General Education Study

The General Education Program at Eastern Michigan University (GE) has begun a self-study, as part of the Provost’s three-year General Education Review plan. In this phase, GE is conducting a review of the program’s goal(s). Part of this study will also involve aligning proposed goals for GE with the new University Mission Statement, but the other part is engaging stakeholders in exploring desired, proposed, or possible goals for GE. In program design, determining learning goals is an essential precursor to any questions about learning activities, such as courses and other activities aimed at student learning outcomes.

This review is partly in response to significant changes in the context in which the program is delivered as opposed to when it was designed 15 years ago. Context is a crucial component of program design, and these changes require, at the very least, an intentional engagement in understanding how program goals may need to change. Further, in light of the HLC requirements below, the GE Study will ensure alignment between GE and the university's mission, values, strategic plan, and employment opportunities.

Equally important, a comprehensive study of GE, which we have begun with its goals, will provide the EMU community with an opportunity to dialogue about major issues confronting General Education programs across the United States. Our reading list below includes a snapshot of some of those issues.

In addition, the current context has highlighted GE’s need for greater transparent alignment. Transparent alignment occurs when learning activities, courses, and program design, display to learners why they are engaged in the particular learning they are being offered. Thus, once goals are identified, the next task is to align the program with those goals, then transparently align the program. When a program is properly aligned, learners can easily make sense of why they are engaging in the courses they are offered and the learning activities they are provided in light of the goals and learning outcomes.

To this end, the study team is designing programing to collect as many ideas as possible around appropriate goals for the program in its new context.

Our primary tools for this semester are student focus groups, summaries of work already done, and a campus wide survey.

Take the survey HERE!

You may take the survey as often as you like, in case you think of something else you'd like to share!

Additional Information of Note

• HLC Criteria for GE Programs Expand dropdown

  The institution:

  
  a. maintains a minimum requirement for general education for all of its undergraduate programs whether 
  through a traditional practice of distributed curricula (15 semester credits for AAS degrees, 24 for AS 
  or AA degrees, and 30 for bachelor’s degrees) or through integrated, embedded, interdisciplinary, or 
  other accepted models that demonstrate a minimum requirement equivalent to the distributed model. 
  Any exceptions are explained and justified.

  
  b. has a program of general education that is grounded in a philosophy or framework developed by the 
  institution or adopted from an established framework. It imparts common knowledge and intellectual 
  concepts to students and develops skills and attitudes that the institution believes every college-educated 
  person should possess. The institution clearly and publicly articulates the purposes, content and 
  intended learning outcomes of its general education program

• Provost's GE Review Process Expand dropdown

  YEAR 1 (W24, F24) - Study, discussion and conversation about major issues confronting GE/Degrees

  YEAR 2 (W25, F25) - Finalize alignment discussions. Gather and examine feedback from key consitituencies about our program

  YEAR 3 (W26, F26) - Committee and informal input process

• AAC&U GE Learning Outcomes and Other Information Expand dropdown

  The AAC&U a major force in liberal arts education and best practices in higher education, offers a philosophy suitable to the HLC (that was adopted for the design of the current GE program). You can review their essential learning outcomes here: https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/essential-learning-outcomes

  The AAC&U also regularly contducts studies related to liberal arts education. Here is an interesting study regarding employers support for liberal arts education. You can see the press release and the study here: https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/national-survey-shows-employers-value-liberally-educated-graduates

• Study Reading List Expand dropdown

  Read what the study team is reading! Here's our reading list. We are expecting to begin sharing these in workshops soon. Keep your eyes peeled.

  A new context for a core curriculum

  Reading List

  Core Readings

  • Daniels, et. al., What Universities Owe Democracy, Chapter One, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021
  • Levine & Van Pelt, The Great Upheaval, Introduction, Part Three (one chapter), and Chapter 16, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021
  • Hrabowski, et. al., The Resilient University, Prologue (minimum), Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024

  Popular Skepticism about Higher Ed

  • https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/05/23/is-college-worth-it-2/
  • https://www.tearthepaperceiling.org/the-paper-ceiling
  • https://blog.essaytigers.com/reasons-why-students-hate-college/

  Evidence from Elsewhere

  • Hanover Research – Benchmarking Analysis, General Education Core Curriculum
  • AAC&U – https://www.aacu.org/research/how-college-contributes-to-workforce-success
  • https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2019/june/college-generations-leads-more-wealth
  • Effect of Community College Enrollment on Bachelor’s Degree Completion: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272775708000770
  • Assessing Enrollment Reponses to The Tennessee Promise program (free community college): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537120300865

  Philosophical Underpinnings

  • AAC&U – https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/what-is-liberal-education
  • AAC&U – https://www.aacu.org/publication/making-liberal-education-inclusive-the-roots-and-reach-of-the-leap-framework-for-college-learning
  • AAC&U – https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/high-impact
  • AAC&U – https://www.aacu.org/publication/general-education-and-liberal-learning-principles-of-effective-practice
  • Kevin Gannon, Radical Hope, West Virginia University Press, 2020
  • bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress, Taylor and Francis, 2014
  • Martha Nussbaum, Not for Profit, Princeton University Press, 2017

  Curriculum Design (minimum)

  • Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding by Design, ASCD, 2005
  • Dee Fink, Creating Significant Learning Experiences, Wiley, 2013

This semester's GE-EMU Study Team: John Koolage, Amanda Maher, Chiron Graves, Jess Elton, and Amy Johnson