General Education Framework
Directors and Chairs Meeting
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Topics

General Education Committee
◦ Function/Charge
◦ Members
◦ Guiding Principles

Proposed General Education Framework
◦ Proposed changes
◦ General Education Student Learning Outcomes and
Assessment

General Education Approval Procedure
◦ General Education Courses
◦ “Concentrations”
Functions of the GEC




To ensure the general education curriculum
is established, monitored, reviewed, and
assessed
To oversee General Education Student
Learning Outcomes Assessment Plan
To determine which undergraduate courses
qualify for general education credit
To maintain the official catalog of RIT’s
General Education Curriculum and
associated courses
Academic Senate Charge to GEC

Create a set of overarching principles to
guide general education curricular reform
that:
◦
◦
◦
◦
complements RIT’s mission,
serves RIT students,
reflects the diversity of the University,
conforms to New York State’s statutory
requirements and
◦ complies with the RIT approved General
Education Student Learning Outcomes
Academic Senate Charge to GEC

Seek advice and consultation from the
curriculum committees of the College of
Liberal Arts and College of Science

Ensure that the needs and interests of all
colleges are appropriately considered
Academic Senate Charge to GEC
Take into consideration budgetary
implications
 Benchmark against colleges and
universities of interest
 After consultation with the ICC, forward
the proposed curriculum to the Academic
Senate for action

GEC Membership
Membership of the General Education Committee

The chief academic officer or designee, ex-officio, voting, Dick Doolittle

Academic dean representative, Robert Ulin

Academic Senate representative, Amit Ray

The Director of Student Learning Outcomes Assessment, ex-officio, nonvoting, Anne Wahl

Faculty representative from each college of the University:
◦ COS, Elizabeth Hane, Chair
◦ COLA, Franz Foltz
◦ SCB, TBD
◦ CAST, George Zion
◦ GCCIS, Rajendra Raj
◦ KGCOE, Surendra Gupta
◦ NTID, David Templeton
◦ CIAS, Naomi Orwin
GEC Guiding Principles
Existing Framework

Meet the New York State Education Department (NYSED) requirements
(http://www.highered.nysed.gov/ocue/lrp/liberalarts)

Ensure that students achieve RIT’s General Education Learning Outcomes

Be consistent with the Academic Program Profiles

Support RIT’s goals, values, vision and mission

Support the IWC Comprehensive Writing Program initiative
Depth and Breadth

Contribute to the development of a breadth of knowledge by providing
course offerings from a broad range of disciplines, including math,
humanities, and the natural and social sciences

Allow students to explore a particular area of knowledge in depth
through a series of related courses

Provide opportunities for students to make connections between courses
and across disciplines

Be integrated into all four or five years of a student’s education at RIT
GEC Guiding Principles
Supporting programs/majors

Provide a progression of courses that are integrated with major fields of study

Provide courses that support the basic requirements for students in the majors
Implementation

Be clear and concise to ease processes for: Scheduling, Auditing, Advising

Offer students courses and programs that support their major field of study
and other interests

Provide students choices in how to fulfill their requirements

Be clear and easy to understand for students, faculty, and staff

Allow for easy adaptation for future reform
Other

Be intellectually stimulating for faculty and students

Be adaptive to changing curricula and a changing world

Support innovation, creativity, scholarship, and entrepreneurship
Proposed General Education
Framework
Proposed changes
 General Education Student Learning
Outcomes and Assessment

How the New Framework Differs
 University-wide engagement
 Not disciplinary, but outcome driven
 First-Year Seminar
 Opportunities for integrated and
inter-/trans-disciplinary experiences
 Intentional scaffolding
 Writing intensive
General Education
Framework
BS
BFA
AS
AAS
Foundation
First-Year Seminar/1st-year writing
intensive course
6
6
6
6
15
15
15
12
Mathematical/Scientific/Tech
Literacy
12
(4
courses)
0
6
6
Immersion
Arts and Sciences Concentration
Requirements *
Choose 3 additional, related
courses
Number of Required Credits
9
9
0
0
42
30
27
24
General Education Electives
18
0
3
0
TOTAL
60
30
30
24
Perspectives
Categories TBD *
General Education Framework
BS Degree
Foundation
Perspectives
Immersion
Perspectives
1
Basic
Writing
(optional)
Perspectives
2
Minor 4
(optional)
Science
Literacy
Perspectives
3
First
Year
Seminar
Conc. 1
First
Year
Writing
Conc. 2
Quant
Literacy
Perspectives
4
Minor 5
(optional)
Conc. 3
Quant
Literacy
Perspectives
5
Elective General Education courses to bring total to 60 credits
Capstone (optional)
Science
Literacy
General Education – BFA Degree
Foundation
Perspectives
Immersion
Perspectives
1
Conc. 1
Perspectives
3
First
Year
Seminar
Minor 4
Perspectives
2
First
Year
Writing
Perspectives
4
(optional)
Science
Literacy
(optional)
Conc. 2
Quant
Literacy
(optional)
Perspectives
5
Total should be a minimum of 30 credits
Minor 5
(optional)
Conc. 3
Capstone (optional)
Basic
Writing
(optional)
General Education – AS Degrees
Foundation
Perspectives
Perspectives
1
Basic
Writing
(optional)
Perspectives
2
Perspectives
3
First
Year
Seminar
First
Year
Writing
Perspectives
4
Science
Literacy
Quant
Literacy
Perspectives
5
Additional program determined or elective courses to bring total to 30 credits
General Education – AAS Degrees
Foundation
Perspectives
Choose 4 of 5; TBD
Perspectives
1
Basic
Writing
(optional)
Perspectives
2
Perspectives
3
First
Year
Seminar
First
Year
Writing
Perspectives
4
Science
Literacy
Quant
Literacy
Perspectives
5
Additional program determined or elective courses to bring total to 25 credits
General Education Assessment

Alignment/mapping of General Education
Student Learning Outcomes to Courses

Current Assessment Plan Implementation
◦ General Education Faculty Teams

Assessment Management System
◦ Taskstream
Gen Ed Course Review/Approval

GEC will review and evaluate all new
proposals for courses for General
Education credit using:
◦ State of New York Liberal Arts and Sciences
Guidelines
◦ RIT Student General Education Student
Learning Outcomes
Gen Ed Course Review/Approval
The College Curriculum
Committee provides:
 A cover memo (required form) :
◦ Process of approval
◦ Alignment to General Education Framework

An outline for the course being
reviewed in the ICC New/Revised
Course Outline format
Gen Ed Course Review/Approval
GEC reviews the proposed course and
forwards the recommendation to the Chief
Academic Officer
 GEC informs the ICC of the
recommendations and the RIT community
of the final decision regarding the course
proposal
 GEC maintains database of currently
approved courses

“Concentration” Approval
Courses within a concentration go
through the same approval process
 For approval as a General Education
Concentration, a group of three courses
ideally should:

◦ Explore a perspective area in greater detail
◦ Integrate across perspectives
◦ Lead to a minor with the addition of two
courses
Questions?