GENERAL EDUCATION
Courses will be granted General Education status in a specific core, breadth, or DV area for a period of 7 years, or until major modifications of the Weber State University General Education requirements warrant an earlier review. Any course seeking General Education status, whether new or renewing, must undergo review to insure that it appropriately addresses the current learning outcomes for the intended core, breadth, or DV area. (See flow chart p.2)
Existing Gen Ed courses will be reviewed for possible renewal of their Gen Ed status during the Fall Semester of their final or seventh year of approval. A similar procedure and the same curriculum forms will be used to generate, review, and approve course proposals for renewing courses.
The General Education Committee will only become involved in the approval process in the event that a course proposal is (a) seeking General Education status and (b) does not receive unanimous approval from the Curriculum Committee. If both circumstances occur, the role of the Gen Ed Committee will be to review the course proposal in question, as well as the pertinent mission statement and Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), and provide a recommendation to the Curriculum Committee as to the course
=s suitability. (This review by the Gen Ed Committee may reveal the need to update or modify the existing ILOs.) The Curriculum Committee will then reconsider the course proposal, in light of the Gen Ed Committee=s recommendation, to determine if the course proposal is forwarded to the Faculty Senate. Although the final decision rests with the Curriculum Committee, it is expected that the recommendation of the General Education Committee will carry significant weight.Should a course fail to retain its Gen Ed status during a Fall Semester review it will still be designated as a Gen Ed class for the following Spring Semester and will be considered to be on probation for the following academic year, still retaining its Gen Ed designation.
Departments sponsoring a course placed on Gen Ed probation may modify the course, and/or collect more assessment data, and resubmit the course the following Fall Semester. If the modified course is approved it will be granted Gen Ed status for the next 4 years, or until its core, breadth, or DV designation is next reviewed. Should a course on probation fail to be approved during the probationary year, that course may not be resubmitted until the next scheduled review for its core, breadth, or DV designation. Unless approved for renewal during the probationary year, the course cannot be applied toward a student's Gen Ed credit total starting on the academic year immediately following probation, regardless of the catalog year assigned to the student on admission as described in the University PPM 4-2, Section II-A. Students who previously completed the course during those academic years in which the course had Gen Ed designation will retain the Gen Ed credits associated with the course.
If the department choose not to submit a course for renewal, it needs to state so in its renewal package or follow the procedure for a nonsubstantive change.
Existing courses which receive gen Ed Status at a later date do not automatically become Gen Ed courses retroactively. The department may apply for retroactive status during the approval process.