General Education Reform

(Re)Imagining the Future of General Education Together

Our goal is to engage the campus community in a comprehensive general education review and reform process to envision and implement a program that considers these guiding principles:

  • We envision a student-centered general education program that rejuvenates and inspires students, faculty, and the entire campus community
  • We believe that general education must prepare ODU graduates for academic, professional, and civic life
  • We assert that everyone at ODU has a stake in general education
  • We know that inclusion, collaboration, and transparency are essential to the success of the reform initiative and ultimately of the program
  • We maintain that this initiative is an opportunity to celebrate what we do, be creative about what is possible, and establish a distinctive identity for general education at ODU

Additional Information

  • The current general education program is a distributive model foregrounding disciplines/classes. It requires 50 credits and an upper-level Option outside the major. 
  • The last revisions to general education were made in 2010
  • General education curriculum must meet SCHEV and SACSCOC requirements
    • SCHEV: 4 Core Competencies - Critical thinking, Written communication, Quantitative reasoning, and Civic engagement, plus 2 of the institution's choice
    • SACSCOC: Be based on a "coherent rationale," be "a substantial component of each undergraduate degree with min 30 credit hours," and "ensure breadth of knowledge"
  • The decision to reform general education is based on:
    • Assessments of student learning – General Education Assessment Committee (GEAC)
    • Feedback from faculty via GEAC, Faculty Senate
    • Feedback from students via Senior Student Satisfaction Survey (SSSS) and National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)
    • External review – Jan-Feb. 2024
  • General education is a field of study similar to other disciplines with a long historiography, best practices, and peer-reviewed scholarship 

Director Of Assessment & Accreditation Institutional Effectiveness & Assessment
Associate Prof & Assoc Dean World Languages & Cultures
Master Lecturer & Gen Ed Proc & Pol Spec Biological Sciences
Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies and Master Lecturer College of Sciences

  • Models/Structures
  • Learning Goals and Competencies
  • Faculty Development and Resources
  • First-Year Experiences
  • High-Impact Practices
  • Purposes, Outcomes, and Assessment

Link here for the SharePoint. 

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