General Education Requirement at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside 2005

Contents

Motivation

On April 22, 2003, the Faculty Senate moved to eliminate the UW-Parkside's University Seminar (GNED 101) requirement (see http://uwp.edu/staff/gov/senate/psf0203/psf41.htm). At the same time, they charged the General Education Committee with examining alternatives to the University Seminar (to take effect with entering students in Fall 2004) and to bring these to the Faculty Senate for consideration. These alternatives are illustrated by, but not limited to, those included in a written report from the General Education Committee that was distributed at the meeting and accepted and filed by the Faculty Senate.

The General Education Committee sought to develop a proposal that was consistent with four points of the University Mission, the most basic of which is to

To make students successful, the committee felt is was necessary to take their academic preparedness into account. We looked at entrance placement test results over the last five years. Table 1 shows the placement of incoming students to UW--Parkside from 1999 to 2003. For each year, the table gives the number of incoming students who tested into an academic skills course, those who tested into a MATH or ENGL course needed to satisfy the university's "Computational Skills" or "Reading and Writing Skills" requirement, the number of students who tested out of the skills requirements, and finally, the number of students in total taking the placement test.

Year Placed in
ACSK 010 or 015 		Placed in MATH 102
or MATH 111 		Tested Out Total
1999435381111927
2000439342146927
2001511332147990
20026773201331130
20037974001401337
Year Placed in ACSK 090 Placed in
ENGL 100 		Placed in ENGL 101 Tested Out Total
199918342629077976
200021141630358988
2001260447320661093
2002357493240441134
2003530596197181341

Table 1: Placement of Incoming Students Fall 1999 -- Fall 2003 (Numbers of Students)

Table 2 gives the same information with the actual numbers of students expressed as percentages of the total number taking the placement test each year.

Year % Placed in
ACSK 010 or 015 		% Placed in MATH 102
or MATH 111 		% Tested Out Total %
1999474112100
2000473716100
2001523315100
2002602812100
2003603010100
Year % Placed in ACSK 090 % Placed in
ENGL 100 		% Placed in ENGL 101 % Tested Out Total %
19991943308100
20002142316100
20012441296100
20023243214100
20034044151100

Table 2: Placement of Incoming Students Fall 1999 -- Fall 2003 (Percentage of Students Placing in each Category by Year)

It is clear that as UW-Parkside's number of incoming students has increased, larger percentages of them are testing into lower-level skills classes. The trend in "Computational Skills" is relatively subtle. In 1999, 47% (435/927) of the incoming students placed in academic skills-level mathematics and 41% (381/927) placed in MATH 102 or 111. Five years later in 2003, 60% (797/1337) of the incoming students placed in academic skills-level mathematics and 30% (400/1337) placed in MATH 102 or 111. The trend is more dramatic in regard to incoming students' "Reading and Writing Skills". In 1999, 19% (183/976) of the incoming students placed in academic skills-level English and 44% (426/976) placed in ENGL 100. By 2003, 40% (530/1341) of the incoming students placed in academic skills-level English and 44% (596/1341) tested into ENGL 100. Hence, by 2003 about 60% of the incoming students that were tested entered unprepared for college-level mathematics and 84% entered unprepared for college-level English.

Students take academic skills classes to attain college-level computational and reading and writing skills. Evidence presented in Chapter 3 of UW-Parkside's self-study report (p. 5) indicates that these classes prepare students for college level work. The general education committee believes that these courses are accomplishing this task, but that these competencies must be reinforced with repeated practice throughout the BOK curriculum. Toward this end, the committee felt that a proposal for general education reformulation must encourage departments and programs to become intentional about achieving the goals of general education (several which address basic competencies) in their BOK offerings and support their efforts to do so.

In Fall 2001, General Education Director Larry Duetsch surveyed all instructors of Breadth of Knowledge (BOK) courses. As reported in Chapter 3 of UW-Parkside's self-study report (p. 6) for the North Central Association of Colleges and Universities, about 63% (105 of 166 classes) faculty and instructional staff teaching general education courses replied to the survey. While a favorable percentage of responders reported that one or more activities in their classes helped to develop students' critical thinking, writing, oral communication, and teamwork skills, there was no direct evidence of the effectiveness of their efforts.

