1) What is your department’s vision of General Education? (set 2)

The purpose of general education should be, in part, to give students the opportunity to explore; it should expose them to what is available.  General education should round them out as thinkers and as people.  There is an important connection between general education and the SACS Self-Study’s focus on student development: general education gives students an opportunity to learn within a set of common educational experiences.  General education is education for everyone—that is, all students should have some common experiences, as in the Humanities and Arts 310 courses, to identify them as UNCA students.  The role that general education plays in rounding out students is central to UNCA’s liberal arts mission.  General education allows for entry into experiences outside the classroom, including Humanities cultural events, FYE programs, service learning and so on.  General education should be interdisciplinary.

What is the outcome? How do we get there? Members of the faculty referred to the mission statement and agreed that liberal education should produce “students of broad perspective who think critically and creatively, communicate effectively, and participate actively in their communities.” The outcomes of such a liberal education should be seen in our graduates. We are and should be student focused. Breath across the curriculum is a traditional goal of general education. A general education should incorporate a global perspective, provide an historical overview of civilization, and instill a sense of values

How does general education at UNCA fit into the vision?­ It may be perceived as an add-on and not integrated into the mission. There are too many hours in the Gen. Ed. program. The committee needs to look at the minimum number of hours that would meet t he objectives of Gen. Ed. Would it be possible to remove 13 hours?  

General Ed. requirements place considerable constraints on hours for education students. Because of licensure requirements, the Department has to be creative in order to keep total required hours under 128. Licensure is competency-based, not hours based like the degree. What is important for licensure is competency. Education students must meet State and accrediting agency competency-based licensure requirements, general education requirements, and requirements of the major. Essentially the Education

Our department has three "masters" that do not always communicate. Matching all three of these requirements in problematic for the Department. The General Education committee needs to recognize the constraints of licensure. Licensure is not an afterthought, but integral. The committee (GERTF) should consider the minimum requirements that meet overall Gen. Ed. objectives.

We are concerned about departments embedding major courses in General Ed. 

Educational needs are different now than they were twenty-years ago when the program was last reviewed. For example, a) Library Research needs to broaden its scope to help students manage information technology instead of teaching students how to use specific tools. (b) Students should be developing more effective communication skills (Lang 101/102 and others)

Tenure-track faculty rather than adjuncts should teach General Ed courses. Some faculty do not teach Humanities course because of a feeling of  intimidation by “experts” in the field. "Experts" in literature, history, philosophy can "brow beat" the curriculum, not providing a sense of contribution/engagement from other department's members.

My approach to teaching [in my discipline] is interdisciplinary with reference to culture and history.  I would like to see cultural and intellectual rigor applied to all areas of General Education.  They should instill an intellectual curiosity.

Goals have to be articulated so faculty old and new, students, legislatures, etc. would understand what the underlying theory of the course and the selection of courses would be.  Such goals need to be operationalized.

Make connections across disciplines.

Value added.

Learning for action.

As part of addressing mission, educate students for action B whatever level of the community.

There should be an experiential part of general education.  Receiving and giving to community.  Service learning.

Be able to write and to think critically.  Know how to find information and use it appropriately.

Would like to see the students develop their ability to dialogue.  There should be a connectedness with other students in the classroom.  General Education should encourage the articulation of students’ own ideas.

Students should be receptive to others’ ideas and able to express their own.

General Education can develop majors and can encourage students to explore further studies in one of the areas by using their electives.

It would be interesting to have more General Education in the students’ last two years.

General education should be integrative, synthetic.

Cross teaching in social science and science.

General Education should generate an educated public.

People who come from a strong General Education background should be able to address biological issues intelligently.

A good General Education program should provide students opportunities to see how different disciplines work. How do people in a particular discipline seek to know? How does science work? Social science work?

The General Education courses are our chance to show students what science is like. They provide knowledge they might need in personal life.

General Education should foster active learning. Students don't always know how to address problems. It should provide study skills. Students should know how to use a computer. They should be proficient in writing. They should be able to engage in critical thinking, apply logic, and use analytical skills. They should learn how to make oral presentations. These areas would be useful to them all of their lives. The General Education curriculum should focus on these key elements.  Students should be able to develop and to present ideas.

A menu approach is preferable, though students should be guided somewhat in their choices.

Depth is preferable to breadth.

Team-teaching would be a desirable way of achieving interdisciplinarity.

The Arts should be taught across the curriculum.

Attendance at, and participation in, cultural events should be a mandated part of general education.