General Education Review Committee
Meeting, 30 August 2000
KH 113, 4:45-5:45
Minutes
Present: Bruce, Dohse, Friedenberg, Hardy, Konz, Krumpe, Lee, McKnight, Moseley,
Nelms, Pons, Rizzo, Ruiz, White-Carter, Katz
1. Reports on the Asheville Institute for General Education
a. Drs. Ruiz, McKnight, and Lee reported on their experiences at the Asheville Institute for General Education. Among the highlights they identified were the intensive discussions on diversity as part of the general education curricula, especially as found (or not found) in the Natural Sciences; the trend toward developing integrated, 4-year general education models; exchanges with other teams pursuing an emphasis on learning communities.
b. There was a consensus among those who attended that process was going to be central to our success in implementing a revised general education curriculum. We need to have campus-wide discussions about general education and use these occasions to educate the University community.
c. It was felt that we need to clarify for ourselves the difference between general education and the liberal arts.
d. Dr. Krumpe observed that when he attended the AIGE, not many schools had given thought to how diversity issues fit into the natural science curriculum. Dr. Ruiz agreed that this was a problem, but that there was interest this year in finding ways for the sciences to contribute, perhaps differently than the other divisions might, to the diversity effort.
2. Strategies for the review
a. We discussed strategies for conducting the review of general education that would focus on encouraging engagement across campus. Methods for accomplishing this might include faculty and student forums, web-based discussion forums, direct outreach to department chairs and program heads. We need to bring all levels of the campus community into this exchange in appropriate ways (faculty, students, administration-especially those individuals who have fiscal authority at UNCA).
b. Dr. Katz discussed creating a website for the General Education effort, which could serve as a site for some of these exchanges and a place for people to go to get information on general education trends, models, etc. It was noted that we also need to make documents available in hard copy, perhaps on reserve at the library, in addition to putting them on the website.
c. It was observed that we will have to spend considerable effort on matters of resource allocation and on clarifying how individual and departmental contributions to general education will be rewarded.
3. Students on the committee
a. SACS is encouraging Enhancement committees to include students in our effort. Please send Katz the names of students who might be interested in this opportunity.b. We discussed the idea of including alumni as well. Also, we discussed the creation of a larger group of students, who would discuss their views about our general education and then report to us. Such an approach might be useful down the road.
4. The committee charge and the SACS report drafts
a. Katz handed out a written plan for drafting the Gen. Ed. Review Committee's SACS report, but it was observed by several committee members that there were a number of problems with trying to apply the structure articulated in the Self-Study Manual. These problems included the timetable for the on-going APC review of the current general education program, the sequencing of each of the other content-areas of the report, and the difficulty of crystallizing definitive curricular and resource-allocation recommendations too early in the committee's review process.
b. The committee decided it would be best to divide the members into three smaller groups, each of which will begin to formulate a set of objectives for general education at UNCA. Each team will meet before the next full committee gathers. At the full committee meeting, each team will present the results of their small-group discussion. It was recommended that each team type up their results (a summary of their discussion or a set of draft objectives, etc.) and distribute it to the other members of the committee. It was suggested that these brief reports might be sent to Katz by email and that he could then distribute them before the full committee convenes.
5. Content Analysis of Survey
a. Katz will finish typing up the content analysis and summary of the responses to the survey distributed at the end of Spring 2000. The small groups might use this in their discussion of objectives.
6. Two conference opportunities
a. A proposal has been submitted to the SACS Executive Committee to fund at least two faculty members to attend two conferences. One is entitled "Best Practices in General Education and Its Assessment: Bridging Theory and Practice": the conference will focus on assessment models specific to General Education programming and curricular development. The conference will be held in Atlanta, 22-24 January 2001. The second conference is entitled "Learning Communities: Strategies for Strengthening Connections, Competence, and Commitment," to be held in Providence, RI, on 1-3 March 2001. Committee members interested in going to one of these programs should contact Katz.