Tag: general education

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Office of General Education Student Academic Engagement & Success University Advising Center

Upcoming Office of General Education workshops for faculty and staff

Office of General Education logo

The Office of General Education is continuing to offer various workshops for faculty and staff this spring semester.

The upcoming workshops for March include:

  • Faculty and Staff Common Curriculum Workshop
    • Tuesday, March 19th, 12PM-1PM in HT 219
    • Learn more about the Common Curriculum! This workshop will go into depth about how students are able to complete Foundation, Breadth, and Proficiency & Experience requirements.
    • Register for the workshop on SMU360 here
  • Faculty and Staff Course Proposal Workshop
    • Friday, March 22nd, 11:30AM-12:30PM in HT 219
    • Learn more about how to submit a Common Curriculum course or experience proposal. Questions will be answered about what documentation is needed, annual responsibilities to maintain the CC tag, and more.
    • Register for the workshop on SMU360 here
  • Departmental Responsibilities Workshop
    • Thursday, March 28th, 3PM-4PM in Blanton 110
    • Learn more about departmental responsibilities for submitting, maintaining, and removing Common Curriculum component tags.
    • Register for the workshop on SMU360 here

For more details about these upcoming workshops, please contact Dallas Forbes within the Office of General Education.

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Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on February 2, 2024

The Council on General Education met on February 2, 2024. The meeting minutes for December 1, 2023, were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.

  1. Approval of Agenda for February 2, 2024, Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the December 1, 2023, Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Update on Spring 2024 Meeting Schedule (Peter)
    1. 2/2/24
    2. 2/23/24-proposals due 2/12
    3. 3/8/24
    4. 4/5/24-proposals due 3/25
    5. 4/26/24 (EOY sendoff)
  4. Welcome new/returning members (Peter)
    1. Elena Borzova 2024-2027 (replacing Scott Douglas)
    2. Karisa Cloward returning from Fall 2023 leave (Luigi Manzetti only served Fall 2023)
  5. Rubric Updates (Dayna)
    1. Exploring Science
    2. Social and Behavioral Sciences
    3. Technological Advances and Society
    4. Global Perspectives
    5. Human Diversity
  6. Critical Reasoning Redesign Update (Sheri/Dustin)
    1. Fulfillment Requirement
    2. Grade Repeat
    3. Course Registration
  7. CoGE Working Group Timelines (Dustin/Melina)
    1. Re-Evaluation of Transfer Credit on Texas Common Course Numbering System
      1. Volunteer Members: Chris Logan, Stephanie Amsel, Dayna Oscherwitz
    2. External Test Credit Review (AP, IB, CLEP)
      1. Volunteer Members: Dayna Oscherwitz
  8. General Education Office Updates (Dustin)
    1. Communications shared related to Fall CoGE business
      1. Council on General Education approved updates to the Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning rubric
      2. New External Breadth Swap Petition now available for Common Curriculum students on the Fall 2023 Catalog or later
      3. The Council on General Education approves changes to Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning fulfillment requirements
      4. Modifications made to Common Curriculum Global Perspectives rubric, permitting all SMU Abroad programs to satisfy
      5. The Office of General Education archives General Education Curriculum website
      6. Council on General Education – Spring 2024 Meetings
      7. Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on September 01, 2023
      8. Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on September 29, 2023
      9. Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on October 20, 2023
      10. Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on November 10, 2023
      11. Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on December 1, 2023

Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support.

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Office of General Education

Audit conducted to identify UC students who are missing general education or graduation requirements

To assist students on the University Curriculum (UC) graduate, the Office of General Education conducted an audit of all UC students who are missing general education or graduation requirements. 

 This audit identified 51 students’ missing requirements.  

 The Office of General Education staff reviewed Degree Progress Reports (DPR) and Transfer Evaluation Reports (TER), if applicable, to see what action was needed to support individual students. 

Melina Padron and Brittaney Wilson sent initial outreach by email in December 2023. They then followed up with text and phone calls to share personalized support on assisting UC students with degree completion.  

The support offered included: guiding students through the petition process, advising on course enrollment, and sharing alternative credit pathways. Additionally, four course overrides for credit were performed on behalf of the students. 

The UC requirements apply to students who matriculated into SMU between Fall 2016 and Spring 2020. The UC’s main coursework components are Foundations, Breadths, and Depths. In addition to seven Proficiencies and Experiences.  

 

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Office of General Education

Council on General Education – Spring 2024 Meetings

SMU students enjoy carnival style games on day three of Perunapalooza, Wednesday, September 9, 2020 on the Main Quadrangle of the SMU Campus.

The Office of General Education has announced the Council on General Education’s Spring 2024 meetings.

