General Education Committee: ACTA and AAC&U

"Under a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AAC&U convened three working groups and a quality assurance group comprised of faculty, academic leaders, policy leaders, assessment, and learning technology experts that developed the GEMs principles and an emerging set of existing practices exemplifying those principles. The principles and guidelines developed during the GEMs project planning year (November, 2013 – December, 2014) present a new approach to general education design that is equity-minded, outcomes-based, and takes advantage of the opportunity of digital learning environments. In addition, through the GEMS/VALUE initiatives, AAC&U developed a suite of documents that describe and make the case for this new approach to general education." (via AAC&U website)

"The VALUE rubrics were developed by teams of faculty experts representing colleges and universities across the United States through a process that examined many existing campus rubrics and related documents for each learning outcome and incorporated additional feedback from faculty. The rubrics articulate fundamental criteria for each learning outcome, with performance descriptors demonstrating progressively more sophisticated levels of attainment. The rubrics are intended for institutional-level use in evaluating and discussing student learning, not for grading. The core expectations articulated in all 16 of the VALUE rubrics can and should be translated into the language of individual campuses, disciplines, and even courses. The utility of the VALUE rubrics is to position learning at all undergraduate levels within a basic framework of expectations such that evidence of learning can by shared nationally through a common dialog and understanding of student success." (via AAC&U website)

"The American Council of Trustees and Alumni today released the sixth edition of the What Will They Learn? ratings. At a time when 87% of employers believe that our colleges must raise the quality of students' educations in order for the United States to remain competitive globally, and four in five Americans say they believe all graduates should have to take the key courses outlined in the study, few colleges require a real liberal arts education. The report and the companion website, WhatWillTheyLearn.com, detail whether each school requires literature, U.S. government or history, foreign language, mathematics, economics, science, and composition. ACTA assigns each school a letter grade, and notes explain the grades assigned and noteworthy programs within schools." (via the ACTA website)

This document compares our university against a group of Vermont universities. It lists requirements for each university's general education program, tuition, and 4-year graduation rates.