This Google form will collect information the University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee will use to evaluate new general education course proposals. For planning purposes you may preview the form here. Please note that a PDF of the completed form must be attached to the new course proposal in the Course Inventory Management system. Changes to courses already approved in the ConnectED program can be made directly in CIM.

The broad rules and expectations of general education courses in the ConnectED program are as follows:

• Any unit may participate in general education. During the initial stage of ConnectED, no course prefix (e.g., RELS or SOCY) may have more than four courses in the program.
• All general education courses must be open to all VCU students (i.e., no restrictions to major).
• General education courses should not focus on skills, techniques, or procedures specific to a particular occupation or profession.
• General education courses must be offered at least once per academic year, in either the fall or spring semesters (courses can also be offered over the summer, but not exclusively).
• Prerequisites for general education courses must themselves also be part of the general education program.
• General education courses must fulfill one of the Areas of inquiry. See descriptions in the VCU Bulletin: General education curriculum.
• Each general education course is expected to address two to four of the learning goals. All general education courses must participate in the assessment organized by the General Education Assessment Committee.
• General education courses cannot also serve as core requirements of a major. Units wishing to offer courses as general education will have to choose to remove them as a core major requirement where applicable.

Questions?

Please direct questions to gened@vcu.edu.

Call for courses to fill the racial literacy requirement:

Racial Literacy courses must demonstrate the following criteria through a lens of analysis and application specific to the United States:

• the social construction of race and racism, along with their origin, evolution, and maintenance (i.e., political, social, and cultural invention).

• key theoretical concepts about race and racism. 

• the operation of interdependent types and levels of racism (i.e., individual, interpersonal, intergroup, institutional, structural, and systemic).

• the historical and current structures of racialized power and privilege, including whiteness.

• social institutions, policies, and practices that contribute to and enable racism.

• approaches and strategies to disrupt and dismantle systemic racism as well as ways to engender and institutionalize equitable alternatives. 

Submission process:

Course concepts should be emailed to gened@vcu.edu. The concept can be well-developed or an early-stage idea. Modality, frequency of offering and anticipated seat capacity by semester should also be included.