Meeting Date: 
November 17, 2022
Date: 
11/17/2022 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting
Agenda: 
  1. Discussion of Three General Education Policies
    • De minimis policy (cont’d.)
    • Intra-category diversification
      • Requirements for course designation diversification
    • Grade minima
      • Requirements for minimum passing grades
    • Class sizes
      • General Education class size requirements

 

 

 

Upcoming Meetings
December 1 ~ 1:00-2:00 PM
December 8 ~ 1:00-2:00 PM

Minutes: 

Voting members present: Aidas Banaitis, Geoffrey Barstow, Daniel Faltesek, Kelsey Emard, Jack Istok, Colin Johnson, Matthew Kennedy, Michelle McAllaster, Lori McGraw, Rene Reitsma, Randy Rosenberger, Kaplan Yalcin
Voting members absent: Justin St. Germain
Ex-officio members present: Academic Affairs – Heath Henry; DPD – Nana Osei-Kofi; Ecampus – Karen Watte
Guests: McKenzie Huber, Michael Jefferis, Caryn Stoess

 

Discussion of Three General Education Policies

  • De minimis policy (cont’d.)
    • The standard whereby the learning outcomes (LOs)are covered is appropriate and meets the Baccalaureate Core (BC) requirements.
      • Proposed policy to be voted on next week: Courses approved will have their primary purpose of being in the General Education (Gen Ed) program and their content must comprehensively cover the entirety of each learning outcome. 
    • ‘...as integral to the course and its purpose in the Gen Ed.’
    • How assessable is it?

Action: Dan Faltesek motioned to approve the proposed policy – Courses approved will have their primary purpose of being in the General Education program and each learning outcome must be integral to the course and meaningfully assessed; seconded. Motion passed with 12 votes in favor, 0 votes against and 0 votes in abstention.

  • Intra-category diversification
    • Requirements for course designation diversification
      • Enforces breadth and diversification in fields of study; prevents/discourages departments from using the Gen Ed as a way to generate revenue and student credit hours/enrollments
        • Con – may force students to take a class from a different subject area than their major has prescribed
          • The current policy is enforced via coding in MyDegrees (MD)
      • It may not be clear to all faculty what the ‘designator’ is on a course listing.
        • Possibly refer to it as a ‘subject designator’ to make it more clear what part of the course name is being referred to.
        • Come programs have multiple designators, which could potentially lead to issues.
        • Does this leave the Gen Ed program open to gaming of the BC for a greater budget?
      • In general education categories requiring more than one course (such as humanities and scientific inquiry), students may only apply one course per subject designator.
      • Could we say students may only apply one course per academic unit instead of per subject designator? Is that too hard to track in MD?
        • Programming in MD that hinges on academic units would require each course to have a unit attribute attached to it.
        • Mike Jefferis will look into what MD is capable of.
      • Part two of the policy: Seeking Solutions courses may only be satisfied outside of a student’s home degree major area or major designator.
        • Should a new Gen Ed designator be made for Transitions and Seeking Solutions courses? Similar to the ‘H’ designator for the Honors College, but what would its designated home be?
        • ALS courses exist outside of an academic home.
        • How is this funded? Would be paid out similarly to the Honors College. Sherm Bloomer could adjust the rules around the payout, if needed.
          • Don’t ‘H’ courses only pay out partial tuition to the home unit...with the rest going to Honors College?
            • Honors does take a portion and students pay a differential. The honors reimbursement is less than the salary/OPE of the faculty FTE to deliver the course.
        • Could be a good motivator for courses to be created in those categories.
        • A course designator will be needed, regardless, for the Transition courses, as many colleges have their own transition programs for incoming students.
        • The Seeking Solutions conversation will continue during the November 30 meeting.

Action: Dan Faltesek motioned to approve the policy - In general education categories requiring more than one course (such as humanities and scientific inquiry), students may only apply one course per subject designator; seconded. The motioned passed with 10 votes in favor, 0 votes against and 0 votes in abstention.

  • Grade minima
    • Requirements for minimum passing grades
      • Will be discussed during the November 30 meeting.
  • Class sizes
    • General Education class size requirements
      • Will be discussed during the November 30 meeting.