K. Hill, T. Manuel, S. Miller, G. Smith

Members Absent/Excused: S. Kalm, D. Pletscher, A. Walker-Andrews, R. Welsh

Ex-Officio Present:  L. Carlyon

Guest: Steve Gaskill

Chair Eglin called the meeting to order at 3:08 PM.

The minutes from 3/14/05 were approved.

Communication:

§ There is a lot of anecdotal information circulating about the Writing Proficiency Assessment. ASCRC has commented that a big part of the problem is that students are not taking the exam seriously. Students who fail the exam are not picking them up to find out why they failed. However, the information analysis from the latest exam shows that students who prepare are passing the exam. There were significant positive correlations between GPA and scores on the exam as well as the number of writing courses completed.

§ ASCRC is working on suggestions for improvements in the writing program and will forward a draft to the committee before they are presented to the Faculty Senate.

Old Business:

§ There were a few recommended edits to the preamble that were incorporated. The statements were also reorganized to flow better. The resource for statement in quotes should be included. The committee agreed to several additional verbiage changes. Garon Smith and Steve Gaskill will draft language to be included in the third paragraph that indicates upper-division courses will build on competencies or objectives from the general education foundation. Chair Eglin will work on transitions to the paragraphs.

New Business:

§ Prior to discussing changes to the perspectives, Chair Eglin suggested that the committee think about general principles that should guide the program’s structure. For example, the program should avoid monopolies where a department(s) could justify that all their courses meet the criteria based on the discipline such as social science or history. ASCRC struggles with how to measure whether a course meets the criteria, and have occasionally based a decision on whether it can be proven that the course doesn’t meet the objectives.

There should be threads of general education components throughout the curriculum. General education courses should provide the foundational knowledge that all courses build on. It would be helpful to have a grid as a guide. Smith will work on a general education grid.

Competencies need to be strengthened. Grades under a C should not be adequate for skills courses. There needs to be a gating mechanism. Students should not be able to proceed until they are competent in Math and English.

The meeting was adjourned.