Minutes of the Competency-Based General Education Task Force
June 23, 2000
Members Present: Lucy Arendt (co-chair), Illene Noppe (co-chair), Brian Sutton, Dave Galaty,
Teri Berggren, Debra Pearson, Tim Trace
Start Time and Location: The meeting convened at 10:55 am in ES 301
1) The minutes of June 19, 2000 were corrected.
2) Members decided that a list of recommended implementation ideas should be included at the
beginning of the report.
3) Lucy passed out a list of questions for the committee to address before the finalization of the
report. The rest of the meeting was spent discussing and answering the questions on the list.
The questions and answers decided upon by the committee are listed below.
1st
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2nd
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A) Only competencies required? B) Some combination of competencies required.
Answer – B
Discussion Points:
In most GE courses, clusters of competencies are addressed. There is no course
designed to fit one competency completely.
Courses to be designed to match competencies, not the other way around.
Departments may not want to redesign courses.
Competencies should be worded broadly enough with either/or statements so a number
of courses could fit each competency. There will be room for faculty to make their
courses fit in without extravagant changes.
Competencies should include A) courses, B) learning outcomes, and C) experiences
A) Four-point performance rating scales used to assess competency? B) Three-point
scales? C) Binary scales?
Answer – A
Discussion Points:
Students would be interested in a binary system, while faculty would want a finer scale.
Students may actually prefer a scale that provides more explanation about their strengths
and weaknesses. The 4 point may work well for them.
Why not just use A,B,C,D, etc. What’s the difference.
Grades have a number of complex meanings attached to them (e.g., attendance, class
participation). Performance rating scales deal specifically with outcomes and are
necessarily different from grades.
The problem with 3 point scales is that the majority of people end up in category 2,
while only a small fraction would end up in the 1st or 3rd categories.
A 4 point scale will work best for our purposes.
3rd
YES or NO. To graduate, students must have a score for every competency.
Answer - YES
4th
YES or NO. To graduate, students must achieve a pre-determined score for every
competency.
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Minutes of the Competency-Based General Education Task Force
June 23, 2000
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Answer – NO
Discussion points.
Yes. If these competencies are to have meaning, they should be used for something.
A few years ago, U.W. Milwaukee increased writing performance requirements for
graduation. International students and ethnic minorities fell short of the mark more than
other students. For that reason, U.W. Milwaukee changed its requirements to be more
inclusive.
These should be used primarily for faculty to improve curriculum. Students shouldn’t be
penalized when it could be the course format to blame in some instances.
Maybe we could say YES for certain competencies.
Maybe the certain percentage format would work better.
Perhaps we could try a phase in policy, where scores would not initially preclude
students from graduating. Over time, as courses are perfected, we could implement
graduation requirements.
5th
YES or NO. To graduate, students must achieve a pre-determined score on a predetermined percentage of competencies.
Answer - YES
6th
YES or NO. "Foundational" or "indispensable" competencies that all students must
achieve at a particular level within a certain amount of time (or credits)?
Answer - YES
If YES, which competencies?
 1st 8
At what level?
 3 or 4 level
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7th
YES or NO. Regarding the foreign language competency: Should students have to
demonstrate level 4 proficiency by either (1) placement exam results, or (2) successful
completion of fourth college-level course?
Answer - YES (1)
8th
YES or NO. For any given competency, there must be at least two different courses that
offer students the opportunity to learn and demonstrate the competency. [Note: This
should not be construed to mean that students must take at least two courses to learn and
demonstrate any given competency.]
Answer - NO
9th
YES or NO. Require transfers to complete questionaires addressing the learning
associated with courses they want to transfer, like the Other Culture questionnaire?
[Note: Unless we want to start a war, we will have to accept course credits as negotiated
by UW System and others. At the same time, these agreements do not require that we
automatically award credit for "competencies."]
Answer: NO
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Minutes of the Competency-Based General Education Task Force
June 23, 2000
10th
YES or NO. Competency scores recorded on transcripts?
Answer: YES
11th
A) Competency scores = course grades, or B) Competency scores supplement course
grades?
Answer: B
12th
Faculty who want to teach (or who will be expected to teach) in General Education
should be appointed to a "General Education Faculty."
Answer - YES
13th
YES or NO. Should the General Education Council [or 'Organizational Body' ]
designate a Special Committee to develop criteria, standards, "model" performance
rating scales, and "benchmark" examples of "key assignments" for each competency?
[Note: The Special Committee would be expected to recruit appropriate faculty members
to assist with completing its charge.]
Answer - YES. However, the Faculty Senate should designate the Organizational Body.
14th
YES or NO. Should the [Organizational Body] solicit from the entire faculty its
commentary on the proposed criteria, standards, and "model" performance rating scales
for each competency statement?
Answer - NO
15th
YES or NO. Should the [Organizational Body] assume responsibility for approving the
proposed criteria, standards, and performance rating scales as presented or modified?
Answer - YES
16th
YES or NO. Courses identified as offering students the opportunity to learn and
demonstrate any given competency should be reviewed and approved by the
[Organizational Body].
Answer - YES
17th
YES or NO. Faculty members teaching courses that are identified as offering students
the opportunity to learn and demonstrate any given competency should submit to the
[Organizational Body] 1) a copy of the assignment(s) used to demonstrate comptency, 2)
a copy of the performances rating scale(s) used to assess students' performance, and 3) a
description of how the assignment(s) and performance rating scales fit the criteria and
standards established for the given competency. The [Organizational Body] is
responsible for communicating suggested modifications (as appropriate) and approval or
disapproval.
Answer - YES.
If YES, how often (e.g. annually)?
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The term 'General Education Council' is replaced by the more ambiguous term, 'Organizational Body', in the rest of
the minutes.
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Minutes of the Competency-Based General Education Task Force
June 23, 2000
 Whenever there is a new addition or a major change.
18th
YES or NO. May faculty "model" performance rating scales to align with the
assignemnt(s) they use to assess competency?
Answer - YES
19th
YES or NO. The [Organizational Body] should be responsible for ensuring consistent
levels of rigor across competencies and performance rating scales.
Answer – YES
 This may be tricky to ensure.
20th
YES or NO. Assignments and performance rating scales should be electronically
archived so that anyone (e.g., faculty members, students, alumni) can retreive copies?
Answer - YES
21st
YES or NO. The [Organizational Body] should decide the alternative means that may be
used to demonstrate any given competency, in consultation with the appropriate faculty
members. Examples: AP, CLEP, IB, Regents College exams, College BASE, WMPT,
WFLT, WEPT, Military and Corporate Training and Education evaluated by ACE,
Credit for Prior Learning, independent study, senior honors or distinction project.
Answer - YES
22nd YES or NO. The [Organizational Body] should decide the appropriate assessment for
alternative means of demonsrating any given competency, in consultation with the
appropriate faculty members. For example, the OB (in consultation…) will have to
decide what cuts scores on the various CLEP exams will equate to the various levels of
proficiency.
Answer - YES
4) Members decided that the next page of questions would be answered at the next meeting?
5) Meeting dates, times, and locations for the rest of the month:
1st
Monday, June 26, 200010:45A.M.-12:45P.M.
E.S. 301 Conference Room
2nd Friday, June 30, 2000 10:45A.M.-???????.
E.S. 301 Conference Room
 Members will get lunch after meeting in E.S. 301.
The committee adjourned until its next meeting, scheduled for June 26, 2000.
Respectfully submitted,
Teri Berggren
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