Helping Students Understand the Role of GE Courses
Submitted by Wayne Smith.
Citation:
Cohen, J., and White, E. (2004), “Creating shared student responsibility for general education”, Peer Review. 7.1 Fall, p8.
(Disclaimer: I am on the CSUN GE Council, but the views expressed here are mine alone and are not endorsed by any other person or organizational body including GE Council.)
To be fully honest, I believe that some student conversations regarding General Education (GE), especially specific GE course selection, are probably best managed on a one-on-one basis with a faculty member or academic advisor. However, it is also possible that faculty who teach freshmen can help those same freshmen approach GE with the right attitude and perhaps more important, a keen sense of intellectual serendipity.
The reading above is certainly not the only reading on GE that is interesting and relevent to undergraduates, but it’s short and readable. It gets the students thinking about the subject. As to the course calendar, I time my discussion of GE to be just before the student enrolls in Spring courses via SOLAR. I also use a short Powerpoint presentation to spur engagement and discussion in class. Specifically, I go into more detail about 1), our GE “subject exploration” model, and 2), my own views regarding the principal role of “interdisciplinary thinking”. See:
http://ocw.smithw.org/general/success-ge-courses.ppt
While no two U100 faculty will likely agree on all issues regarding our GE curriculum and structure, my hunch is that U100 faculty can positively influence the students’ perspectives and ability to flourish in GE courses that will begin in earnest their following semester.
