General Education Requirements

The General Education Requirements (GER) serve as the core of the undergraduate curriculum. The program consists of a sequence of required courses in communications, the arts and humanities, the natural and physical sciences, mathematics, the behavioral and social sciences, health and information technology, designed to expose every undergraduate to the broad range of disciplines essential to the development of a liberally educated person. The General Education Requirements help students to develop the skills necessary for advanced study and for lifelong learning: to effectively communicate in oral and written formats; to acquire the ability to think analytically, critically, and creatively and to use the scientific method in problem solving; to proficiently use technology when conducting research; to obtain a deeper understanding of themselves, of others, and of our social and physical environment; to develop the capability to integrate their learning with past and present experiences; and to strengthen their potential for contributing to society. The Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs) are intended to support, to inform, to provoke, to shape, and to model for students the dynamics of the eternal bond which exists between the right to an education and the responsibility to teach. Please keep reading for more information on ISLOs.

Institutional Student Learning Outcomes (ISLOs)

Coppin students' experiences and instruction over the next three to five years will be anchored within an academic framework of three universal Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs): Oral and Written Communication and Analytical Reasoning. These Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs), by definition, represent the university’s commitment to provide students with academic experiences that support their ability to write clear expository and persuasive prose; to use valid research-based arguments as support for their written or oral positions; to express their ideas in language that is both appropriate to the topic and for the target audience, and to write and speak proficiently for those various audiences. Moreover, students will be trained to apply applications of classical and/or current theories and principles from specific content areas; to use critical judgments from a combination of evidences and assumptions to reach viable conclusions; and to collect, analyze, and interpret data via computational literacy and scientific reasoning.

Oral and Written Communication and Analytical Reasoning also provide impetus for the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) initiative as an appropriate and timely response to the importance and functionality of media as a mainstay of human experience. Though inclusive by nature Writing Across the Curriculum is purposed to recognize that while students' 21st century modes of communication are filtered through Facebook, MySpace, blogs, email and among other modes of communication the ability to convey a clear idea and to signal that the clear idea has been received and understood is irrevocably foundational to building lives and relationships. Indeed, it is through the ability to communicate and to respond to clear ideas that students will continue to find their 'voice' as significant communicators, and as undergraduates who have been transformed into life-long learners who learn to maintain their standing among local, national, and international communities.

The remaining Student Learning Outcomes: Informational Literacy, Social Awareness, Reflective Practice, and Responsive Citizenship are strategically infused in General Education Requirements and figure prominently across the spectrum of this core curriculum. Students will become proficient in the use of technology and its appropriate applicability and will learn, for example, to use multiple information sources such as online databases, videotapes, government documents, and journals in conducting research and/or in problem solving (e.g., electronic and print periodicals, chapters in books, government documents, archival material, and microfilm) through Informational Literacy. At the same time, students will learn thru Social Awareness: the importance of understanding self and to embrace their responsibilities as engaged citizens and informed leaders in service within the community; the importance of becoming aware of and understanding economic, political, and organizational systems, and the importance of gaining an appreciation of diverse cultural heritages and global societies. These Student Learning Outcomes, Information Literacy and Social Awareness along with Reflective Practice and Responsive Citizenship further characterize the collective learning experiences found in the General Education Requirements.

In sum, Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) are intended to support, to inform, to provoke, to shape, and to model for students the dynamics of the eternal bond which exists between the right to an education and the responsibility to teach.

General Education Program Assessment

The General Education (GE) program correlates to the CSU Strategic Plan of 2013-2020 goal 2 to transform the academic model to meet the higher education and leadership needs of Maryland’s 21st century students, citizens and businesses (CSU Strategic Plan, 2013). As part of the ongoing assessment and evaluation of the General Education program, the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs charged the General Education Task Force with a program review specifically related to the updated regulations of the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR).

The program reviews occurred during the 2011-2012 and 2016-2017 academic year. The charge from the Provost office was for the General Education Requirements (GER) Task Force to put forth recommendations which: 1) aligned GERs with the 2017 regulatory updates as stipulated in the COMAR; and 2) promote practices that provide increased flexibility in the GER requirements.

In 2015, the Curriculum Standards and Policy Committee approved as part of their bylaws, the creation of a General Education Subcommittee with a charge to evolve outcomes assessment. As part of assessing outcomes, the General Education Subcommittee was charged to review the elimination of curricular cross-linking that hindered timely completion of General Education requirements, particularly for transfer students. The GE Program Subcommittee meets monthly and submits policy recommendations, outcome assessment updates, and reports to both the University Curriculum Standards and Policies Committee and the Council of Deans.