Liberal Education Program
Advising Information:
Students admitted starting the Fall of 2010
The new Liberal Education Program (LEP) is in effect as the general education curriculum for all first year and transfer students who were admitted starting the Fall of 2010. There are no other general education options at SCSU for these students with the exception of students in the Honors Program who follow a distinct version of the LEP. The LEP will be updated from time to time and the most recent information on the updates can be found in two formats:
Undergraduate Catalogue Information
Students admitted Summer 2009 through Summer 2010
Students who were admitted to SCSU from Summer 2009 through Summer 2010 have been following the Provisional Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MTC). These students will currently follow the new LEP. The Records and Registration Office is working with the Advising Center this Fall to be certain that this cohort of students have Degree Audit Reports (DARS) which honor choices they had last Spring with regard to courses listed for this Provisional MTC as well as the new LEP. Starting with Spring semester 2011 these students will be limited to courses listed in the new LEP to satisfy their General Education requirements.
Students admitted prior to Summer 2009
Students admitted to SCSU prior to the Summer of 2009 will continue to have the option of following the General Education Program which included courses in a Core and Distribution Areas (ABC). This Program has been in effect since our conversion to semesters in 1999. There are also a small number of students admitted under the Provisional MTC who are continuing to follow this program.
The online DARS reports may be inaccurate due to the flexibility of credit options (6-9 credits) in each distribution area for those students following the ABC general education program. The Advising Center and the Pre-Business Advising Center have committed resources this Fall to evaluate student progress with regard to general education for students in this cohort who have yet to declare a major. Updated information will be shared with students (and their faculty advisors) who are still in progress and in those situations where a student has completed their general education requirements this information will be reflected on the DARS report.
The most current (and final) list of courses for students following this ABC General Education Program is an important resource for all advisors working with students in this cohort:
ABC General Education Program Checklist
The Advising Center and the Pre-College Advising Center staff continue to be available as resources for faculty advisors working with students who have questions, particularly regarding general education. There are many times when a quick call or email to a colleague in one of these offices can save a student the time required to make a series of unnecessary appointments for a simple question of clarification.
Advising Center
308-6075
Pre-Business Advising Center
308-3214
Assessment Information:
The LEP differs from the old general education program insofar as the General Education Committee developed it with assessment in mind: Each of the Goal Areas has a set of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) and each course must address a specific set of outcomes, as specified in the LEP application. This means that faculty teaching LEP courses need to address those SLOs and develop ways to demonstrate the degree to which students are meeting them. Last April, Faculty Senate reaffirmed a statement on general education assessment program recommendations. The bottom line: if you are or will be teaching a liberal education course, please review its Goal Area requirements and be thinking about appropriate and feasible ways to assess students' learning, beginning spring term, 2011. See below for instructions on how to find the necessary information for your course:
1. Link to the LEP guidelines and courses as posted in the undergraduate course catalog: http://bulletin.stcloudstate.edu/ugb/gened.asp. Search for your course and note its Goal Area. Note that many courses have a superscript number; this indicates that it also fulfills the requirements for a second Goal area—for which student learning will also need to be assessed. Here is how to determine specifically which SLOs are linked to a given course:
a. Go to the course application (http://www.stcloudstate.edu/generaleducation/ProposalProgress.asp);
b. click on a Goal Area;
c. find the course;
d. open its original proposal; and
e. look at the checked SLOs in item 13.
Assessment of the SLOs will be guided and coordinated by a LEAP (Liberal Education Assessment Panel) for each Goal Area. LEAPs will not dictate how assessment is done. Their role will be to provide guidelines and assistance, monitor participation, facilitate the Liberal Education program’s assessment with respect to the eventual adoption of institutional learning outcomes, and to assess the state of assessment in the liberal education program.
If you have questions regarding assessment and the new Liberal Education Program, please contact:
Joseph Melcher
Liberal Education Assessment Coordinator
and
Interim University Assessment Director
Miller Learning Resource Center 310C
(320) 308-6590
jmmelcher@stcloudstate.edu