Explore Potential Impacts of Endorsing LEAP General Education Outcomes

Fall
2013
Resolution Number
15.01
 
Contact
Assigned to
Transfer, Articulation, and Student Services Committee
Category
Intersegmental Issues
Status
Found Not Feasible
Status Report

Currently the CSU ssystem is undergoing considerable changes to the General Education Patterns which has found the CSU's not fully endorsing the LEAP General Education Outcomes for themselves.  Hence, the committee did not believe that adopting the LEAP GE Outcomes would be feasible for the California Community College System at this present time.

Whereas, The Academic Senate for California Community Colleges has repeatedly noted the essential importance of a robust general education (GE) to becoming a well-rounded, educated citizen, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has established essential learning outcomes for a student's general education experience called the Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) outcomes, defined as:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World

  • Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts

Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring
Intellectual and Practical Skills, Including

  • Inquiry and analysis
  • Critical and creative thinking
  • Written and oral communication
  • Quantitative literacy
  • Information literacy
  • Teamwork and problem solving

Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance
Personal and Social Responsibility, Including

  • Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global
  • Intercultural knowledge and competence
  • Ethical reasoning and action
  • Foundations and skills for lifelong learning

Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges
Integrative and Applied Learning, Including

  • Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies

Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems;

Whereas, The California State University (CSU), by Executive Order 1065 (2011), states:

Each CSU campus shall define its GE student learning outcomes, to fit within the framework of the four “Essential Learning Outcomes” drawn from the Liberal Education and American Promise (LEAP) campaign, an initiative of the Association of American Colleges and Universities;

Whereas, California community college courses are expected to have course outcomes that connect to program and GE or institutional learning outcomes established by the college, and in the case of GE courses that transfer to CSU, the learning outcomes of those courses should align with CSU expectations; and

Whereas, The LEAP outcomes represent minimal standards for learning in courses and GE programs, and colleges may already have similar learning outcomes for GE or institution-wide;

Resolved, That the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges explore potential impacts of endorsing the Association of American Colleges and Universities Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP) outcomes for general education or institutional learning outcomes and report the results to the body by Fall 2014.

MSC