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CENTER FOR POSTSECONDARY RESEARCH
I N D I A NA UN I V E R S I T Y
School of EducationBloomington
Exploring the Potential of a National General Education
Curriculum DatabaseThomas F. Nelson Laird
Jihye Kwon
2/16/18 Presentation at the AAC&U’s 2018 General Education and Assessment
Source: https://www.csuchico.edu/aap/images/ge_planning_sheet.jpg
Source: bulletin.umsl.edu/generaleducationrequirements/
Easy Questions, No Easy Answers•What proportion of US colleges and universities have
general education (GE) requirements? •How do GE requirements at an institution compare to other
institutions?•What GE requirements are most common?•How much choice do students have in selecting GE courses? •How does choice vary from institution to institution?•How many institutions revised GE in the last 5 years?
A National GE Database?•Growing interest in GE
•No way to track, compare GE
•To aid GE assessment and research
Session outline1. Presentation of database components and how the
databased is being built 2. Interactive presentation of preliminary findings from
three states 3. Discussion about other useful components to add to the
database and how to best make the database available and useful to higher education professionals
Database Beginnings•Four-year institutions in 3 states (Total 100 institutions)• Indiana•Maine •Washington
• 151 NSSE participating institutions (National Survey of Student engagement)• Three institutions from each states except Wyoming which only had
one NSSE institution• Stratified (by state) random sampling
Database Components•IPEDS unit id•Course catalog and GE webpage URLs•Total number of GE credits required•In 15 common GE areas•Number of required courses•Number of options in choosing courses•Whether there is a sequence of course taking
15 Common GE Requirement Areas•Art•Capstone•Critical thinking•Communication•First year seminar •Foreign language•Global study/diversity•History
•Humanities•Literature•Physical Health•Quantitative reasoning•Religion/Philosophy/Ethics•Social science•Science
Coding GE Requirements•Communication•Written & oral communication, reading, speech, English comp
•Social science• Social & behavioral science, society & value, human behaviors &
institutions•Global Study/Diversity•Global perspectives, multicultural study, American diversity,
cultural pluralism, reasoning about ethical questions of diversity
The Leftovers•ETC category•Personal finance, texts and ideas, peacemaking, cultural
perspective, career planning, visual literacy, computer literacy, creative ways of knowing, synthesis & critical connections, service learning, computer utilization skills, a community-based learning course, information fluency
Preliminary FindingsNSSE Institutions
15 GE Requirement Areas
•46% proportion of institutions where all requirements fit into the 15 areas
•47% lowest proportion covered by the 15 areas•100% highest proportion covered by the 15 areas
Proportion of Institutions with Each Requirement
93%90%
87%82%
62%44%43%
40%40%
28%26%
23%23%
15%15%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
CommunicationQuantitative reasoning
ScienceSocial science
ArtGlobal study/ diversity
HistoryReligion
HumanitiesFirst Yr Senimar
LiteraturePhysical health
Foreign LanguageCritical Thinking
Capstone
Mean and Range of Number of Required Courses
2.7 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.0 1.8 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.102468
1012141618202224
Socia
l scie
nce
Religion
Comm
unicatio
n
Fore
ign La
nguage
Science
Humaniti
es
Global stu
dy/ dive
rsity
Critica
l Thinkin
g
History
Physical h
ealth
Quantitativ
e reaso
ningArt
First
Yr Senim
ar
Litera
ture
Capstone
Average Minimum Maximum
Requirement % of Inst with Choice Info
Mean # Choices
Min # Choices
Max # Choices
First Year Seminar 72 1.2 1 21Critical Thinking 15 3.1 1 22Communication 81 7.5 1 68
Quantitative reasoning 59 8.1 1 31Religion 31 8.9 1 79History 34 9.1 1 89
Physical health 14 9.2 1 85Literature 20 9.8 1 64Capstone 90 26.5 1 148Science 86 26.5 1 169
Art 47 26.9 1 215Social science 58 32.9 1 300
Humanities 39 42.4 1 500Global study/diversity 36 47.0 1 251
Foreign Language 95 49.9 1 209
Student Choice in Picking Courses to Satisfy Required Course: From the Lowest to Highest
Preliminary FindingsIndiana, Maine, and Washington
General Education in 3 States
Indiana Maine Washington
N of institutions 59 17 24
% of institutions have GE 76% 88% 79%
Credit range 12~61 5~45 33~84
Proportion of Institutions with Each Req—Indiana
63%56%
48%48%
44%28%
26%26%
22%17%
15%11%11%
2%0%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
CommunicationQuantitative reasoning
Social scienceScience
ArtPhysical health
Global study/ diversityHistory
ReligionCritical ThinkingFirst Yr Senimar
Foreign LanguageCapstone
LiteratureHumanities
Proportion of Institutions with Each Req—Maine
73%60%60%
53%40%
33%27%27%
20%20%20%
13%13%13%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
CommunicationQuantitative reasoning
ScienceArt
Social scienceHistory
Global study/ diversityReligion
Foreign LanguagePhysical health
LiteratureFirst Yr Senimar
CapstoneHumanities
Proportion of Institutions with Each Req—Washington
72%64%
60%52%
40%36%
32%32%
28%28%
20%20%
16%12%
8%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
ScienceQuantitative reasoning
CommunicationSocial science
ArtHistory
Global study/ diversityHumanities
CapstoneReligion
First Yr SenimarForeign Language
LiteraturePhysical health
Critical Thinking
Questions &Next Steps
Questions•What would you like to see added to the database?•Do you think the database should continue to be expanded (i.e.,
more states, more institutions)?•How might expansion be funded?•What kinds of research questions would you ask with such a
database?•What other future studies would you suggest we undertake?• Other questions?
Next Steps..
•GE database expansion•Data entry• Institution entered and/or pulled from public records
•Funding to build out to entire country•Analyses by state, with random sample•Connecting to NSSE measures
