Committee on Undergraduate Education

                Meeting Minutes

CUE called to order at 4:08 pm by Matt Miller and Carmen Werder

CUE minutes of 12/1/2012 had already been approved via email and forwarded to ACC.

REVIEW OF COURSES SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL AS GURS: Members divided into pre-arranged teams to discuss their assigned course proposals.  Actions follow.  The following NEW COURSES WERE TABLED FROM PREVIOUS MEETING and NOW APPROVED

REVISED COURSES SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW AT THIS MEETING – AND APPROVED:

TABLED:

Existing courses seeking NEW GUR Status APPROVED AS GURs:

Recommendations from CUE on possible improvements in the process:

1. Eventually a drop down box for the competencies will give suggestions on how to assess.  Convey to the curriculum committees.

2. One suggestion might be to make checking off competencies a required field so that you cannot advance on the form unless each area is completed.  CUE hopes to develop and provide a model statement on how a competency can be assessed.

3. A subgroup that is assigned a group of Course Approval/Revision forms can Move and Second approval and bring it to the committee for discussion prior to voting.

4. CUE needs to check into the prerequisite requirement of 30 credits and ENG 101 prior to taking DNC 231; is it in the handbook?

Viking Landing – February 27, 2-5 pm in the Skybridge

Planning to date:

1.     Sylvia Tag provided information on flyers which will be available for distribution and in large format.

2.     Carmen Werder reported there are 10 students who will participate from a Communication practicum and since they will be trained, what are CUE’s recommendations:

o   Encourage them to share positive stories if they took a class.

o   If they don’t know the answer to a student’s question, send students to advisors.

o   Show students how to access information across the different domains; be choice driven, but let them navigate.

o   Offer a perc to sophomores:  Incentives:  Perhaps a raffle; Several gift certificates from the Bookstore

o   GUR faculty can strongly suggest or offer extra credit for coming to this.

o   Students go to large GUR classes for 1 minute invite. (Eng 101, Art History, History, Lib Studies, others)

o   Include “Thank You” to faculty who participated -- signed by CUE and VanderStaay, for their files.

o   GUR faculty invited… we can ask them to come and promote to their students.

o   Provide Technology on laptops.

o   Have printouts of syllabi in plastic sheets for next quarter;  provide GUR class schedules for Spring Quarter so students can do some mapping --  raffle.

o who are part of the event -- offer arge gur classes and speak and invite them.

o statement on how the competency will keyed to next quarter’s courses.

o   Campus wide communication: Western News, INFO FAIR, VIKING VILLAGE, Marketing through RES LIFE. 

o   Get electronic flyer out early; use ORG.SYNC --  software social networking software

Creating content for the Gen Ed website

o   Wendy Knight is willing to create the presence with a link from VPUE office. 

o   The Site need contents, and CUE will form a working group:

o   One section can include examples of what people are doing in GURs, resources, etc.

o   Can be accessed externally, syllabi could be linked to it, for example, to explain what a course or program might be with a Liberal Arts – Science focus, or Western’s Liberal Arts core; We can make use of the university’s technical writer as long as we have content.

Coherency

1)      Steve VanderStaay has drafted a call for Strands, a proposal that sequences existing GUR courses over 2-3 quarters,  and would like a few to be approved this year. 

2)       Liberal Studies has been developing a few experimental courses taught the first year; still in discussion, and CUE’s approval is needed to offer these.  Since they are experimental the final number will not have to meet catalog deadlines.

3)      Offering 3 GURs for 4 has several advantages also.  The State is examining efficiencies and these would justify a smaller class size since the courses are designed to be linked together with focused learning; smaller classes will help the faculty involved do to more.  CUE is on a timeline to get course proposals approved, so VanderStaay will send these out with the caveat that they are no more than a possibility.  Very similar to Honors proposals.

Carmen Werder proposed that it is also time to look at Writing Proficiency courses.  Werder mentioned that there are a lot of Alternative WP courses that are model writing courses and provide significant writing experiences for students.  Students seem to want these, although it is unknown whether it is because they do not have access to enough WP credit courses.

Miller and Werder are attending an AACU conference on GURs, coherency across institutions, portfolios, etc., in Washington D.C. on January 24, and will report back to CUE. 

Adjournment – 5:37 pm

Minutes submitted by Rose Marie Norton-Nader, 1-12-2012