General Education

Goals, Strategies, and Analysis

Contemporary Understandings of Liberal Education, by Carol Geary Schneider and Robert Shoenberg
The first publication in a series exploring The Academy in Transition, this discussion paper maps national trends in educational reform and examines their implications for the content and organization of higher learning. The authors contend that outdated structures, practices, and reward systems frustrate higher education's ability to reap the benefits of new directions in student learning. They examine the emergence of broad agreement on what students ought to learn from their baccalaureate studies and through general education programs and find a strong trend toward collaborative, experiential service and integrative modes of learning. Intended to inspire further discussion, the paper serves faculty members and academic leaders as a point of departure for their own analysis of the direction of educational change.

What Will It Mean to Be Educated in the 21st Century? Judith Ramaley, Assistant Director, Education and Human Resources, National Science Foundation
As our nation approaches universal participation in postsecondary education and as the patterns of enrollment and the pathways to success become more complex, we need to define the goals and purposes of an undergraduate education in ways that provide some coherence and clarity in the face of such rich diversity. Engaged scholarship and learning and work that seriously addresses the challenges of contemporary life will become an avenue to a fresh interpretation of the missions of our colleges and universities and a means to achieve the Greater Expectations that we have for our students. This PowerPoint presentation (166 KB) was given at AAC&U's 2004 General Education and Assessment meeting.

What's in a Name? Interpretations of, and Alternatives to, "General Education," Stephen H. Bowen, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Bucknell University
Educators have rarely been satisfied with the term "general education". It seems vague and lacking in focus or purpose. Yet, it persists as the most common title for that part of the curriculum required of every student. Alternative titles, of how they may be perceived, and of what new meaning they may impart were explored. This presentation from the 2004 General Education and Assessment meeting is available as a PowerPoint presentation (37KB).

Integrating Goals for General Education with the Work of Departments, Paul Gaston, Provost, Kent State University
Beyond addressing broad institutional goals, most General Education programs seek to prepare students also for study “in the major.” Yet there is rarely a clear understanding of what such preparation should provide for study within (and among) particular disciplines. In the context of exemplary practices, participants (a) explored the role departments should seek in defining programmatic and pre-disciplinary competencies, (b) weighed strategies for embracing institutional goals (e.g., educating and empowering students to take responsibility for their personal and civic actions) while honoring departmental goals, and (c) considered useful tactics for navigating likely political issues. This PowerPoint presentation (497KB) was given at AAC&U's 2004 General Education and Assessment meeting.

Disaggregating Data About Diverse Student Populations
Estela Mara Bensimon, Professor of Higher Education, Director of the Center for Urban Education, and Principal Investigator for Diversity Scorecard Project, University of Southern California
Participants in this session of AAC&U's 2004 General Education and Assessment meeting learned ways to use existing institutional data to monitor an institution's progress toward equity for historically underrepresented students in four areas: access, retention, institutional receptivity, and academic excellence. With materials from The Diversity Scorecard Project, participants examined how these materials might be used to advance their own efforts to bridge equity with excellence for every student.

National Research Results on Engaging Students through Learning Communities, Jean M. Henscheid, Fellow, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition, University of South Carolina, and Randy Swing, Co-Director, Policy Center on the First Year of College
In this session from AAC&U's 2004 General Education and Assessment meeting, researchers shared findings on the factors inherent in first-year student learning communities that lead to greater student engagement and richer learning experiences. Swing's data collected from learning community students enrolled in institutions of all types across the country was discussed. Henscheid extended Swing's research with an in-depth analysis of the learning community efforts at 20 institutions. A Learning Communities Readiness Audit (11KB PDF file) was also distributed.

Students in the Balance: General Education in the Research University, a report of The Penn State Symposium on General Education.
In its recent report, Students in the Balance, the Penn State Symposium on General Education took stock of efforts by research universities to improve general education offerings in the post-Boyer report era. The Boyer report, released in 1998, characterized research universities as being out of touch with their undergraduates. The Penn State report includes several recommendations for how research universities need to carefully reflect on institutional mission in regard to general education and commit themselves to “be bold and speak frankly of intellectual life” starting as early as the recruiting and admission stages.

