To be included in any of the
new general education content areas, a proposed course must focus on meeting
two or more of the seven basic purposed of general education as stated in the UConn General Education Guidelines:
“The purpose of general
education is to ensure that all
1. Become articulate;
2. Acquire intellectual breadth and versatility;
3. Acquire critical judgment;
4. Acquire moral sensitivity;
5. Acquire awareness of their era and society;
6. Acquire consciousness of the diversity of human culture and
experience; and
7. Acquire a
working understanding of the processes by which they can continue to acquire
and use knowledge.”
Please indicate which of the
goals listed above will be integral to the proposed course, and for EACH
applicable goal, briefly explain (two to three sentences for each goal) how
that goal will be integrated into the course content, assignments, etc. A course is not required to serve all seven
purposes of general education.
CA1 – Arts and Humanities Criteria
Courses appropriate for
Content Area 1 – Arts and Humanities – must, through historical, critical
and/or aesthetic modes of inquiry, introduce students to and engage them in AT
LEAST ONE of the following activities:
1. Investigations and historical/critical analyses of human
experience;
2. Inquiries into philosophical and/or political theory;
3. Investigations into the modes of symbolic representation;
4. Comprehension
and appreciation of written, graphic and/or performance art forms;
5. Creation or
“re-creation” of artistic works culminating in individual or group publication,
production or performance, supplemented by written or oral analysis/criticism.
CA2 –
Social Sciences Criteria
Courses appropriate for
Content Area 2 – Social Sciences – must enable students to analyze and
understand interactions of the numerous social factors that influence behavior
at the individual, cultural, societal, national or international level, and
must meet ALL FOUR of the following criteria:
1. Introduce students to theories and concepts of the social sciences;
2. Introduce
students to methods used in the social sciences, including consideration of the
ethical problems social scientists face;
3. Introduce
students to ways in which individuals, groups, institutions or societies behave
and influence on another and the natural environment;
4. Provide
students with tools to analyze social, political, or economic
groups/organizations (such as families, communities or governments), and to
examine social issues and problems at the individual, cultural, societal,
national or international level. Social
issues may include issues of gender, race, social class, political power, economic
power, and cross-cultural interaction.
CA3 – Science and Technology Criteria
Courses appropriate for
Content Area 3 – Science and Technology – must acquaint students with
scientific thought, observation, experimentation, and formal hypothesis
testing, and enable students to consider the impact that developments in
science and technology have on the nature and quality of life. Courses in this group should meet the
following criteria:
1. Explore an
area of science or technology by introducing students to a broad, coherent body
of knowledge and contemporary scientific methods;
2. Promote an
understanding of the nature of modern scientific inquiry, the process of
investigation, and the interplay of data, hypotheses and principles in the
development and application of scientific knowledge;
3. Introduce
students to unresolved questions in some area of science or technology and
discuss how progress might be made in answering these questions; and
4. Promote
interest, competence and commitment to continued learning about contemporary
science and technology and their impact upon the world and human society.
While all
four criteria should be addressed, only two or three need to be satisfied in
depth.
For the laboratory section of the course,
list the title or topic of each lab, the number of hours per lab, and the final
product of the lab (e.g. formal lab write-up or filled in worksheet). The
General Education Guidelines indicate that the laboratories must involve
"hands-on participation" rather than virtual or simulated
experiments.
Provide enough detail about the actual labs to demonstrate that they are
indeed "hands-on."
CA4 – Diversity and Multiculturalism Criteria
Courses appropriate for
Content Area 4 – Diversity and Multiculturalism – must lead students to an
appreciation of the differences as well as commonalities among people by
studying the ideas, history, values and/or creative expressions of diverse
groups from the perspectives of the groups under study. Courses in this content area must meet AT
LEAST ONE of the following five criteria:
1. Emphasize
that there are varieties of human experiences, perceptions, thoughts, values
and/or modes of creativity;
2. Emphasize
that interpretive systems and/or social structures are cultural creations;
3. Consider the similarities that may exist among diverse groups;
4. Develop and
understanding of and sensitivity to issues involving human rights and
migration;
5. Develop an
awareness of the dynamics of social, political and/or economic power in the
context of any of the above four items.
If the course is proposed to
meet the “international”
requirement, please briefly explain how the course meets AT LEAST ONE of the
following criteria:
1. The course
focuses on issues of diversity/multiculturalism outside the
2. The course
focuses on cultural continuities and transformations over time and space.
Courses appropriate for a
“Q” designation must meet ALL THREE of the following criteria:
1. Include
mathematics and/or statistics at or above the basic algebra level as an
integral part of the course which is used throughout the course;
2. Include use
of basic algebraic concepts such as:
formulas and functions, linear and quadratic equations and their graphs,
systems of equations, polynomials, fractional expressions, exponents, powers and
roots, problem solving and word problems.
Formal abstract structures used in symbolic logic and other algebraic
analyses are acceptable;
3. Require the
student to understand and carry out actual mathematical and/or statistical
manipulations, and relate them to whatever data might be provided in order to
draw conclusions.
Merely feeding numerical
data into a program on a computer or a calculator to obtain a numerical result
does not satisfy this requirement.
Technology should be viewed as a tool to aid understanding and not as a
driver of content.
In addition to providing a
statement addressing each of the three criteria, Please
provide examples of exams, projects, problem sets, etc. that evaluate the
quantitative competency of the student.
Courses appropriate for the
“W” designation must satisfy the following criteria:
1. The writing
assignments enable and enhance learning the content of the course.
2. The course requires a minimum of fifteen pages of revised, edited
writing.
3. The student must pass the “W” component in order to pass the
course.
4. The course
syllabus must inform students of requirement (2) and (3) above, and provide
details concerning how those requirements will be met.
With these criteria in mind,
briefly answer ALL FOUR of the following questions about the proposed W course:
1. Describe
how the writing assignments will enable and enhance learning of the content of
the course. Describe the page
requirements of the assignments, and the relative weighting of the “W” component
of the course for the course grade.
2. Describe
the primary modes of writing instruction in the course (e.g., individual
conferences, written commentary, formal instruction to the class, and so on).
3. Explain how
opportunities for revision will be structured into the writing assignments in
the course.
4. State that
the syllabus will inform students that they must pass the “W” component of the
course in order to pass the course. (Failure to include this clause will result
in a request for revisions on your proposal.)