The following are resources for faculty and staff related to General Education, and how you may get more involved in our Gen Ed Program.
Gen Ed Trainings, Workshops, & Events
Various events are held on the Urbana campus to support faculty and staff Gen Ed efforts.
Information Session on (Re)Certification of Gen Ed Courses
Friday, September 6, 2024 | 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (Central Time) | Zoom (Password: Illinois)
Are you planning to submit courses for General Education recertification this coming year, or developing a new course for certification? This session is intended to provide faculty and staff insight and guidance into General Education (re)certification procedures. Members of the Office of the Provost will provide information on what the (re)certification process looks like at the campus General Education Board and common challenges that courses face. We will also cover changes to and resources involved in the (re)certification process, including the General Education template syllabus, the CIM Course system where courses are submitted and updated, the feedback process through which course sponsors communicate with the General Education Board, and examples of past courses that received approval. Approximately one hour will be dedicated to sharing information, and thirty minutes will be allotted for Q & A. This information session will be most useful for sponsors and instructors working on the (re)certification of a course, but anyone is welcome to attend. Hosted by: Provost’s Office & Gen Ed Board Chair (genedboard@illinois.edu)
Advisor Series on Gen Eds
Friday, October 25, 2024 | 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM | 300 Levis Faculty Center
The Advising series is a monthly event for Academic Advisors on the Urbana campus brought to you by the Office of the Provost. The Advising Advisory Group helps to plan and coordinate this event each month. This session will focus on the General Education Program. Visit the Advisor Series Website for Details
Student Success Symposium
Thursday, February 6, 2025 | Other Details TBD
The 4th Annual Student Success Symposium will be held on February 6, 2025 in the Illini Union. Attendees will participate in discussion about what our campus is doing, plans to do, or should do to bolster retention and graduation rates, close equity gaps, and enhance the Illinois experience for undergraduate students. The 2025 Symposium will include a dynamic keynote speaker, multiple sessions from our campus community, opportunities to dialogue with colleagues and much more. Visit the Student Success Website for Details when Available
Gen Ed Data and Reports
There are various reports and data available for staff and faculty, although some may require special access. Report names are listed if available.
Admin Reports (Power BI Report Server): Link
- Compare GenEd by Term (172): ‘RegistrarCourseCompareGenEd2Terms(172a)‘
- Identifies changes between Gen Ed courses between the two terms entered
- Only returns list of courses where there was a change between the two terms defined (Condensed version)
- A blank value means the course was not Gen Ed or did not exist in the specified term
- Defined by: Start Term, End Term, Subject, Gen Ed Attribute
- GenEd Requirements by Term (172): ‘RegistrarCourseCompareGenEdByMultipleTerms(172b)’
- Lists all Gen Ed courses offered by the subject(s) selected and if they were a Gen Ed during the specified term(s) to view changes over a longer period (extensive data)
- A 0 value means the course was not Gen Ed or did not exist in the specified term, 1 means the course was GenEd for the specified term.
- Defined by: Start Term, End Term, Subject, Gen Ed Attribute
- ‘GenEdByTerm(121)’
- Lists all Gen Ed courses for the specified term (does not include if the course was offered during the specified term)
- Results include the Course, Gen Ed category/ies, Crosslist Indicator (none, C=Controlling, N=Not Controlling), Crosslist Courses
- Defined by: Term, NetID (subjects – may add one, multiple, or all)
Division of Management Information (DMI): Link
- Course Information System Link
- Six-Ten Violations Report
- By Course (one/multiple course(s), all/multiple years)
- List of historical subjects
- Chancellor’s Senior Survey on the Undergraduate Experience Link
- The Senior Survey Dashboard provides an interactive way for faculty and staff to review the survey results, allowing for the units to look at results by college, department, international student status, gender, and race/ethnicity. You cannot view categories when fewer than 10 responses are available.
ATLAS Data Services Center: Data Discovery Reports: Link
- Crosslist Enrollment GenEd Counts
- Course enrollment counts of Gen Ed courses, displaying Actual Seats and Available Seats for each CRN and for all cross-listed CRN’s. Report is best viewed in Excel.
- Students Missing Comp I Requirements
- Students who have not passed a Comp I course sequence and are not enrolled in a Comp I course. Run for students in DGS or General Curriculum.
Get More Involved
It is essential that we have faculty, staff, and student involvement in our Gen Ed Program as it is a campus-wide program. We encourage more faculty and staff involvement with the Gen Ed program, and there are many ways you may get involved.
