The Ohio State University officials are working to implement the school's first major update to its general education curriculum in more than 30 years.
The new general education program launches in the fall of 2021. Professor Emeritus Larry Krissek, who helped lead the committee that coordinated the update, says the new program still includes foundational classes in areas like math, writing, the arts and humanities.
Now it also includes two “bookend” classes about the general curriculum itself. The first is an introduction to the program, and the last is a reflection of what students learned through their general education courses.
“The students will have a better idea of what the gen ed program is trying to achieve and how they can work their way through it in order to achieve those goals,” Krissek said.
Unlike current general education requirements that differ across programs, the new curriculum will be more uniform and is meant to allow students to switch majors more easily.
Additionally, the upcoming program will require 32-39 credit hours of general education courses, in contrast to current general education requirements that call for between 45-69 hours of courses, depending on the program. Krissek says will give students more time to pursue additional majors or minors.
