Editor's Note

General education reform is prevalent on many college and university campuses today. These institutions often have different missions and different course requirements for general education. In this issue, we have two research articles that investigate the structure and course requirements for general education. In the first article, "Approaches to the Core Curriculum: An Exploratory Analysis of Top Liberal Arts and Doctoral-Granting Institutions," Drs. Bourke, Bray, and Horton examine the general education curriculum at two types of institutions: liberal arts colleges and doctoral-granting institutions. The authors identified the major themes of general education found at these types of institutions. The majority of top institutions followed a distribution set of requirements for general education. In addition, the authors report on the types of courses required for general education.

Another exploration into general education requirements is conducted by Drs. Warner and Koeppel. They examined seventy-two general education programs and found that there were some differences, which they report in their article "General Education Requirements: A Comparative Analysis." Specifically, these authors discuss and review how higher-ranked colleges and universities tended to give students more course options with the intention of broadening their perspectives, while lower-ranked institutions tended to require certain courses to improve basic skills. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these differences for assessments of student learning.

The next two articles are specific examples of curriculum reform. Drs. Barton and Donahue utilized multiple assessment approaches at their own university to determine the effect that a four-credit first-year seminar has on student learning and development. They report on the major findings from their investigation in the article "Multiple Assessments of a First-Year Seminar Pilot." They found mixed support for the first-year seminar's positive effect on student engagement and academic performance.

In the final article, "Embedding the Humanities in Cross-Disciplinary General Education Courses," by Drs. Henscheid, O'Rourke, and Williams, the University of Idaho model of general education is presented. All undergraduate colleges have responsibility for teaching the humanities to first-year students. The authors describe how these students receive cross-disciplinary courses that are based on themes, focused on skills, and frequently taught by faculty without advanced degrees in the humanities.

This issue concludes with a review of a formal report, General Education in the Twenty-first Century, that was published by the University of California Commission on General Education in the Twenty-first Century and the Center for Studies in Higher Education, Berkeley. I hope you find this collection of articles useful and consider the implications for general education at your own college or university.