In the sections below, you will find copies of the posters displayed during the Fall 2024 General Education Model Walks. Additional information about each of the three model structures can be accessed by clicking on the model title. To expand a poster into a new window, please click on the small white box in the top right hand side of the poster box.
Note: We are showing examples of possible General Education Structures. Depending on the feedback that we receive, we may end up mixing and matching some of the model components in our final proposal. For example, the First Year Experience courses could be interchangeable, the list of foundation courses could be shifted and the themes/pathways/strand topics listed in the models are placeholders. The actual topics would be developed in consultation with the OU community. If you don't see a given General Education course listed under one of the themes/pathways/strands, please keep in mind that we only showed a handful of courses for illustration purposes. There are hundreds of current Gen Ed courses and what we are presenting here are program structures, not final proposals.
When providing feedback, please make sure you tell us what you liked, what you didn't like and whether we forgot to include something important.
Thank you for your review and feedback!
This poster describes some of the motivations and guiding principles behind the committee's efforts to propose revisions to OU's General Education curriculum.
To emphasize Oakland University’s unique core curriculum, demonstrate the connections between this new curriculum and our undergraduate degrees, better reflect the specific—rather than general—goals of the program, and support school spirit, our general education curriculum will be rebranded as GRIZZ CORE.
The Grizz core pathways model includes a First-Year Experience course focused on a Metro Detroit/Southeast Michigan Theme, provides students with foundational courses that engage them in the key knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for success in college, and allows students flexibility to choose a multidisciplinary path through the Grizz Core curriculum by selecting 3 courses offered on a single theme. If you have trouble opening the
The Grizz core strands model begins with a 3-credit first-year experience (FYE) multidisciplinary course that would be team taught, project or activity-based, and ends with a 1-credit reflection seminar. Students take 4 foundational courses in writing, math, language, and human connections. Students follow their passion by choosing a single topic strand consisting of four courses, with at least one from each distribution area (Social Sciences, Humanities, Arts, and STEM), as well as an additional Grizz Core elective.
The Grizz core themes model includes a First-Year Seminar which centers around a major text, while preparing students for success at OU. Students take 4 foundation courses to develops academic skills in writing, math/stats, world language, and difference and power. Students then explore a meaningful theme through four courses across perspectives and modes of inquiry and then cap their core with a Synthesis seminar, which integrates learning in a multidisciplinary course that is writing-, research-, and reading-intensive.
The graphic below provides a quick visual comparison of the three proposed models. More details can be found in the intro poster, as well as in the documents that describe each model.