General Education Model Presentation Report from the General Education Oversight Committee to the UMKC Faculty Senate Feb. 21 st, 2012

General Education Models We had multiple criteria we wished to fulfill: – Have an interdisciplinary curriculum. – Follow a developmental strategy. – Show students a clear path through general education. – Empower high-impact learning experiences. – Foster student achievement through cohort groups. We therefore present two models: – The first shows where we started from: assumptions that would show how we thought the content would be delivered under “laboratory” conditions not reflecting UMKC or it’s unique qualities. – The second displays how we adapted the model to the realities of UMKC: Faculty strengths, instructional mission, new and transfer students, etc.

Anchor Courses- linked to Discourse courses Reasoning and Values Culture and DiversityCivic and Community Engagement Interdisciplinary Platform Courses GenEd Bridge experience (1-3 credits) 300 level Model 1 II: 200 level partnered Discourse II: Culture and Diversity III: 300 level partnered Discourse III: Civic & Community Engagement I: 100 level partnered Discourse I: Reasoning and Values 100/200 Arts & Humanities Social & Behavioral Sciences Natural & Physical Sciences Anchor courses are developmentally sequenced and expected to be team taught; they will have cohorting of students and partnering of teachers across the all levels. Course levels in the platform relate to expectations derived in anchor courses above: each will integrate expectations from a specific level of Discourse courses. The “Capstone” experience is ideally experiential: for example, clinic, SEARCH research, internships, semester abroad, etc. It will related to the goals of the GenEd program and students will be expected to write a report about their experiences. There is a pool of approved courses in the platform that relate to each subject area noted.

I: 100 level linked Reasoning and Values Culture and DiversityCivic and Community Engagement Discourse I: Reasoning & Values III: 300 level partnered Discourse III: Civic & Community Engagement Anchor courses are developmentally sequenced and expected to be team taught The Capstone course experience will have cohorting of students and partnering of teachers across the III: 300 level and Discourse III classes. Course levels in the platform relate to expectations derived in anchor courses above: each will integrate expectations from a specific level of Discourse courses. Some Platform courses may be experiential: for example, clinic, SEARCH research, internships, semester abroad, etc. There is a pool of approved courses in the platform that relate to each subject area noted, and these courses will help introduce and discuss disciplinary boundaries. Anchor Courses Platform Courses Reflectively Applied Knowledge and Integration /200/300 Discourse II: Culture and Diversity II: 200 level linked 100/200/300 Arts & Humanities Social & Behavioral Sciences Natural & Physical Sciences General Education Elective Model 2 Gen. Ed. Capstone Courses

General Education Model and Student Learning Outcomes *Platform courses draw from the sciences, arts & humanities, and society. Students may choose content areas and levels of courses, but must complete 12 hours of coursework with a minimum of 3 hours each of the three areas. Many current UMKC course offerings may be approved to fulfill this requirement. Students may select 12 hours of interdisciplinary courses, still meeting the distribution of perspectives from the natural and physical sciences, arts & humanities, and social and behavioral sciences. Interdisciplinary courses will be coded with perspective designations to facilitate selection to meet this requirement. **The General Education elective may draw from any of the approved platform courses but must meet at least some of the learning outcomes identified. Constitution requirement may be met here or elsewhere within General Education. GEOC Model Proposed Courses Level I Courses Level II Courses Prerequisite: Discourse I Platform Courses* Prerequisite: Discourse I or II Level determined by learning outcomes of the course. Level III Courses Prerequisite: Discourse II; Upper-level course required by all transfer students Assessment UMKC General Education Student Learning Outcomes Anchor I: Reasoning and Values(3) Discourse I: Reasoning and Values (3) Anchor II: Culture and Diversity (3) Discourse II: Culture and Diversity (3) Platform: Natural & Physical Sciences (3) Platform: Arts & Humanities (3) Platform: Social & Behavioral Sciences(3) Platform: Gen. Ed Elective (3) Anchor III: Civic & Comm. Engagement (3) Discourse III: Civic & Comm. Engagement (3) Co-Requisites Communication Skills xxxx xxx Technology & Information Literacy x x ** x Interdisciplinary & Innovative Thinking xxxx xx Human Values & Ethical Reasoning (x) x** Culture & Diversity xx x** Civic & Community Engagement xx Scientific Reasoning & Quantitative Analysis (x) x ** Arts & Humanities x **

Sample Course Description Sample Description for a “Reasoning and Values” team-taught course – “Darwin: Scientific and Cultural Texts and Contexts” – Stephen Dilks, Gerald Wyckoff, and more. – The course puts Darwin's major texts, Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of the Species, and The Descent of Man, in the context of his sources and influences. This includes his social milieu, his scientific precursors, the British Anti-Slavery movement, the Victorian Age of Reform and Doubt, and the contemporary literature of natural science, geology, creation, scientific classification, and natural selection. We will discuss social values and scientific reasoning including the roles played by scientific racism, social Darwinism, industrial technology, empirical methodology, and the emancipation movement.