General Education Selected Topics ("190") Courses
General Education selected topics courses were approved by UCC in 2007 (UCC control # 07-78) and a major program revision (UCC control # 16-25) was approved in October 2016. From the approved proposal:
General Education selected topics courses are designed to provide some flexibility and creativity within the General Education curriculum. Each department that offers General Education "Category" courses may choose to include some of these courses (BIO 190, for example) in its course descriptions.
Departments and programs wanting to submit a 190-type General Education course proposal are strongly encouraged to consult the GEO190: Globalization in the Caribbean (2012) proposal, which the GEC has recognized as a model proposal and which can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page (that link is titled click here to see an example of a successful General Education selected topics proposal). Contact the GEC faculty co-chair if you have any questions.
To have a 190-type proposal reviewed by the GEC during a given (desired) month, it must be completed and submitted electronically to the faculty co-chair of GEC at least 21 calendar days prior to the regularly scheduled GEC meeting of that month. Any proposal submitted later will be held for consideration during the following month.
If you are interested in running a selected topics General Education course, here's what you need to do:
- Get departmental/chair approval. Make sure that your department approves the proposed course and that your chairperson is aware that your department may need to adjust its other General Education offerings accordingly for that semester.
- The GEC is responsible for evaluating all "190" course proposals. Proposals should be submitted to the GEC on the following schedule: For courses that begin in the Summer or Fall terms, they must be submitted by the prior February 1; for courses that begin in a Winter or Spring term, they must be submitted by the prior September 1.
- The GEC will evaluate the proposals and the links between the course learning objectives and the learning objectives of the General Education category for which it is proposed.
- The GEC will, within 30 days, return a decision to accept or not accept a proposal. The GEC reserves the right to refer the course to UCC if it has concerns regarding the proposed course's appropriateness as a 100-level university course.
- Optionally, you may wish to attend the GEC meeting where your proposal will be considered in order to make clarifications and answer questions as needed.
- In any case, the GEC will report its decision to the faculty member and chair of the sponsoring department, the chair of UCC, and the Registrar's Office, clearly indicating the category where the 190 course should be counted. If and only after the GEC approves a proposal, the Registrar's Office may instantiate the course and allow students to enroll in it.
- Assessment materials consistent with the format for other general education courses must be submitted each time a 190 special topics course is taught; assessment materials for fall courses should be submitted by the following March 1st and materials for spring courses should be submitted by the following October 1st.
Additional Information
Consider the following:
- Any General Education special topics course can be offered a maximum of four (4) times. If the department wishes to continue offering the course, it must permanently create the course through the normal UCC process.
- Departments that have offerings in multiple categories (for example, GEO) may choose which category the course of the selected topic will belong to. The proposal should indicate how the course will meet the objectives of the chosen category.