SFCC Response to Proposed General Education Models

We were most drawn to Models 2 and 4, for the reasons given below, but our discussion kept leading us to the WICHE Passport model, which we urge the committee to consider.

Model 2

The grid offers a clear but flexible way to visualize and organize the courses, but we had some disagreement about the rules associated with this model. In our view,

  • Rather than define 100-level courses as introductory and 200-level courses as reinforcing, general education courses should be identified on the syllabus as introductory or reinforcing.
  • Only one math course should be required, and it should be a course appropriate to each student’s major. This approach is supported by the Dana Center, Carnegie Foundation, Achieving the Dream, Complete College America, and others.At the NM Mathematics articulation meeting this spring, there was strong support for the idea of requiring college algebra primarily for students in degree paths that include calculus. Instead of requiring a second math course, quantitative skills should be reinforced in other courses.
  • There should/may be additional communication requirements, whether oral communications-focused course (e.g., public speaking, interpersonal communication) or a requirement that communications be reinforced in at least a couple other courses; critical thinking probably should be more broadly spread through the curriculum as well.
  • The Humanities and Fine Arts area should include studio arts, theater, and creative writing

Model 4

This model needs more detail, but it provides opportunities for institutional individuality and facilitates transfer. We particularly liked the idea of including essential skills outcomes in each school’s common student learning outcomes because this would be a way to assess the outcomes as part of an existing process and suggests a way to align outcomes from course to program [including gen ed as program] to institution level. This model reminds us of a NM version of WICHE Passport.

WICHE Passport

In thinking about everything the group has done so far, we ask the group to spend some time considering adopting the WICHE Passport, or modified version of Passport. Passport addresses many of the issues the group has raised.

Passport is based on a set of Passport Learning Outcomes, developed by faculty, in nine knowledge and skills areas, which connect with the LEAP essential outcomes and overlap considerably with the essential skills and subcategories developed by this group, as well as with the five general education discipline areas we currently use. Here are the nine knowledge and skills areas:

Oral Communication
Written Communication
Quantitative Literacy
Natural Sciences
Human Cultures
Creative Expression
Human Society and the Individual
Critical Thinking
Teamwork and Value Systems

Faculty at each institution create a passport block for each of the nine areas which includes a course, or a menu of courses, that meet all the objectives in that area. When a student completes the courses in the nine passport blocks with a grade of C or better, the passport is complete. Once a student completes the passport at any school, the student can transfer the courses to any other passport school to meet all general education requirements. If necessary, the receiving institution can require students to complete courses needed for a major that overlap with general education (like prerequisite math or science courses). WICHE has created a Passport Review Board as a policy–making body for Passport, and the PRB will organize faculty committees to update the Passport Learning Outcomes as needed.

Advantages

  • Preserves institutional individuality
  • Facilitates transfer both in-state and out-of-state
  • Includes faculty-developed learning outcomes for Communication, Critical Thinking, and Quantitative Literacy
  • Provides data on transfer student persistence and success through National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), as well as analysis from Rutgers University
  • First-year seminars could be included in general education, if an institution chooses
  • Includes studio arts, theater, and creative writing
  • Each institution provides a clear menu of courses students can take to fulfil general education requirements
  • WICHE is already working with registrars in several states to create models for how the passport will be documented on transcripts and transferred

Challenges

  • Does not require courses to introduce and reinforce
  • Does not have a separate knowledge and skill area for Personal and Social Responsibility, but outcomes related to Personal and Social Responsibility are included in Human Cultures, Human Society and the Individual, Creative Expression, and Teamwork and Value Systems
  • Does not have a separate knowledge and skill area for Information Literacy, but outcomes related to Information Literacy are included in Written Communication, Quantitative Literacy, Natural Sciences, Human Cultures, Human Society and the Individual, and Critical Thinking