Meetings will be held via Zoom from 11:30am – 1:00pm on the following dates:

  • February 2, 2024
  • February 23, 2024 (proposal meeting)
  • March 8, 2024
  • April 5, 2024 (proposal meeting)
  • April 26, 2024 (in-person; location TBD)

Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support.

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Office of General Education

Approved meeting minutes from the Council on General Education on December 1, 2023

The Council on General Education met on December 1, 2023. The meeting minutes for November 10, 2023 were approved at this meeting. Below is the agenda, and the meeting minutes have now been posted on the General Education website.

  1. Approval of Agenda for the December 1, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  2. Approval of Minutes for the November 10, 2023 Council on General Education meeting.
  3. Common Curriculum Assessment Results (Yan)
    1. CC Components Assessed
  4. Proposals
    1. Revisions submitted
      1. APSM 3360 (Nutrition and Population Health) – PREX-CE
    2. Courses approved that are still pending a meeting with the assessment office
      1. FILM 3352 (American Film History) – HC
      2. PSYC 3362 (Psychology & the Challenges of Life) – SBS, PREX-HD
      3. WL 3379 (Modern German Culture from the Enlightenment to the Present) -PREX-GPS
      4. GERM 3379 (Modern German Culture from the Enlightenment to the Present) – PREX-GPS
    3. Courses that were tabled pending revisions
      1. FILM 2351 (International Film History) – PREX-GPS
      2. ASCE 1310 (Ceramic Technology) – TAS
      3. HRTS 4399 (Human Rights Research) – PREX-CIE, PREX-HD, PREX-GPS
  5. Critical Reasoning Fulfillment Discussion
  6. General Education Office Updates (Dustin)
    1. CoGE Working Group Timelines
      1. Re-Evaluation of Transfer Credit on Texas Common Course Numbering System
      2. External Test Credit Review (AP, IB, CLEP)
    2. CoGE Spring meeting dates
      1. 2/2/24
      2. 2/23/24-proposals due 2/12
      3. 3/8/24
      4. 4/5/24-proposals due 3/25
      5. 4/26/24 (EOY sendoff)
    3. Members leaving
      1. Luigi Manzetti served only Fall 2023
      2. Scott Douglas served from 2017-2023
    4. New/returning members
      1. Elena Borzova 2024-2027 (replacing Scott)
      2. Karisa Cloward returning from leave

Please contact the Office of General Education for questions or proposal development support.

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Office of General Education

The Council on General Education approves changes to Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning fulfillment requirements

Conference room

On Friday, December 1st, the Council on General Education approved a change in the Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning fulfillment requirement effective Spring 2024.

Since the establishment of the Common Curriculum in Fall 2020, the Critical Reasoning Foundation component required undergraduate students to (1) achieve a C- or better and (2) not drop or withdraw from a CR course. Effective Spring 2024, students can now drop or withdraw from a CR-tagged course.

This change was warranted due to the recently announced changes to the Critical Reasoning rubric and the efforts to develop courses outside of the Writing and Reasoning Program (WRTR). Beginning in Spring 2024, Corporate Communications and Public Affairs (CCPA) and Journalism (JOUR) will offer CR-tagged courses.

The Office of General Education will coordinate updates to impacted course descriptions, syllabi language, and websites with academic departments before winter break. This recent approval will be reflected in the Undergraduate Catalog for the 2024 – 2025 academic year.

Student progress through the Common Curriculum Foundation components will be monitored and enforced via the University-wide Requirements for Academic Progress articulated in the Undergraduate Catalog. 

The fulfillment requirements of a C- letter grade and the inability to drop and withdraw remain in effect for the Academic Writing Foundation component.

Please direct questions to the Office of General Education at theccmail@smu.edu.

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Office of General Education Student Academic Engagement & Success

New External Breadth Swap Petition now available for Common Curriculum students on the Fall 2023 Catalog or later

The Office of General Education made a new External Breadth Swap Petition available on Tuesday, September 19. The new petition is public at smu.edu/petitions and on the Registrar’s Form Library

SMU Common Curriculum (CC) students may satisfy up to three Breadth requirements using external credit. External credit is test, dual, concurrent, or transfer credit.

Suppose a student possesses pre-matriculation external credit for more than three Breadth requirements. In that case, a student may want to substitute one of the three satisfied Breadth requirements that were applied during Fall 2023 admission processing for a different Breadth requirement.

