Meeting of the Faculty Senate General Education Committee 325 Graff Main Hall 04 March 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: Elfessi, Fowler, Gendreau, Iguchi, Kirsch, Kobs, Pettit Members Excused: Belby Members Absent: Slough Guests/Consultants: Chris Bakkum, Registrar; Patrick Barlow, UW-L Assessment Coordinator; Carla Burkhardt, SAH; Amelia Dittman, CBA; Kenny Hunt, GEAC Chair; Betsy Knowles, GEAC; Leslee Poulton, MLG Chair; Michelle Stertz, Acad. Advising; Tim Walls, CLS; Hongying Xu, MLG The meeting was called to order at 3:33 PM by Tom Gendreau, chair. 1. M/S/P Minutes of 2/18/13, voice vote, no abstentions. 2. First Reading of CHI 305 – Introduction to Modern Chinese Literature: This course was brought before the Gen Ed committee by Leslee Poulton (Chair of Modern Languages) and Hongying Xu (who will teach CHI 305). It is intended to allow students to develop their comprehension of writings from a different culture. Leslee noted that there are a number of parallels between this course and RUS 305 – Golden Age Russian Literature and Culture, which is already designated as a Gen Ed course. • The question was raised about why the course was being offered at the 300 level when it has no prerequisites. This course is intended to be a part of the proposed Chinese minor, and will then help those students earn 300-level course credit. • The question was also raised about whether the English department would have a problem with Modern Languages offering a course like this. Since English already signed off on the course for its review by UCC, this did not appear to be an issue. • Without any significant reasons against adding this course to the Gen Ed program, the course was approved M/S/P, voice vote, no abstentions. 3. General Education Assessment Compliance: Tom reviewed the assessment process with the committee, including the general timeline of the currently accepted procedures and the content of forms A, B, and C (an overview of which can be found here: http://www.uwlax.edu/gened/Assessment.htm) • Kenny and Betsy reiterated their concern from earlier meetings about the rates of compliance in the current three-year timeline. The committee discussed the pros and cons of moving to a one-year or two-year cycle, and the representatives of the GEAC seemed receptive (or at least resigned) to the idea of moving to a two-year cycle. • The idea of sending out a survey to Gen Ed course instructors designed to identify the ‘ideal’ assessment cycle period (or even to ask why compliance appears to be so low) was discussed. Tom will look into it and we will talk about what this survey might look like at a future meeting. • One of the biggest challenges to the GEAC seemed to be in getting reports from departments about the SLOs that Gen Ed courses intend to assess in a given assessment cycle. Modifications to the assessment cycle that require courses to report this information to GEAC earlier in the process would be a significant improvement. • This discussion did not result in a specific charge to either Gen Ed or GEAC, but it represents a move toward fostering better communication between the two committees. 4. Gen Ed Assessment processes used by other UW System schools: This discussion will be continued at our next meeting, but in the interest of starting to address the committee's investigation of Gen Ed assessment procedures around the state, several members of the committee shared their preliminary findings. These findings will be compiled and a summary table of the results will be included with future meeting minutes. • Committee members who have not already done so were asked to email Janet with assessment information about their assigned institutions. • For our next meeting on 1 April, committee members should also try to identify the number of SLOs that are assessed at their assigned state institutions. M/S/P, The meeting was adjourned at 5:02 PM. Notes compiled by J. Kirsch