Interim General Education Oversight Committee

Interim General Education Oversight Committee

Minutes fromApril 6th,2012

Room 203Student Center,10a.m. –Noon.

MembersPresent:

HeatherBush AmyGaffney SusanLarson Juliana McDonald Jennifer Rice

Ben Withers

Ex OfficiosPresent:

Bill Rayens

MikeShanks

GuestsPresent:

None

1. TheCommitteeapproved the March23rdminutes

2. Rayens discussed several brief informationitems with theCommittee:

a) IGEOCmembersagreed tomeetasneededinthe summer either in personor byemail shouldthe needarise.

b) LastUndergraduateCouncilmeetingisApril24thsolastchanceforIGEOCtomovecoursesahead

this semester

c) Committeeagreedtodiscuss bestcommunicationpracticesforIGEOC goingforward d) Clarificationswereofferedonthewhereabouts ofalloutstandingcoursereviews

3. HIS122wasontheconsent agenda andhas nowbeenapproved as aGlobalDynamicsUKCorecourse. It willgonexttotheUndergraduateCouncil.

4. IGEOC approvedthethree-semesterpackageCHE109/CHE110/CHE111fortheCore. Dr.Beattie submitted (prior to themeeting)evidencethatCHE109andCHE110areliterally equivalentto CHE105, soasathree-semesterpackage CHE109/CHE110/CHE111isequivalent tothealready-approved package ofCHE105/CHE111.As such,IGEOC agreedthattherewas noapparentreasontoreviewagain,so the newlysubmittedtripartitepackagewillgodirectlytotheUndergraduateCouncil with IGEOC approval andnotrequire furtherreview.

5. IGEOCvotedtoendorseahybridrubric/scoringmodelforUKCoreAssessment. SeetheMarch23rdminutesfordetails. Thebasicideaisthatthehybridmodel,inuseatmanyothermajoruniversities, assignsbothan overallscoretoagivenartifact(holistic)as wellasindividualscorestoparticular subcategoriesasdefinedbytherubric(analytic). Normingwouldtakeplaceontheholisticpiece,but Area-specific feedback could also be communicated more effectively using subcategory summaries. IGEOC thoughtthis wouldbemoreeffectivefor facultytousein a revisionprocess.

6. Honor’sproposal. IGEOCapprovedatemporaryprocessforapprovingHONcoursesfortheCore. See attached. RayenswasaskedbyIGEOCtosubmitthis StatementtoDr.MikeMullentobecommunicated to the current Honorsadministration.

Statement on Honors/UKCore Interface

GeneralPrinciple

GEOCisresponsible for theregulationofUKCoreandapprovalofcoursesthat meetUKCorerequirements.

HonorsandUK Core

Thenewcurriculumfor Honors recentlyapproved bythe Senateprovidesopportunitiesforstudents to

achievecreditfor UKCorerequirementsthroughHonors courses. TheHonors programplans tocreate

coursesthatmeettheserequirementsusingtheHONprefix andtoidentifycoursesthatwill beofferedwithin majors (whichhavealreadybeenapprovedforUKCore).

GEOCiswillingtoapprovea seriesofHONcoursenumbersthatwillmeetparticularUKCorerequirements. For each coursenumber,GEOCrequeststhat Honorspresentasyllabusthat canbeused torepresentthe kinds ofcoursesthatmaybeoffered undera particular coursenumber. This submissionwillserveasabasic exemplar,notagenericsyllabus, for allcoursesinthatcategory.TheHonors Director,workingwith the Honors FacultyofRecordandGEOC,willberesponsibleforensuringthecourses donot “drift” awayfromthe UKCorerequirements. Recognizingthesubstantial effortrequired tolaunch therevised Program, GEOC votedtoapprovethefollowinginterfacewith theHonorsProgrameffectiveforoneyear,expiringonMay

15th,2013.

1. Exemplarsyllabi willbesubmitted for IGEOC toview, as outlinedabove.

2. For a periodofoneyear,expiringMay15,2013,the HonorsDirector,workingwith theHonors faculty of record,will havefullcontroloverwhichHONcoursesareapproved tofulfill Corerequirements. It is expectedthat:

a. / Thosesyllabiwillnotgo throughGEOCbutrathergodirectly toUndergraduateCouncil.
b. / Each syllabuswillhaveanexplicit statementofthetemplateoutcomes for theArea being
addressed.
c. / Each submissionwillcontainacoverletter from the Director thatexplainswhythecourse
meetsthe CorerequirementsfortheAreaaddressed.
d. / Each submissionwillexplicitlyidentifyan artifactthatwillbeavailable for assessmentalong
with allotherartifactssubmittedfromtheCorefor theAreabeingaddressed.
3. / InApril / 2013theDirectorof Honors will present toGEOC alistofcoursesandsyllabi that havebeen
offere / d fortheUKCore.

If this proves tobeaworkable interface,allowingimportantflexibilityto theHonorsProgram,while maintainingtheintegrityoftheCore,itisexpectedthatyear-longre-approvals will be automatic. However, if GEOCjudgestheprocesstobe faultyorthecourses beingapproved inappropriate, then GEOC reservesthe rightto withholdre-approval andworkwith theDirectorof Honorstofindamoreeffectivewaytoapprove HONcoursesfor theCore.

Rational

With thedecisionbeingmadeabove,GEOCiselectingto treattheHonorsProgramdifferentlythanaspecial topicscoursewithin aparticular department. TheHonorsProgramisidentifiedby theUKAR’s asan interdisciplinaryundergraduateprogram. Asan interdisciplinaryundergraduateprogram, the coursesoffered underHONprefixes arelikelytodiffersubstantiallyfrom most“specialtopics” or “subtitlerequiredcourses” offered byanyindividual department inthe University. Thelatter arelikelytobemorecircumscribed in subjectmatteror approachespreciselybecausetheyarediscipline-based andbelongin a specific

department. Coursesoffered viathe HONprefixwillnotpresent asimilar uniformity, preciselybecauseit is aninterdisciplinaryprogram;if theHonors programissuccessful,itislikely thatinanygiven semesterfaculty fromseveraldifferent collegesanddepartments will teach usingthesameHONcoursenumber.