The notice below was sent to the UNC-Chapel Hill General Faculty on Friday, December 6, 2013 on behalf of the UNC General Education Council, a system-wide committee working on implementation of the 2013 UNC system strategic plan:
Dear UNC Colleagues,
The 2013-2018 UNC Strategic Plan (Our Time, Our Future) mandates that the UNC System identify system-wide core competencies and become a national leader in the assessment of student learning gains in those competencies (p. 43-44).
In October 2013, the UNC General Education Council (GEC) voted to recommend two competencies for system-wide, undergraduate assessment: Critical Thinking and Written Communication. This decision was informed by the results of a core competencies survey that was completed by nearly 3000 UNC faculty, teaching staff, and administrators.
In November 2013, the UNC GEC drafted a definition and set of sub-competencies for each of the two recommended system-wide competencies based upon the AAC&U VALUE Rubrics. The UNC GEC has created a second survey that asks UNC faculty and teaching staff to give feedback on these draft definitions and sub-competencies or suggest alternatives.
We ask that you please provide us with your feedback by completing the Sub-Competencies Survey by Wednesday, January 8 at 5:00 pm.
We recognize that this is not an ideal time frame for a faculty survey, but the UNC GEC must submit recommended definitions and sub-competencies to UNC President Tom Ross in January for consideration by the UNC Board of Governors in February. Time is short but your input is critical to our efforts. Thank you in advance for completing the survey.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jennifer Horan & Dr. Joan Lorden
Co-Chairs, UNC General Education Council
