The University is up for re-accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges next year, and the University’s Committee on General Education is working to ensure the process goes smoothly.
The University requires each student to complete 39 general education credit hours in order to graduate. The number is dictated by the Louisiana Board of Regents and has been set at 39
since 1987.
The University began requiring departments to determine “intentionality in course design” in 2009. Murphy said the intention is to design courses that will eventually help students earn their degrees.
James Murphy, associate professor of theatre and committee chair, said the committee began seeking out more focused assessments a few years ago.
He said the assessments must detail how each course meets the SACSCOC guidelines, and without them, there’s no proof the University is meeting
its standards.
“It wasn’t even an issue of whether it was happening, there was just no means to show it,” he said.
Each general education course is required to teach students six specific competencies.
According to the competency list, after taking a general education course, a student should, among other things, be able to “communicate complex knowledge in multiple media,” “conduct effective research-based inquiry” and “be intelligently engaged in service to the community.”
Murphy said the committee has had trouble collecting assessments in recent years, which could impede the accreditation process.
He said if a course is not assessed properly, it will be removed.
“We don’t have any other choice,” he said. “It’s all we can do at that point.”
If a course is cancelled, it must also be removed from the general catalog. Fortunately, changes to the catalog are determined months in advance.
If a course is in danger of removal, the committee can step in and arrange for it to be assessed in order to “get it back on track” and save it from being permanently cancelled.
Murphy said the committee is currently urging professors and department heads to complete in-depth assessments of general education courses.
The official report on the University’s general education curricula needs to be submitted by fall 2013, he said.
 
 
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]