General Education Committee Response to Faculty Concerns

Summary of Impact of the Proposal

  • Students should be able to more easily navigate the general education curricula, allowing them to complete their college studies in a more timely manner.
  • By limiting the co- and prerequisites for general education courses to only other general education courses, students will not have to take several additional courses before even being allowed to take their general education courses.
  • Learning outcomes for each category are better articulated for faculty and students.
  • Departments will have increased opportunities to create general education courses that meet more than one category, offering exciting opportunities for our students.
  • Some departments may realize fewer or more general education sections and offerings, which may impact staffing. We believe that these staffing issues can be addressed by proposing creative general education courses into which students will actively seek enrollment. The Committee cannot predict which departments may decide to not offer general education courses and which departments may decide to offer new general education courses that meet the new outcomes.
  • The proposed curricula should not impact any transfer or articulation agreements already in place.

Why Review and Reassess General Education Now?

Changes are needed. First, the faculty’s experiences with the current General Education Program, now 16 years old, have revealed various ways in which the program can be improved. In addition, surveys and test results conducted during the last several years indicate the need for articulating more clearly the competencies to be obtained from this curriculum and for improving the extent to which UTC graduates attain these competencies.

In pursuit of the goal of improving general education at UTC, the General Education Committee undertook a broad range of activities over the past several years. These included the participation by several members of the Committee in a national workshop focusing on the goals of general education; study of the literature on general education; a special presentation by Paul Gaston to the faculty on characteristics of effective general education programs; a special Saturday retreat, open to all faculty members, to begin the process of developing goals and specific student outcomes; the formation of category groups, open to all faculty members, to discuss guidelines and outcomes for each category of general education; discussions with department heads and special meetings with various departments; many meetings of faculty groups to develop recommendations for the General Education Committee; and extensive work by the General Education Committee to create a coherent and powerful general education program.

These efforts have been very productive. In his visit to the UTC campus, Paul Gaston stated: “Every faculty member contributes – either positively or negatively – to the liberal education of every student.” Research and surveys conducted by the AAC&U LEAP project found that faculty “came to a remarkable consensus on a few key outcomes that all students, regardless of major or academic background, should achieve during undergraduate study” (Liberal Education Outcomes, AAC&U, 2005, Washington, DC, p. 2). Such a consensus has also occurred among the many, many UTC faculty members who have worked to develop the new general education curriculum proposed in this draft document. “Clarity of vision” is one hallmark of strong general education programs (Gaston, 2011). This document, outlining the proposed General Education goals and outcomes, strives to provide clarity to UTC’s vision for general education and for the continued dedication of UTC faculty and staff to contribute to the overall education for all UTC graduates.

The last major update to UTC’s General Education program was in 1997. Since that time, several outside bodies have implemented laws and regulations that have changed the program, resulting in the adapted general education program that we currently have in place that was never officially approved by faculty (General Education Assessment, 2010 [ For example, the university requirements to fulfill both an oral and advanced writing component were dropped in 2002 in response to State legislative and corresponding THEC changes. Some of these changes and adaptations have put up barriers toward college completion for UTC students, both native and transfers.

One major goal of this reassessment is to simplify and clarify the General Education program, requirements and outcomes for our students. The current General Education Curriculum poses significant difficulties to particular students, especially those that change majors. For some departments, particular general education courses are an integral part of the major requirements. As such, students changing majors are faced with not having “the right General Education course(s)” for their new major, forcing them take additional approved general education courses beyond the 41 required hours to meet requirements for the major and to complete classes beyond 120/128 hours. Programs and departments are asked to clarify for students both general education requirements and the course requirements for their majors, and, in particular where those requirements may overlap. Students are often told that they have “taken the wrong general education courses” when they have actually taken general education courses that are approved, but not the ones specifically required for their major. This may still be an issue for students with the proposed general education program, but the Committee believes that the outcomes and requirements proposed are more flexible and will help students meet graduation requirements in a timely manner.

