General Education Curriculum

Program Review

May 1996

Preparation of Report
Structure of Program
...| Goals of program | Distribution of courses

Introduction

1. Preparation

This self-study of the General Education curriculum of Millersville University was prepared by the members of the General Education Curriculum Review Committee during the 1995-96 academic year. The committee members conducted a survey of a randomly selected sample of students, surveyed faculty members of the university by mail to each faculty member with results collected by academic department, consulted the University's data base to obtain enrollment numbers, read extensively in the literature of general education to ascertain national trends and other programs in existence, consulted with faculty members from other campuses, attended state-wide meetings, and discussed their growing knowledge among themselves and with members of the university community. The committee members are satisfied that this self-study represents a fair summary of the state of General Education at Millersville University. They are under no delusions, however, that this summary is complete. A great deal of information remains to be collected. A major difficulty is the lack of measurable goals in the present curriculum.

2. Structure of the General Education Curriculum

The General Education curriculum at Millersville University was initiated in 1988 and has the following twelve goals. [These goals will often be referred to within the report by letter, such as "goal a," or by keyword, such as the "creativity goal." In addition, the percentage of times each goal was by a given course comes from an analysis of the 292 courses approved for General Education by the Fall of 1994. Most courses satisfy more than one goal.]

a. to encourage creativity ["creativity", 22%];
b. to develop the communication and inquiry skills needed for understanding and continued growth in the major areas of knowledge ["inquiry & communication", 57%];
c. to cultivate the ability to reason, to recognize problems, to analyze, and to compose solutions ["reasoning", 60%];
d. to provide opportunities to practice analytical skills ["analysis", 68%];
e. to develop a sense of inquiry and curiosity, of wanting to know for the sake of knowing ["curiosity", 48%];
f. to acquaint the students with the major areas of knowledge in the liberal arts ["knowledge", 48%];
g. to expose students to disciplines other than an elected major field of study ["breadth", 48%];
h. to equip students to explore truth, to appreciate beauty, and to make choices based upon responses to truth and beauty ["truth & beauty", 24%];
i. to expose students to a variety of ideas and systems of belief and to educate them to recognize the different claims of truth ["diversity", 43%];
j. to provide opportunities for students to deal creatively with personal, community, and global concerns ["citizenship", 35%];
k. to help students develop the ability to integrate the philosophical, societal, cultural, and physical aspects of life so that they can approach human problems holistically ["wholeness", 45%]; and
l. to prepare students to make decisions based on available information ["decision", 25%].

In order to achieve these goals, the curriculum requires fifty-four credits, distributed as follows.

1. English 110: English Composition (3 credits)
2. Communications 100 (3 credits)
3. Four courses in the division of Humanities and Fine Arts (12 credits)
4. Four courses in the division of Social Sciences (12 credits)
5. Four courses in the division of Science and Mathematics, including one laboratory science course (12 credits)
6. Three credits of Health and Physical Education
7. One upper-level composition course (3 credits)
8. Two Perspectives courses (6 credits), of which one can be from the major department

In addition, the following constraints are imposed:

a. Except for one perspectives course, none of these courses can be within the major.
b. Two courses must be taken in one department in each division.
c. No more than 2 courses may be taken in one department to fulfill requirements 3, 4, 5.
d. Only four General Education courses can be required related courses.
e. Four courses must be designated as "W" (writing) courses; any of these can be courses in the major.
f. Four courses must be at the 200-level or above.
g. Four courses must have either a significant communications component ("C") or a significant quantitative reasoning component ("Q").
h. One course must deal principally with the learning of quantitative techniques ("QARC").

I. Demand for and Reputation of Program
II. Quality of the Program
III. Costs of the Program
IV. Compliance with Board of Governors Policy
V. Five-Year Plan for Major Resource Needs
VI. Recommended Action Plan
VII. Acknowledgments

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