Most of us know that a course we are teaching is included as part of the Gen Ed Program, though we sometimes hear about faculty for whom the news comes as a surprise! Having completed consensus-building on the curriculum, we should now turn to talking about what makes a course in Gen Ed distinctively “Gen Ed.” Should the student learning experience in a Gen Ed course be different from other kinds of courses?
Here are some places to start thinking about the distinctiveness of Gen Ed courses:
Think of Gen Ed like a program, the Connections General Education Program. All of us teach courses in various programs, and we design them to meet program goals. A Gen Ed course is no different; it has a place in a program, and it isn’t just a stand-alone course on a discrete topic. How does the course meet the program goals? In general, when faculty members start thinking about goals and design, it often leads to musings about how the course could be developed to better meet these goals.
Make the Connections Program goals visible to students. As with other course and program goals, it’s often valuable to introduce the program, include the relevant goals in the syllabus, and explain your ideas about the course and the program in your early introductions. Since we all know about how much students retain on a given day, revisiting it throughout the term wouldn’t hurt!
Consider the relevance of the course content for all students in the course. It’s difficult when we are teaching a course thoroughly embedded in a major to consider the experience of the students in the course who are not majors. Are there ways to help all students to find the relevance of the content for themselves?
Help students to make connections. Keep in mind that students will be prompted in Connections Seminars about how they can make connections between courses and their involvement in different academic programs and activities. We can reinforce that work if we practice it early and often. This integrative work need not involve our expertise in the disciplines that students draw upon, just enough to help students to make these connections.
Designate when activities or assignments meet the Gen Ed goals. This is helpful for students because they will be prompted in the Connections Seminars to collect work from various courses. Students will be using assignments from your course to demonstrate and document their learning in the program. These “artifacts” will go into an e-portfolio that the students will compile starting in their first semester and complete at the end of the program. So, you can help them with this work by making the goal(s) met by the activity clear. You could even consider a “signature assignment” that showcases the student’s abilities. And if you have them submit this assignment on Canvas, it will be even easier for them to use it in their portfolio (since it would already be in their Canvas files).
There is much more to be said, of course, about ideas for instruction and activities that will promote learning in Gen Ed courses. Now that we have completed the curricular work of reforming the program, we should begin sharing our ideas and practices!
Cover photo by mohamed hassan form PxHere
