To understand retention, evaluation of guided pathways implementation is an important tool. In an effort to help students succeed, colleges often give students a specified set of core courses and a specific or even prescribed pathway to complete their general education requirements. Retention efforts are always a topic with administrators at…

Presents a rationale for a reassessment of general education. Provides and illustrates a General Education Program Schematic which includes eight concerns: student learning objectives, interdisciplinary approaches, team teaching, community involvement, career awareness, basic business education, computer literacy, and independent study. (AYC)

Describes Utah Valley Community College's core course, "Ethics and Values," which approaches timely and interdisciplinary topics (e.g., abortion, and business ethics) and emphasizes writing, self-confrontation, oral discussion, and critical thinking. Reviews problems in promoting active student learning. Describes course content and the…

Educating for civic competence is an important societal mission of the community college. This chapter describes obstacles to and opportunities for the success of this mission.

While assessment of student learning outcomes has become standard operating procedure on virtually every campus, the driving forces for pursuing assessment remain primarily external. For that to change, campuses must evolve toward a culture of assessment based on the shared values and expectations that arise out of a community. The first step in…

This report provides questions and answers about writing across the curriculum, along with a series of 11 writing projects for instructors in the general education core courses (i.e., Energy in the Natural Environment, Humanities, Individual in Transition, and the Social Environment) at Miami-Dade Community College. First, the questions and…

General education is the process of developing a framework on which to place knowledge stemming from a variety of sources. Its goals are to help students think critically, develop values, understand traditions, respect diverse cultures and opinions, and, most importantly, put that knowledge to use. Even though its goals parallel socially supported…

At Los Medanos College (LMC), a project was undertaken in 1978 to develop an inter- and intradisciplinary general education program that would: (1) develop among students an awareness of major social issues of the late 20th Century; (2) help them analyze social problems and inquire into the options for resolving them; (3) broaden their world view…

Advocates the pragmatic approach to general education, suggesting that the educationally well-rounded occupational student advances more rapidly and goes higher in his career field. Stresses the importance of "general education courses", which make the student proficient and knowledgeable in his field and "supporting courses" which teach basic…

Traces the origins of two approaches to the modern college curriculum. Assesses differences in the goals of natural science as a major and as part of the liberal arts curriculum. Advocates incorporating affective objectives into natural science courses. Highlights obstacles to affective objectives. (DMM)

Argues that students benefit from a combined emphasis in general education on interdisciplinarity, civic responsibility, service learning, and writing. Describes an epidemics and AIDS course as a model for students wishing to enter the discourse and debates of society. (Contains 31 references.) (AUTH/NB)

Presents an overview of the Advancing the Humanities Project, which provides 24 community colleges with assistance in developing and improving the study of the humanities on their campuses by having them work with the directors of exemplary programs. Offers profiles of the 8 exemplary programs. (DMM)

Details the undergraduate curriculum revision undertaken by Guilford College, North Carolina, in 1996. Reports that the college's goals included development of strong courses that expressed concretely both the college's core identity, and, in the case of general education, the particular requirements the courses were to satisfy. Adds that the…

In fall 1992, San Jose City College (SJCC) in California developed Afternoon College to determine if afternoon hours could be scheduled effectively by offering a coherent block of transfer courses. Afternoon College was designed to offer the college's entire 39 units of general education in a 1- or 2-year rotation. Project goals included the more…

An introduction is provided to the Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) Program at Valencia Community College (VCC), a 2-year general education core curriculum divided into four courses. A description of VCC is followed by an overview of the program, which integrates the arts, philosophy, religion, English, mathematics, social sciences, and physical…