FAQ's - Program Clarification

• Are all students required to participate in the General Education Program?
  
  A: Yes. All undergraduate students in a baccalaureate program/major must fulfill the requirements of the General Education Program in order to earn a baccalaureate degree. The requirement applies to all students who begin their studies at the University of Cincinnati in the fall of 2001 or later and who graduate in 2005 or later. Students who were enrolled in the University of Cincinnati prior to the 2001-02 academic year need not fulfill the General Education Program if they complete their baccalaureate degrees by spring 2008. Following this date, except for extraordinary circumstances related to certain extended programs, all candidates for a baccalaureate degree must fulfill the requirements of the General Education Program.
  
  
• What are the essential components of the University of Cincinnati General Education Program?
  
  A: The General Education Program is founded on UC's longtime commitment to intellectual integrity in all academic programs. While the Program requires all students to have an exposure to a variety of "traditional" academic disciplines in addition to a concentration within a program/major, it also stipulates that all components of a baccalaureate educational experience contribute to the achievement of the four Baccalaureate Competencies (Critical Thinking, Effective Communication, Knowledge Integration, Social Responsibility). The General Education Program:
  • allows every baccalaureate student to fulfill General Education Program requirements within the curriculum of his/her undergraduate program/major.
  • eliminates the designation of special "general education courses." Any undergraduate (100 level or above) course at UC that is 3 or more credit hours, helps develop at least one of the four Baccalaureate Competencies, and fits under one of the General Education Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) or program/major areas can fulfill a General Education requirement.
  • does not require a course approval process for "general education."
  • does not stipulate a maximum class size for courses that fulfill General Education requirements.For a better understanding of the General Education Program, you might refer to the Diagram of the Program or to the expanded Program description.
    
    
• What is the General Education Venn Diagram?
  
  A: The General Education Venn Diagram, which is also call the diagram of the Program, provides a simple graphic representation of the General Education Program.
   
  
• What do the circle and square bullets mean in the General Eduaction Venn Diagram?
  
  A: The squares designate requirements that must be fulfilled by taking a course in the area. The circles indicate requirements that may be fulfilled either by taking a course in the area or by completing an approved experience.
  
  
• What is the difference between a Baccalaureate Competency requirement and a Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) requirement?
  
  A: While the Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) requirements are related to specific content areas, the Baccalaureate Competencies are primary goals and desired outcomes of the General Education Program. In a sense, BoK requirements are associated with information content, and the Competencies with the skills and abilities by which that information is explored and applied. The expectation is that the four Baccalaureate Competencies are developed in all of the undergraduate course that a student takes, but especially in those courses that provide BoK credit.
  
  
• While the essence of the Baccalaureate Competencies that relate to traditional academic issues is obvious from their names, what is the emphasis of Social Responsibility?
  
  A: Social Responsibility is the ability to apply knowledge and skills gained through the undergraduate experience for the advancement of society.
  Attention and service to the world at large are characteristic of a socially accountable, well-educated individual. One goal of the General Education Program is to introduce a student to historical ethical reasoning, contemporary social and ethical issues, and to promote knowledge, skills, and attitudes that encourage responsible civic engagement.
  Each academic unit should identify and provide each student in the program/major with opportunities to develop some level of social responsibility. How Social Responsibility is defined is discipline-specific. The July-August, 2000 issue of AAUP Academe presented an in-depth exploration of this topic. You may also visit these websites, among others, for discipline-specific information related to Social Responsibility. Examples include: 
                           Business-- www.bsr.org ,
                           Behaviorists-- www.bfsr.org,
                           Artists-- www.visionsound.com/asr.html ,
                           Computer professionals-- www.scn.org/IP/cpsr/cpsr.html, 
                           Architects and engineers-- www.jakob.demon.co.uk,
                           Students for responsible business-- www.srbnet.org,
                           Psychologists-- www.ngws.org/service/groups/psr.htm,
                           Teachers-- www.esrnational.org ,
                           Engineers-- www.radburn.rutgers.edu/andrews/projects/ssit/scope.html
  
  
• The requirements of most baccalaureate programs/majors are already extensive, leaving little option for additional courses. How can a student fulfill the requirements of the General Education Program without additional coursework beyond the requirements of the program/major?
  
