Return-path:
Date: Mon, 02 Dec 1996 13:40:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: KAISERC@cofc.edu
Subject: Group 4 Report on Q.2b
To: Gened@cofc.edu
Errors-to: gened-error@cofc.edu
Reply-to: GENED@cofc.edu
Organization: College of Charleston

Since we have addressed Questions 1 and Question 2b ( sorry) what remains is what ideas we have germane to experiences to facilitate the development of the educated person. Here goes:

It is imperative to increase funding to Full Formula levels. It is important to provide facilities, equipment, personnel and salaries to support Gen Ed goals, including support for Adjunct personnel. Funding must be a necessary component in GenEd discussions.
It was suggested that additional early college experiences be provided. More students should be enrolled in Learning Strategies and /or Freshman Seminar ( probably with revised curricula). Programs developed in Governor's School may provide interesting models for greater undergraduate exposure.
We have discussed revision of the course selection list as the only mechanism that a student uses to configure and satisfy GenEd requirements and introducing a mechanism that tallies experiences and not credit hours per se.
Students should be required to pursue a GenEd program of academic and nonacademic experiences beginning early in their academic career and concluding with some " capstone" course. This package would rely on greater exposure to interdisciplinary courses. Support would come from commitment at the respective School level. We forsee inclusion of required and optional components selected from courses such as Geography and Global Studies, from study abroad opportunities and course offerings, and exporsure to ethics, career development, diversity and respecting individual differences modules that have recently been introduced during freshman orientation. We forsee the development of student "portfolios" that are accumulated during the course of the college career. In support of interdisciplinary and internationalization experiences, we find the need for students to be exposed to internet applications for their use in various courses. One recent initiative is the concept of "partner classes" and discussion groups courtesy of the WEB. These usually involve the same type of class in different localse with different instructors in which students from partner institutions access each other's course materials and assigments and correspond with partner instructors and students.