GEOC for Faculty
The GE, Overlay, and Code (GEOC) Subcommittee of CIC reviews proposals for new GEOC certifications, revisions to existing GEOC courses, and existing GEOC courses up for recertification, using the GE Framework 2024 2025 that contains the current learning outcomes. All the information on this page is provided in greater detail in the Faculty Guide to GEOC Course Approvals. Faculty should also consult the Checklist for Faculty that GEOC created to help everyone create good proposals.
MISSION
The GEOC Subcommittee ensures that courses approved for GE, Overlay, and/or Code credit reflect the spirit of general education. In reviewing courses, the committee looks for evidence that a course has, at its heart, the GEOC learning outcomes and that these outcomes are the primary focus of and fully integrated into the course. In particular, GEOC learning outcomes should not seem incidental or inserted into an existing non-GEOC course. Course-specific learning outcomes, content, activities, and assignments/assessments must mutually reinforce the GEOC learning outcomes; and the elements of GE should be present even in the course description. Also, a general education course needs to be accessible by all students (so any student should be able to walk into a GE course and be able to succeed), so it has been our policy to not accept GE course proposals that have a number of prerequisites or to accept courses that are for majors only.
If you need help creating/revising your course-specific learning outcomes, you can contact the Director of General Education, Kevin Kaatz (kevin.kaatz@csueastbay.edu) or see Indiana University's Center for Innovative Learning and Teaching for creating assessable learning outcomes or Stanford's Teaching Commons for help/advice.
Process and Timeline
Senate policy establishes a Timeline for Curricular Changes (22-23 CIC 49), and the Curricular Procedures Manual describes the approval process for new course, revision, and recertification requests. The approval process for GEOC courses is highlighted below. All processes are originated, routed, and tracked through Curriculog.
All course proposals must be launched in Curriculog by Sept. 15. Course proposals revision/recertification requests must pass the College Curriculum Committee step and reach the Academic Affairs step by October 15th.
Course proposals/revision/recertification requests that do not reach Academic Affairs by October 15 must be re-submitted using the appropriate Curriculog form for the next catalog year.
GEOC Recertification Cycle
Existing GEOC courses will be reviewed by the GEOC Subcommittee on 5-year intervals. The figure (below) shows the review cycle beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year. Important points to note:
- Any existing GEOC course that is not approved by the committee for recertification will lose its GEOC certification(s), effective Fall 2025.
- Course recertification reviews will occur according to the schedule regardless of when the course was originally certified.
- Courses that carry a GE along with an Overlay and/or Code certifications will be reviewed for all certifications according to the GE designation.
- GE Areas B1/2/3 will be recertified in Fall 2024.
- Course recertification requests must reach Academic Affairs by October 15.
Making A GEOC Course Approval Request
The Curricular Procedures Manual provides step-by-step instructions, timelines, and other necessary information needed for launching new course requests, course revision requests, or other curricular changes to academic programs at Cal State East Bay. These procedures are in compliance with local CSUEB policy, CSU Chancellor's Office guidelines, and WASC accreditation standards. The details most germane to GEOC course requests are explained with step-by-step instructions in the Faculty Guide to GEOC Course Approvals.
All GEOC course approval requests/forms should be created, launched, and tracked exclusively online via Curriculog, CSUEB's curriculum management platform.
Contact Julie Mielke and Rick Rader at catalog@csueastbay.edu for any Curriculog-related questions, issues, or training.
GEOC Review Criteria
Make sure to complete all the necessary sections in the Curriculog Course Proposal Form. In particular, the GEOC Subcommittee will look closely at the following information in its review process:
- Course Information
- Evidence of Course Alignment to GEOC Learning Outcomes
- Course Characteristics, if applicable (see below)
- Course Syllabus (uploaded to Curriculog form; provide an actual course syllabus for each instructional mode--fully on-ground, hybrid, and/or fully online) OR you can provide one syllabus with all teaching modes, as long as it is clear to GEOC how the course is taught differently when asynchronous, synchronous, and on-ground.
