Planning a FIG
Central Student Outcomes of General Education

The General Education program is designed to be a coherent program that addresses a specific set of outcomes of skill, knowledge and values.  Each discipline and course has been included in the program because of its potential contribution to the outcomes.  Some outcomes (the ones under “skills” in particular) are reinforced throughout the whole program, and others are addressed by just a few of the courses.  It is crucial to the coherence of the program that all participating faculty plan their courses with attention to the outcomes for which they are responsible.  The more the students see the program as a coherent whole, building skills, broadening knowledge and exploring values, the more likely they are to benefit from the individual courses and participate with an open mind in these required classes.  In planning your class, therefore, please be deliberate in addressing skills and values as well as knowledge outcomes.  The following is the full list of the outcomes for the General Education Program. 

I.  Skills:

Students should be able to:

A.  think critically, reason soundly, and argue effectively,
as demonstrated by the ability to:

1. analyze arguments according to standard criteria
2. assume and defend a position on a given topic
3. use systematic processes, including the collection and analysis of evidence, to form and support conclusions
4. read and analyze complex texts, including the analysis of rhetorical devices and modes of inference

Students should be able to:

B.  demonstrate competence in the use of information technology,
as demonstrated by the ability to:

1. locate, retrieve, and filter information using appropriate resources
2. use appropriate software for developing written and graphic materials and for organizing, analyzing, and presenting data
3. use appropriate network communications software

Students should be able to:

C.  communicate effectively,
as demonstrated by the ability to:

1. write coherent analytical and persuasive papers using effective expression
2. speak with clarity and organization of thought
3. address diverse audiences

II.  Knowledge:

Students should know:

A.  The natural and designed world,

1. demonstrating a general knowledge of current scientific understanding of the history and nature of the universe, the earth, and of life forms
2. demonstrating a general knowledge of  the methods and traditions of analysis in the natural sciences

Students should know:

B.  The social, political, economic, and psychological world,

1. demonstrating a general knowledge of scholarly understanding of the range of social, political, geopolitical, and economic organization
2. demonstrating a general understanding of human development, behavior, and health
3. demonstrating a general knowledge of American politics and society, including the experience of significant minority groups
4. demonstrating a general knowledge of the methods and traditions of analysis in the social sciences

Students should know:

C.  History, literature, art, music, and philosophy,

1. demonstrating a general knowledge of the nature, origins, and contributions of major civilizations
2. demonstrating a more detailed knowledge of formative influences in the recent past
3. demonstrating a general knowledge of the methods and traditions of analysis in the humanities 

Students should know:

D.  Mathematical and Quantitative Reasoning

1. demonstrating general knowledge of the breadth, power, development of major areas of mathematics
2. demonstrating proficiency in solving problems using mathematical
3. concepts and quantitative reasoning

III.  Values:

Students should value:

A.  The creative arts,

responding aesthetically in a sufficiently sophisticated way to both contemporary and past works from several cultures, including American

Students should value:

B.  The Other,

demonstrating an appreciation of the Other sufficient to motivate an understanding of individuals and groups who differ in significant ways from the Self, such as differences generated by race, gender, class, and culture in both domestic and international contexts

Students should value:

C.  Ethical behavior,

1. acquiring knowledge and skills necessary for ethical judgment and its application to everyday life
2. developing the habit of reflecting on their own values and fulfilling their ethical and civic responsibilities

Planning Questions

1.   What specific subject topics and student activities will be included in the FIG courses to achieve these outcomes?

2.   How will you access these student outcomes in your course and in the FIG?

3.   Have you included all the relevant Central Student Outcomes in your course syllabi?

Integrating Courses and Developing a Syllabus

In order for the FIGs to realize the objective of connecting course content, it is imperative that FIG faculty meet on a regular basis and develop a plan to integrate their materials around the FIG theme.  While the faculty workshop is designed to start this process, FIG faculty should arrange weekly meetings for continuous assessment and coordination of activities.  

The following guidelines provide some possible issues for consideration before and during the semester.

Before the semester begins

Ø       Attending the scheduled workshops is the best way to connect with other FIG faculty and allocate sufficient time for planning activities

Ø       Exchange course syllabi with the expectation that changes will be made to the organization of your course so that it will meaningfully connect with the particular theme. A common syllabus would most effectively communicate and facilitate a tightly integrated FIG.

Ø       Collectively work together with your fellow FIG faculty to identify the most important issues and to establish an integrated instructional plan.

Ø       The FIG workshops will provide a block of time for some of this activity

The First Week of Class

Ø       Faculty should attend each other's first session  -- it is important for the students to see the faculty together at the start of the semester as it will validate, through faculty modeling, the community concept

Ø       Attempt to develop some integrative activity or exercise that crosses the boundaries of the three courses -- again, it is important to establish this practice early so that it validates the principle of curricular integration

Ø       Assess level of student knowledge -- this is always a good practice and will allow you to build on what the students know and/or address serious misconceptions or obstacles to learning

Ø       Introduce students to study skills and college success resources such as the Academic Center for Excellence at UNF

Early In The Semester

Ø       In order to connect with the FIG students it is strongly suggested that you schedule a meeting with each student individually or in pairs. Face-to-face meetings outside of class serve to establish a better relationship and understanding with students and will translate into a more comfortable and personal climate within the classroom

Ø       Conduct a simple formative assessment that asks the students to comment on the positive and negative aspects of the class and make constructive suggestion for improvement

Ø       Develop active learning, collaborative learning, and group activities as early as possible in order to establish a foundation and level of expectation. It is very easy to revert to traditional lecture delivery and once this pattern is started it is difficult to break out of it.

