In his State of the University address on October 16 President McRobbie addressed the status of IU general education, asking for reports regarding progress in various administrative areas while also emphasizing the importance of general education achieving its academic goals and having requirements that reflect the needs of an ever-changing educational environment.
The principal objective of the task force is to assess and report on the future of general education on the Bloomington campus, making recommendations for evolutionary changes in its requirements and structure for adoption and implementation. It is expected that the will recommend revisions of BFC policies related to the scope, requirements, and implementation of this integral aspect of the undergraduate curriculum designed to build lifelong learning skills.
The two specific aspects of general education that the report should address and evaluate are:
- Future of General Education: Consider what might constitute critical aspects of general education in the foreseeable future and propose how policies can facilitate the evolution of requirements to ensure that their focus and breadth remains pertinent to undergraduate educational goals.
Assessments may include recognition of trends in general education that help identify critical learning skills across the range of the curriculum for the next generation of undergraduates. Recommendations may suggest how future changes in general education requirements can be facilitated by BFC actions. - Context for General Education: Assess the history, role, and characteristics of general education at peer institutions to identify best practices rooted in successful approaches enacted elsewhere that could be emulated on the Bloomington campus in the future. This task aligns with the proposed hosting of presentations exploring approaches to general education from faculty with expertise in programs at other institutions.
Assessments may include comparisons of the requirements and enactment of general education at similar institutions coupled to recommendations that identify how these insights may help enhance the efficacy of the general education common ground and shared goals on the Bloomington campus.