Final Report

General Education Review Task Force

The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

January 24, 2002

On September 29, 1999, the Provost established a 15-member, university-wide General Education Review Task Force to conduct a review of general education at UNC Charlotte. During that academic year, the Task Force conducted a survey of the University faculty, studied programs at other institutions, read Strong Foundations: Twelve Principles for Effective General Education Programs (The Association of American Colleges), met 11 times to develop goals and principles for general education, and held two open meetings with the faculty. The Task Force then made ten recommendations that were unanimously approved by the Faculty Council on April 27, 2000.

During the 2000-01 academic year, the Task Force worked with departments and faculty subcommittees, involving over 80 faculty members, to plan a new General Education Program based on a relatively small core of courses dedicated to general education. A first draft of the new program was presented to the faculty in February 2001, with campus-wide discussions continuing for the remainder of the semester. The Task Force worked in the summer to prepare a second draft of the new program, and also this summer, three groups of faculty developed syllabi for new general education courses in ethics, western culture, and global connections.

At its twenty-ninth meeting on November 7, 2001, the Task Force voted to recommend a new General Education Program. In conformity with the principles approved by the Faculty Council, this is a program that includes courses primarily dedicated to general education, that is easily understandable for advising, that avoids double counting courses, that avoids unnecessary restrictions and qualifications, that avoids proliferation of courses, that is structured as a coherent program, and that address basic themes of liberal education.

The final recommendation of the Task Force was submitted to Faculty Council for the meeting of January 24, 2002. It contains the proposed Catalog copy, an advising worksheet, a rationale for the program, and background information on the course proposals for six of the twelve new general education (Liberal Studies) courses.

Program administration and faculty oversight

The General Education Faculty Committee will be responsible for the General Education Program. They will set policy and be responsible for maintaining the academic standards of the program, for assessing its effectiveness, and for making recommendations for changes to improve the program. The associate dean for general education will provide administrative support for the General Education Faculty Committee in order to guarantee effective faculty oversight of the general education curriculum. Specific responsibilities of the associate dean are:

• in collaboration with the deans and department chairs plan and develop the annual schedule of general education courses and identify and coordinate the faculty resources needed to staff the courses;
• administer the faculty grants program for general education course development and organize faculty workshops, seminars, and lectures that aid faculty in teaching and developing general education courses;
• provide administrative leadership for an ongoing formal assessment of student learning outcomes and basic skill competencies in general education; and
• resolve disputes regarding all general education transfer equivalents and be responsible for all student special requests associated with general education.

The president of the faculty has formed a subcommittee to propose an amendment to the Standing Rules of the Faculty that would eliminate the Council on General Education and create the General Education Faculty Committee. The new committee will not function as a course approval committee as did the Council on General Education. Any substantial changes they recommend for improving the General Education Program will be forwarded by the associate dean to the Undergraduate Course and Curriculum Committee which will have responsibility for all undergraduate curricular matters. If a recommended change involves a significant matter of policy, the recommendation would also be reviewed by the Faculty Academic Policy and Standards Committee.

Assessment

The Task Force will recommend the initial, general standards and procedures for assessing the educational effectiveness of the General Education Program. The program will be assessed on a three-year rotation cycle. Each year, one third of the program will be assessed by the General Education Faculty Committee and the associate dean for general education, with the assistance of other selected faculty members. The assessment will focus on two interrelated aspects of the Program: assessing the academic standards of general education courses and assessing student learning outcomes.

In 2004-05 basic writing skills, mathematical and logical reasoning skills, writing in the discipline courses, oral communication, and foreign language skills will be assessed.

In 2005-06 student learning outcomes in the life sciences, physical sciences, and social sciences will be assessed.

In 2006-07 student learning outcomes of the Liberal Studies courses will be assessed in four groups: the arts and society, western cultural and historical awareness, global and intercultural connections, and ethical analysis/cultural critique.

In 2007-08 the three-year assessment cycle will begin again.

The assessment of learning outcomes will be based primarily on pre- and post-tests. The tests will be open-ended essay questions that focus on the general objectives of the course or group of courses. The instructor of the course will have the option of grading or not grading the post-test as a part of the grade of the course.

