Ohio University’s College of Arts and Sciences rolled out a new program this semester that allows students to explore a topic within or outside of their major instead of enrolling in a swath of unrelated general education courses.
Ohio University’s College of Arts and Sciences rolled out a new program this semester that allows students to explore a topic within or outside of their major instead of enrolling in a swath of unrelated general education courses.
There are 12 “themes” — or sets “of related courses and experiences that provide a guide to fulfilling a substantial portion of the breadth of knowledge requirement” — and 10 to 12 new courses overall. The initiative was provided $500,000 in funding from the Provost’s Office, according to Monday’s Post.
Robert Frank, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said that the themes program was devised to allow students to structure their general education experience around a particular collection of similar courses.
Some of the themes are called “Becoming Human,” “Between Love and Hate” and “So, You Want to Change the World.”
We are pleased to see the university come up with a creative way of fulfilling basic requirements and are optimistic that this approach could catch on in OU’s other colleges and departments.
Frank also happens to be co-chair of the General Education Task Force within OU’s Faculty Senate. He told us that success of this program could lead to changes in the university’s current general education format.
Other university officials agree.
“(The general education requirements are a) checklist of sorts that doesn’t help students or teachers understand the holistic purpose of those requirements,” said Beth Quitslund, an associate professor of English and chair of Faculty Senate. “I think the themes are very much on the table.”
Students traditionally dread having to fill general education credits with classes they have little to no interest in. If university-wide themes were to be implemented as a replacement for current general education requirements, students would have the opportunity to fill all of those credits with a string of connected classes.
The plan could lead to more interested students and more engaged instructors. We can’t imagine general education requirements are instructors’ favorites either.
In any case, this program is one we can get behind.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post’s executive editors.
