2012 Institute on General Education and Assessment

June 2-6, 2012
The Hotel at Turf Valley
Ellicott City, Maryland

Institute Goals

To advance general education reform on campuses, teams will work:

• to align campus goals for general education with institutional goals for learning and student development;
• to develop intentional general education programs and co-curricular designs to integrate effective instruction to improve learning;
• to identify strategies for successful implementation of curricular change that meets the needs of rapidly changing student demographics, transfer challenges, and inclusive standards for student success; and
• to implement meaningful assessment strategies that target learning outcomes, produce useful data, can be widely communicated, and lead to meaningful improvement in teaching and learning outcomes.

Campus Action Plans

In addition to scheduled workshops, a large portion of the Institute curriculum is reserved for campus teams to work independently to advance their project goals. During these periods, teams share ideas, map strategies, and consult with Institute faculty experts on specific problems or issues. Teams use this time to prepare a campus “action plan” to bring back to campus. The action plan is intended to represent initial and continuing steps for implementation and advancement upon returning to campus, key persons to engage in the change process, and a realistic timeline for accomplishing goals. Action plans are shared in small groups at the end of the Institute with two to three additional campus teams in order to receive helpful feedback and guidance from fellow Institute participants and Institute faculty.

Institute Teams

Teams consist of five members: a team leader and four members. These teams must include a senior academic officer and faculty members from a range of disciplines, and reflect a campus’s diversity. Teams should be cross-functional, and include persons with different perspectives on the work. Teams should recruit individuals who are significantly involved in the projected campus work, as well as key individuals who could extend the reach of action.