Course Review

The faculty of the General Education Committee ensure the integrity and educational value of the General Education curriculum. Their responsibilities include supporting Clemson faculty in the development of courses that address General Education learning outcomes, and the approval of Gen Ed Course Proposals.

The General Education Committee convenes at 1:30 pm and generally on the third Friday of each month.

Listed below are meeting dates for the General Education Committee, as well as agenda item due dates for the 2024/25 academic year.

General Education Committee Meeting Dates

Friday, September 20, 2024
Friday, October 18, 2024
Friday, November 15, 2024
Friday, December 13, 2024 (Final Meeting to get Gen Ed course into the 2025/26 Catalog)
Friday, January 17, 2025
Friday, February 21, 2025        
Friday, March 14, 2025
Friday, April 18, 2025

General Education Agenda Items in Curriculog Due Dates

Thursday, September 12 – 4:00 PM for September 20, 2024
Thursday, October 10 – 4:00  PM for October 18, 2024
Thursday, November 7 – 4:00 PM for November 15, 2024
Thursday, December 5 – 4:00 PM for December 13, 2024 (Final Meeting for 2025/26 Catalog)
Thursday, January 9 – 4:00 PM for January 17, 2025
Thursday, February 13 – 4:00 PM for February 21, 2025
Thursday, March 6 – 4:00 PM for March 14, 2025
Thursday, April 10 – 4:00 PM for April 18, 2025

Important Reminders

When submitting a course in Curriculog, you must approve your own proposal on the "Gen Ed Course Review" form as a final step before it will move forward in the review process.

The December meeting is the last meeting to approve a course for the General Education course list in the 2025/26 catalog. This is to ensure that academic advisors and students have a complete list of Fall General Education courses during pre-registration advising, which begins early in the spring semester.

Courses approved by the General Education Committee after the December 2024 meeting will be listed in the 2026/27 catalog.

In addition to reviewing courses via the "Gen Ed Course Review" form to receive attribution in one of our general education/Crossings student learning outcome areas, the General Education Committee is also the curriculum committee for the interdisciplinary courses using the GLCH course code. To date, faculty have created three variable credit, variable title courses (GLCH 1990, 2990, or 3990) and we have three broad, interdisciplinary courses (GLCH 1550: Debunking Pseudoscience, GLCH 3510: Marginality and Health Outcomes, and GLCH 3520: The Health Impact of Abuse). 

Any faculty who wish to teach a course using these codes should read the course descriptions in the undergraduate catalog (or Curriculog if not yet published) and then contact the General Education Committee chair for next steps. The faculty proposer does not have to use Curriculog, but rather, will provide a syllabus,  signature assignment, and rationale to the General Education Committee for review. For some courses, this may be the most expedient and flexible way to teach a Global Challenges course. 

Prior to the fall 2022 catalog, a number of courses “double counted” for two general education areas.  This is problematic for two reasons: a.) SACSCOC standards require that students complete at least 30 hours of coursework in general education, and extensive use of double dipping cuts down on the depth and breadth of an undergraduate education, and b.) our institutional assessment data show that students in courses that are coded to meet more than one student learning outcome are not demonstrating appropriate achievement in those areas.

To remedy this, courses can have attribution for one general education student learning outcome area effective fall 2022. Courses that were approved for Global Challenges in the fall 2022 will not also fulfill another general education requirement. 

*Once reviewed, the General Education Committee will not request another full review of the courses in this block for a period of 6 years. However, faculty and departments can submit courses for review (for inclusion or removal) at any time.

We are devoting 6 credit hours of the Crossings curriculum to Global Challenges courses, thus moving beyond a general education curriculum heavily reliant on sets of foundational courses alone. Some of the Global Challenges courses are expected to also fulfill requirements for major or minor courses of study. A consensus among Clemson faculty engaged in advances in general education curricula is that integrating general education skills/competencies with a student’s major skills/competencies is the optimal way to enrich student development. In fact, the very model of ‘Crossings’ reinforces the enrichment.

Through guidance from our SACSCOC leaders, we do not anticipate any problem with overlaps between Global Challenges courses in the general education curriculum and courses in majors or minors, as long as the following are met:

• We have clear criteria for what a Global Challenges course entails. (See guidance document above.)
• We have ongoing teaching development participation from faculty that helps to ensure that courses are by design meeting the student learning outcomes. (Provided with OTEI, a Global Challenges Course Design Institute, and consultations with a Teaching Fellow)
• We have clear criteria for assessment of the Global Challenges student learning outcomes and seek improvements based upon assessment results. (See Assessment page.)
• Courses with a Global Challenges attribution are not restricted to students in certain majors. Appropriate pre-requisites are allowable, but major restrictions indicate that a course is not a general education course in spirit. 

Overlap between courses in the majors/minors and the courses in the Communication and Ways of Knowing Areas of Crossings is also allowed and advantageous to student development.