Approved by the faculty of all colleges in 2008, the general education program incorporates regular cycles of curricular assessment reporting and program review. The second five-year curricular reporting cycle is nearing completion, and in many ways, this time of widespread reflection on what is essential to undergraduate education provides an especially opportune moment to reassess the successes and shortcomings that have been identified in the ACE program over its 10+ year existence.
To explore how we can better achieve the true value of general education, Undergraduate Education Programs is inviting all instructors who have taught ACE courses over the past four years to participate in a campus-wide conversation on the future of our general education program.
As an early step in this ongoing process, all ACE faculty are asked to participate in a General Education at UNL survey. This brief online questionnaire will be distributed on Nov. 1 to all faculty identified as having taught in ACE 1-9 over the past four years. The questions are designed to initiate a discussion about the role general education currently plays, and what role it should play, on campus. Our goal is to raise a set of fundamental questions about the ACE program, about the rationales for the individual learning outcomes, and about the future of general education at Nebraska.
Faculty members who submit the survey will be invited to participate a series of outcome-specific open forums (or listening sessions) where they will have a chance to discuss their views on the ACE outcomes and program, and to exchange ideas to find the most productive way forward to meet our general education goals.
The broader effort consists of a year-long process involving small groups of faculty, with the goal of producing a set of concrete recommendations to increase the visibility of general education on our campus and to improve the value of the ACE program for students and instructors.
There is strong, university-wide recognition of the value of general education at UNL, yet there are some concerns whether the ACE program, as it is currently configured, meets the high standards set by these expectations. Varied feedback suggests that students, instructors, and administrators often have an ambiguous relation to the program: students may not perceive connections between the various ACE learning outcomes and rarely recognize any benefit the overall program offers to their major or career goals; instructors often see the program’s requirements as an additional burden offering little meaning that might enhance their pedagogical activities; and administrators, recognizing these perceptions, require increased engagement from already overburdened campus constituents to effect meaningful change.
We strongly believe that with sufficient input from faculty members across the university, we can institute meaningful changes to the program that will be of benefit to all.
If you have questions about the program review process, or if you do not receive the survey on Nov. 1 and would like to participate, contact Patty Sollars, Director of Undergraduate Education Programs, at patricia.sollars@unl.edu.