CERTIFYING COURSES FOR GENERAL EDUCATION
UTC Faculty members may propose courses for inclusion in the general education curriculum at any time. The specific procedure for certifying general education courses appears below.
Certification proposals
A complete proposal must be submitted for every course to be considered for certification. It shall include:
- A completed General Education course proposal cover sheet;
- A proposal narrative that includes the following sections in the order listed below.
- Full course title and official catalog description of the course, including credit hours and any pre- or corequisites
- A model syllabus. In addition to providing the information required of all general education course syllabi, the model syllabus must:
- expand upon the catalog description for the course by describing, in particular, course objectives and expectations
- provide a topical outline or weekly schedule that clearly identifies the scope of the material to be taught and the order in which it will be presented.
- A detailed discussion of how the course fulfills each of the relevant general education category guidelines and requirements. Please state each guideline/requirement, followed by a specific explanation of how the course meets it (complete with references to specific course content). With respect to the course's writing component, delineate the nature of the course's writing assignments (short answer/essay exam questions, papers, laboratory reports, etc.) as well as the precise percentage of the overall course grade that is determined from them.
For an example of how such a proposal narrative might be constructed, click here.
NB: It is understood that the model syllabus is just that, a model, and that individual instructors may vary somewhat from it should the course be certified. Nevertheless, all specific iterations of the course must remain faithful to the spirit of proposal and successfully meet the specific general education category guidelines/requirements for which the course was approved.
Course certification process
Proposals to certify existing UTC courses may be submitted directly to the General Education committee. New courses and any courses that have been modified significantly to meet the requirements of courses in a specific general education category must be approved by the Curriculum committee and the Faculty Senate prior to consideration by the General Education committee.
To have the General Education committee act on a proposal:
- Submit 15 copies of the complete proposal to the office of the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Special Programs. This office maintains all records for General Education committee business.
- The chair of the General Education committee will contact the faculty member responsible for the proposal, inviting her/him to attend the General Education committee meeting at which the proposal will be considered. At that time, the faculty member will have an opportunity to answer any questions concerning the proposal.
- Once the General Education committee has acted on the proposal, the chair will inform the proposing faculty member of the decision (certified, denied, returned for revision).
- Since the General Education committee's decision to certify a course is final, the chair will also inform appropriate university personnel of courses it has certified. These courses will be listed as such in the undergraduate catalog and on the UTC web site list of certified general education courses.
NOTE: To be considered for inclusion in the next undergraduate catalog, proposals must be submitted to the General Education committee no later than January 15th.
