Distance Education-Wichita State University

Motion One:

The Faculty Senate requests that the faculty of Wichita State University approve during its next general faculty meeting the following change in the academic requirements for baccalaureate degrees from Wichita State University.

"The Issues and Perspectives course requirement shall be eliminated and the total number of credit hours required for the general education program shall be reduced by three. Students shall instead be required to take a three, four or five credit hour "Capstone" course; this graduation requirement would apply to all students, independent of where they took their general education courses, and this requirement would apply to all students entering WSU under the Fall 2006 catalog. Two types of Capstone courses are possible, as indicated in the requirements listed below. An example of the one type
    ([viii]-[a] below) might be a departmental seminar with appropriate requirements of students; several of our existing Issues and Perspectives courses might serve as examples of the other type
    ([viii]-[b]). One department might wish to designate a specific course as a required departmental capstone course where another department might accept any university capstone course or any cross-disciplinary capstone course.
A new Faculty Senate standing committee, the Assessment Committee, shall be created. The committee shall consist of 9 faculty members, chosen from each of the Faculty Senate divisions, and one student. The Faculty Senate Assessment Committee shall be responsible for evaluating and approving capstone course proposals, periodically reviewing capstone courses, and overseeing administration of the university assessment system proposed in Motion Three below if this motion is approved."

Definition of the requirements to be a Capstone course:

Each Capstone course shall
(i) offer students intellectual perspectives directed toward the development of specific skills by exploring challenging subjects, ideas, issues and perspectives,
(ii) meet one general education goal,
(iii) provide students with at least one outcome of the general education program,
(iv) require students to demonstrate general proficiency in the areas of library research, writing, speech, math and critical thinking,
(v) have been successfully offered as a regular (not experimental or topics) courses previously,
(vi) produce "products" (e.g., seminar paper, video taped oral presentation) which are amenable to assessment by the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee,
(vii) incorporate the general education goal and outcome(s) noted in (ii) & (iii) in the course assessment (e.g. grading) process, and
(viii) follow one of two possible models;
        (a) the first model stays within disciplinary boundaries, encourages students to obtain a broad perspective of the discipline and prepares students to use skills obtained through the general education program to communicate ideas from the discipline to a wide audience and
        (b) the second model offers intellectual perspectives obtained by following a common theme or concept across disciplinary boundaries and prepares students to use skills obtained through the general education program to communicate to a wide audience the perspective(s) obtained through crossing disciplinary boundaries and working creatively and productively as part of a team."

Motion Two:

"In order to achieve a broad-based general education program with depth and focus, a reduction in the number of courses approved as Introductory or Further Studies courses is required. The numbers and distribution of Introductory and Further Studies courses required of students shall remain unchanged. Each discipline which currently offers Introductory courses shall be limited to offering one Introductory course per College or LAS Division in which it offers credit. (Notice, as illustrations, that Anthropology offers Introductory courses in the Math/Natural Sciences and Social Sciences divisions of LAS and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics contains two distinct disciplines). Exceptions to this numerical limit may be considered by the General Education committee, but no department may be approved to offer more than two distinct Introductory courses. The maximum number of Further Study courses allowed in each department shall be three, and each of of these courses shall have an Introductory course offered by that department as prerequisite. The General Education committee shall not have the authority to allow exceptions to this numerical limit.

Definition of the requirements to be an Introductory course:
Each Introductory course must
(i) provide an overview of the multiple facets of a discipline,
(ii) meet one general education goal,
(iii) provide students with at least one outcome of the general education program,
(iv) include the across-the-curriculum components (e.g., math) of the general education program and
(v) incorporate the general education goal and outcome(s) noted in
(ii) & (iii) in the course assessment (e.g., grading) process.

Definition of the requirements to be an Further Studies course:
Each Further Studies course shall
(i) have an Introductory course in the same discipline as a prerequisite,
(ii) use this Introductory course as the basis for an in depth study of one aspect of the discipline,
(iii) meet one general education goal,
(iv) provide students with at least one outcome of the general education program,
(v) include the across-the-curriculum components (e.g., writing) of the general education program and
(vi) incorporate the general education goal and outcome(s) noted in
(iii) & (iv) in the course assessment (e.g., grading) process.

Motion Three:

The Faculty Senate requests that the faculty of Wichita State University approve during its next general faculty meeting the following change in the academic requirements for associate or baccalaureate degrees from Wichita State University.

