January 2023
To provide useful information for reviewers at every level as they consider Gen Ed course proposals, and the role the course may play in the WCU Gen Ed curriculum, a new "Narrative" form is required for any new or revised course that checks any of the following boxes in the CIM shell:
· Additional Baccalaureate Requirement 2019+
· General Education 2019+
· General Education Pathways
Required use of the new form will become effective Nov. 1, 2022. It can be found linked to the CIM page at submission or here (please be sure to download the file and save to your own computer to complete--do not complete the form in Google Drive or Sharepoint). If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Gen Ed Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu).
The current Gen Ed Program, implemented in the Fall of 2019, includes the requirement of “a universal implementation of capstone courses in the majors, with a requirement that students synthesize their entire undergraduate career (Gen Ed, major, minor, and co-curricular work).” CAPC previously asked each program to identify a “Capstone Course” for their majors. Departments should design a specific Gen Ed Capstone Assignment that will be part of that course. Each program/major must submit a Gen Ed Capstone Assignment to CAPC for approval, and all sections of the capstone course(s) in that program/major will use the approved assignment. See details here. The deadline for submission was December 31, 2022. If your program has not yet submitted the Capstone Assignment, please do so ASAP.
Completion of the Capstone course, with the Gen Ed Capstone Assignment, will become a graduation requirement for students matriculating to WCU starting Fall of 2023. If you are not sure if your program has an approved Gen Ed Capstone Assignment, you can check here, or reach out to Capstone Assignment Director Sharon DeJoy SDeJoy@wcupa.edu or Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu).
Writing Emphasis (W) courses that have not been revalidated since the Fall of 2019, when the current Gen Ed Program went into effect, must be submitted to CAPC for revalidation. Here is a link to a list of all approved W courses and their revalidation status. Please check the list; if you still are not sure if your W course needs to be submitted for revalidation, you can reach out to Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu) or Writing Emphasis Subcommittee Chair and Writing Across the Curriculum Director, Justin Rademaekers (JRademaekers@wcupa.edu).
Please see here for more details.
The deadline for submission for revalidation was December 31, 2022. If your program has courses not yet submitted for W revalidation, please do so ASAP to avoid having the W removed from the course.
The current Gen Ed Program, implemented in the Fall of 2019, includes the requirement of “a universal use of Electronic Portfolios to facilitate students’ thinking across their Gen Ed and Major courses.” More information about ePortfolios as part of the Gen Ed Program can be found here.
Beginning with the start of the Fall 2022 semester, all Gen Ed course proposals submitted to CAPC, regardless of reason for submission, will be expected to identify in the syllabus one assessment artifact addressing each relevant Gen Ed goal that students will be expected to upload to their Gen Ed ePortfolio, that they should have created in Google Sites using their WCU Google account. Once the course is approved, it is expected that students will be required to submit the identified artifacts to their ePortfolios beginning the next term that the course is taught. You can find more details here.
Here is some syllabus language you might use to ensure that students comply with uploading documents to their ePortfolio: "This assignment should be uploaded to your Gen Ed ePortfolio (Google Sites)."
If you have any questions about identifying an artifact suitable for upload to ePortfolio, please contact Gen Ed Committee Chair, Karen Mitchell (kmitchell@wcupa.edu), or the chair of the relevant subcommittee (member lists can be found here).