Each semester, the Director of General Education works with instructors on assessing one subsection of Gen Ed courses. This spring, we will collect assessment data from these Fundamental Literacy courses: Oral Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, Critical Thinking, plus Information Literacy. Assessment includes three steps: First step: Syllabus collection. This is for all General Education courses, whether… Read more »
Info for Advisors
Syllabus Collection: FAQs
Q: Why are faculty being asked to provide copies of their Gen Ed syllabi each semester? Short answer: HLC obligations. We need to be able to provide documentation, including syllabi, for our Gen Ed curriculum, potentially on short notice. This collection also allows the Director of General Education to ensure a minimum of consistency in… Read more »
Batch FYS Exemption Approved By Academic Senate
The Director of the First Year Experience, Co-Directors of General Education, and the Senate General Education Committee all endorsed a proposal that was presented to, and passed by, the IU South Bend Faculty Senate on April 19, 2024, to grant a batch FYS exemption to a specific group of students: First-Year Beginner Undergrad (FYU) and… Read more »
Students with Admit Term Prior to Fall 2021 Exempt from FYS
Students with an admit term prior to Fall 2021 (4218) are to be exempted from the First Year Seminar (FYS) general-education requirement if their requirement term changes such that FYS would be added to their general-education requirements. This policy was presented to the Senate General Education Committee by the Co-Directors of General Education during the… Read more »
Students in Honors Program Exempted from FYS Upon Completion of HON-H 100
As of the Fall 2023 semester, students in the Honors Program will be exempt from the First Year Seminar (FYS) requirement upon successful completion of HON-H 100. The proposal for this change was granted provisional approval for Fall 2023 during the summer of 2023, with support from the Director of the Honors Program, the Director… Read more »
New! Optional Faculty / Advisor Support Letter for Student Petitions
As described on the Academic Affairs website, students may submit petitions to request that a transferred course be considered as a substitution to meet an IUSB general-education requirement or, in very special circumstances, they may request an exemption from a general-education requirement. There’s a separate web-based form for each type of request (i.e., a substitution… Read more »
FYS for Students with 30+ Credits
Starting with Fall 2021, students are required to complete a First Year Seminar (FYS) within their first year at IU South Bend as part of the First Year Experience (FYE). The FYS designation is a “tag” added to a course that meets another general-education requirement, and enrollment in such courses is restricted to students with… Read more »
Change in Pre-Calculus & Trigonometry As Quantitative Reasoning Option
Up through the 2022-2023 IUSB Bulletin, Pre-Calculus (MATH-M 125) and Trigonometry (MATH-M 126) were listed as a two-course sequence suitable for fulfilling the Quantitative Reasoning component of the Fundamental Literacies category. Starting with the 2023-2024 IUSB Bulletin, however, only MATH-M 126 will be listed, as it, alone, will be sufficient to meet the requirement. Furthermore, this… Read more »
Gen-Ed Transfer Courses w/ Credit Deficit
Every now and then transferred courses are identified as equivalent to one of our existing courses when they come in, yet they were completed with fewer credits at the other institution than how they’re offered on our campus. This can cause confusion when the equivalent course on our campus satisfies a General-Education requirement. As an… Read more »
Co-Director Announcements at January 2022 Senate Meeting
January 2022 Gen-Ed Co-Director Announcements at Academic Senate: Still working on the Gen-Ed website: https://academics.iusb.edu/general-education/index.html New Gen-Ed Blog: https://blogs.iu.edu/iusbgened/ Historical listing of approved Common Core courses: Blog Post Blanket Approval for All Existing HPER Courses to Satisfy Health & Wellness: Blog Post Faculty can now add their own “Class Descriptions” to their courses that will show up… Read more »