GE Minutes 4-1-2013

Snow College General Education Committee
April 1, 2013
In attendance: Joseph Papenfuss, Susan Larsen, Adam Larsen, Rick Wheeler, Gregory
Wright, LaFaun Barnhurst, Mel Jacobsen, Clinton King, Melanie Jenkins, Richard Squire,
Beckie Hermansen
Clinton motioned, LaFaun seconded for approval of minutes from 3/11. Unanimous vote.

We looked over and approved the final draft of the entering freshmen survey.
Big questions: How do we ensure a high response rate? How do we track which students have taken the survey? When will students take this survey? If it was administered at freshman orientation, it might get 50% response. What is the possibility of having it replace or augment the student interest survey? It would make it more difficult to register for a class. What about emailing a link to the survey under discussion to every entering freshman registered for a class. Can we make this an assignment for college survival skills and freshmen orientation?

Suggestion: have students provide their banner numbers on the survey so we can administer more if needed and so we can track longitudinally.
Assignments: Inform colleagues of this survey—provide link. Melanie will talk to Gary Smith about scheduling time in the fall workshop for GE discussion; she will also talk to Shaun Kjar about administering survey at Start Smart. Susan will take care of implementing it into college survival. LaFaun agreed to administer this to some of her high school students this semester for feedback.

We looked at the GE description for social and behavioral science. The document includes a PE and nutrition outcome. We wondered if that is necessary since every box should theoretically have its own definition? We also wondered if every course offering GE credit in social science should meet every outcome. Social science is a disparate group. It is likely that no single class fits all of the bullets, but possibly a few of them (2-3 or more). Use the phrase ‘core element’? Richard will take these suggestions to his division.

General Education Questions brought up – Where is GE going? What is happening? Many are getting rid of the boxes. Should there be integration between the boxes. The students don’t appreciate the box/cafeteria approach. Is it even possible to get away from the boxes? What would GE look like without boxes? How is integration even possible? Some schools are using a GE theme? Is it a box problem or a teacher problem? Good teachers can probably make any system work. Strategic Planning – Marvin Dodge will come and meet with us next week. Does GE drive the strategic plan, or does the strategic plan drive GE?