A more pressing need for reevaluation was supported by the data from the 2010 General Education assessment. This assessment (2010) revealed that it was difficult to evaluate general education outcomes. One reason for this difficulty was that many of the syllabi examined showed that the course was based almost solely on the course description with little to no emphasis on the General Education outcomes. As such, the classes varied significantly in terms of basic general education skills or outcomes for students. In addition, senior exit data and course embedded assessments for the stated general education outcomes indicated mixed results based on the assessment rubrics for each general education category. One recommendation from that assessment included developing clearer general education outcomes for all UTC undergraduates. The hope of the faculty making the assessment recommendations was that through revising the overall general education core outcomes, disciplinary programs would then be able to better articulate their final outcomes as they build from the General Education Program.

Another finding from the 2010 General Education assessment was that the current Cultures and Civilizations category, structured with two options, made it difficult for students to navigate the curriculum. This category was one of the most problematic for students, with transfer students actually having an easier time meeting the requirements than native UTC students. The issue for native UTC students is that when they start on one of the options and then change their major, it is possible that the new major would require courses from the other option thus increasing the number of general education courses required of the student and the number of hours needed for graduation.

Additionally the assessment indicated that student work submitted as evidence of attainment of the general education outcomes from individual courses was, at best, difficult to evaluate. Some of this difficulty was due to the vagueness of both the overall general education outcomes and the specific category outcomes. As a result, the rubrics designed to evaluate the student work were also too vague to be truly useful. The General Education Committee believes that by outlining specific category and subcategory learning outcomes that are mapped to overall programmatic outcomes, the assessment of both general education course outcomes and programmatic outcomes will be facilitated. Moreover assessment of the general education programmatic outcomes can take place as a part of the certification/recertification process as faculty submit student work that clearly addresses the category outcomes.

Perhaps the most important reason to reassess the curriculum can be found in the Faculty Handbook:

5.1.3 Professional Responsibilities (Faculty Handbook)

7.Responsibility to seek ways of improving their effectiveness as teachers, exploring new ways of presenting academic subject matter, motivating students, and improving methods of evaluating student performance.

A Summary of the Process of Reevaluation and Revision

2009-2010 / The university completed an assessment of the General Education Program. The assessment revealed problems and inconsistencies in the current program.
2010 / A group of faculty from several departments and disciplines (Nursing, English, Psychology, Foreign Languages) attended a national meeting at the university of Pennsylvania sponsored by the American Association of Colleges and Universities focused on General Education.
2010 / The group constructed 11 ASKs based on the AAC&U conference, extensive reading in General Education research, as well as the results of a national LEAP project that demonstrated a national consensus on several outcomes for General Education.
2010 / The faculty voted to approve these ASKs. Following this vote, many faculty across campus had significant questions about the ASKs and requested more participation in the revision process.
2010-2011 / Blue Ribbon panels made up of faculty in every college and discipline developed rubrics for each of the 11 ASKS. This valuable work helped faculty imagine a cohesive vision for UTC students from the beginning of General Education through the end of their degree program.
2010 / The General Education Committee requested and was given a moratorium on the recertification of courses to facilitate a campus-wide revision process.
2011 / Paul Gaston presents “The Five Epiphanies of Undergraduate Education and the Strong General Education Programs that Embody Them” for the full faculty as well as held several smaller workshops for members of the General Education Committee and other interested Faculty.
2011 / The General Education Committee sponsored and held a full faculty retreat to discuss the General Education program led by Terrel Rhodes, a curriculum scholar. At this meeting, faculty broke into category groups to begin to assess the current state of each category.
2011-2012 / After the retreat, the category groups have been working tirelessly to revise the program to better meet the needs of our students. These meetings have been open to all interested faculty. The work presented to the General Education Committee is the result of intense debate over form and language.
2012 - 2013 / The General Education Committee collected the category group work and performed an assessment of the work and the fit with the overall general education curriculum. Often, questions were posed to the category groups and additional revisions took place. After this process, the Committee collected the materials, reviewed and revised the work, made a cohesive whole, and presents them to the full faculty for discussion and a vote.

