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Crossings

Transition to Crossings

What is changing and what is staying the same?

  • Instead of looking at everything as requirements, we have three areas of student learning:
    • Communication (6 hours) – oral and written. New student learning outcomes went into effect in 2019, but there are no major changes.
    • Ways of Knowing (19 hours) – arts & humanities, mathematics, natural science with lab, and social sciences. New learning outcomes went into effect in 2019. For fall 2022 and after, students will take one 3 hour mathematics course and one 4 hour (or 3+1 hour) natural science with laboratory course. The previous general education curriculum also required an additional mathematics or natural science course, so this is a change resulting in a decrease in hours in this area. No further changes have been proposed for the arts & humanities or social sciences credits at this time.
    • Global Challenges (6 hours) – new area for fall 2022. Students will take a minimum of 6 credit hours, selected from two different fields (unless interdisciplinary), and at least three hours at the 3000-level or above.
  • In fall 2022 and after, the cross-cultural awareness requirement and the science and technology in society requirement are no longer part of the general education curriculum for students following the 22-23 or later undergraduate catalogs. The student learning outcomes for these areas will no longer be listed in the general education section of the undergraduate catalogs.
    • Courses that fulfilled the cross-cultural awareness and science and technology in society requirements should continue to be taught using content and/or assignments that fulfilled those requirements until the spring 2025 semester. This allows us to "teach out" curricular requirements for students following older catalogs.
  • The old “academic and professional development” and “distributed coursework” components of the general education section of the undergraduate catalog will no longer be needed. All student learning outcomes are clearly tied to courses, listed in the appropriate sections of the catalog. Departments may wish to keep components of communication, critical thinking, and ethical judgement in their major courses and curricula, but this will not be required as part of the general education curriculum. (Critical thinking and ethical analysis are integrated into the learning outcomes for the new Global Challenges area.)
  • In summary, the prior general education curriculum (pre-2019) consisted of 36 credit hours of general education credits, assuming no double-counting occurred. The new Crossings curriculum consists of 31 credit hours of general education courses, all connected to student learning outcomes. (The SACSCOC minimum is 30 hours for baccalaureate degree programs.)
  • All student learning outcomes for Crossings will be in the undergraduate academic catalog published in fall 2022. All student learning outcomes and assessment rubrics are also available here.

 

Image depicting Ways of Knowing, Challenges and Communication all of which are covered in paragraphs on this page.

Creating Crossings

Previous documents that helped us create the Crossings curriculum:

Minutes from University Curriculum Committee approval, January 2021

Proposal and transition plan from General Education Committee, October 2020

Update document from General Education Committee, December 2019

White paper from General Education Task Force, May 2018

General Education Re-Envisioning Blog (active from Sept 2017 through Feb 2021)