Submitted to the BFC Executive Committee June, 2023
The PDF below shows proposed changes to the Shared Goals portion of the BFC policy on Gen Ed < https://vpfaa.indiana.edu/policies/bl-aca-h9-general-education/index.html >. Those proposed changes are meant to clarify for which Shared Goals each degree program must enact degree requirements versus must simply offer learning opportunities.
The main reason for ambiguity is that the proposal to create a required Gen Ed Shared Goal of Sustainability Literacy in 2022 was presented to the BFC as though “required” meant simply reporting annually how each degree program supports and assesses Sustainability Literacy learning goals. This is partly how Kelly Eskew, co-chair of the BFC Educational Policies Committee, described the proposed SL Shared Goal at the April 12, 2022 BFC meeting, before the BFC was asked to vote on the proposal (at that same meeting):
There were concerns . . . Number 1, that the sustainability is a shared goal will require creation of new courses that students will have to take. The schools will have to create new courses. This isn’t true. It’s just not true. I don’t know any other more clever way to say that.
And finally, we heard this should not be a required shared goal. This should be a recommended shared goal. Again, the task force agrees that requiring an additional course is a burden on the schools and it is also a burden on the students and we don’t recommend that.
Will schools that object to the shared goal move forward if the goal is merely recommended? So what is “required”? It’s not that bad. Schools are required to evaluate and report on their current sustainability teaching and co-curricular activities. We evaluate and report on what we’re doing all the time. It’s part of our job.
And right in the middle it says, all schools and the college must report to the General Education Committee annually to show how each of their undergraduate degree programs supports and assesses the DUS, diversity in the United States and sustainability literacy goals. So must report on how they’re supporting and assessing. That’s the “required” language.
BFC Policy Proposals 