SENATE AGENDA ITEM III.E.1.

24 January 2006

Interim Report

General Education Review Committee

AY 2005-2006

General Education Review Committee (GERC) Procedure and Membership

Meeting Schedule:

The General Education Review Committee met regularly throughout the fall semester on every other Thursday from September 15 until December 1. Alongside regularly scheduled meetings, GERC engaged in an ongoing e-mail discussion over the course of the fall 2005 semester.

Membership:

Six members were added to the Council on General Education to supplement for the purposes of the review. These six are: Polly Radosh, Aimee Shouse, Buzz Hoon, Steve Bennett, Dale Adkins, and John Miller.

Request for Freeze in Membership: As ongoing transition of members on and off the council is problematic, in October GERC requested that membership be frozen for the duration of the review. Correspondence from the Executive Committee reads: “The Executive Committee of the Senate felt it was premature to consider the request to extend the term of the GERC and/or CGE members. In theory, GERC is supposed to be finished at the end of the academic year.  Should this not be the case, the Ex Co would consider extending the term of the GERC members, but not necessarily the core CGE members.”  If the General Education Review anticipates continued work past Spring 06, the committee will repeat the request for a freeze on membership of both CGE members and the six appointed members prior to the submission of the annual report.

Faculty Senate Charges to the General Education Review Committee

and Committee Progress

Charge to the General Education Review Committee:

The General Education Review Committee is charged with:

• An examination of the purpose and necessity of each individual category;
• An examination of the number of required hours within each category;
• An examination of the overall number of hours for the Gen Ed requirement;
• An examination of the purpose and effectiveness of the W requirement within General Education;
• Any relevant issues that arise from the review and discussion process; and
• A review of the recommendation for the structure of General Education assessment prepared by the Task Force on the Assessment of General Education.

General Education Review Survey

Two GERC subcommittees have worked diligently to produce final draft components of a General Education Survey: the first component focuses on faculty /instructor perception of general education and the second asks specific questions about the “W” requirement. Both components are included in this report (see Appendix 1 and Appendix 2). The purpose of this survey is to thoroughly examine faculty responses to both issues.

The survey was combined and produced in online form by the subcommittees with the assistance of Tere North, Assessment Coordinator in early December. The survey is currently being tested by GERC members and will soon be opened to a small group of non-GERC volunteers recruited to check for clarity and accessibility. It is anticipated that the survey will be available online (sent via Telestars) to all faculty beginning in mid-February.

Evaluation of Benchmark Universities

In accordance with the charge, GERC set out immediately to review Western’s benchmark universities (the list was solicited from multiple sources, including Joe Rives, Assistant to President for Planning and Budget; CGE’s Provost Representative, Judi Dallinger; Karen Harris, UPI President; and GERC members). For summary of results, please see Appendix 3. A further investigation into admission and graduation requirements of each university is currently underway.

Subcommittee to Evaluate Current general education goals and the Strategic Plan

A subcommittee was constructed to evaluate the goals of general education in relation to the university strategic plan. The subcommittee concluded that the general education goals, both broad and specific, are consistent with the strategic plan. The one possible exception is globalization, which is part of the strategic plan but not clearly part of the general education goals (it is currently part of the multicultural category, meaning students could take a course that meets the category requirement but is not related to global issues).

Bibliography of General Education Materials

Kathleen O’Donnell Brown compiled an annotated bibliography of resources materials for the education of GERC and others interested in current debates and trends in general education. The members of GERC have been reading from this list (and elsewhere) since the charge. The bibliography is included with this report as Appendix 3.

Invitations to Solicit Feedback concerning the Review

GERC extended invitations to Steve Rock, Senate Chair; Joe Rives, Assistant to President for Planning and Budget; Tere North, Assessment Coordinator; President Goldfarb; and Provost Rallo. All but President Goldfarb were able to address the committee (Provost Rallo addressed GERC representing both the President and himself).

Discussion

GERC has spent time in deep discussion of key components of the review process: the value of General Education, what constitutes a generally educated student, and details of a general education structure that reflect these considerations. Informed by the reading assigned for each meeting, these discussions have unified the information gleaned from the visitors, constructing the survey, considering our strategic plan and the general education requirements of benchmark universities.

Respectfully submitted by Lori Baker-Sperry, CGE/GERC chair for AY 2005-2006