Reading Circles on General Education Goal Areas
As the General Education Committee (GEC) started work on revision efforts, they spent a good
deal of time reading key monographs that informed our work. The American Association of
Colleges and Universities has many excellent pieces that are informative, insightful, and that
focus specifically on improving student learning. Of particular interest is the “Greater
Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College”—a “must read” for
anyone interested in general education reform. Several of them also focus on the proposed goals
for our new program. If you are interested in joining an important conversation about
general education and student learning, please sign up for one or more of these sessions.
Also, if you would be interested in serving as a discussion leader along with Judy Litterst,
please contact her at jlitterst@stcloudstate.edu.
Reading Circles at the January Workshop Days:
(1) Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College
National Panel Report (AAC&U)
Released in October 2002, this report of the Greater Expectations national panel calls for a new focus on
excellence to better prepare students for the twenty-first century. The report recommends the creation of a
New Academy characterized by high expectations, a focus on learning, commitment to demonstrated
achievement, intentional practices, and an engaged, practical liberal education for all students.
January 17, 2007
2:30-3:45 – Atwood Glacier South
Judy Litterst
This reading follows a brief PowerPoint presentation on the history of general education and
how it is changing nationwide.
(2) Integrative Learning
Peer Review Summer/Fall 2005
The Summer/Fall 2005 issue of Peer Review focuses on integrative learning. Integrative abilities
are among the most important goals of a twenty-first-century liberal education. Articles in this
issue explore how integrative learning fosters connections among disciplines and co-curricular
experiences and transcends academic boundaries.
& Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain
By Mary Taylor Huber & Pat Hutchings (AAC&U)
This paper explores the challenges to integrative learning today as well as its longer tradition and
rationale within a vision of liberal education. In outlining promising directions for campus work, the
authors draw on AAC&U's landmark report, Greater Expectations, as well as the Carnegie
Foundation's long-standing initiative on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Readers will find
a map of the terrain of integrative learning on which promising new developments in
undergraduate education can be cultivated, learned from, and built upon.
January 17, 2007
2:30-3:45 – Atwood Glacier South
Judy Litterst
February Reading Circles:
(3) (R)evolution of the New Globally Engaged Academy
Peer Review Winter 2004
As David Tritelli, Editor of Peer Review writes, “in reading this issue of Peer Review, one is struck
by how closely liberal education and democratic values are intertwined as well as by how
appropriate, even necessary, both are to effective global engagement.”
February 12, 2007
3-4:00—Location TBA
Judy Litterst
(4) Science and Engaged Learning
Peer Review Winter 2005
This issue explores efforts to improve science education for majors and non-majors through new
forms of engaged science learning. Included are an overview of trends in undergraduate science
reform, a reflection on the multiple meanings of engaged learning, and a list of myths about
engagement that prevent science faculty from adopting active learning pedagogies.
February 26, 2007
2-3:00—Location TBA
Judy Litterst
March Reading Circle:
(5) Quantitative Literacy
Peer Review Summer 2004
This issue focuses on quantitative literacy as a key outcome of liberal education and explores
recent trends in instruction, assessment, and curricular location. Also included is a look at related
college readiness issues.
March 20, 2007
12:15-1:30—Location TBA
Judy Litterst and Sandra Johnson
April Reading Circle:
(6) Educating for Personal and Social Responsibility
Liberal Education Summer/Fall 2005
In the Fall of 2004, in order to identify and assess undergraduate education’s contribution, actual
and potential, to students’ ethical and moral development, AAC&U and the John Templeton
Foundation convened a national panel of leading educational researchers. The panel concluded
that there is a need for greater emphasis on educating for personal and social responsibility as an
essential purpose of liberal education, and urged development of robust assessments colleges
and universities can use to demonstrate and improve upon their success in this regard. This
issue of Liberal Education is an outgrowth of the panel’s discussions.
April 17, 2007
2-3:00—Location TBA
Judy Litterst