Alternative Visions of General Education, by Jonathan Smith
In this transcript of a talk given at AAC&U's Network for Academic Renewal Spring 2000 conference on General Education in the New Millennium: Opportunities, Principles, Politics, Jonathan Smith discusses different concepts of general education. He offers a typology distinguishing among general, generalist, and generalizing education, and examines the recent changes in the University of Chicago's Common Core requirements as a way of contextualizing his discussion.

The Status of General Education in the Year 2000: Summary of a National Survey
The Status of General Education in the Year 2000 summarizes the results of an extensive survey of undergraduate general education in a sample of AAC&U-member colleges and universities, which was conducted by staff at AAC&U and at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at The Pennsylvania State University. It provides a snapshot of general education practice at the turn-of-the-century, information about significant changes in the past decade, and insight about the challenges of the future. The print publication is available for purchase on AAC&U's web site.

Academically Speaking
This Winter 2000 issue of Salisbury State University's electronic publication focuses on general education and informs the campus community about the importance of general education in higher education and more specifically, about Salisbury State University's General Education Task Force and its ongoing mission on campus. Included are remarks delivered to the Governor's Conference on Higher Education by AAC&U President Carol Geary Schneider.

Goals for Liberal Learning and College-level Learning as Stated by a Selection of Higher Education Associations, Disciplinary Associations, Accrediting Agencies, Students, and Colleges/Universities
Prepared by Andrea Leskes and Ross Miller of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) as part of the Greater Expectations National Panel Briefing Papers, this briefing material offers a selection of existing statements about the aims of an undergraduate education. The examples, while neither a complete survey nor necessarily reflective of all institutions and organizations invested in higher education, were chosen because they provide some of the best and most clearly articulated statements of goals for student learning.

American Pluralism and the College Curriculum: Higher Education in a Diverse Democracy
These excerpts distinguish between multiple goals for student learning about American pluralism and offer specific recommendations for the kinds of learning that can meet different goals. Addressing both general education and majors, the selections provided here explain the recommendations.

Liberal Learning and the Arts of Connection for the New Academy, by Elizabeth K. Minnich
The second report written by the National Panel of the Association of American Colleges and Universities' American Commitments Initiative, this text explores goals for liberal learning in a diverse democracy and argues that the liberal arts of the future will include ways of relating and learning across difference. Written for faculty members and curriculum committees, this report should be used in connection with the third volume of this series, American Pluralism and the College Curriculum.

American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) Education Standards (PDF)
The American Academy for Liberal Education (AALE) is the first national organization recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Higher Education to accredit institutions and programs based upon the quality, rigor and effectiveness of their undergraduate general education requirements. A national association of colleges and universities dedicated to strengthening and promoting liberal arts education through the peer review process of institutional and programmatic accreditation, the AALE has outlined education standards that focus upon intellectual content and subject expertise, rather than management processes. The standards require that accredited institutions support and reward undergraduate teaching and that curriculum requirements ensure a basic knowledge of mathematics, the natural sciences, foreign languages, and the literary, philosophical, artistic and cultural classics of western civilization.

When Revising a Curriculum, Strategy May Trump Pedagogy: How Duke Pulled Off An Overhaul While Rice Saw Its Plans Collapse, by Alison Schneider
This article illustrates the politics involved in attempting to institute curriculum. Focusing on Duke and Rice Universities' efforts to pass new general education requirements, Alison Schneider compares Duke's successful effort, credited to good communications efforts on campus, in other words, good management of the change process, to Rice's failed effort. At Rice, the proposed plan was perceived to be too political; however, a few of the interesting pieces were preserved as pilot programs.

AAC&U offers these resources only as possible models of interest and has not submitted each of them to any substantial peer or quality review. If you have questions about any particular resource, please contact the institution sponsoring it directly.