The Task Force is preparing a more detailed outline of the assessment procedures to be submitted to the Faculty Executive Committee before its February 2002 meeting.

Liberal Studies Courses

Even though these courses will be taught by faculty members from different departments, the general rule will be that participation of an individual faculty member will be tied as closely as possible to the culture of her or his department.

For example, student evaluations of a liberal studies course will be conducted by the home department of the instructor. Regular department procedures and department evaluation forms will be used. The results of these evaluations will be handled in exactly the same manner as a department course.

There will be no general rules about who can and who cannot teach liberal studies courses. This will be a matter to be worked out in each department. It is expected that a significant number of fulltime, tenured and tenure track faculty members will teach these courses. But they can also be taught by part-time faculty. Currently, approximately one-third of the courses designated as A, X, C, L, V are taught by part-time faculty. The associate dean for general education will be instructed not to increase the dependence on part-time faculty for Liberal Studies courses.

The needs of new fulltime faculty members vary from discipline to discipline and these differences will be honored. In some departments it will be fairly easy for a junior tenure track faculty member to develop and teach a liberal studies course, while in other departments that might create an undue hardship. This, as is the case with other matters not related to general education, will be negotiated between the new faculty member and the department chair.

When faculty members teach liberal studies courses, they submit their schedules for these courses to their department chair along with their departmental schedule.

All student credit hours generated by a liberal studies course are credited to the home department of the instructor.

It is expected that faculty members who teach the same liberal studies course will meet once or twice a year to discuss the course and share ideas, teaching strategies, course resources, and readings.

As a matter of academic freedom, each faculty member will have complete control of the assigned readings for the course and complete control of the syllabus, as long as the syllabus indicates how the common goals and objectives for the course are being met.

The assessment of learning outcomes for Liberal Studies courses and courses in the sciences and social sciences will be conducted through pretests and post-tests

University Lectures in the Liberal Arts. Each semester the visiting scholar who gives the lecture will also be scheduled to meet with the faculty members who teach the liberal studies course related to the topic of the lecture.

Writing in the discipline and oral communication courses

By separate action, Faculty Council would recommend that the Provost delegate to the associate dean for general education the authority to designate courses as oral communication courses or as writing in the discipline courses, with the advise and oversight of the appropriate faculty committees. This authority would be delegated on the grounds that the designation of oral communication and writing in the discipline courses has more to do with how the courses are taught than the specific content of the courses.

A course can be approved as a writing in the discipline course by the associate dean upon the recommendation of an advisory committee established by the director of the University Writing Programs. If there is a disagreement between the department proposing the course and the University Writing Programs committee, the disagreement will be resolved by the General Education Faculty Committee. When faculty members offer writing in the discipline courses for the first time, they will expected to attend a short workshop offered by the University Writing Programs.

A course can be approved as an oral communication course by the associate dean upon the advice of an advisory committee established by the chair of the Department of Communication Studies. If there is a disagreement between the department proposing the course and the oral communication advisory committee, the disagreement will be resolved by the General Education Faculty Committee. When faculty members offer an oral communication course for the first time, they will be expected to attend a short workshop offered by the Department of Communications Studies.

All courses currently designated as writing intensive or oral communication courses will automatically carry the W or O designation over into the new General Education Program.

No Liberal Studies courses will be designated as writing in the discipline courses because these courses are offered by faculty members from multiple disciplines. Also, no Liberal Studies courses will be designated as oral communication courses.

Respectively submitted by the General Education Review Task Force,

David Bayer, Civil Engineering Cindy Combs, Political Science Mike Corwin, Physics Lee Gray, Architecture James Hovick, Chemistry Karen Hubbard, Dance and Theater Ron Lunsford, English Al Maisto, Psychology and University Honors Meg Morgan, English Ann Newman, Family and Community Nursing

David Royster, Mathematics Robert Reimer, Languages and Culture Studies Ed St. St. Clair, Religious Studies (Task Force Chair) Rosie Tong, Philosophy Jo Wallace, Reading and Elementary Education ex officio Deborah Bosley, Director, University Writing Programs Ray Frankle, Special Assistant to the Provost Bill Hill, Associate Dean, College of Arts and Sciences