The General Education Council presented a survey revealing several areas of SF State's general education that need to be improved at Tuesday's SF State Academic Senate meeting.
According to the survey, the current program is described as "confusing" by 44 percent of teachers and 22 percent of students.
Of the 90 percent of students who have transferred to SF State, most have not finished their Segment I courses by the time they start here. Only 60 percent of upper division transfer students have completed all four of the Segment I requirements before admission.
In the survey results, students often complained about access and not being able to take the general education courses they prefer. Generally, students rated the usefulness of most of the requirements lower than teachers.
The GEC made several recommendations based on the survey: the formation of a task force on quantitative reasoning test scoring; policies to encourage earlier completion of Segment I courses; a clearer explanation of the objectives of general education; and a better means for assessing whether or not education goals are being met.
The GEC will begin work on Segment III this semester, Segment II in spring and Segment I next fall.
"It involved reams of paper and hordes of people," said Susan Shimanoff, chair of the GEC. She said it took a year and pulled data from many sources, including in-class surveys, student focus groups and interviews of faculty, students and alumni.
The survey reported some good news as well. Shimanoff said in areas of quality, content, and instruction there was improvement from 1986 to the 1995-1996 academic school year
"GE was evaluated more positively in 1995 than in 1986," according to a summary statement prepared by the GEC.
The GEC summary also stated an overwhelming majority of teachers "enjoy the general education courses they are teaching."
Little Known Survey Facts
-25 percent of students take the human sexuality cluster in Segment III.
-Clusters that fewer than 1 percent of students choose for Segment III include "Ethics in the Workplace," "Poverty and Inequality," "Global Peace Studies" and all the women studies clusters.
-The human sexuality cluster is the most popular cluster for majors in business, engineering, biology, psychology and nursing.
[ Golden Gater - November 7, 1996 ]
All Rights Reserved © 1996 HTML by Steve Thoemke (sthoemke@nermal.santarosa.edu)