Convinced that there are several areas of knowledge and experience
that ought to be central to the academic experience of every undergraduate
student, Binghamton University has adopted a comprehensive General Education
curriculum. This curriculum has broad goals. It is intended to help students
develop:
- an appreciation of and capacity for effective personal
expression;
- knowledge about various intellectual traditions;
- an understanding of and respect for different peoples
and civilizations;
- knowledge of and appreciation for the natural world, achieved
through active engagement with the methods and philosophy of natural science;
- logical thinking, balanced skepticism, and tolerance for
ambiguity and uncertainty;
- a knowledge of and appreciation for the arts and creative
expression;
- skills needed to locate, evaluate, and synthesize information
from a variety of sources;
- skills needed to understand and use basic research techniques
- skills needed to perform the basic operations of personal
computer use.
All General Education courses must be 4 credits, except for
B, O, S, and Y courses. In addition, all General Education courses must be
taken for a letter grade, except where Pass/Fail is the only option, which
will primarily occur in B, S, and Y courses.
NOTE ON C, O & J COURSES: The language of communication
for C, O, and J courses shall be English.
- require a process of revision.
- require a minimum of 20 pages of expository prose.
- base at least 50% of the course grade on writing.
- should be limited to 25 students per class when
taught without teaching assistants. Larger courses may be designated as
C courses so long as they divide into regularly scheduled discussion sections
in which composition and/or oral communication is emphasized. In such courses
teaching assistants assigned to lead multiple discussion sections should
be responsible for no more than 50 students in all.
- are discipline (or program) based, just like Composition
courses.
- require that each student give at least 2 presentations.
- base at least 15% of the course grade on oral presentations,
including critiques of such presentations and other listening skills.
- provide ample opportunity for students to critique
presentations, based on criteria such as: rapport with audience; voice,
projection, and audibility; clarity of purpose; originality of ideas; organization;
persuasiveness of evidence; and ability to respond to questions.
- provide as much opportunity as possible for students
to improve their oral presentations in response to feedback.
- should emphasize listening as well as speaking skills.
- should be limited to 25 students per class. Larger
class sizes will be considered if evidence is provided that additional arrangements
have been made to assure that each student is getting equivalent additional
attention from the instructor or TA.
Notes: (1) Any course designated as "O" or
"J" prior to the approval of these guidelines was grandfathered
as meeting the Oral Communication requirement for a period of two academic
years (2002-2003 and 2003-2004). (2) O courses may be 4-, 2-, or 1-credit
courses.
October 2007 Workshop on Composition Courses: Notes
and handouts from the workshop "Facilitating Meaningful Revision: A Workshop
for Teachers of C Courses," are available online at http://provost.binghamton.edu/c_workshop_10-26-07.html
- fulfill the requirements for both C and O courses.
- G courses must focus on how one or more of the regions
of the world have influenced and interacted with the West and with one another,
and how the West has affected and been affected by the distinctive cultures
and civilizations of the world, either in the course of world history as
a whole or the history, institutions, economy, society, culture, etc., of
one or more non-Western civilizations.
- A major portion of the course content must focus
on broad, foundational aspects of the long-term development of distinctive
features of Western civilization in Europe and North America.
- A major portion of the course must focus on the
distinctive features of one or more non-Western civilizations, such as those
of Asia, Africa, or the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Binghamton University designates two types of Pluralism courses.
Both types bear the "P" indicator in the Schedule of Classes and
the DARS report; the DARS report is programmed to recognize which type of
"P" course a student needs to fulfill this requirement.
Students who scored 85 or above on the Regents exam in American
History (or the equivalent) must take a Pluralism course that meets the following
criteria:
- P courses must consider United States society from
the perspective of three or more groups that constitute that society, including
at least three of the following groups: African Americans, Asian Americans,
European Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans. In addition,
the course must show how these groups have affected and been affected by
basic institutions of American society, such as commerce, family, legal
and political structures, or religion.
