Minutes of the General Education Review Committee (GERC)

3:30 pm, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007        Morgan 423

 

Present: Lori Baker-Sperry; Martha Barclay; Margo Byerly; Amy Carr; Jongnam Choi; Paige Goodwin; David Lane; Martin Maskarinec; Susan Meiers; John Miller; Kathleen O’Donnell-Brown; Polly Radosh; Phyllis Rippey; Alice Robertson; Aimee Shouse; Margaret Sinex, Dean Zoerink

 

Absent: Dale Adkins; Steve Bennett; Judi Dallinger (x-o); Annette Glotfelty, Buzz Hoon; Candace McLaughlin (x-o); James Schmidt (x-o); William Thompson

 

I. Approval of the Minutes of Feb. 1, 2007

 

            A. Corrected to read “Consensus seemed to be that department-specific

            designation …”  (IV. General Education Plan of Assessment, A, para 2

            line 4).

 

            B. Minutes approved

 

II. Announcements

 

            A.  Professor Tessa Pfafman has resigned from GERC

 

            B. During the meeting of March 1 Dr. Phyllis Self, Dean of University Libraries,             will offer her views on the role of library staff and programs in general education.

 

            C. Professor Maskarinec will facilitate the next meeting, March 1, 2007.

 

III. Draft Proposal for the Assessment of Student Learning in General Education

 

            A. Grammatical revisions of the section titled “Underlying Assumptions” were    suggested and accepted

 

            B. Assessment of Student Learning in General Education

 

                        1. Professor Miller moved (second by Prof. Goodwin) that all references                                   to the Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education be stricken from the                              document. Discussion ensued with the following comments:

 

                                    a. Assessment should be driven by faculty rather than                                                    administration

 

                                    b. Assessment is viewed as a process to be guided by the Council                                             on General Education (CGE)

                                    c. Staff of the Office of the Provost serve as a resource and                                                       communicate information relative to assessment to other university                                 constituencies including Departments.

 

                                    d. Motion passed – 13 in favor; 0 opposed; 0 abstentions

 

                        2. The following revisions were offered:

 

                                    a. At 1. Preliminary Activities: (lines3-5) to read: “The Assistant                                                 Provost for Undergraduate Education may serve as a resource to                                              departments in developing appropriate plans for General Education                               assessment.”

 

                                    b. At I.C. strike “Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education”                                             and replace with Council on General Education.

 

                                    c. At I. D. strike the phrase “in conjunction with the Assistant                                        Provost” and the word “two.”

 

                                    d. Interchange I. E. and I. F. to read as follows:

                                                I.E. “… will verify that each of the General Education                                                    Goals is being used by a sufficient number of departments                                                          (or courses) to reasonably assure that …”

 

                                                I.F. “The Council on General Education …. assessment                                                             results.”

 

                        3. At II. General Education Assessment Plan the following revisions were                                  offered:

 

                                    a. II. A. line 5:  strike the word “two”

 

                                    b. II.A. 2. Lines 3-4: Revise to read “Every General Education                                      course must be regularly assessed.”

 

                        4. Motion to accept revisions passed – 14 in favor, 0 opposed, 0                                       abstentions

 

            C. Friendly suggestions for grammatical revisions were offered and accepted.

 

            D. A question was raised about the timetable for implementation of assessment procedures.

 

            E. With noted revisions the Proposal for the Assessment of Student Learning     in General Education was approved – 14 in favor, 0 opposed, 0 abstentions.

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm

 

Respectfully submitted,

Dean A. Zoerink