Handbook for General Education

Program Overview

The Brockport general education experience, Learning for Life, aims to empower students to meet the changing demands of the 21st-century.

Learning for Life is the core curriculum for all Brockport students regardless of major or program of study. Its purpose is to provide students with a liberal arts education that emphasizes transferable skills and ways of thinking necessary for effective engagement in today’s complex, interconnected world. The Learning for Life program engages students in problem solving from multiple perspectives and hones their ability to make connections across different disciplinary and cultural boundaries, laying a foundation for a lifetime of intellectual curiosity and learning.

Courses in the program are mapped to learning outcomes which are organized into four areas: Foundations, Critical Perspectives, Cultural Engagement, and Connections. Each area emphasizes particular skills, disciplinary perspectives, and approaches. Taken together, courses in the General Education program and courses in a student’s chosen major complement one another and are equally essential to the overall educational experience.

Program Requirements & Structure

Students are required to complete coursework in each of the following areas. Requirements will vary depending on prior learning experiences. 

Coursework	Details	Learning Outcomes
Oral Communication (Y) (0-3 credits)	demonstrate coherent college-level oral communication that informs, persuades, or otherwise engages with an audience; demonstrate the ability to revise and improve oral communication.	Foundations
Written Communication (Q) (3 credits)	research a topic, develop an argument, and organize supporting details; demonstrate coherent college-level written communication that informs, persuades, or otherwise engages with an audience; evaluate communication for substance, bias, and intended effect; demonstrate the ability to revise and improve written communication; locate information effectively using tools appropriate to their need and discipline (information literacy competency).	Foundations
Mathematics and Quantitative reasoning (M) (3 credits)	interpret and draw inferences from appropriate mathematical models such as formulas, graphs, tables, or schematics represent mathematical information symbolically, visually, numerically, or verbally as appropriate; employ quantitative methods such as arithmetic, algebra, geometry, or statistics to solve problems.	Foundations
World Language (R) (3 credits)	exhibit basic proficiency in the understanding and use of a world language; demonstrate knowledge of the distinctive features of culture(s) associated with the language they are studying.	Foundations
Humanities (H) (3 credits)	demonstrate knowledge of the conventions and methods of at least one of the humanities; recognize and analyze nuance and complexity of meaning through critical reflections on text, visual images, or artifacts. Critical Thinking and Reasoning clearly articulate an issue or problem; identify, analyze, and evaluate ideas, data, and arguments as they occur in their own or others’ work; acknowledge limitations such as perspective and bias; develop well-reasoned (logical) arguments to form judgments and/or draw conclusions.	Critical Perspectives
Natural Science and Scientific Reasoning with Lab (L) (4 credits)	an understanding of the methods scientists use to explore natural phenomena, including observation, hypothesis development, measurement and data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment of data analysis or mathematical modeling application of scientific data, concepts, and models in one of the natural sciences.	Critical Perspectives
Social Sciences (S) (3 credits)	describe major concepts and theories of at least one discipline in the social sciences; demonstrate an understanding of the methods social scientists use to explore social phenomena; evaluate information from a variety of sources, including but not limited to artificial intelligence, with an awareness of authority, validity, bias, and origin (information literacy competency).	Critical Perspectives
Arts (F) (3 credits)	demonstrate an understanding of at least one principal form of artistic expression and the creative process inherent therein.	Critical Perspectives
US History and Civic Engagement (V) (3 credits)	demonstrate understanding of United States’ society and/or history, including the diversity of individuals and communities that make up the nation; understand the role of individual participation in US communities and government; apply historical and contemporary evidence to draw, support, or verify conclusions.	Cultural Engagement
World History and Global Awareness (O) (3 credits)	demonstrate knowledge of a broad outline of world history and/or the development of the distinctive features of at least one civilization or culture in relation to other regions of the world; demonstrate an understanding of the structures, systems, and interrelationships among civilizations and cultures within historical and/or contemporary contexts, and their impact on wellbeing and sustainability.	Cultural Engagement
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice (D) (3 credits)	describe the historical and contemporary societal factors that shape the development of individual and group identity involving race, class, and gender; analyze the role that complex networks of social structures and systems play in the creation and perpetuation of the dynamics of power, privilege, oppression, and opportunity; apply the principles of rights, access, equity, and autonomous participation to past, current, or future social justice action; demonstrate an understanding of the ethical dimensions of information use, creation, and dissemination, whether from traditional sources or emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (information literacy competency).	Cultural Engagement
Contemporary Issues (I) (0-3 credits, local requirement)	analyze a major issue of contemporary and enduring human significance; recognize and articulate relationships between different Knowledge Areas; locate, evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources; demonstrate an ability to develop and defend well-reasoned arguments.	Connections
Perspectives on Gender (W) (0-3 credits, local requirement)	Students will analyze how gender is socially and culturally constructed and resisted within patriarchy and/or other sex/gender systems from an intersectional framework.	Connections

