Senate Standing Committee on General Education and Transfer Resolution Presentation to Senate 2.13.2017

Thank you to The General Education Committee members, elected by the Senate, and who have worked on this in one stage or another: William Ashbaugh, Thomas Beal, Mary Lyn Benson, Suzanne Black, Gwen Crane, Alejandra Escudero, David Fieni, Hugh Gallagher, Sallie Han, Roger Hecht, Matthew Hendley, Andrew Kahl, Yuri Makikov, Zanna McKay, Eileen Morgan-Zayachek, Chuck Maples, Rhea Nowak, James Ruffo, Elizabeth Seale, Renee Walker, Bianca Tredennick, Akira Yatsuhashi Thank you to the Student Association Thank you to the over 20 Departments and one school that made time for us in their department meetings and responded with questions, suggestions and feedback. Thank you to the the individual faculty who took the time to email us with questions and suggestions.

Our committee’s purpose in this resolution: Respond to Middle States and Linda Suskie recommendations To give our Gen Ed program coherence and a purpose clear to both the students and the faculty   To encourage and develop first year student engagement The Frameworks Firmly rooted in best practices for encouraging student engagement Singly or together have been proven to develop student engagement Allows faculty the most flexibility in their own courses Our committee’s additional goal: To support the already strong teaching in Gen Ed To allow faculty flexibility in their own courses

Frameworks Proposal for College Senate February 13, 2017   Introduction: The SUNY Oneonta general education program introduces students to diverse modes of thinking, exploring, and creating meaning among the scholarly disciplines. Oneonta’s Frameworks Model of General Education reinforces this principle of diversity by promoting activities in which students make connections and grapple with open-ended questions through disciplinary and cross-disciplinary modes of thought. As a student-focused model of general education, these Frameworks also encourage conscious exploration of diverse voices, cultures, and perspectives through opportunities for collaborative problem-solving and contextualized learning -- toward the goal that the next generation of scholars, innovators, and leaders may discover value in a multiplicity of perspectives and the fundamental importance of equity and inclusion to both our campus community and our democratic society.

Rationale: Whereas SUNY requirements for general education programs state that such programs will provide “coherent and focused educational experiences” (General Education Requirement, Document 1401)   Whereas the most recent Middle States assessment report stated that our distribution model is clear but our General Education Program does not act as an integrative whole Whereas Linda Suskie, an Accreditation Expert and Consultant who, in 2014, made a campus study of our General Education Program and assessment process, stated clearly we do not have a “coherent, integrated” Gen Ed Program but only a list of requirements, “a set of boxes to be checked off” Whereas recent campus-wide discussions have revealed a strong sense that our Gen Ed program lacks coherence and intentionality; it simply does not make sense or serve a clear purpose. This incoherence is reflected in our low levels of first-year student engagement as reported in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

  Whereas our Gen Ed Program must respond to SUNY requirements, Middle States expectations, and SUNY Oneonta’s commitment to providing the best possible learning experiences for our students, revisions to the program are necessary to make our General Education Program more intentional, more coherent, and more clearly focused on promoting academic engagement among our students Whereas the proposed Frameworks represent ways of teaching and learning that are fundamental to students’ academic engagement

Be it resolved that   General Education courses at SUNY Oneonta will be centered upon two Programmatic Frameworks--Problem Solving and Making Connections. In this context, “Problem Solving” and “Making Connections” are best described as follows: Problem Solving is the use of analytical, critical, and creative thinking to grapple with complex, open-ended questions; overcome obstacles; or achieve desired goals. Making Connections is drawing comparisons, making associations, recognizing patterns, and exploring similarities and differences among diverse experiences, ideas, and modes of thought (current or historic) in order to contextualize and transfer learning

Be it further resolved that   in order to facilitate the process of adopting programmatic frameworks, departments will submit to the GEC for approval a rationale and sample syllabus aligning each Gen Ed course to a chosen framework for an approved course, individual faculty members may submit their own rationales and sample syllabi aligning a course to the other framework to facilitate faculty choice, departments may submit a rationale and sample syllabus aligning a course to each of the two frameworks rationales and sample syllabi may also be submitted to integrate both frameworks simultaneously into a single course

the first assessment cycle for the proposed programmatic frameworks should evaluate the framework adoption process with focus on All Gen Ed courses having been aligned to the frameworks The balance between courses approved for one or the other framework Problems and successes in adapting courses to the frameworks the second and subsequent assessments should focus on evidence of improved student academic engagement as reflected in the NSSE and other institutional assessment data relating to first year students timeline goals for implementation be the program is piloted for early adopters the first semester with preliminary review and possible revision the second semester and is in place for all Ge Ed courses the following semester