"Wichita State University will begin gathering student assessment data during the 2003-4 academic year. One instrument to be used during this trial period will be the CollegeBASE national general education examination. Since CollegeBASE does not assess all aspects of General Education, additional assessment procedures may be developed by the WSU community or appropriate assessment instruments or procedures developed outside the university may be recommended for use by the university. Recommendations for the use of additional assessment instruments or procedures will be submitted to the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee, who may bring forward recommendations for additions to the "prototype assessment system." The General Education committee, the General Education coordinator, the College of Fine Arts and the Elliott School are specifically urged to consider this opportunity. Any additions to the "prototype assessment system" must be approved by the Faculty Senate. Approved additions shall be used during the semesters in which CollegeBASE is used. During the fall semesters of 2003, 2004 and 2005, the university will use the CollegeBASE national general education examination as one component of a "prototype assessment system" for General Education including Basic Skills.
        (i) In the fall of 2003, WSU will use CollegeBASE to test samples of approximately 200 students in each of the following groups:
                (a) incoming freshmen;
                (b) students starting their junior year (defined as students who have completed between 48 and 60 hours) who have taken all their Basic Skills courses at WSU; and
                (c) students about to graduate.

Students who have taken some or all of their Basic Skills courses in high school as "concurrent enrollment" will not be included in the samples if they would constitute more than ten percent of the total sample in a category. Appropriate sampling to assure randomness will be the responsibility of the Faculty Senate Assessment Committee.
        (ii) In the fall of 2004, the university will use CollegeBASE to test a sample of approximately one fourth of all the students who are have completed between 48 and 90 credit hours.
        (iii) In the fall of 2005, the University will use CollegeBASE to test a sample of approximately one fourth of all the students who are have completed at least 48 credit hours.

By February 1, 2006, the University will adopt by vote of the faculty a comprehensive assessment system for assessing the General Education program, including Basic Skills. This system will consist of some or all of the following components:
        (i) a nationally recognized examination,
        (ii) interviews with students,
        (iii) student portfolio assessment,
        (iv) other assessment procedures together with established criteria for satisfying each component of the assessment system. The criteria for successful completion of the assessment system shall also be determined by the faculty of Wichita State University.

Beginning in the 2006-7 academic year, this assessment system will be used by all Wichita State University undergraduate students who have completed at least 48 hours in university credit (including transfer credit) and have not successfully completed this assessment. Beginning with the 2007-8 academic year, any student who was required to use the university assessment system in the previous academic year but failed to do so will not be allowed to enroll in courses at WSU until the student has used the assessment system.

Beginning with the 2007-8 academic year, successful completion of the university assessment system will be a requirement for receiving any undergraduate degree from Wichita State University."

Motion Four:

The Faculty Senate requests that the faculty of Wichita State University approve during its next general faculty meeting the following change in the academic requirements for associate or baccalaureate degrees from Wichita State University.

"All Basic Skills requirements of the General Education program must be met by undergraduates enrolled in a Wichita State University bachelors or associate degree program within their completion of the first 48 credits toward the degree. Students who do not meet this requirement will be allowed to complete the Basic Skills requirement in the first Fall or Spring semester of enrollment subsequent to their having reached the 48 credit plateau. Students who fail to pass Basic Skills classes in a timely fashion as defined above shall not be permitted further enrollment at the University except for enrollment in the Basic Skills courses. New WSU students, including students ho previously took WSU courses as guest students, shall be allowed a grace period of two semesters from their first enrollment as degree-bound WSU students before these provisions apply.

Motion Five:

"The Basic Skills requirement shall consist of one Math course and two English courses as now plus one additional course. A substantial portion of this fourth course shall deal with oral communication skills, but may also include information technology and/or logical reasoning. The faculty of each College (each division of LAS) shall decide on an appropriate course for its students or shall allow each department in the College (division of LAS) to select a course for its majors. This course should typically be a course offered by the Elliott School or a new course developed in consultation with the Elliott School; a course that is not offered by the Elliott school shall require the approval of the General Education Committee.

Beginning with the 2006-7 academic year, each Basic Skills course shall be assessed by the university assessment system in a manner that fairly applied to all undergraduate students, including transfer students; course grades may not be the sole element of the assessment procedure. Courses that cannot meet this assessment requirement may not be approved or listed as Basic Skills courses."