Guiding Principles for Program Curriculum

1. General education courses should generally be within the liberal arts and sciences and not directed toward specific occupational objectives.
2. GE courses must be accessible to the widest audience possible and geared toward non-specialists; prerequisites, if unavoidable, should be kept to the absolute minimum needed. GE knowledge and skill area courses should not be restricted to certain majors.
3. GE courses may fulfill only one SUNY-mandated knowledge and skill area except for oral communication, which may be a stand-alone course or embedded in another knowledge and skill area course.
4. Contemporary Issues and Perspectives on Gender courses are local requirements and may be offered as stand-alone courses or embedded in other knowledge and skill area courses.
5. SUNY knowledge and skill area courses are restricted to the 100, 200, and 300 levels. Students must have sophomore status to enroll in any 300-level general education course. Brockport local requirements may be offered at the 400 level.
6. GE courses must be taught every 2 to 3 semesters.
7. GE courses should emphasize transferable skills which will be further developed in students’ major programs and co-curricular experiences. Instructors teaching in the same areas are encouraged to collaborate and share materials to enhance the cohesion of the program.

Administration, Governance, and Program Management Structures & Processes

The Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs is responsible for administrative oversight of general education at the institutional level. This involves decisions about policy, course offerings, and any particular cases that require executive-level decisions.

The Director of General Education is responsible for program management, which involves maintaining consistency in course design, approval, and assessment practices, communicating with faculty and staff about requirements, and supporting initiatives within the program related to continuous improvement, professional development, or innovative practices. The director coordinates the work of two primary committees: the Senate General Education Curriculum and Policies Committee (GECPC) and the General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC).

The University Senate governs the general education program. The Senate GECPC, made up of faculty representatives from each school and college, is responsible for the consistent application of GE policies, evaluating course proposals and recommending their approval to the Senate, and recertifying existing GE courses. The chair of the senate committee is a member of the Senate Executive Committee and is responsible for presenting the committee’s decisions and any other GE related matter to the Senate. The duties of the chair include

• organizing committee meetings for course proposal evaluations and voting
• maintaining records on all proposals and decisions made by the committee
• communicating with faculty about proposals and committee decisions
• presenting recommendations for course approvals to the Senate
• working with stakeholders as necessary to address any problems or policy issues

The Senior Vice Provost and the Director of General Education are non-voting ex-officio members of the Senate GECPC.

The GEAC, made up of faculty representatives and administrators from each school and college, oversees assessment of the general education program. The committee is chaired by the director of general education and the director of accountability and assessment, who recruit members as necessary. The chair of the Senate GECPC is an ex-officio member and senate representative. This committee is responsible for creating rubrics and assessment processes and reporting on student achievement for continuous improvement of the program.

