This Week's Message
Dear Colleagues,
On behalf of the General Education Committee, I would like to thank you for your insight and feedback on learning communities (LCs) at our recent faculty retreat. It is clear from the data we collected that LCs are a valued part of our AGES curriculum; however, the staffing shortfall in LCs remains as an issue that must be resolved in a timely manner. We thank you for sharing your ideas and invite you to keep them coming! Your comments will guide us in our continuing discussions. We will continue to bring ideas to you as we work our way through a solution to our staffing issue. We will solicit feedback through web based surveys and conversations with Departments, but please feel free to bring any ideas, suggestions, or comments to any member of the Committee (see list below).
Aside from our work in the course approval process for AGES courses, the Committee has a number of projects we will be working on this year. I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly explain some of the Committee business on our agenda.
- Clarify D and G suffix definitions
Many have asked the committee to clarify the definitions passed last year. We will revisit this issue early this year and bring recommendations to the full faculty. - Analyze assessment data
The General Education Committee will be involved in campus conversations of curriculum change this year. The AGES program will almost certainly be affected by a change in load such as the "Knox model." We feel that assessment data informing us how well AGES is working is key in this discussion. This year, we will begin a systematic analysis of assessment tools already in place (i.e. NSSE, Senior survey, and Teagle study data). While we know these assessments will not provide all of the information we would like to know, we will take advantage of this rich source of information. Dean Farrar will be leading the group in this task. - Recommend a model for Community College transfer credit in AGES
At the retreat, Dean Abernathy discussed the possibility of setting up a transfer agreement with several Community Colleges. The Gen Ed committee will soon begin the process determining how to make AGES requirements more transfer friendly.
As always, our goal is to build the best AGES program we can; one that is valuable to students, and one that you want to be a part of. We welcome your input on how to achieve this goal.
Best,
Kristin Douglas
General Education Committee, Chair
2009-2010 General Education Committee
Allen Bertsche
Kristin Douglas
Anne Earel
Randall Hall
Allison Haskill
Virginia Johnson
Emil Kramer
Dan Lee
Mariano Magalhães
Joe McDowell
Lisa Seidlitz (Fall term)
Fred Whiteside
Karin Youngberg