The proposal to change the General Education Program was approved by the University Academic Senate on January 27, 2012. There are four broad changes that help better align GVSU's General Education Program with the national conversation on liberal education and address concerns about the upper-level component.

The changes are:

1. Add four new GE skills goals: collaboration, ethical reasoning, problem solving, and quantitative literacy.
2. Adopt a new goal-distribution method for our assessment plan. This will reduce the number of goals each course is responsible for teaching and assessing while still ensuring that students gain adequate exposure to each goal.
3. Eliminate the upper-level Themes requirement and replace it with an upper-level "Issues" requirement.
4. Replace Knowledge Goal #3 with one corresponding to the upper-level component of the GE Program.

Click here to read the Final Proposal.

Draft Proposal -  Letter addressed to faculty, staff, and students, containing the proposal to revise the General Education Goals and Assessment Plan and revise the upper-level component from Themes to Issues.              

Revision Plan in Brief - Summary of revisions proposed by the General Education Committee and the planning process     

Campus Forums on the Draft Proposal -  Powerpoint presentation of the outline and discussion points for campus forums on the proposal to revise the upper-level component from Themes to Issues.  Includes timelines for proposal and implementation.   

Proposed Goals  -  List of proposed goals with expected student learning outcomes for each.

Goal Distribution Plan - Proposed assignment of goals across GE categories.

Backgrounder - Discusses how and why the GEC has proposed new goals for the Program

Invitation to Workshops  - Invitation to faculty to attend FTLC workshops to promote discussion of Collaboration, Ethical Reasoning, and Problem Solving.

Final Proposal

Letter to Deans and Unit Heads - Discusses implementation of the revision plan and invites faculty to participate in the Issues course-development process.

Letter to Faculty - Addressed to faculty interested in Issues course development.  Describes Issues Knowledge goals.

FAQ for the Proposed Revisions