Direct evidence of student success or outcomes-based assessment is at the core of learning-centered instruction and modern assessment. Its purpose is not to evaluate faculty and staff, but rather, to provide constructive feedback (in aggregate form) to departments and programs about student learning in their classes. Another feature of modern assessment is that it is incremental, embedded and ongoing. That is, a subset of outcomes are assessed each year, and assessment is based on a sample of the artifacts produced by students to meet class requirements. Our inability to perform outcomes-based assessment for the general education curriculum thwarts attempts to realize the first point of our university mission statement to

The implication is that we can't adjust our programs to improve student learning without performing authentic outcomes-based assessment.

The General Education Mission

The committee developed a mission statement consistent with four points of the UW-Parkside's Mission Statement that are relevant. Reflecting these points,
the purpose of a general education in the liberal arts at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge and skills so that the students will become successful in their professions and careers. To achieve that end, the general education program is dedicated to fostering a liberal education in the arts, humanities, natural, social, and behavioral sciences responsive to the occupational, civic and cultural needs of its diverse student population. The general education program will create a learning community that provides opportunities for excellence, for utilizing technology creatively and effectively, and for providing programs that meet the intellectual and cultural needs of people throughout their lives.

General Education Goals

The following goals statement for General Education at UW-Parkside takes effect Fall 2005:

The purpose of a general education in the liberal arts at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is twofold. First, students will have acquired a knowledge and skill set that is used across all academic disciplines. Second, it will make students aware that knowledge is diverse, and it will make them conversant with the principles and methodologies of disciplines across the spectrum of knowledge. Therefore, all University of Wisconsin-Parkside graduates must have
  1. achieved competency in the following areas:

    • A: Communication
      • Literacy - reading for understanding and writing for effective communication
      • Oral communication - listening, speaking and presenting effectively
      • Information technology competence - using modern information technology to retrieve and transmit information
      • Creative expression - communicating through artistic statement
    • B: Reasoned Judgment
      • Critical thinking - applying logic and reasoning to problem solving
      • Ethical thinking - recognizing and analyzing ethical issues and actions
      • Scientific thinking - understanding and applying the scientific method
      • Analytical skills - understanding how to produce and interpret quantitative and qualitative information
      • Aesthetic skills - critiquing and appreciating the fine arts (literary, visual, and performing)
    • C: Social and Personal Responsibility
      • Individual accountability - understanding what a responsible choice is and that one's present education and life-long learning is a personal responsibility
      • Social Equality - understanding and questioning the social, political, economic and historical conditions that construct diversity and inequality
      • Civic engagement - learning to use knowledge and skills to contribute to the community
      • Global perspective - aquiring the knowledge and skills that provide an understanding of international/global issues and processes
      • Teamwork - working effectively with others for a common goal

      These competencies cannot be "taught" in a handful of required courses, nor should students view these competencies as disconnected from their major. These abilities are gained and maintained with practice across the array of academic disciplines. Toward this end, it is expected that in each BOK class students will practice and refine a subset of these foundational competencies.

  2. demonstrated competency in each of three broad areas: Humanities and the Arts, Social and Behavioral Science, and Natural Science

Implementation

  1. Keep the three distribution areas: Humanities and the Arts, Social and Behavioral Science, Natural Science.
  2. Students are required to take 12 credit hours from each distribution area from at least three different departments/programs in each distribution area.
  3. Each department/program offers its courses in one of the distribution areas unless otherwise approved.
  4. No more than five BOK offerings per department/program, which should include courses needed for Teacher Education certification, Nursing, and Diversity unless otherwise approved
  5. All General Education courses will address at least one competency from each of the three competency areas (Communication, Reasoned Judgment, and Social and Personal Responsibility), in all sections of that course.
  6. Each BOK course should be offered at least once a year; each department/program should offer one BOK course in evening or weekend format at least every third semester.
  7. Departments/Programs will work with the General Education Committee and Academic Achievement Assessment Committee to identify assessible outcomes for the competencies their courses are intended to achieve; in turn, the General Education and Assessment committees will give department and programs regular feedback on their offerings in aggregated form.
  8. The General Education Committee, Academic Achievement Assessment Committee, the Institute for Community Based Learning and the Teaching Center will assist departments/programs in developing new courses or redesigning existing courses to meet general education and department/program goals better.