Notes from General Education Forum

I. A generally educated person has the following:
Attitudes

* Ability to be flexible and adapt to change, both personally and professionally
* Ability to be self-directed (impelled rather than compelled) and challenge self to think
* Ability to be curious and inquisitive—engage in world of ideas and each other and be excited about it
* Ability to be tolerant and accepting of others' opinions and cultures—see things from the perspective of others
* Ability to know self
* Appreciate aesthetic values
* Thinks not in tasks but in the value of the intellectual endeavor for its own sake
Knowledge / Skills / Performance
* Ability to perform basic skills (written, oral, and quantitative)
* Ability to perform higher level critical thinking / analysis skills
* Knowledge of core discipline content
* Knowledge of a healthy lifestyle (nutrition, parenting, stress management)
* Ability to perform life skills (economic literacy, money management)
* Ability to work collaboratively
* Ability to solve problems and make informed decisions
* Ability to see problems and issues from the perspectives of different disciplines
* Ability to make connections among disciplines and integrate knowledge
* Ability to use technology to gather and evaluate information, communicate, etc.
* Ability to learn in new ways (travel, etc).
* Confidence to think for oneself as a result of having done it in practice
* Ability to mentally engage complex ideas, even when these ideas may be in
conflict
Capabilities
* Ability to become a self-aware, life-long learner
* Ability to become a responsible citizen

II. The role of ESU's General Education Program in helping students to achieve the attitudes, knowledge, skills, performance, and capabilities listed above is:
Exposure
* General education provides the content area information and exposure to cultures and ideas.
* General education helps “lost souls ” to find themselves—helps students find areas in which they are interested
* Exposure in general education creates interest in new areas and disciplines
* Major courses should also include general education issues and skills
Practice
* In general education, students build bridges between content and practice
* General education fosters the ability to bridge the academic and social
* General education encourages interdisciplinary connections
(We might do more of this. For example: identify core combinations of 3 or 4 general education courses that must be taken in the same semester. Course content/ sequence would not change, but instructors of a given core combination would know what topics were being taught in the companion courses so they could help students make the connections.)
* General education course work starts students on the path of building a record of progress toward the general education outcomes
(We might do more with this. For example : online portfolio that would be built on each year, culminating in a capstone project within the major. General education outcomes sequenced and clear expectations conveyed.)
* General education sometimes provides students opportunities to participate in a university approved civic engagement project.
(We might do more with this by requiring it.)
* General education course work encourages students to develop personal skills sets (capability to form relationships, for introspection, development of values, personal growth, etc.)
Role of Faculty / University
* More effectively market general education program / help students appreciate value and benefits of general education.
* Faculty need to believe in the importance of general education and support it.
* Make it a point to have general education frame the academic discourse.
* Maintain high standards / model academic performance and curiosity.
* Focus on education as model rather than vocation as model.
* Provide students opportunity to test ideas and research in a safe environment.
* Model for students and encourage in students the ability to use one's personal skill set to break down boundaries of a ll types and make interdisciplinary connections.

Last Updated April 17, 2007