(This report was created for the September Council on Undergraduate Studies meeting, but has been posted to the blog for the sake of transparency.)

August and September Progress Reports

The General Education Committee has been hard at work over the past month, ready to get back to the work of improving our curriculum and the structures that support it!

General Education Retreat – August

We had over 150 faculty, staff, students, and guests in attendance. The energy and discussions were fantastic! The blog page for the event has handouts and data sets that were used at the retreat, and we plan to make this an annual event.

Existing Curriculum

We created new student learning outcomes and rubrics last year for a portion of the General Education curriculum, and around 80 faculty participated in collaborative faculty development around assignment design.

We will be initiating a process of regular review of existing courses in the General Education curriculum this year, using a transparent and open form in Curriculog. The purpose of the review is to ensure that our curriculum “delivers high value, challenges students intellectually, and fully prepares them to engage and succeed in upper-level course work and careers after graduation” (ClemsonForward, 2016).  All courses in the General Education curriculum should have explicit connections to a student learning outcome. Department Chairs and Department or Interdisciplinary Curriculum Committees will be contacted on a regular and pre-established basis about the review.

Proposing New Courses for the General Education Curriculum

“A General Education curriculum should be more than a list of courses.” This seemed to be a common theme from the August retreat, and the General Education Committee is working to make it a practice.

But we need to determine: what IS a General Education course? We know that the courses must draw on and connect to the common student learning outcomes, as described above, but are there other criteria that faculty utilize? Are these good and robust criteria? Are they transparent? Are we using the same criteria for evaluation of transfer credits and transfer courses? The General Education Committee is working on this issue now with an eye toward transparent curricular processes, and the work of the Transfer Credit Task Force will also be important.

Continued Re-Envisioning

The August retreat included a first presentation of the idea of Global Challenges and Information Literacy areas within the General Education curriculum. The Committee members received much excellent feedback from attendees and are working now to shape a potential curriculum, with careful attention to all of the underlying factors.

The first of what we intend to be an annual event for faculty, staff, and graduate students to discuss our undergraduate General Education Program.

Did you know: Re-envisioning of the General Education Program is a ClemsonForward goal? 

Who is invited? Who should attend?

• Clemson faculty – of all ranks and roles – regardless of whether they teach courses in the General Education Program.
• Graduate students (GTRs, lab TAs, etc.) who are interested.
• Advisors and academic staff who work with curriculum.
• Student affairs professionals who are interested.
• Undergraduate students who are interested.
• Academic partner institutions.

Planned Agenda

Thursday, August 15, 2019, 9 am-3:30 pm
Watt Family Innovation Center at Clemson University

Note: The deadline for rsvps has now passed. You are still more than welcome to attend the event on August 15, but we cannot accommodate any dietary restrictions at this time. If you have accessibility/accommodation needs, please email Kathy Russ – kruss@clemson.edu – directly.

Although attendees may come in and out throughout the day, the retreat is designed to be sequential and will be best experienced through the full-day agenda.

9 am – Check-In and Coffee
Location: Watt Family Innovation Center Lobby

9:30 am – Welcome and Overview
Location: Watt Family Innovation Center Auditorium

9:45-10:45 am – Data Dig Roundtables
Engage with data from General Education Program assessment of student learning (past and present) or other data on undergraduate student success. Provide suggestions for continuous improvement and implications for our teaching practices.
Location: Watt 106 and 208

11 am-12:15 pm – Progress Report on a Re-Envisioned General Education Curriculum
Presentation and discussion on the progress made and items to still be determined on a re-envisioned General Education Curriculum.
Location: Watt Family Innovation Center Auditorium

12:15-1 pm – Lunch (RSVP Required)
Location: Watt Family Innovation Center Lobby

1:00-3:05 pm – Breakouts for Teaching Strategies and Discussions
Three concurrent breakouts will be available. Attendees are invited to attend any or all.

Where are we now with the general education curriculum re-envisioning?

A general education curriculum is not just a list of courses, so the faculty General Education Committee worked over academic year 2018-2019 on a number of tasks that will help guide teaching, learning, and assessment for our students.

Here are 4 things for all Clemson faculty (and staff and students and other interested parties) to know!

The General Education Committee has:

1. Navigated the approval of new student learning outcomes and rubrics for disciplinary & communication areas of the general education curriculum, effective in fall 2019. (Link, also in AY 19-20 Undergraduate Catalog.) These revised student learning outcomes should be in syllabi and will be part of assessment.
2. Created a comprehensive and regular assessment plan for the general education curriculum. (Link.)
3. Implemented a faculty development series with OTEI on assignment design and connection to new student learning outcomes and rubrics. (Link.)
4. Worked on a proposal for a new general education program structure, to be discussed at a faculty retreat August 15, 2019 and throughout fall 2019.

Stay tuned for information about the August 15 retreat and talk to your General Education Committee colleagues any time!