Subject: Inquiry Group #5
To: Gened@cofc.edu
Errors-to: gened-error@cofc.edu
Reply-to: GENED@cofc.edu
Dear Geneders, Inquiry group # 5 met yesterday. Here is a summary
of the discussion.
We began by attempting to measure the list of General
Education Goals and Objectives against our concept of an educated
person (one who is engaged in the world). The first conclusion that
we reached is that the goal of a liberal arts education is to create
an educated person and that the goals and objectives of the general
education requirements might not be quite so lofty. For example,
objective #4 is "To develop a commitment to intellectual curiosity
and lifelong learning", which may be obtained more during the pursuit
of the "major" requirements. Therefore, we discussed the idea that
the general education requirements should serve (at least) two
functions. The first is to provide the skills necessary to become an
educated person (during the major and beyond), and the second is to
learn those things an educated person should know that would not be
learned while pursuing the major. Objectives #1 through #3 address
the issue of "skill builders" (reading, writing, oral communication;
critical thinking, problem solving; information retrieval), while #5
and #6 address the second issue (global awareness, cultural
diversity). Ensuing discussion centered on two types of improvement
approaches: changes in the methods of instruction in the current
curriculum (Writing across the curriculum, computers across the
curriculum, different testing strategies, etc.); and changes in the
courses that comprise the curriculum (general science course, global
issues requirement, information retrieval couse, etc.). No firm
conclusions were reached. Next month the discussion continues.
Martin Jones (Math)