  A: Baccalaureate programs already have distribution requirements that can also fulfill the requirements of the General Education Program. As a result, every undergraduate student at UC should be able to fulfill the General Education Program requirements through major requirements and electives. Students can also use the same course to satisfy multiple requirements. For example, for an A&S History major, a history course in "Western Civilization" might fulfill the General Education Historical Perspectives requirement as well as both a requirement of the major and an A&S History requirement. 
  
  
• What assurance is there that the courses necessary to complete the General Education Program requirements will be available in a timely manner?
  
  A: The University of Cincinnati General Education Program achieves student exposure to a number of different "traditional" academic disciplines through normal course offerings, not through specific "General Education courses." As such, there is no need to develop special courses to support the General Education Program, although it is necessary to have an adequate number of courses with a Breadth of Knowledge (BoK) designation in each of the identified academic disciplines. As a major university, UC offers an extensive number of courses at the undergraduate level in every academic quarter. All courses at the 100 level or higher that carry 3 or more credit hours, help develop at least one of the Baccalaureate Competencies, and substantially address one of the BoK areas can meet the requirements of the General Education Program and are typically identified as fulfilling a BoK. The General Education Coordinating Committee monitors the available courses in each of the BoK areas on a regular basis to insure that there are adequate courses in each BoK areas to meet the needs of the students in terms of fulfilling the General Education requirements. A listing of these courses is available on the web through the Registrar's office.
  
   
• Why isn't Information Technology (IT) one of the Baccalaureate Competencies?
  
  A: Information Technology is fundamental to baccalaureate education and is a necessary component of Effective Communication, Critical Thinking, and Knowledge Integration. It was the decision of the faculty committee that developed the General Education Program that presenting IT as a separate competency would diminish its integral role in the General Education Program. This decision was supported in discussions with faculty and by the overwhelming approval of the Program by a faculty vote in each of the colleges.
  
  
• How many credit hours are required to fulfill the Breadth of Knowledge areas of Quantitative Reasoning, Culture and Diversity, and Social and Ethical Reasoning by taking a course?
  
  A: A course used to fulfill a General Education requirement in Quantitative Reasoning, Culture and Diversity, or Social and Ethical Reasoning must be a minimum of three credit hours.
  
  
  
• What are the "experiences" that may fulfill part of the requirements of the General Education Program?
  
  A: Certain areas can be fulfilled by either courses or experiences. These include the BoK areas of Quantitative Reasoning, Diversity and Culture, and Social and Ethical Issues, as well as the Program/Major requirements of Methodology and Capstone. Many colleges and/or academic units already have established programs (such as service learning or co-op) that might fulfill this requirement. Other examples include travel or study-abroad programs (Latin American Studies-Geography field trip to Yucatan, study abroad in Spain or Mexico) that could fulfill the Diversity requirement. There are also service-learning programs (internships, tutoring) that could fulfill the Social and Ethical Issues requirement. It is also possible that an "experience" may relate to a set of activities or exposures that are components of a curriculum or a number of different courses. When an experience that fulfills a General Education requirement is part of a program/major, it is explained within the description of the program/major. When an experience is a special activity, the General Education aspect is identified in the description of the activity.
  
  
• How is the fulfillment of a General Education Program requirement through an "experience" entered into a student's record?
  
  A: When the experience is an integral part of an academic program/major, the particular courses associated with the experience are to be identified. When a student who is in that program/major satisfactorily completes these listed courses, credit for the component of the General Education Program fulfilled by the experience will be automatically recorded. Of course this requires proper coordination between the program/major, the General Education Coordinating Committee, and the Registrar. This entails several steps: the program/major identifies the experience and the related courses; this information is submitted to the General Education Coordinating Committee; and the General Education Coordinating Committee works with the Registrar to implement the system that will enter the information into a students record.When an experience is a special activity, such as the Yucatan trip offered through the A&S Department of Geography, the faculty in charge of the activity is responsible for defining the experience and identifying the BoK area addressed by the experience. This information is to be submitted to the General Education Coordinating Committee, which will be responsible to having the activity classified as an "Experience for Gen Ed Credit" for a particular BoK area. When a student has satisfactorily participated in the activity, the faculty in charge of the activity is to assign "Gen Ed Experience Credit" to the student in the appropriate BoK area and submit this through the normal grading channels.