Course Proposal & Approval Process

Proposing/Changing/Re-Certifying a Course

Faculty teaching general education courses are responsible for ensuring that instruction is consistent with the learning outcomes associated with each knowledge and skill area as expressed in the general education assessment rubrics. They are responsible for collecting student achievement data on general education learning outcomes, reporting that data, and using results for continuous improvement of the program.

Faculty who wish to propose/change/re-certify a course for general education should take the following steps:

1. Review the student learning outcomes and the corresponding assessment rubric for the selected area. Assessment rubrics contain important information about how the SLOs are interpreted and evaluated for the program.
2. Design (or adapt) the course with the learning outcomes and assessment criteria in mind. Ensure that course content, instruction, and assignments are aligned with the learning that will be measured. If you are teaching a competency such as critical thinking or information literacy, make sure to incorporate instructional materials and methods that will teach students how to effectively engage in those behaviors.
3. Obtain and complete the appropriate proposal forms from the Senate website. Submit your materials to your department chair and school dean for approval. Once approved, submit your proposal to the Senate GECPC.

Once a course is approved by Senate, instructors must submit a (new) course registration form to get the course with the general education designation on record and into the catalog.

Course Approval Process

Before proposals make it to the Senate committee, department chairs, deans, and the director of general education will have screened them for various elements such as the department’s ability to offer the course every second or third semester, the rationale for the course, and appropriateness in relation to programmatic needs and enrollment considerations.

Members of the Senate GECPC are responsible for becoming familiar with the student learning outcomes and assessment rubrics for each knowledge and skill area. Assessment rubrics contain important information about how the SLOs are interpreted and evaluated for the program and they will serve as the primary guide in the course proposal and approval process.

GECPC members evaluating a course for approval for the general education program should take the following steps:

1. Review the proposal considering the assessment rubric for the area. Do course materials, instructional methods, and assignments align with the stated outcomes and performance criteria? Has the instructor sufficiently explained how the course will help students to acquire the knowledge and skills of the designated area? Are competencies or skills such as critical thinking, information literacy, written and oral communication actively taught? Are there substantial gaps between what is explained in the course approval form and the syllabus for the course? When these questions can be answered unequivocally, the course may be approved. In cases where there is sufficient doubt, the proposal should be sent back to the department for additional work based on committee feedback.

Removing a Course from the General Education Program

Faculty who wish to remove a course from the general education program will need to take the following steps:

1. Ensure that removing the course from the program will not adversely affect another major program that may require or rely on the course.
2. Submit a new course registration form. Follow the directions on the form to ensure that the general education designation is removed.
3. Notify the chair of the Senate GECPC or the Director of General Education so that they may update their records.

General Education Assessment

Per SUNY and Middle States regulations, student learning in the GEP is assessed regularly to determine strengths and areas in need of development. The director of general education is the primary manager of the assessment process. In collaboration with faculty and the members of the GEAC, the director maintains the GE assessment schedule, guidelines, rubrics, data repository, and reporting process. The director also communicates regularly with stakeholders about all aspects of the assessment process.

Information related to GE assessment can be found at General Education.

All GE instructors are also enrolled in the General Education Instructors Teams Group, which contains the necessary materials to guide instructors through the assessment process.

Transfer Credits & Equivalencies for General Education Requirements

Transfer, AP, or CLEP credits may fulfill General Education requirements. The Office of Transfer Credit Services determines how students’ prior learning will apply toward degree requirements.

Transfer students who have completed an Associate’s degree or a minimum of 30 credits of SUNY-mandated GE requirements at the time of their matriculation are finished with general education. Transfer students who do not meet these conditions will receive credit for the courses they transfer in as determined by their General Education transfer agreement. Remaining credits are fulfilled according to the requirements in place at Brockport.

In some instances, students’ prior learning or experience may be evaluated and considered equivalent to a general education requirement. Advisors and students should work with the University Registrar, Transfer Credit Services, the Director of General Education, or the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs to resolve situations where this may be possible.