Meeting of the Faculty Senate
General Education Committee
325 Graff Main Hall
04 February 2013
2012-2013 Members: Colin Belby
Abdulaziz Elfessi
Rebekah Fowler
Tom Gendreau
Gerald Iguchi
Janet Kirsch
Lisa Kobs
Michele Pettit
Rachel Slough
Geography
Mathematics
English
Computer Science
History
Chemistry
Biology
Health Ed & Health Promotion
Murphy Library
Members Present:
Belby, Elfessi, Fowler, Gendreau, Iguchi, Kirsch, Kobs, Pettit
Members Excused:
Slough
Members Absent:
Guests/Consultants:
Chris Bakkum, Registrar; Patrick Barlow, UW-L Assessment
Coordinator; Carla Burkhardt, SAH; Amelia Dittman, CBA; Michelle
Stertz, Acad. Advising; Peter Stovall, CLS
The meeting was called to order at 3:35 PM by Tom Gendreau, chair.
1. M/S/P Minutes of 12/03/12, voice vote, no abstentions.
2. Introductions of/to new members of the committee were made, and Tom briefly
reviewed the work that the committee did last Fall.
3. General Education Assessment: In response to a request for information from
the Gen Ed Committee, Patrick Barlow presented a summary of the processes
that are currently in use for Gen Ed Assessment, both at UW–L and at our sister
institutions statewide. The main points of his summary are as follows:
•
Implementation Structures: Is the assessment done at the course level (as
it primarily is at UWL) or at the program level? Is the approach driven
by individual faculty or by a committee (as it is at Eau Claire, Oshkosh,
Parkside, Platteville, and Stevens Point)?
•
Data Collection Methods: Is the data collected via direct measures
(course level data through student assignments, AAC&U VALUE
rubrics, standardized exams, etc.) or indirect measures (surveys like the
NSSE)?
•
Use of Data: Does the assessment process lead only to individual course
improvement, or is it used to refine the program as a whole?
•
Sharing of Information with Internal and External Audiences: How are
the assessment results disseminated? Some examples that are currently
in use across the state include reports to internal committees (like the
Gen Ed and Gen Ed Assessment Committees) and reports that are
required by institutional and discipline specific accreditors. External
reports of results tend to be limited to information shared as a result of an
institution's participation in a standardized assessment like the NSSE and
CLA.
•
Recommendations for Gen Ed Assessment: Based on the above points, it
is recommended that the committee consider the following:
o
Identify what information the committee most needs to know
about the impact of the Gen Ed program so the committee has
the data it needs to make effective decisions (and share those
needs with the Gen Ed Assessment Committee for support).
o
Engage in focused projects to help provide data on specific skills
driven by the Gen Ed Program.
o
Create regular pathways to communicate with the faculty and
students about the results and use of assessment data.
After Patrick's presentation, the committee members were asked to go back to the
state institutions they were assigned at the beginning of the fall semester to see
how some of these items are addressed.
4. The committee was informed of several recently approved substitutions for a
General Education transfer credit:
•
DGN 1101 (GEL 000L), Masculinity and War Films from St. Scholastica for
elective credit in the Gen Ed program (not category specific) (approved by
SAH)
•
HESM 280 (ESS 000L), Sport & Fitness Nutrition from UW-Parkside for
HPR 105, Creating a Healthy, Active Lifestyle (approved by CLS)
•
UBS 250 (ERS 000Y), Exploring the Urban Environment from UWMilwaukee as a Gen Ed course in the Minority Cultures/Multiracial
Women’s Studies category (approved by SAH)
•
THA000L, Drama and Media (3 credits) from the University of Minnesota as
a substitution for THA 110, Theatre Appreciation (2 credits) in the General
Education Arts category (approved by CLS)
•
ESC 221, Intro Climate Systems (4 credits) and ESC 422, Meteor/Weather
Forecast (3 credits) from Community College of Airforce–Maxwell AFB for
ESC 101, Earth Environment (4 credits) (approved by CBA)
•
BIO 307, Ecology (4 credits) from Madison Area Technical College for Gen
Ed Non-Laboratory Natural Science (approved by CBA)
M/S/P, The meeting was adjourned at 4:32 PM.
Notes compiled by J. Kirsch