Certification and Recertification Process

Initially, all currently approved General Education courses will be grandfathered into at least one of the proposed categories. This information will be communicated to the departments for their review and approval. Departments that disagree with course(s) placement(s) into a category may submit materials clearly explaining the rationale for the category of their choosing to the General Education chair for review by the committee by April 1, 2013.

The certification process for courses that have never been approved for general education will include a review of each proposed course with specific attention paid to (1) how the course addresses each of the learning outcomes for the category(ies) in which certification is requested and (2) how students are or will be assessed on each of those outcomes. Syllabi with student assessment activities that clearly explain how the general education learning outcomes will be evaluated must be provided for the course under consideration. Other information will also be requested, including the planned frequency of the course offering and the number of anticipated sections to be offered each semester.

The recertification process for courses grandfathered into the revised general education categories will include a review of how the course addresses each of the general education learning outcomes for the category(ies) in which recertification is requested, how students are assessed on those outcomes and how those are portrayed as a part of the course syllabus. The recertification process will also ask faculty/departments to submit selected sample student work related to each of the general education outcomes to ensure that students are provided an opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of the general education outcomes.

The General Education Committee will develop an online proposal form and process for departments/faculty to submit information for initial course certification and for course recertification. Once initially certified, courses will be required to be recertified every five (5) years to continue to qualify as an approved General Education course. A draft of the sample certification/recertification forms are listed in Appendix A

Timeline for Implementation

All courses currently approved for general education will continue as approved general education courses through the 2013-14 academic year.

If approved by the faculty, the following implementation schedule will be followed.

  • Spring 2013: Existing UTC courses never approved for general education in the past will be reviewed for initial certification, upon application. Currently approved courses will be placed into the proposed revised general education categories. The currently approved courses and their suggested category assignment will be communicated to the department(s) offering the course(s) for confirmation/continuance, change of category placement, or withdrawal from the General Education approved courses.
  • Fall 2013: New General Education curricula and outcomes submitted for the 2014-2015 UTC Undergraduate Catalog.
  • Fall 2013/Spring 2014: Courses never approved for general education in the past reviewed for certification for the 2014 general education categories. Additionally, courses that would have come up for recertification in 2010-11 or 2011-12 or were placed on probation and not resubmitted during the moratorium will be submitted for certification based on the new goals and outcomes. Departments that had courses decertified during 2010-11 or 2011-12 may prepare a new course proposal based on the new goals and outcomes for consideration by the committee (See Appendix B for an updated recertification schedule.)
  • Fall 2014: New general education curricula will go into effect. Current students will be able to select from the previous general education curricula or select the new general education curricula by changing their catalog year.
  • Fall 2014/Spring 2015: Courses that were scheduled for recertification in 2012-13 or 2013-14 and any courses never approved for general education in the past will be submitted for certification based on the new curriculum and outcomes.
  • Fall 2015/Spring 2016: Courses scheduled for recertification for 2015-16 will be reviewed and any courses never approved for general education in the past will be submitted for certification based on the new curriculum and outcomes.
  • Fall 2016: Regular certification process and recertification schedule implemented.

Procedure for Certifying Courses for General Education

UTC departments and faculty members may propose new or existing courses for inclusion in the general education curriculum at any time. If received and approved by the deadline (usually January 15) for catalog copy, these courses will be listed as such in the undergraduate catalog and on the UTC web site. Course proposals and approvals received after the deadline will be processed for inclusion in the next undergraduate catalog.

The Registrar’s Office maintains all institutional records of course proposals and their disposition related to the General Education Curriculum.

The specific procedure for certifying general education courses appears below.

Certification of NEW General Education Courses

If the course is an existing UTC course, a complete proposal must be submitted online to be considered for certification. A complete proposal includes a completed General Education Application for Course Certification, a sample syllabus, and the appropriate category forms addressing how the general education outcomes will be addressed as a part of the course, and how the outcomes will be assessed as a part of the course.

Newly proposed courses and any courses that have been modified significantly to meet the requirements of courses in a specific general education category must FIRST be approved by the Curriculum Committee and the Faculty Senate prior to consideration by the General Education Committee.