Dear Faculty and Staff, 
  
Progress on the general education reform initiative is well underway. This semester we have convened a steering committee, held a 3-hour retreat with faculty and staff from across campus, and launched faculty/staff working groups and a student committee to discuss and propose broad general education programmatic learning goals. We will host our first General Education Forum of the semester on March 5th at 11am in North Cafe and Zoom (flier attached). We hope to see you there and ask you to help us spread the word.  
  
Department meetings and Learning Goals 
Departments and programs are encouraged to participate in discussions about how your disciplinary learning goals align with general education programmatic learning goals and explore how you might participate in first year experiences and/or offer experiential learning opportunities to your students.  
  
Note-- revised program goals have not been determined. We are using a list of common general education goals to steer our work. The steering committee will submit a draft of proposed genera education program learning goals in April after soliciting input from departments and working groups.  
  
Please consider inviting a member of the Steering Committee to speak with your department or program about the general education reform initiative.  
  
Language and Definitions 
We know how important clear and consistent language is for large-scale initiatives like this one. Below are the definitions we are using in the general education reform at ODU.  
  • Student Learning Goal: a broad, overarching statement about what a learner should achieve through a learning experience. There are shared programmatic learning goals (what every student at ODU should learn), category level learning goals (what students should learn from courses in a distribution area), and departmental learning goals (what students should learn from taking classes in your department or program) 
  • Student Learning Outcome: a specific, measurable statement detailing what a learner will be able to do by the end of a learning experience.  Like goals, these happen at multiple levels. The general education reform is not considering outcomes at this time. 
  • Competencies: the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that contribute to holistic student success. We only refer to competencies in the general education reform in relation to SCHEV. 
  • Skills: the specific learned abilities that result from applying knowledge. For the purposes of the general education reform, skills are included in the SLGs and SLOs.  
Timeline 
The Steering committee will submit revised programmatic learning goals to Faculty Senate in April. The next step will be to onboard additional faculty to begin conversations in fall 2025 about how the proposed learning goals will impact and inform general education curriculum, requirements, and student learning outcomes.  
  
Steering Committee Members 
  
  • Martha Daas, co-chair 
  • Josh Wallach, co-chair 
  • Aaron Arndt (Professor of Marketing)  
  • Orlando Ayala (Professor of Engineering Technology)  
  • Brett Bebber (Associate Professor of History)  
  • Dooyoung Choi (Associate Professor of Fashion Merchandising)  
  • Matt Grau (Assistant Professor of Physics)  
  • Travis Jones (Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Librarian)  
  • Barbara Kraj (Associate Dean, Elmer College of Health Sciences)  
  • Jeff LaCombe (Associate Dean, Batten College of Engineering and Technology)  
  •  Benjamin Melusky (Associate Professor of Political Science)  
  • Megan Mize (Director of ePortfolio and Digital Initiatives)  
  • Catherine Moss (Director of Retention and Special Populations, ODUGlobal)  
  • Reneldo Randall, (Director of Advising, Sciences)  
  • Lanah Stafford (Director of High Impact Learning Initiatives)   
  
Visit our website--  https://www.odu.edu/acadaffairs/gened/reform-- for more information and resources.  
   
If you have any questions or feedback, please contact a member of the General Education Steering Committee or email us at gened@odu.edu. 
Sincerely,
General Education Reform Committee
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