No one defended WSU’s general education program at the first open forum to discuss program revisions, but neither did a clear path forward emerge.
Mary Wack, vice provost for undergraduate education and dean of the University College, said the purpose of the open forums – which are planned for each of the regional campuses as well as an additional forum in Pullman – is to gather input from faculty, staff and students so that the General Education Committee can develop a plan that supports the goals of a liberal education at a research university and, most important, has broad support across the university.
In December Provost and Executive Vice President Warwick Bayly approved a report from the General Education Visioning Committee that committee chair Carol Ivory said was intended as a starting point for the discussion. According to the 51-page report, any revised general education plan must address an outdated budgeting system and widespread confusion over the nature, purpose and structure of general education. The report also recommends that the university’s general education program focus on learning outcomes rather than counting courses.
Several students at the meeting talked about their frustrations with general education courses that seemed irrelevant to their future careers. Confoundingly, two students complained that their general education classes were too time-consuming, while two other students complained that they’d learned the material in high school and should have been allowed to test out of the courses.
“Here I am learning about rocks, when I want to be a speech pathologist,” said one student. Forced to take classes they aren’t interested in, several students said they spend a lot of time online at sites such as ratemyprofessor.com to find easy courses to satisfy their general education requirements.
“What you’re hearing is that students don’t understand the point of general education,” said Chuck Pezeshki, professor of mechanical engineering. But, he said, students aren’t the only ones who are confused and frustrated.
Pezeshki said he supports the goals of the visioning committee, but sees a rocky road ahead. The committee seems to be advocating a systems-level approach to general education, he said, but that’s almost impossible to achieve in a hierarchical institution such as WSU. Hierarchical institutions, he said, support the creation and maintenance of silos, and silos are anathema to creating a coherent program responsive to the needs of students today.
“We’re going to have to change the way we do business,” he said.
John McNamara, professor of animal science and a member of the General Education Committee, agreed with Pezeshki.
“As part and parcel of this timeline (for a revised general education program) we need to have continued discussions within the silos and between the silos,” he said. The open forums are important, he said, but general education needs to be discussed at departmental meetings all across the university now, in the early stages, so that when a plan reaches the Faculty Senate, there is already broad-based support for it.
“We need to do the legwork,” he said.
Carol Anelli, associate professor of entomology and a member of the General Education Committee, said she heard two positive threads in Monday’s discussion: there seemed to be a consensus that the general education program isn’t working, and there seemed to be agreement that the issues identified by the visioning committee are key to moving forward.
According to Wack, the WSU Teaching Academy has been asked to consider three different sets of learning goals in use at WSU, all of which are similar but not identical, and to come up with a single set of goals that will be used universitywide. Wack said she is optimistic those goals will be ready to present to the Faculty Senate next fall.
The Teaching Academy also has been asked to explain the difference between learning goals and learning outcomes so that, as the process moves forward to the creation of curricula, everyone will be working with a common definition. The General Education Visioning Committee has recommended focusing on learning outcomes, and then working backward to design curricula that will result in students developing the desired skills or knowledge.
The next open forum on the Pullman campus is scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday, April 12, in Smith CUE 419. (This is a new location to accomodate a larger crowd.) A forum has been scheduled for 11 a.m. to noon on April 26 in the Academic Center, Room 147, on the WSU Spokane campus. Additional forums are also are being planned for WSU Vancouver and WSU Tri-Cities. An online forum at the University College homepage has been created for faculty, staff and students to discuss their concerns, ask questions and respond to other comments.