Students who have not scored above an 84 on the Regents exam
in American History (or the equivalent) must take a Pluralism course that
meets both the above criteria and the following additional criteria. (Internally,
we refer to these as "PH" courses, although this is not an official
Gen Ed designation.)
- The course must present an historical narrative
of the United States and its institutions. This narrative must include several
themes that have shaped the development of American society, such as the
struggle for democracy, citizenship, racial and gender equality, religious
freedom, civil rights, etc.; the conflicts that have erupted over these
issues; and the consensus, if any, that has been reached on each of them.
- The narrative must cover at least a century of American
history and connect that period to periods before and after it.
- The course must situate the history of the US within
the context of world history or of two or more regions of the world, as
a means of understanding America's evolving relationship with the rest of
the world.
- emphasize the formulation and testing of hypotheses
and the collection, analysis and interpretation of data.
- include a minimum of 10 laboratory meetings, exercises,
field studies, or practica.
Note: Lab courses of less than 4 credits are acceptable
if paired with a pre- or co-requisite lecture course. The paired lab/lecture
sequence needs to be at least 4 credits in order for students to receive the
L.
- impart a knowledge of major concepts, models and
issues of anthropology, economics, geography history, political science,
and/or sociology as recognized academic disciplines.
- provide an understanding of the methods used by
social scientists to explore social phenomena including, when appropriate
to the discipline, observation, hypothesis development, measurement and
data collection, experimentation, evaluation of evidence, and employment
of mathematical and interpretive analysis.
Notes: (1) If the course is not at the introductory
level, it includes the above content in a form accessible to and effective
for a student who has not already completed an introductory social science
course. (2) Advanced Placement (AP) credit may be used to satisfy this requirement.
- include any course in the Mathematics Department
numbered 130 or above, any of several designated statistics courses (ANTH
200, BIOL 458, CQS 112, ECON 366, PSYC 243), or PHIL 121, 122 or 200.
Note: Advanced Placement (AP) credit may be used to
satisfy this requirement.
- enhance students' understanding of the creative
process and the role of imagination and aesthetic judgment in at least one
principal form of artistic expression in such fields as art, art history,
cinema, creative writing, dance, graphic design, music, and theatre.
Notes: (1) Although the artistic work studied may include
language, courses focusing exclusively or primarily on pre-existing written
texts would be designated as Humanities (H) rather than Aesthetics (A). (2)
Advanced Placement (AP) credit may be used to satisfy this requirement.
- enhance students' understanding of human experience
through the study of literature or philosophy.
Note: Advanced Placement (AP) credit may be used to
satisfy this requirement.
- focus on developing a healthy lifestyle, rather
than on simply providing information about the human body.
- deal with such topics as diet and nutrition, physical
development, substance abuse, human sexuality, relaxation, or physical,
mental and emotional fitness.
- devote at least 50% of their time to the performance
of physical exercise.
- are designed to develop one or more of the following
attributes: neuromuscular skill, muscular strength and endurance, cardiovascular
endurance, flexibility.
- fulfill the requirements for both S and Y courses.
The General Education Guidelines were approved 11/14/00 by the
Binghamton University Faculty Senate. The Composition requirement was later
revised by the UUCC and approved by the Faculty Senate 4/17/01. The Oral Communication
requirement was later revised by the UUCC and approved by the Faculty Senate
2/26/02. The Composition requirement was later revised by the UUCC and approved
by the Faculty Senate 12/10/02. The Faculty Senate voted on 5/8/07 to remove
the following statement from the C requirement and place it in the overall
curriculum:
Students are expected to perform the basic operations of
personal computer use; understand and use basic research techniques; and locate,
evaluate, and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
Courses can be submitted for Gen Ed designation using an online
form available at http://gened.binghamton.edu/courseform.html.
For more information on how to submit a course for Gen Ed designation, please
contact Liz Abate, Coordinator of General Education, at x7-2146 or labate@binghamton.edu.
The General Education Policies and Procedures Manual is available
for advisors, faculty and staff online at http://undergrad.binghamton.edu/policy/.
