This week the campus will be reviewing the revised general education proposal. The General Education Program Committee has received feedback from some faculty and departments and would like to respond to those questions that have been asked most frequently. We hope the responses to these questions will help faculty more effectively respond to the proposal.

1. Why do we have three sets of program outcome?
The outcomes are directly related to the general education principles (the eight skill-sets, disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge, ethics, and diversity) and to common practice faculty follow in identifying course expectations. Currently, course syllabi are likely to identify disciplinary or interdisciplinary outcomes and expectations for some skills. Some courses may address issues associated with ethics, globalization, or diversity. The three sets of outcomes reflect what is currently common practice, but is not transparent.

2. How will students know what outcomes they are being asked to meet?
Students will be aware of the three sets of program outcomes. They will be published and they will be noted on each syllabus. Students will be able to determine which outcomes are being addressed in their courses. The outcomes they need to be concerned with are the course outcomes. Just as they do now, students will need to meet the course outcomes in order to be successful in the course.

The program outcomes are primarily for the faculty, so that they have a framework for designing their courses within the program framework, and for the General Education Committee that will be assessing the outcomes.

We cannot upon initial implementation assure that all students will meet all outcomes, because we will not dictate to faculty which outcomes they must address from the three broad categories (disciplinary or interdisciplinary, skills, integrative). The outcomes will be mapped (identify in which courses outcomes are being addressed); we will know what courses students are taking; we will know what outcomes faculty have identified in those courses; and we will compare that information to the learning students demonstrate when we assess their learning.

3. How can we assure students will further develop the nine skill-sets?
The revised program has the benefit of identifying a set of skills that can mapped. Mapping involves identifying in which courses students are being asked to use which skills. This allows the General Education Program Committee to identify any imbalances that might exist. Those imbalances can be shared with the faculty and appropriately addressed. If we see, for example, that very few courses include quantitative reasoning or creative thinking, and in assessing student learning we see they do not meet these outcomes, we will need to determine if these outcomes are important and will need to discuss how to include them in more of the program's courses.

The General Education Program Committee will establish a process for assessing students' skills. The result of those assessments will help inform faculty about those skills students are demonstrating competency in and those skills that need further development.

4. Are we supposed to be teaching skills? Why are they part of this program?
The faculty is responsibility for helping students further develop those skills they use when engaged in intellectual inquiry. Because similar sets of skills will be identified in every course, students will make the connection that irrespective of the type of intellectual inquiry in which they are engaged, these are skills they will be called upon to use. The intent is to help students develop skills over their full participation in the program.

5. I understand that courses will have content (disciplinary or interdisciplinary) outcomes and students will use various skills, but what is the reason for the integrative outcomes?
The integrative outcomes represent the outcomes faculty has identified as important to student learning, outcomes they identified as being valuable, and outcomes they want students to be able to demonstrate. They also represent the general education principles. The outcomes are purposefully broad to allow faculty latitude in more specifically identifying outcomes that match the intent of their individual courses.

6. The relationship between integrative outcomes and other sets of outcomes (disciplinary/ interdisciplinary and skills) is not clear to me; could you clarify?
The purpose of the three sets of outcomes is to provide students exposure to all the outcomes in many contextual settings so that they see how these outcomes are connected to the process of engaging in intellectual inquiry, rather than how the three sets of outcomes relate to one another. The three sets of outcomes are integral to student development. In all courses in the program, students will see what the disciplinary or interdisciplinary outcomes are, what the skills expectations are and what the integrative outcomes are. Each syllabus will identify these. It won't take students long to see how these outcomes are connected to the process of engaging in intellectual inquiry.

7. How can we assure students will develop knowledge about the integrative outcomes?
We can identify in which courses students are being asked to use which integrative outcomes (mapping). This allows us to identify any imbalances that might exist. Those imbalances can be shared with the faculty and appropriately addressed. If we see, for example, that very few courses include global issues or ethics, and in assessing student learning we see they do not meet these outcomes, we will need to determine if these outcomes are important and will need to discuss how to include them in more of the program's courses.

We will be assessing students' knowledge in these areas. The result of those assessments will help inform faculty about those outcomes students are meeting and those outcomes that need further development.

8. How can faculty include all the identified outcomes in their courses?
Faculty do not need to include all outcomes in all courses. They need to identify disciplinary or interdisciplinary content outcomes that are specific to their course and reflect the program outcomes; the skills students will use in the course and the faculty member's expectations for those skills; and the integrative outcomes that will be addressed.

9. How will students be held accountable for meeting outcomes?
Students need to continue to be held accountable for satisfactorily completing courses. Students are not held accountable for meeting program outcomes. Initially, faculty teaching in the Integrative Studies Program will be concerned with assuring that outcomes are addressed in courses and students are assisted in gaining knowledge and developing skills and capabilities. The assessment of their knowledge and competencies will help guide the development of the program.

10. What is integrative about Integrative Studies?
Integration is an outcome of the program, essential in the curriculum development process, and a goal for teaching and learning. Integration involves helping students make connections. Those connections include: a) awareness that irrespective of the intellectual inquiry in which one is engaged, similar skills will be used and the richness of the experience is enhanced as those skills are further developed; b) the integration of skills from introductory to more advanced; c) contextualizing course content with outcomes that connect the content with broader perspectives (ethics, diversity, global issues) that ought to enhance deeper, more connected learning; and d) introducing students to interdisciplinary modes of inquiry that connect learning from various perspectives. The program is grounded in connections that are transparent not only to the faculty teaching individual courses, but to students taking courses in the entire program, and to those who evaluate our program (accreditors).

"Integrative learning is an ambitious student learning goal, long espoused in higher education and in the world at large. It is also a goal that for too long has depended upon serendipity rather than planning in its achievement and is often not included as an element in assessments. But if a college or university is committed to integrative learning as an expected outcome, it must create intentional approaches to providing integrative experiences and assessing the quality of student integrative achievement." (Miller, 2005)

"In its new campaign, Liberal Education and America's Promise: Excellence for Everyone as a Nation Goes to College, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is highlighting integrative ability as a key outcome of a quality undergraduate education today. It is clear that integrative learning is essential to prepare students to deal effectively both with complex issues in their working lives and the challenges facing the broader society today and in the future." (Humphreys, 2005).

11. How will assessment be accomplished - what are the instruments?
We will determine what instruments exist that effectively and efficiently measure program outcomes. If we feel they are a match for us, we will determine which of those to use. If we determine that it is better for us to create our own assessment tools/methods, we will do that. The intent is to use methods/instruments that will assess multiple outcomes. We will choose random samples of students to assess. We will assess students in the Thinking and Writing and Quantitative Literacy courses at the end of each semester and we will assess student work at the end of the first, second, third and fourth years. We will survey students and faculty and compare their responses to the learning students are demonstrating. We will utilize existing assessment surveys, such as NSSE and the Graduating Senior Survey, as appropriate and applicable.

12. How can we assure that students will achieve upper level abilities in the areas of Writing and Quantitative Literacy?
There are two foundations courses, but no additional requirements in either area. We need to require two or three writing instructional courses and two or three quantitative reasoning courses.

The GEPC recognizes the importance of continued development in these areas. We believe that it would be nearly impossible for the Integrative Studies Program's eleven courses to accomplish this plus the other outcomes that have been identified by the campus community. We would recommend that the Senate consider implementing a college wide requirement specifying the total number and level of Writing Intensive and Quantitative Reasoning courses needed for graduation, and that these additional courses could come from the student's major, elective or Integrative Studies courses.