General education has been an essential part of American higher education for a long time. Unfortunately, it is often seen as something to "get out of the way" so that the student can go on to take the more "important" courses within a chosen major. This volume changes that perception. Topics discussed include: Integrated General Education: A Brief Look Back Why are Outcomes So Difficult to Achieve? Making General Education Matter: Structures and Strategies Unifying the Undergraduate Curriculum Through Inquiry-Guided Learning University of the Pacific's Bookend Seminars on a Good Society Core Curriculum Revision at TCU: How Faculty Created and Are Maintaining the TCU Core Curriculum Creating an Integrative General Education: The Bates Experience Building an Integrated Student Learning Outcomes Assessment for General Education: Three Case Studies Meaningful General Education Assessment That is Integrated and Transformative Institutions of higher education have a responsibility to develop a meaningful general education curriculum that cultivates qualities of thinking, communication, and problem solving (to name a few of the general education goals that many institutions share). What is missing from many institutions, though, is the concept of integrating general education with the overall educational curriculum. If this is done, general education courses are no longer something to take quickly so they can be checked off; instead; they become part of the educational development of the student. This integration benefits the student, certainly, but also the larger society--baccalaureate graduates steeped in the liberal arts will become future leaders. Having been prepared with a broad knowledge base, our current students will be able to think more critically and make good use of information to solve problems that have not yet even been identified. This is the 121st volume of the Jossey-Bass higher education quarterly report series New Directions for Teaching and Learning, which offers a comprehensive range of ideas and techniques for improving college teaching based on the experience of seasoned instructors and the latest findings of educational and psychological researchers.

Author Biography

Catherine Wehlburg is currently the executive director of the Office for Assessment and Quality Enhancement at Texas Christian University. Prior to this, she worked as the director of the William H. Koehler Center for teaching Excellence, also at Texas Christian University. She earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Florida in 1992 and took a faculty position at Stephens College in 1991 where she taught in the psychology department and began to explore the interplay between faculty development and assessment at the university level. Dr. Wehlburg has edited or coedited four volumes of To Improve the Academy and has published several articles and book chapters on assessment and faculty development. In 1998 she worked as a senior associate at the American Association for Higher Education in the Assessment Forum while on sabbatical. In addition, she has been a consultant-evaluator for the Higher learning Commission and for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.