Challenges – Featured Week Feb 12-16

February 9, 2018

Background: What is Undergraduate General Education?

Current statement from Clemson’s course catalog: Academic institutions exist for the transmission of  knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the intellectual and ethical development of students, and the general well-being of society. Undergraduate students must be broadly educated and technically skilled to be informed and productive citizens. As citizens, they need to be able to think critically about significant issues.

Requirements from SACSCOC (our accrediting body):

• One course from each of the following: Humanities/Fine Arts, Social/Behavioral Science, Natural Science/Mathematics
• “Coherent rationale”
• Minimum of 30 semester hours
• University identifies student learning outcomes, assesses them, provides evidence of improvement

Key questions for in-person and virtual discussions

1. What would “grand challenges” in undergraduate general education mean? Why is it an attractive idea?
2. What curricula or approaches do we have already that can fit with the idea of grand challenges?
3. In what ways can grand challenges (including issues or problem-driven approaches) allow students to connect multiple disciplines? Multiple courses? Multiple intelligences?
4. What might a student learning outcome for integrative learning look like? How
   do we know our students have achieved success?
5. What are the benefits to the students?
6. What are the benefits to the faculty?
7. What are the cons?

Some models from other Universities:

1. The University of Maryland includes an I-Series of courses in their general education. This I-Series exists to: speak to important issues, spark the imagination, demand intellect, inspiration, and innovation, and conclude where feasible with real-world implementation. https://gened-d8.umd.edu/students/four-categories/i-series
2. Worchester Polytechnic Institute uses project-based learning, and all students take both a Great Problems Seminar (https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/great-problems-seminar) and conduct an Interactive Qualifying Project (https://www.wpi.edu/academics/undergraduate/interactive-qualifying-project).
3. The Association of American Colleges & Universities (AACU) embarked on a large project in the last decade to make transparent the aims and promise of undergraduate education. The creation of the VALUE (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education) rubrics provides Universities with a tool to think about undergraduate learning in a variety of fields – https://www.aacu.org/value-rubrics. Components that connect to the idea of grand challenges:
   • Solving Problems, Embracing Contradictions, Innovative Thinking, Connecting/Synthesizing/Transforming (from Creative Thinking rubric)
   • Define Problem, Identify Strategies, Propose Solutions/Hypotheses, Evaluate Potential Solutions, Implement Solutions, Evaluate Outcomes (from Problem Solving rubric)
   • **Note: The VALUE rubrics are a good tool for assessment, but Clemson is not there yet! For now, they are included as a resource to see how learning in this broad area of “grand challenges” is described and defined.

Please come to an in-person discussion and/or provide your responses and feedback and thoughts in the comments feature at the bottom of this page.