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REPORT OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON GENERAL EDUCATION
5. M.
-.
March,
1968.
INTRODUCTION
Presented in this report are the suggested terms
of reference of the Senate Committee on General Education,
an extract from the preliminary Proposal on General Education
(Paper
S13,
June
1967),
a review of General Education as it
presently exists at SFU, and finally the Committee's recommendations
regarding the implementation of a General Education program.
TERMS OF REFERENCE
The terms of reference which the Committee understands
as its functions are the following:
1)
To recommend the implementation of some aspects
of the Preliminary Proposal.
2)
To guide with participating faculty members those
portions of the Preliminary Proposal that Senate
implements.
3)
To recommend other aspects of General Education not
contained in the Preliminary Proposal.
To transfer its complete responsibilities to the
new Academic Vice President within the first semester
of his arrival on Campus.
THE GENERAL EDUCATION PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL APPROVED BY SENATE.
In January
1968
(Minute 3-H) Senate approved the
Preliminary Proposal brought to it by the Committee on General
Education chaired by Professor Wasserman. This approval provided
for General Education to be mounted in four types of courses:
(1)
'Large-enrollment credit courses graded on a
pass-fail basis.
(2)
Courses with or without credit but with an
interdisciplinary approach.
(3)
Technical instruction 'courses carried without credit.
(Li.)
Seminars, workshops, and related activities carried
without credit.
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GENERAL EDUCATION AS IT PRESENTLY EXISTS AT SFIJ.
In considering the implementation of the Preliminary
Proposal the Committee began by reviewing courses listed in the'
Calendar. that are explicitly designated as General Education
courses, or that fall under the rubric of General Education in
relation to the general comments in the Preliminary Report.
The only General Education courses now being offered
by academic departments are English 001 and. a Creative Writing
Workshop. English 002 was offered but had to be cancelled. owing
to low enrollment. In the summer only English 001 will be
offered; this and Biological Science 001 are the only General
Education courses that we know to be planned. for Fall
1968.
Although not explicitly listed as General Education,
the courses Communications 100 and 200 would appear to serve
the purpose of General Education; these are large-enrollment
courses that depend to some extent on outside lecturers and,
do not form a part of any degree program. They are three-unit
courses for which credit is given.
Modern Languages courses 100, 101, 105, 201 and 202,
although forming part of a degree program for some students,
appear in general to comply with the form and. function of the
Technical Instruction courses mentioned. in the Preliminary
Proposal, as do English 001 and Reading and Comprehension 001.
The Committee found a number of seminars, workshops,
theatre and special events activities, most of which are not
listed in the Calendar, but many of which could be classified
as General Education as defined in the Preliminary Proposal.
The Physical Development Center offers a number of
non-credit, non-compulsory coursescovering a wide variety of
skills.
RECOMMENDATIONS OF THIS COMMITTEE
After defining the range of activities in the
Preliminary Proposal that Senate has approved, and after
comparing these with courses presently being offered., the
Committee submits the following recommendations. It is
recommended that:
1)
Senate ask each Faculty for a report on what General
Education courses it will offer in Semesters 68-2
and
68-3,
and what courses it will develop and
budget for in subsequent semesters;
. 2) Senate ask each Faculty to make fuller use of English
001 and Reading 001 where deficiencies in these areas
are identified.
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3)
Senate ask the Faculty of Education for its
opinion on offering Conrn'unications 100 and 200 on
a
an exclusive pass-fail basis.
4)
Senate encourage the very commendabl noon-hour
concerts, theatre programs and special events by
directing the Registrà .r to not schedule lectures,
laboratory periods or tutorials during the period
12.
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5)
Senate leave the guidance of the non-credit non-
compulsory courses offered in the Physical Development
Center in the hands of the Center itself rather than
this Committee.
6)
Students who have a minimum of
30
semester hours of
-credit and a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher should
be permitted to take a certain number of free elective
courses on a pass-fail basis. Senate should ask
departments to re-examine their degree programs and
to stipulate the maximum number of pass-fail courses
that their major and honors students may take as
electives, with the proviso that no such course could
count toward the fulfillment of specific course
requirements for a degree.
"Pass-fail" in this connection means that the instructor
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would grade the students on the same basis and in the
same manner as everyone else; students receiving a "C"
or better would be designated by the Registrar as
having passed; those with a "C-
1
' or below would fail.
Successful completion of a pass-fail course would give
the student
3
semester hours of credit (or whatever
credit is assigned by Senate and the Department to the
course) toward the total number required for the degree.
These units would not be counted in figuring the GPA.
E. Gibson
S.
Lower
T.
Mallinson