ETSU has enhanced and updated the new general education for the 2024 fall semester. Introducing Compass Core Curriculum, which will give students real-life skills and hands-on learning that aid in their career path.

Sharon McGee, dean and professor, is one of the few who was a part of the academic task force committee that was created to revise the general education curriculum. McGee says that she chaired the academic task force a few years ago, and one of the issues to look at was general education for students.

“The provost thought that there should be a group that should look into general education and it’s a process that hasn’t been updated in a while. The provost appointed a task force and we started the process of looking at gen eds and quickly came to see that there were institutions in our peer groups and nationally that were doing things differently in general education,” stated McGee.

This is how the Compass Core Curriculum was made and approved at the Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, Feb. 16. This now puts everything in the works to launch for new incoming students in the fall, but what can students expect from this new curriculum?

“We also designed it so there are courses that are in the strengthen foundation, courses in understanding social and natural sciences, exploring connections across the humanities, cultivating artistic awareness, growing as an individual and a global citizen. So by grouping courses, we hope that students and parents see why gen eds are important because it’s helping you become a lifelong learner, informed citizens and jobs that don’t exist yet when you need critical thinking and creativity,” stated McGee.

Photo of students studying on campus. (Contributed/ETSU)

Compass Core allows students to explore and experience different aspects of education. This will take place in three phases throughout the 2024 fall academic semester. These categories will be broken down into different courses that students can choose from and experience higher learning such as community-engaged learning, reflection and allowing students to be actively involved.

The overall goal is to understand and aid in what is best for students and their education. General education is to help not just your major, but your career path by experiencing and expanding student’s palate and introducing them to courses they’d like to try.

“We think that refreshing general education in this way will do the things we hope it would and you’ll start to see and understand why general education is important,” stated McGee.

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