General Education at RIT
September 2008
Briefing Agenda
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Project Description: Two Phases
Phase I: Draft White Paper Phase I: Conceptualization of
RIT General Education; Learning Outcomes & Assessment
Phase I: Draft White Paper: Review
Phase II: Concept Implementation: An Agenda for Action
The Next Steps
Acknowledgements: The Team
Project Description
Phase I: “… carried out largely at a philosophical
level to articulate the desired educational
outcomes.”
Phase II: “… hammer out a General Education
mask that achieved the educational outcomes with
plenty of choice and self-determination for the
students.”
Stan McKenzie, November 2004
Project Chronology
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Winter 2004 - 2005: Stan McKenzie initiates review
Spring 2005: Project Exploration/Definition
Summer 2005: Academic Council project review/endorsement
Fall 2005: Faculty (CLA, COS, NTID) team recruited
Fall 2005 - Summer 2006: Phase I: RIT General Education
Conceptualization
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General Education Learning Outcomes
Assessment Criteria
October - December 2006: Community review of Phase I Draft White
Paper
Spring 2007: Faculty Team review, assessment, incorporation of
community feedback
Summer 2007 - Spring 2008 Phase II: Concept Implementation: An
Agenda for Action
August 2008: Draft White Paper to Jeremy Haefner
Phase I: The Key Questions
What do we expect RIT graduates to know
(knowledge base) and to be able to do (skill
set)? -- general education learning outcomes?
How do we determine whether RIT graduates
have acquired the knowledge base and mastered
the skill set? -- general education assessment
tools?
Phase I: The Key Boundary Conditions
Regulations of the Commissioner, New York
State Education Department
RIT Strategic Plan: Category of One
University: Uniquely Blending Academic
Programs with Experiential Learning for Student
Success.
Learning Outcome I
“The problem with communication is the illusion
that it has been accomplished”,
George Bernard Shaw
Communication - communicate effectively in both
individual and group settings through effective
written, oral, visual & multimedia expression and
comprehension
Learning Outcome II
“Not being known doesn't stop the truth from
being true.”, Richard Bach
Intellectual Inquiry - acquire, assess, organize,
interpret, analyze, synthesize, archive and
apply qualitative/quantitative data; connect,
interrelate, integrate and apply knowledge and
principles in different modes of intellectual
inquiry; construct logical and reasonable
arguments, hypotheses, theories and theses
Learning Outcome III
“A people that values its privileges above its
principles soon loses both.”,
Dwight David Eisenhower
Ethics, Values & Social Responsibility - identify,
describe and analyze ethical issues in social,
political, environmental, economic, and
scientific/technological situations across
different cultures and diverse populations in the
global society and apply in personal, professional
and community settings
Learning Outcome IV
“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on
science and technology, in which hardly anyone
knows anything about science and technology.”,
Carl Sagan
Scientific, Mathematical & Technological
Literacy - basic concepts, principles, and
methodologies of mathematics and the physical,
life, and social sciences applied to personal and
professional situations; critical science/pseudoscience assessment; impact of technology on
society and the environment
Learning Outcome V
"Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating
knowledge to all the generations of the world.”,
Leonardo da Vinci
Artistic Literacy - appreciate, interpret, and
evaluate creative/artistic expression in different
media relative to the cultures of their
creation/cultivation; describe how issues in
multiple disciplines may be addressed through
creative expression and innovative practice
President Destler’s Vision for RIT
Imagine an R•I•T
Communication
Scientific,Mathematical &
Technological Literacy
Artistic Literacy
Imagine
An
R•I•T
Integration
Intellectual
Inquiry
Ethics, Values
& Social
Responsibility
in which General Education is characterized by Creativity, Innovation & Integration
Phase II: Implementation Strategies
Three Key Drivers
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RIT Community feedback on Phase I White
Paper
Decadal MSA reaccreditation visit & team
report
President Destler’s vision for RIT programs;
Creativity, Innovation & Integration
Phase II: An Agenda for Action 1
“…move rapidly to define explicit learning outcomes
for all its programs, including most particularly
general education…”*:
Inventory current general education offerings
against the General Education Learning Outcomes
*
Report to the Faculty, Administration, Trustees, and Students of the
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Phase II: An Agenda for Action 2
“Imagine an RIT where creativity, innovation and
integration pervades all that we do.”
Explore a general education integrative learning
experience.
Phase II: An Agenda for Action 3
“…sufficient resources be allocated to provide
sustainable progress in the development of a
student learning assessment model…”*
Develop phased approach to assessment of student
learning for General Education Learning Outcomes
*
Report to the Faculty, Administration, Trustees, and Students of the
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Phase II: An Agenda for Action 4
“…institutionalize assessment responsibility and
expertise in an Institute-wide administrative
organization that can and will support and
encourage the development and application of
assessment tools by all of RIT’s colleges…”*:
Develop a system of collecting, archiving, and
managing assessment data (the e-portfolio)
*
Report to the Faculty, Administration, Trustees, and Students of the
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Phase II: An Agenda for Action 5
“… approaching some critical junctures that will be
important for institution-wide understanding of
[general education] goals and objectives. … is on
an informed pathway, and the team recognized
this, lauds it, and encourages continued progress.”
Explore opportunities to ensure coherency and
integration of general education across the
curriculum and across RIT.
*
Report to the Faculty, Administration, Trustees, and Students of the
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The Next Steps
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“working with the ICC and the Academic Senate to seek
approval of the conceptual framework of student learning
outcomes and an assessment strategy to measure those
outcomes” (Fall 2008)
“a phase 1 pilot of the recommendations from the task force
… will encompass a select number of current general
education courses and will develop an assessment approach to
measure student learning outcomes … data and analysis from
this pilot program will also be included in the Middle States
letter.” (2008 - 09 academic year)
“far reaching discussion across the faculty about the results
of the pilot and how we will incorporate what we have
learned into a new approach to general education that we will
be proud to call an ‘RIT Innovation’” (2008
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Acknowledgements: The Players
Leadership Team
Jeremy Haefner, Provost & Senior Vice
President for Academic Affairs
Chris Licata, Senior Associate Provost
Stan McKenzie, Provost Emeritus
Andrew Moore, College of Liberal Arts
Glenn Kist, College of Liberal Arts
Robert Ulin, College of Liberal Arts
Ian Gatley, College of Science
Laurie Brewer, NTID
Faculty Working Team
Anne Coon, College of Liberal Arts
Lisa Hermsen, College of Liberal Arts
Marianne Gustafson, NTID
Ron Jodoin, College of Science
Joel Kastner, College of Science
Marilu Raman, NTID
Pat Scanlon, College of Liberal Arts
Katie Schmitz, NTID
J. Matt Searls, NTID
Sean Sutton, College of Liberal Arts
Kristen Waterstram-Rich, College of
Science
Bob Clark, Project Facilitator