Throughout The Semester

Ø       What we know about learning in-depth suggests a number of teaching guidelines that need to be repeated and reinforced throughout the semester.  Some of the most critical are:

·         constantly return to the central concepts, principles, and questions that have been developed for your theme 

·         use the various classroom formative assessment techniques that involve learning processes, allow students to assess their learning, allow you to measure progress toward learning goals

Ø       Meet every week with your FIG faculty to discuss student progress, assess your course design, and adjust plans accordingly

Strategies for Integrating FIG Courses

I. Questions to Address Collectively on the FIG

Ø       What are the central issues and questions that should be raised in your FIG theme and that can be used to tie the courses together? (See II below)

Ø       How will each individual course address these issues and questions?

Ø       How can these issues and questions serve to integrate the FIG courses?

Ø       What kinds of pedagogical strategies (lectures, group work, collaborative learning, active learning exercises, experiential learning, journal writing, etc.) will be employed in each course and how can these be integrated to form a range of different learning experiences revolving around the FIG theme?

Ø       How will your FIG advance the General Education outcomes?

Ø       How will you assess student learning in terms of demonstrating the knowledge and skills related to the FIG theme and the General Education outcomes?  

II.  Consider What Knowledge is Worth Understanding

In order to achieve "enduring understanding" it is often vital that we select the most important central issues and questions ("linchpin ideas") that we intend to spend more time on and return to throughout the course.  Material that qualifies as "worth understanding" might meet the following criteria:

Ø       It represents a big idea that has enduring value beyond the course and classroom

Ø       It resides at the heart of the discipline and is intricately tied to the "doing" of the subject

Ø       It requires "uncoverage" -- meaning special treatment because it is often abstract, confusing, or non-intuitive

Ø       It offers the potential to engage and interest students

Example: in a course on the U.S. constitutional and legal system and student must understand the distinction between the letter and the spirit of the law; in a course on work organizations students need to grasp the idea of the unintended consequences of administrative action.

[Source for these criteria is: Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Understanding By Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998]

III. Consider Organizing the FIG Around a Series of Questions

The central issues in a FIG theme can be organized around a set of questions that engage and focus student inquiry. Questions are posed and material, content, assignments, exercises, and activities are designed to answer these questions.

In a single course there can be the "essential questions" related to the core ideas and concepts and then the more focused "unit questions" related to material covered at different points in the course.

Some examples of "essential" and "unit" questions framework from different disciplines (taken from Wiggins and McTighe 1998: 31):

The challenge for a FIG is developing common "essential" questions related to your FIG theme and then to consider how the different disciplines and courses will tackle the common question.

For example in a “Work and Society” FIG you might have the following:

Planning Questions

1.   Have you identifed one common "essential question" related to the FIG theme?

2.   How will each course in the FIG address this question based on the particular disciplinary perspective?

3.   What activities or assignments will the students actively engage in as a way to learn and develop competency with the material and an understanding of different perspectives and approaches to the question?

IV.  Consider Integrating the FIG Courses Using the Integrated Learning Block (ILB). 

This strategy comes from the University of Hartford learning communities program.

The object is to develop a shared area among the two or three FIG courses: the Integrated Learning Block, or ILB.  Decide which student-learning outcome or outcomes are shared among the courses, or could be developed as shared.  The ILB might be mastery of a body of material, or might be a common abstract conceptual concern within a theme—for example, the concept of “conflict”. 

The faculty team should proceed to develop written answers to four questions:  1. What are our common learning outcomes?  2.  What will students do or learn to achieve them?  3.  What materials, instructional technology, or out-of-class activities might support the outcomes?  4.  How will we assess student achievement of our common outcomes?

One use of technology would be to set up a FIG site online, using Blackboard.  The faculty team would come up with nine questions that cover the ILB.  Students would be responsible for posting answers to six of the questions online.  Their answers would be a factor in one or more of the course grades.  Students would be invited to respond to previous answers in their answer, and to submit further or revised answers as the stream of answers develops on a given question.  Faculty could participate in the answer stream.

Planning Questions

1.   Has each instructor listed the subjects and topics in her or his FIG course that have a direct connection to the FIG theme?

2.   In looking over these lists, what are some common subjects, topics, and learning outcomes that are shared by the courses?

3.   How can these be linked across the different courses through connected student assignments and activities?

Building a Common Syllabus Outline

In order to develop an integrated FIG, it will be useful to develop and present a single course syllabus for all three courses. This can include an outline of weekly topics and activities that connects the courses. Other materials, specific to a single course, can be created individually and distributed by each individual instructor. 

Ø       Consider developing two tentative weekly topics (or questions) along with a division of labor by each course devoted to that topic. 

Ø       Consider how the web-based Blackboard site can be used for weekly out-of-class activities.   

Ø       Consider planning some additional meetings throughout the summer with your FIG members to complete this common syllabus.

The table below shows how a common syllabus can be created which includes the assignments in all three  courses -- week by week -- under a single topic heading.  The FIG was "Business and Society."