Faculty Forum – April 5, 2006
“SCSU General Education Student Learning
Outcomes that Matter in Today’s World” o INTEGRATED LEARNING
- More than past tense – should be in the curriculum as well as a skill
“integrative/comparative”
- Integrated with what or with whom?
- What is integrated learning? Ditto
- Life-long o COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS
- Experience and ability/skills need to be covered
- Learn to be a team player
- Types of collaboration?
Across disciplines?
Within disciplines?
With outside agencies?
With the community o COMMUNICATE ORALLY AND IN WRITING
- Should cover understanding methods/providing practice (and problems)
- Learn to write a cohesive sentence
- Divide communicate orally from communicate in writing – Make 2 goals
I agree – ditto o UNDERSTAND MATHEMATICAL TECHNIQUES AND REASON
QUANTITATIVELY
- What about application?
- Great goal, but there may be a better word than “techniques” o IDENTIFY, ANALYZE AND CRITICALLY EVALUATE REASONING
- Distinguish between rumor and fact
- Types of reasoning? Identify reasoning? Just seems like an awkward phrase. To me too, what do you mean by this?
- Help students understand – facts, - opinions, - reasoned judgments

o USE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO GAIN UNDERSTANDING
-
Add “library”?
- Collecting and evaluating information in all its various forms – technology may or may not be involved
- Do we use technology or library to gain understanding? I think we use it (them) to acquire information. We contribute understanding, perhaps we should talk in terms of a kind of media literacy? o UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE MODES OF HUMAN EXPRESSION,
SYSTEMS OF THOUGHT, AND PRODUCTION AND PERFORMANCE OF
MEANING
- Does this include creativity and art appreciation? Is the wording awkward?
- Be aware that not all people in the world think linearly as Westerners do, embrace and be tolerant of circular expressions of thought. o DISCOVER AND UNDERSTAND THE NATURAL WORLD
- Understand natural processes
- How is the natural world different from the natural environment? Can “discover and understand the natural world” be combined with this?
-
Combine with “Understand natural environment and critique conceptions of our relations to it”. o REASON SCIENTIFICALLY
- Understand how science creates information and knowledge
- Is reasoning scientifically valued over other ways to think? E.g.… that one is separated out, but others (systems of thought) are subsumed in one broad stroke
- Needs to incorporate a sense of methods related to diversity and discipline o DISCOVER AND UNDERSTAND SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL STRUCTURE
OF HUMAN SOCIETY
- Extend to causes and effects? Patterns?
- Understand anti-democratic structures in U.S. society
- Gain knowledge of major historical events that affected the world and changed it forever

o UNDERSTAND AND RESPECT VALUES OF A DIVERSE SOCIETY AND A
MULTICULTURAL WORLD
- Gain appreciation and respect for diverse spiritual perspectives
- Can all of these diversity/global goals be combined? E.g., diverse/multicultural and global?
- Combine with “Approach issues from a global perspective”. I agree
- I’d like to combine them too, seems redundant. (I have to admit – I think the expression “global perspective” is tired).
- Goals: Understand and respect values of a diverse society and a multi-cultural world, collaborative and integrated learning, discover and understand the natural world and reason scientifically. Use information technology to facilitate the above. o APPROACH ISSUES FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
- Gain an understanding that all of us need to think globally and act locally in an ever changing world.
- Students understand – global systems, environmental, political, economic, cultural o DEMONSTRATE CONCERN FOR INDIVIDUAL WORTH AND HUMAN
RIGHTS
- I agree that we hope our students will demonstrate concern for individual work and human rights. I also hope our students will demonstrate concern for the value of community.
- Redundant to other goals?
- “Demonstrate concern” seems a destructive way to speak to this
- Repetitive? o BECOME SOCIALLY, ETHICALLY AND CIVICALLY RESPONSIBLE
- Does this include becoming civically engaged? Doing?
- Learn to think of others and their needs.

o UNDERSTAND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND CRITIQUE
CONCEPTIONS OF OUR RELATIONS TO IT
- Our effect on natural environment?
- Understand how human actions impact natural environment and how natural environment impacts human societies
- What do we mean by “critique conceptions of our relations to it? Is it more important to critique than it is to understand? Unusual choice of words o OTHER
- I’m not sure what “integrative learning” is, but I think we may need to be selfreflective to achieve that
- What about self-awareness, self in the world? Self-reflection
- What about awareness of self as a learner and life long learning?
- What about creative thinking?
- Learn etiquette, courtesy (and remove rudeness) in various context of every day life
- What about self-reflection and lifelong learning? Are they part of the other goals?
DISCUSSION POINTS
11 participants and 5 committee members

Students should learn more science and math to compete globally

Want feedback on goals from people outside of that goal area
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Critical to expose students to foreign language, particularly non-Western languages

Underscore value of racial issue courses and focus on diverse and changing society
 Self-reflection needs to be included

Categorized in broad way rather than a list – maybe 3-4 categories

See interrelationships between goal areas

HLC uses – empowered, informed, and responsible

Goal on information technology – information from a variety of sources

Research is underplayed

Define what integrated learning is – this can be fleshed out in the next phase – example from session in Phoenix attended by Margaret and Michelle (Geology and Sociology)

We can also consider if there is a pedagogy of General Education that we would embrace
- Lifelong?
- Across 4 years
- Integrated
- How it is connected to majors
 “Muddy boots get knowledge.” (Thanks David Wall)
- Students need experience and not be isolated


Etiquette and courtesy

Challenge the idea of students as customers
- This may perpetuate rudeness

Experiential learning

Value may be in the delivery not only in the curriculum
 Change from integrated to integrative

Session of business people earlier in day what are students lacking? - it is not subject matter
- Intellectual curiosity
- Communication skills
- Experience

Employers want other skills in addition to specialization

Light a fire of curiosity
 Self-reflection and self-authorship
 Doesn’t end in the course that is intended to reach that goal

What is the status of the electronic portfolio on campus?

Use this as a tool for students to frame their whole educational experience

Writing

Create a foundation to leap from and to come back to

Can have courses across 4 years and at all course levels
- E.g. Integrated seminar outside the students area of study

What is it that General Education brings to the quality of your life?
- Richness – able to communicate with people in other fields
- Appreciate why people would want to study these other areas
- Value a much wider range of knowing the world
-
“Makes my head a more interesting place to be”
- Other ways of thinking abut things

Human activities in relation to the natural world