Contact Us: gen-ed@illinois.edu Send us ideas, thoughts, or your interest in being involved in our Gen Ed program.
General Education Board: The General Education Board is a campus-wide body established by the Senate and subject to the will of the Senate. The Board’s charge is to oversee the campus general education program in accordance with requirements adopted by the Senate, and to ensure, as much as possible, that general education courses will be valuable intellectual experiences.
College/School leadership nominate faculty for the Gen Ed Board; We encourage interested faculty to discuss their interest with their college/school leadership (you may email genedboard@illinois.edu with questions).
Gen Ed Assessment Committee: The General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC) oversees policies and processes to ensure a systematic understanding and improvement of student learning in general education courses.
College/School leadership nominate faculty for the Gen Ed Board; We encourage interested faculty to discuss their interest with their college/school leadership.
Develop/Teach a Gen Ed Course: Discuss your interest in developing/teaching a Gen Ed course with your department/unit as they maintain their catalog of courses, including courses designated as Gen Ed. Visit our Gen Ed Course Details & Category Criteria page to find more information on Gen Ed courses.
Campus Gen Ed Teaching Resources
Student Success @ Illinois: The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign strives to increase access, promote timely degree completion, and prepare our students to make positive contributions to the state, nation, and the world. Student success takes all of us. The website provides Faculty Resources, Current Happenings, and information on the Student Success Symposium.
General Education Assessment: Illinois is committed to ensuring that its General Education goes through a rigorous assessment and quality assurance process. General Education is an integral element of the premier education that the University pledges to deliver to our students at Illinois. The website provides information on Course-embedded Assessment.
Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (CITL): A hub of innovation and hands-on support for those who want to discuss and work with higher education trends, models, projects, and resources. CITL offers many services to the Illinois campus, including training and assistance with instructional pedagogies and technologies and personalized support to instructors who want to create, revise or blend a course.
Organizations & Guides
AAC&U Topic: What Is Liberal Education?
Liberal education is an approach to undergraduate education that promotes integration of learning across the curriculum and cocurriculum, and between academic and experiential learning, in order to develop specific learning outcomes that are essential for work, citizenship, and life.
AAC&U Essential Learning Outcomes
The Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) define the knowledge and skills gained from a liberal education, providing a framework to guide students’ cumulative progress.
AAC&U High-Impact Practices
The teaching and learning practices listed and described below are designated as “high-impact practices,” or HIPs, based on evidence of significant educational benefits for students who participate in them—including and especially those from demographic groups historically underserved by higher education. These practices take many different forms, depending on learner characteristics and on institutional priorities and contexts.
AAC&U Open Educational Resources (OER)
With the high costs of higher education a top concern of students (not to mention their families), open educational resources (OER) have emerged as a foundational strategy for improving student equity and college affordability.
Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE)
VALUE is an authentic approach to assessment designed to articulate and measure the skills, abilities, and dispositions that students need and that policymakers and employers demand.
Association for General & Liberal Studies (AGLS)
The Association of General and Liberal Studies is a community of practitioner-scholars that provides strategic, effective, and innovative support for peers engaged in the day-to-day work of general and liberal learning in 21st century higher education.
AGLS: The Gen Ed Leader’s Playbook
With this playbook, our goal is to provide general education instructors, curriculum committee members, administrators, and any campus academic leader with a variety of tools and perspectives to address the tough questions as they arise. This is meant to be more than a simple FAQ, because how you respond will vary depending on who is asking, where, in what context, and in what tone. Obviously, no resource like this can be comprehensive, so some improvisation, trial-and-error, and live-and-learn will be inevitable.
The Association for Core Texts and Courses (ACTC)
Bringing together colleges and universities to promote the integrated and common study of world classics and other texts of major cultural significance.
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies
For new college graduates, career readiness is key to ensuring successful entrance into the workforce. Career readiness is the foundation upon which a successful career is launched. Career readiness is, quite simply, the new career currency. For higher education, career readiness provides a framework for addressing career-related goals and outcomes of curricular and extracurricular activities, regardless of the student’s field of study. For employers, career readiness plays an important role in sourcing talent, providing a means of identifying key skills and abilities across all job functions; similarly, career readiness offers employers a framework for developing talent through internship and other experiential education programs.
Conferences
Publications/Journal Articles
General Education Essentials: A Guide for College Faculty Hanstedt, P. (2024). General Education Essentials. Taylor & Francis.
AAC&U Publications (Listing)