Our group has chosen the issue of general education requirements. As of now Penn State, is in the process of reviewing their current general education requirements. The subject has become a public controversy with students and faculty commenting on the situation in the hopes their voices will be heard. There are quite a few questions that are being asked from Penn State, and a few we will be specifically analyzing. Is it necessary for students to take required general education classes unrelated to their major? Should students be allowed to pick their general education classes? Would allowing students to pick their general education classes, would more students be able to complete a minor? Are other schools with this ideal producing successful students? We plan on historicizing this subject by discussing how over the years schools have been adopting new policies for general education. We will start with discussing how general education requirements were first introduced and then how we went from the checkbox method to these new policies that are much more liberal in nature. We will be using imovie to present our project. We will be doing a voice over to explain our controversy. The reason we will be using this platform is because it will be a good way to present all our information in one package.

As a group we are sharing and dividing much of the work.

After watching my TED talk, I was surprised at how smoothly it went. I was quite nervous before I went up to give the TED talk, but in the video it looks like I let go of the nervousness. I’m so happy with how the images went along with different parts of the speech. They weren’t too distracting, but they still gave an added aspect to the TED talk. I also feel as if I did an appropriate amount of hand gestures. They made the TED talk more engaging and energetic. I thought my volume and tone were good for the size of the audience. My organization flowed well, I started off introducing the topic and then went into the cause and used statistics to back up the effect. I also concluded with an ultimatum to make the audience feel more connected to the topic. Overall, I was very happy with my performance. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the whole thing went.

I really enjoyed the other TED talks in our group. Each topic was different and interesting. Also every person was very passionate about their topic, which allowed us to become more excited about their subject. Taylor’s presentation on Horror Movies was very interesting because she chose to go through several time periods to compare the subject. She also brought along props pertaining to the subject and shared personal stories of her experiences with horror. David’s TED talk on infitro fertilization was very eye opening, and his confidence in his speech really showed his level of knowledge in the subject. Colin also chose a topic he was very familiar and interested in which allowed us to really get into the details of the topic. Nicole used her images very effectively when relating to us the effects of eating disorders. I thought they really added another level of understanding to her TED talk. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed everyone’s TED talk, and I thought this was a very fun assignment.

• Watched two multimedia video examples for the project.
• Solidified the our idea: General Education Requirements
• Researched other public school gen ed requirements(BIG TEN)
• Researched Brown’s open curriculum
• Decided to take the side that gen eds should be removed
• We will be taking student and faculty interviews
• Each group member will be doing research
• One group member will be in charge of compiling all interviews
• Another group member will be compiling research from other avenues
• Decided to do an IMovie
• Doing a voiceover on the video
• Maybe just have one voiceover, but have everyone speak
• Before next meeting, we will be doing more research individually.
• Next Meeting Thursday 9:45- discuss research, discuss presentation and specific outline for project.

One of the controversy’s we’re considering is the idea of general education requirements in college. The argument is that students should not be forced to take classes that are not relevant to their major. Student’s should be able to chose what they want to take beside their major classes. This would allow student’s to complete a minor or a concentration with more ease.

General framing questions : Is it necessary for students to take required general education classes unrelated to their major? Should students be allowed to pick their general education classes?

Specific framing questions : Would allowing students to pick their general education classes, would more students be able to complete a minor? Are other schools with this ideal producing successful students?

Conjecture: The facts considered would be related to the controversy. The controversy of general education requirements exists. In fact, it is a debate here on campus.  In the past few years, Penn State has looked into revising their general education policy. Last March, Penn State assembled a task force to take on the editing of the policy.

Definition: We can define our problem by showing the changes in the way we define what a good college education is overall. Our group can include what other schools are doing to address this question, and how they are handling the same issue as our university. As students, we can also compile what the student population thinks of this topic and how they would react to a change in the policy.  Combining the professional with the personal will give others a chance to see both sides of the controversy.

Quality: This is a serious issue because it deals with students’ education. It is essential we address the problem, because this issue affects all students entering into secondary education. It is hard to say if this is a good or bad change, but the topic itself is addressing a good cause.

Policy: Action needs to be taken on this controversy. We need to let students know they are being heard, and that the university is doing their best to improve the education being provided. I believe students need to be involved in the process, because they are the ones that will be directly affected by the change. This is an issue many other institutions are also dealing with, and we need to take time to find the right solution.