ࡱ> 9<8 bjbj_W_W 4(====,*     SUUUUUU,!#nO  OOOR  SOSOO:W,`W5O9 ?0.&$O&$OO&$ ~:   To: General Education Task Force II From: Ed Shannon, Chair Re: Minutes/Follow up to June 25 Meeting Date: July 1, 2013 Present: Ed Shannon, Carol Bowman, Seth Cluett, Christina Connor, Eric Daffron, Larry DAntonio, Alex Olbrecht, Emma Rainforth, Jackie Skrzynski, Paula Staile-Costa The Task Force met briefly on June 25th to discuss its reading of the 2012/13 GECCo reports. Notes on the meeting: The GECCo reports yield valuable insights into the current Gen Ed, but also into the colleges structure and its relationship to Gen Ed. The GECCo reports also offer further insight into the context of the reports creation and their methodologies. In essence, the flaws (if any) the GECCo reports describe in 鶹s General Education are not necessarily those inherent in the courses and the program overall. The Task Force made note of the following: Boundaries: categories within the current General Education (Intercultural North America, International issues, and the Topics categories) all suffer from their size as much as any other factor. The many and diverse options students have to fulfill these categories reduce the likelihood of a common experience and fulfillment of common outcomes. Organization/oversight: while elements of the general education program benefit from individuals or groups who are dedicated to their oversight (WAC, FYE, Readings in Humanities, CRWT), other elements do not have such oversight structures (Social Issues, Intercultural North America, International issues, and the Topics categories). Furthermore, the General Education program as a whole has no oversight other than ARC (which has a very limited role in the oversight of Gen Ed). (As a side note, Dean Rosenberg has recently charged a new curriculum committee in SSHS to oversee Social Issues, History of Social Thought, and Sustainability. At some point, the Task Force might want to reach out to this group, as well as other groups on campus, like those in LLC and FYE.) Deliberative Design: As has been observed elsewhere, our General Education program was developed long before and independently of the assessment program that produced the reports or even the goals and outcomes that GECCo is trying to measure. This misconnect is evident throughout the reports. Clarity: The language the college uses to describe and assess the General Education program often lacks clarity and specificity. More specifically: Several of the reports suffer from imprecise definitions of key terms (for example, experiential and interdisciplinary.) Where the GECCo reports are weakest, they attempt to explore the unexplorable. Where the GECCo reports succeed, they seek much narrower ends. For instance, assessing the sub-outcome Understand[ing] the basic fundamentals of the scientific method works well. However, this outcome falls under the general outcome Understanding the way the world works, which is so broad as to be easily misunderstood. Reading the on-line description of general education and reflecting upon our experience teaching in the program, members of the Task Force felt clear that 鶹 had not communicated the purpose, goals, or logic of our general education program to our students. Some of the on-line language informing the general education program seems aimed at faculty. Some seems aimed at students. Some seems intended for marketing purposes. The Task Force noted the significance of clearly distinguishing between large, philosophical underpinnings (like understanding how the world works) and specific, assessable outcomes (like understanding the scientific method). School Core/ General Education: GECCo does not address school cores. Suiting Assessment to Program: In places, the report hints at the consequences the lack of clarity and oversight noted above. GECCos Critical Inquiry Assessment report suggests, Having more of these assignments or tests in classes focusing on critical inquiry would most likely result in students performing better on the CLA, and in the value-added scores increasing, hopefully to the point of exceeding expectations. The suggestion here borders on changing our curriculum to match a test created off-campus. 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