Based on recommendations from the University Advising Center, the Registrar’s Office configured the Fall 2023 catalog to satisfy external Beadth credits in the following order during the admission process:

  1. Literary Analysis and Interpretation (LAI),
  2. Creativity & Aestetics (CA),
  3. Historical Context (HC),
  4. Philosophical, Religious, and Ethical Inquiry (PREI),
  5. Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS),
  6. Exploring Science (ES), and then
  7. Technological Advances and Society (TAS).

The advising community felt this order would benefit the high-hour majors in Lyle School of Engineering and other sciences and Pre-Health track students who will fulfill ES and TAS through SMU courses.

Questions or concerns about the new petition can be directed to the Office of General Education via theccmail@smu.edu.

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Office of General Education

Council on General Education approved updates to the Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning rubric

On Friday, September 1st, operating within its scope of authority, the Council on General Education approved an update to the Common Curriculum Critical Reasoning rubric.

Critical Reasoning was assessed for the first time in Summer 2021 by the Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness. Following that round of assessment, raters recommended reviewing and revising the rubric, which they found difficult to apply in many cases. A faculty-led committee was charged to review and revise the rubric over the summer.

Further review of the rubric found that although the learning outcome for Critical Reasoning is appropriate to the components (Students will demonstrate university-level critical reasoning proficiencies through written expression), the supporting skills emphasize writing and are nearly identical to the supporting skills for Academic Writing requirement, which has a different learning outcome (Students will develop competency, clarity, coherence, and organization in their writing). Plus, writing is assessed separately under the Academic Writing, Writing, and within the academic evaluation process.

The current design of the Critical Reasoning rubric has functioned as a barrier to the development of courses outside of the Writing and Reasoning Program (WRTR), mainly because of the primary focus on academic writing in the current iteration of the rubric. Therefore, efforts to revise the Critical Reasoning rubric have been joined with this effort to expand offerings in Critical Reasoning beyond WRTR 1313, WRTR 2304, and WRTR 2306.

Common Curriculum course proposal forms and the online rubrics were updated with the newly-approved rubric.

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Office of General Education

Student communications blast off from the Office of General Education

Energy is high on the Hilltop as we welcome students back to campus.

This academic year, the Office of General Education is committed to enhancing the student experience by providing programming to connect students to SMU resources and help them stay on track toward graduation. Plus, we want each student to get the most out of the Common Curriculum.

As we work towards this mission, the Office of General Education has begun student communications to keep all undergraduate Mustangs in the loop of campus offerings.

A quick look at two recent communications sent to all undergraduate students is featured below:

Sender Subject Line Brief Description
The Office of General Education (gened@smu.edu)  Welcome Mustang! Scheduling information about Common Curriculum workshops and pop-ups. A link to Zoom office hours was provided, increasing the accessibility of our services.
Peer Academic Leaders (peeracademicleaders@smu.edu) Ready to PAL around? Let’s connect you with campus resources and more! Information about the Peer Academic Leaders (PALs) program and its various services. Booking.SMU and SMU360 links were referenced.

We hope you may amplify or point students to these communications in your interactions. Specifically encouraging Degree Planner and other programming.

We look forward to keeping you and our students informed throughout the year. Please direct feedback to gened@smu.edu.

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Office of General Education

Meet the new Senior Advisor for General Education and the 2023 – 2024 Peer Academic Leaders

The Office of General Education is excited to welcome our new Senior Advisor and twelve Peer Academic Leaders to the team.

Melina Padron will join the Office of General Education team on Monday, July 24. Padron’s professional experience includes serving as an enrollment counselor and, most recently, serving as an admissions counselor at Arizona College of Nursing.

As Senior Advisor, Padron is responsible for coordinating the Office of General Education’s undergraduate student outreach and timely offering of academic advising to ensure progression through Common Curriculum requirements. The Senior Advisor develops, oversees, and provides Office of General Education programs, initiatives, and student interventions to undergraduate students.

When asked about what excites Padron to join Student Academic Engagement and Success, she shared:

Higher education has always been a passion of mine, especially as a first-generation college student. I am honored to play a role in helping SMU students achieve their goals, both academically and personally. I’m excited to connect students with the great resources SMU offers to help them be successful during their time with us. SMU is a vibrant and diverse campus, and I look forward to joining you all on the Hilltop.

In her role, Padron will also serve as the primary supervisor of the Peer Academic Leader (PAL) program. PALs are a diverse group of undergraduate students to help students better understand the Common Curriculum, utilize academic resources, and navigate academic challenges.

PALs work directly with students in their Residential Commons, empowering them to take ownership of their collegiate careers through mentorship and educational programming.

Get to know the twelve Peer Academic Leaders serving for the 2023 – 2024 academic year. Their headshots, biographies, and assigned Residential Commons are on the Office of General Education’s website.