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General Studies Course Proposal Process
Whether you are creating a new course for General Studies designation or your course is due for its 7-year re-designation, or maybe your course is being updated anyway and triggers a General Studies review, you will submit a course proposal through Modern Campus Curriculum. When you open Modern Campus Curriculum, please choose from one of two forms:
- 06. UG General Studies
or
- 10. UG General Studies and Ethnic Studies and Social Justice
Then be sure to address “Part IV. General Studies and GT Pathways” as well as “Part V. General Studies Mission”. For a new General Studies course proposal, this includes:
- Describe how the course fits the description of the desired General Studies category.
- Describe how the course fulfills each student learning outcome (SLO) for the desired General Studies category.
- Provide an example(s) of a key assignment(s) and explain how it will be used to assess each General Studies SLO for the desired category. (Provide example as upload/attachment or pasted text).
- Click the checkbox to agree that, “I understand that a significant portion of this course (80%) must fulfill the General Studies mission, category description and category SLO’s of the chosen General Studies category.”
Note: The General Studies Committee will take a holistic view of each course (including review of all components, such as course outline, SBLO’s, etc.) to ensure that fulfillment of General Studies comprises a substantial portion of the course (i.e., 80% of course content, assessment, etc.). You may be contacted for further information regarding this requirement.
The steps outlined here reflect the rules in the Undergraduate Curriculum Manual for the General Studies program.
You can also visit the MSU Denver Curriculum SharePoint for resources and Modern Campus Curriculum how-to videos.
Re-Designation of General Studies Courses
According to the MSU Denver Curriculum Manual, all General Studies courses are due for re-designation every 7 years. Contact the Director of General Studies to learn when your course is due for redesignation. The deadline is in September of each year due.
As with a new course, use either Form 6 or Form 10 as noted above to originate your proposal in Modern Campus Curriculum. Be sure to import the existing course as you begin working in MCC.
An addition to the steps noted above for a new General Studies Course, redesignation proposals should include these two steps:
- Note the frequency of the course offerings in the preceding few years. If less frequently offered than once per year, please explain why and note any plans for offering the course more consistently in the future.
- Reflect briefly on how the most recent General Studies Assessment of your course influenced teaching and learning for students.
Re-Designation FAQs
No. Student Behavioral Learning Outcomes (SBLOs) are specific to your course, whereas the General Studies SLOs are for all of the courses in that category. In the past, courses would usually explain how their SBLOs map to the General Studies SLOs and that still works with this model. In an ideal world, we’d include all of these things on our syllabi, so concise, student-friendly language is encouraged. This is an opportunity to refine your SBLOs with General Studies and GT Pathways in mind.
No. You can use as many assignments as you’d like. Describe them in your submission and attach the number of assignments you have described.
Whether it’s a theater performance, a clay pot, a 20 page paper, an essay question, or a speech, it will work for assessment. The assessment model we’ll recommend includes faculty assessing their own students, so while we’d love for students to have a way to have a file to upload that they could use in a future portfolio, we won’t have multiple people assessing an artifact, just the professor in most cases. In other words, the artifact does not need to be reproducible for assessors because in the majority of cases, the professor will apply the general studies rubric in the same sitting as when they grade the assignment. Don’t feel limited!
Ask the General Studies Director for information about the General Studies Assessment dashboard. This will provide previous assessment data on the course you hope to redesignate as General Studies. With that data, you can reflect on any proposed changes to the course to improve student learning in the General Studies Program.
Contact the Director of General Studies
Todd Laugen sits as an Ex-Officio member of the Faculty Senate General Studies Committee and can help answer questions related to Curriculog and proposals
Mailing Address:
Metropolitan State University of Denver
General Studies Program
Campus Box 27
P.O. Box 173362
Denver, CO 80217-3362