Jim Conrad's Group on Gen Ed Redesign: Thoughts on Themes and Competencies by Joanne Maguire https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp en-us 2021-04-07 19:43:45 UTC 2025-10-16 16:33:15 UTC hello@padlet.com jmrobin2 https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397059099 2021-04-08 17:49:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397059099 Climate change is an existential topic that cuts across many disciplines. mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397616369 2021-04-08 20:17:31 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397616369 This will make planning for future faculty hires challenging if the former gen ed program is discarded. Will this new program be offered by lecturers hired to service it, or by tenure track faculty? mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397619848 2021-04-08 20:18:47 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397619848 I think we should be starting with learning outcomes...what should students be able to "do" as a result of engaging with this gen ed theme. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397621284 2021-04-08 20:19:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397621284 Higher education is normally the second largest expenditure for students in their lifetimes. Yet, they don't have any formal nor required training or engagement at UNCC on how to handle this large expense or the other expenses that are coming in their lives. Financial Literacy should be added as an important competency that can be addressed across multiple disciplines and throughout their college careers cynthiabush https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397628026 2021-04-08 20:21:28 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397628026 The writing intensive requirements need to be reworked. There is no uniformity in terms of direct instruction/assessment in "W" courses across colleges https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397628256 2021-04-08 20:21:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397628256 Hands on experiences in labs are an excellent way to instruct students. That is recognized in the current gen ed program. I think lab courses should have increased support in the new program. mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397637783 2021-04-08 20:25:03 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397637783 I think backwards design is needed to select themes...starting with what students need to be able to do https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397642203 2021-04-08 20:26:36 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397642203 Scaffolding needed for core competencies, especially critical thinking, writing, oral communication https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397646387 2021-04-08 20:28:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397646387 Course transfer credit into/out of UNCC. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397647783 2021-04-08 20:28:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397647783 The scaffolding of skill sets/competencies should progress in a strategic, pre-planned multi-course curriculum, shared across departments and professors. Many students need remedial competency development in writing skills, (e.g. what a paragraph is), and critical thinking (e.g. , e.g. being able to see, understand, and sufficiently explain the relationships between concepts/ideas, and get past "information"). These should be substantially developed *first* before taking on complex, abstract subject matter, such as the nuances of cultural history, globalization, etc. In other words, no single Gen Ed course should be tasked with achieving the mass array of learning outcomes that they are currently tasked with. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397648642 2021-04-08 20:28:59 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397648642 Is it possible for students to choose from a number of sub topic under a particular theme? https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397649987 2021-04-08 20:29:29 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397649987 This approach does encourage conversation among the disciplines in a way that isn't currently required. This will stimulate some very interesting interdisciplinary collaborations https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397651112 2021-04-08 20:29:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397651112 We need to look at the writing and oral intensive requirements. As a director of a program with 400+ students, we need new strategies to meet best practices for "O" and "W" courses https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397652730 2021-04-08 20:30:33 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397652730 Other universities have moved to much more flexible Gen Ed that has resulted in more flexible curriculums, which is something this generation of students really seeks. Hopefully this approach will be attractive to students and enhance collaboration and creativity across campus in a way that is beneficial to students and faculty. cynthiabush https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397654730 2021-04-08 20:31:22 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397654730 Love the term "literacy"...financial, health, etc... https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397664555 2021-04-08 20:34:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397664555 Consider a vertical writing model such as used at App State in their recently revised gen ed program. mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397668736 2021-04-08 20:36:24 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397668736 If written and oral communication are core competencies, we need a model for providing quality direct instruction in W courses across disciplines https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397673865 2021-04-08 20:38:30 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397673865 If critical thinking is a theme, we should be partnering with prospect for success, as critical thinking is a pillar of that course https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397678156 2021-04-08 20:40:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397678156 We are currently trying to do too much in one course (for example W and O). We are trying to teach and assess knowledge, skills, and writing all in one place. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397682403 2021-04-08 20:41:58 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397682403 How will transfer students be integrated into a new gen ed program. mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397685576 2021-04-08 20:43:12 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397685576 I'd also like our students to develop core competencies that include the ability to learn resiliency. It will be a lifelong benefit if they can learn sooner how to bounce back effectively from setbacks cynthiabush https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397699847 2021-04-08 20:48:50 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397699847 What I’ve experienced at another institution that has adopted a similar model was that writing had to be recognized as something different than a theme and bigger than a competency, so that it became its own category of literacy. And to address that sense that competencies (or in this case, literacies) have to develop over time, a vertical writing model was implemented. In addition to a first-year writing course, students took a writing across the curriculum course (provided by a WAC center) in their sophomore year. In the third-year, there was a writing in the disciplines class (taught by disciplinary instructors with direct support from WAC), and the capstone course in the senior year was, of course, writing intensive. So writing occupied its own space, woven through the themes/competencies. This has been a much lauded and studied model. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397700900 2021-04-08 20:49:14 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397700900 health literacy, resilience https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397700982 2021-04-08 20:49:16 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397700982 Our class sizes, particularly at the underclassmen levels, are too large to successfully impart some of these key critical learning competencies cynthiabush https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397702516 2021-04-08 20:49:53 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397702516 To offer interdisciplinary team taught courses will require substantial resources. Will that impact investment in other areas of program growth, such as growing graduate programs? mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397703541 2021-04-08 20:50:17 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397703541 Community engagement could be a worked in as a theme. There is interest in creating a certificate in community engagement, and this interdisciplinary approach could work well with that. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397706548 2021-04-08 20:51:26 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397706548 art literacy https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397715989 technology literacy]]> 2021-04-08 20:55:05 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397715989 this is a bit too snap sh mq2s25fznr https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397716181 2021-04-08 20:55:10 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397716181 Topical themes should be the gateway to, and in service of well strategized, integrated competency development. This will avoid the current problem of "putting the cart before the horse", in framing courses on complex concepts, with skill set development as an afterthought at best. https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397747048 2021-04-08 21:07:39 UTC https://padlet.com/jmrobin2/10oomzur4smjmjcp/wish/1397747048