General Education Requirements at the University of Oklahoma

The University of Oklahoma is conducting research in an effort to improve the general education requirements for students.

The research is being conducted by Clarissa Thompson, an OU psychology professor, and Michele Eodice, director of the OU writing center. The research efforts hope to improve the quality of students’ general education and experience.

Their research is aimed at asking students to share their perceptions of the benefits they receive from general education at OU, Eodice said.

In order for OU to maximize its general education for students, professors and students need to meet in the middle, Thompson said.

“I think we both have to meet together and it’s not just that we are here to fill these empty vessels of students, but they have to want to learn,” Thompson said.

The results and analysis may take awhile, but their goal is to provide the best learning experience for students, Thompson said.

One thing students can do is find out what methods of learning and studying works best for them in certain subjects, Eodice said.

Michael Wenger, a psychology professor and researcher at OU, believes an internal discussion about how students and teachers could come together in an effort to maximize the benefits of general education is something that could help OU.

For now, student evaluations are a prominent method of changing courses, but Thompson and Wenger both said the evaluations are usually only completed by students who love or hate the professors. 

The students in between, who would help the most, are the ones often not completing the evaluations, Thompson said.

Also, the response rate on the evaluations have declined ever since they switched to the online evaluations, Thompson said.

Anything that can be done in order to make students realize the importance of the course and teacher evaluations is something that needs to be discussed, Wenger said.

Along with an internal discussion, publishing the results of student evaluations and showing students they can create positive change to the courses are some ways Wenger feels could help general education be a more effective educational tool at OU.

Travis McKinney, an OU energy management major, is currently enrolled in meteorology in order to fill his natural science requirement. Without this class to meet the requirement, McKinney would be unable to graduate in the spring of 2013.

Although he feels that some aspects of general education are pointless, he said that he is glad to see some things being done to improve it.

“There are classes that are too hard and too easy, but there’s also classes in [general education] that really help. I think there is a way for [students, professors and faculty] to find a solution so that each student can take the classes they need to or should take, instead of take what they [are required] to,” McKinney said.

OU requires that students take 40 hours of the general education curriculum in five core areas; symbolic and oral communication, natural science, social science, humanities and senior capstone experience.

To meet those 40 hours, OU offers over 400 classes to meet the five core areas of general education requirements.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni, a nonprofit organization, is also performing a study on general education aimed to help students and parents find out what colleges and universities have to offer for their money.

An ACTA operated website, “What Will They Learn?,” grades schools based on their education requirements. OU received a “B” from the website.

Thompson and Eodice plan to continue their research project for the foreseeable future. The results will hopefully find their way to the general education board and fix any problems they can, Eodice said.