Charge to the Academic Advisory Committees (FY 2004)
October 2, 2003
In February 1996, in preparation for the transition from quarters to semesters, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia approved the Core Curriculum Principles and Framework. These guiding principles and framework were developed with the purpose of allowing institutions some flexibility in defining learning outcomes while ensuring that the core curriculum completed at one System institution is fully transferable to another System institution.
Shortly thereafter, a series of memoranda were issued outlining the General Guidelines for the Core Curriculum Areas A-E. In generating the guidelines for development of the core curriculum, an attempt was made to strike a balance between maintaining the coherence of institutional curriculum requirements and the needs and desires of students to take advantage of course offerings at more than one institution. These guidelines were also intended to ensure quality and consistency with national patterns of excellence and to ensure that transferability does not emerge as an issue between System institutions. These same guidelines also applied to Area F.
From 1996 to 1998, each System institution, with input from the Academic Advisory Committees, crafted its own core curriculum and general education program to reflect and conform to the Board-ratified Principles, Framework and Guidelines. Common course prefixes, numbers and descriptions for system-wide core courses were implemented with semester conversion. These courses were offered for the first time Fall semester 1998.
Approximately one year later, the Council on General Education was asked by the Regents Advisory Committee on Institutional Effectiveness (RACIE) to develop a set of common student learning outcomes that might be used to assist institutions in assessing student learning outcomes. In addition to supporting RACIE's assessment efforts, both the P-16 and eCore Initiatives were interested in the potential uses of a set of common student learning outcomes.
The Council began its work by looking for commonalities among the sets of student learning outcomes submitted by institutions of the University System at the time they undertook conversion from the quarter calendar to the semester calendar. The Council's work, Common Student Learning Outcomes for the Core Curriculum, University System of Georgia, captured the elements common to all of the institutional learning outcomes. Distinct learning outcomes at most institutions, often associated with Institutional Options (Area B) of the Core Curriculum are not represented in the common learning outcomes. The Council speculated that the Common Student Learning Outcomes for the Core Curriculum has approximately eighty per cent overlap to any given institution's learning outcomes.
It is now time to reflect on some of the changes that were implemented with semester conversion.
FY 2004 Charge to the Academic Committees: (continued from FY '03)
- Please review the Area F for each program for which your Committee has responsibility. Is Area F for the major at each institution in compliance with the recommendations approved by the Council on Majors in 1997? Is the Committee satisfied with the Area F that it proposed 5 years ago, or would it like to recommend for approval changes in its Area F?
- Although the University System has Common Student Learning Outcomes for the Core Curriculum, it does not have learning outcomes for the common courses that are taught in the core. We are asking each Academic Committee to review each core course for which it has responsibility, and to prepare a set of learning outcomes that are common to all the institutions. In other words, what do you all agree are the intentions of the course(s)? What is it that all of you agree on that you want students to know and be able to do when they complete your core course(s)?
Core Curriculum Information: [ http://www.usg.edu/academics/core_curriculum/ ]
- Core Curriculum: Principles and Framework
- Areas A-E General Guidelines
- Area F Recommendations
- Institutional Core Curriculum Requirements
- Common Student Learning Outcomes For the Core Curriculum
- Common Course Prefixes, Numbers, and Descriptions