General Education Committee
Minutes of the January 21, 2003 Meeting

Present: Virginia Clark Johnson, Bob Harrold, Nancy Mueller, Stephen O’Rourke, Larry Peterson, Doug Rymph, Orven Swenson, Justin Wageman, RaNelle Ingalls (for KristiWold-McCormick).

Unable to attend: Kate Haugen, Phil McClean, Char Myhre, Carol Prafcke, Brandon Philipczyk, Grant Streimer.

Larry called the meeting to order at approximately 2 p.m. and the minutes of the previous meeting (December 5, 2002) were approved as distributed. Bob Harrold was identified as recorder for this meeting.

Announcements:
Larry reviewed the courses for which materials supporting requests for Five-Year Renewals had not been received. By category, those were:

Humanities and Fine Arts: LANG 491H, MUSC 103, MUSC 108, MUSC 201, and THTR 115;

Science and Technology: BIOL 202, BIOL 202L, BIOL/BOT/PLSC/ZOOL 315 and 315L, GEOL 304, and PHYS 110L;

Social and Behavioral Sciences: UNIV 403; and

First-Year Experience: ME 189

Student Petitions:

A petition from a student to waive 1.67 credits from the Science and Technology category was denied (Motion: Swenson/O’Rourke). A petition from a student to waive a co-requisite of BIOL 150 to accept BIOL 150L as a Laboratory credit was tabled (Motion: Swenson/Wageman) pending information of the date of the graduation audit that alerted the student of the deficiency in General Education credits.

Reports: There were no subcommittee reports.

General Education Outcomes on Syllabi:

Larry reported that, based upon discussion at the previous meeting, he had met with the Executive Committee of the University Senate and presented the following:
"All general education course syllabi and course web sites must identify the course as having been approved for meeting General Education requirements and include the general education outcomes for which each course is approved." The General Education Committee will require faculty to include the above material in syllabi for new courses and syllabi for five-year reviews. The Committee urges all faculty to include this general education information on present courses approved for general education.

For example, syllabi should include something such as: This course has been approved for the Humanities category in general education because it "systematically explores cultural and intellectual forces shaping events, individual expression, and social values.'' The General Education Outcomes that students should expect to meet as the result of this course are Outcome 3 "Comprehend the concepts and perspectives needed to function in national and international societies," and Outcome 6 "Integrate knowledge and ideas in a coherent and meaningful manner."

Syllabi should also include a further elaboration such as: The readings and lectures for this course will help students to meet Outcome 3 by increasing their understanding of the differing experiences of men and women of various classes, ethnic groups, and races in the American past and by increasing their understanding of the foundations of the American form of government and the evolution of its functions. Students will demonstrate their comprehension of concepts and perspectives needed to function in national and international societies on the exams and in one short paper. The readings and lectures for this course will help students to meet Outcome 6 by providing examples of integrating knowledge and ideas. Students will demonstrate their abilities to integrate course material on the exams and in one short paper.

Larry reviewed the background for this information and explained the added information contained in the last three paragraphs. Following discussion of the material, the members of the committee expressed a common impression that students did not understand the General Education outcomes and that the elaboration would be useful for faculty as well as students.

Leftover Agenda Items from 2001 - 2002:

Updating descriptive language, particularly for Outcome #1, has become necessary to clarify intent and expectations. Larry has used the following description, which was accepted by consensus:

"Courses meeting Outcome One ("Communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and formats.") need to demonstrate how that outcome is met in more than one context and format (for example, both oral and written communication). In order to evaluate this outcome, the Committee needs sample assignments, information on how these assignments are evaluated, and information on how students are provided feedback on their communication skills."

“Housekeeping”

Larry explained that the Bulletin (page 24) lists “or equivalent” after ENGL 120 and COMM 110 but that the phrase is not listed after ENGL 110 A motion to correct that oversight (Harrold/O’Rourke) was approved.

Re-consideration of General Education Administrative Policy #1:

Larry explained that the last sentence of the policy might discourage students from taking courses outside their own department. That policy reads:

"General education courses may be used to satisfy requirements for both general education requirements and the major, minor, and program emphases. No more than two courses from any given department may be double counted in a curriculum."

After discussion the committee, by consensus, chose to leave the policy unchanged.

Discussion of material previously distributed on Assessment, Accreditation, General Education, and NCA:

NCA has published updated information that Bob will distribute for consideration at future meetings.

There was no new business and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:10 p.m.

Recorder: Bob Harrold