Institute

2023 Institute on General Education and Assessment

A Virtual Learning Experience

The Institute on General Education and Assessment (IGEA) provides campus teams with opportunities to refine and advance general education programs and their assessment. The Institute features an enhanced curriculum with greater interactivity built in between teams and faculty. With a deep and abiding commitment to ensuring that access to excellence in higher education is available to all students, the Institute maintains a laser-like focus on issues of quality and equity. The curriculum provides both “nuts-and-bolts” tools and pragmatic strategies while connecting to the latest research in leading institutional innovation, successful change management, curricular coherence and student success.

During the Institute, teams will design equity-minded approaches to integrating general education with the major. These plans will help provide answers to the question, “Why do I need to take this class?” by demonstrating the centrality of general education in connecting student learning with critical social issues that matter to students and society, intentionally aligning with learning outcomes identified as essential for student success in their own lives, their communities, and the workplace.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT

Hear from institute faculty member Bryan Dewsbury on how the Institute on General Education and Assessment can help you overcome challenges to general education reform on your campus.

What an invaluable experience the Institute was! We got to talk to other schools making the same journey in general education. We benefited from one-on-one sessions with experienced leaders and we got the chance to sit as a group and make real headway. We entered with vague ideas and emerged with an actual draft curriculum.
/ Alison Chapman, Professor and Department Chair of English and IGEA "Alum", University of Alabama at Birmingham

Who Should Attend?

The Institute on General Education and Assessment is designed for any campus, system, or consortium engaged in redesigning general education curricula and/or institutional assessment efforts. Attendees can be at any stage in the process of rethinking general education and assessment approaches and issues emerging from their respective needs and circumstances. Teams should include a diverse set of colleagues, including a senior academic officer and faculty and other educators working on general education committees or teaching general education courses. Team members can include student affairs professionals and assessment and curriculum specialists with active roles in advancing student learning on campus.

I had the opportunity to attend two Institutes on General Education and Assessment with two different teams from the same institution. Each time we returned with renewed focus and a clear plan to move our project forward. The ability to have concentrated time with my campus team to focus and learn was invaluable; and having access to world class experts to guide us and provide feedback enhanced our experience more than I could ever express.
/ Bethany Miller, Director of Institutional Research, Macalester College, IGEA "Alum", and 2023 IGEA faculty