Course Characteristics
GE/Breadth Area | Learning Outcomes | Course Characteristics |
A1 Oral Communication |
GE Area A1 courses emphasize communication theory and provide several speaking and listening experiences in multiple modes, e.g., small-group discussion, interpersonal communication, and persuasive discourse presented extemporaneously. Upon completion of the GE Area A1 requirement, students will be able to:
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The A1 course is primarily based upon communication theory presented through lecture, discussion, and reading. It must provide several face-to-face opportunities for a planned sequence of speaking and listening experiences in two or more of the following modes: a) small-group (problem-solving) discussion, b) interpersonal communication, c) expository discourse presented extemporaneously, d) argumentative and persuasive discourse presented extemporaneously. Students must complete three or more assignments to demonstrate increasing skill in oral communication. Instructors must provide students with frequent feedback and constructive criticism on students’ oral presentations. For online or hybrid classes, a minimum of 50% of the speaking and listening activities must be synchronous, interactive experiences. Recorded formats are allowed to accommodate the online environment. |
A2 Written Communication |
GE Area A2 courses emphasize the rhetorical principles that govern reading and writing. These principles are fundamental to logical thinking and clear expression. For reading, they presumeopen-mindedness combined with critical thinking and analytical skills. For writing, they presume an awareness of audience, context, and purpose. Upon completion of the GE Area A2 requirement, students will be able to:
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A2 courses will have a corresponding support class for students classified as needing support. |
A3 Critical Thinking and Composition |
GE Area A3 courses emphasize the development of clarity and rigor in reasoning and its presentation, and the ability to understand, represent, and evaluate the presentations of reasoning made by others. Upon completion of the GE Area A3 requirement, students will be able to:
5. write for at least two different audiences (e.g. academic, general, and/or professional); |
Critical Thinking and Composition courses will include assignments or other assessable activity in which students apply the following skills:
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B1 Physical Science |
Upon completion of the GE Area B1 requirement, students will be able to:
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B2 Life Science |
Upon completion of the GE Are B2 requirement, students will be able to:
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B3 Laboratory Activity |
GE Area B3 courses emphasize active engagement, collaboration, hands-on experiences that facilitate understanding of science concepts and the development of sound science practices and habits of mind. Upon completion of the GE Area B3 requirement, student will be able to:
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B3 courses will emphasize safety and collaboration in laboratory or field activities, especially focusing on data collection, analysis, and presentation. |
B4 Math/ Quantitative Reasoning |
GE Area B4 courses provide practice in computational skills as well as engagement in more complex mathematical work. Upon completion of the GE Area B4 requirement, students will be able to:
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In B4 courses, students will not just practice computational skills, but will engage in more complex mathematical work, in accordance with the CSU GE B4 Guidelines and Principles. B4 courses will have a corresponding support class for students classified as needing support. Exceptions may be made for B4 courses that have another B4 as a prerequisite, such as Calculus. |
C1 Arts |
GE Area C1 courses integrate the evaluative and descriptive aspects of the history, theory, aesthetics, and criticism of different works, forms, styles, and schools of art. Upon completion of the GE Area C1 requirement, students will be able to: 1. Evaluate the impact of the arts on their life.2. Examine the cultural and/or historical context(s) of the arts. 3. Describe the ways that diverse identities influence the creation and experience of art. 4. Identify the role of art in diverse settings. |
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C2 Humanities |
GE Area C2 courses emphasize the ideas and theories behind the intellectual and cultural traditions of humans using historical, linguistic, literary, philosophical, and rhetorical approaches and methods. Upon completion of the GE Area C2 requirement, students will be able to: 1. Evaluate the impact of the humanities on your life.2. Examine the cultural and/or historical context(s) of the humanities. 3. Describe the ways that diverse identities influence experiences in the humanities. |
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D1/2 |
Upon completion of the GE Area D1-2 requirement, students will be able to: 1. Explain how social, political, and economic institutions and/or principles intersect with each other;2. Describe how people produce, resist, and/or transform social, political, and economic institutions/principles; 3. Investigate contemporary and/or historical events/issues from a social science perspective; |
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F Ethnic Studies |
Courses must meet 3 of the following 5 outcomes, and the 3 outcomes that are met in the course will be published in the course syllabus. Upon completion of the Area F requirement, students will achieve at least 3 of the following outcomes:
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All courses approved for Area F must demonstrate use of Ethnic Studies pedagogies as evidenced by All courses must include study of resistance, social justice work, and agency of groups. |
UD-B Upper- division Science Inquiry and Quantitative Reasoning |
GE UD-B courses may focus on any area of the natural sciences or mathematics. Upon completion of the GE UD-B requirement, students will be able to:
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UD-B courses should include assignments that, where possible, allow for the assessment of the following:
C) Collaboration and teamwork with peers. |
UD-C Upper- division Arts or Humanities |
Upon completion of the GE UD-C requirement, students will be able to:
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UD-C courses will include assignments or other assessable activities in which students apply the following skills: c) Information literacy, in which students describe how they determined what information they needed to complete their analysis or research, how they evaluated the validity of their sources, and show proper integration/citation of their sources in their work; and |
UD-D Upper- division Social Sciences |
Upon completion of the GE UD-D requirement, students will be able to:
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UD-D courses will include assignments or other assessable activities in which students apply the following skills: |
Diversity Overlay learning outcomes |
Upon completion of the Diversity Overlay requirement, students will be able to:
For the purposes of this document “cultural group(s)” refers to historically oppressed groups in the United States such as: African Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Latinos/as, American Indians, Arab Americans, women, and GLBTQ (gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, and queer identified people). |
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Social Justice Learning Outcomes |
Upon completion of the Social Justice Overlay requirement, students will be able to:
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Sustainability Learning Outcomes |
Upon completion of the Sustainability Overlay requirement, students will be able to:
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US-1 Code: U.S. History Learning Outcomes |
Upon completion of a US-1 course, students will be able to:
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US-2 Code: U.S. Constitution Learning Outcomes |
Upon completion of a US-2 course, students will be able to:
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US-3 California Government |
Upon completion of a US-3 course, students will be able to: 1. Describe the role of California’s Constitution in state and local government; 2. Explain the place of California’s Constitution in the evolution of federal-state relations; and 3. Describe the political processes that enable cooperation and conflict resolution between state and/or local governments and the federal government.
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Second Composition |
1. complete a variety reading and writing tasks that incorporate subject-matter knowledge; |
1. write for at least two different audiences (e.g. academic, general, and/or professional); 2. engage in writing for specific purposes (e.g. critical thinking, analytical writing, informal writing, and/or research); 3. apply critical thinking and logical reasoning in the development and organization of ideas in written texts; 4. consider multiple perspectives using primary and/or secondary sources, and when appropriate, incorporate key disciplinary concepts when presenting ideas in writing; 5. revise writing with critical feedback provided by the instructor at important junctures throughout the semester in order to improve development, clarity, coherence, and correctness. |
GEOC Subcommittee Decisions
Below is a summary diagram of what happens to a course proposal once the committee renders a decision to approve, table, or reject.
MONITOR YOUR CURRICULOG COURSE PROPOSAL
Keep track of all comments and alerts posted to your Curriculog proposal once it leaves your step. The proposal may be rejected or delayed due to incorrect or missing information. Prompt response to any proposal delay will ensure the proposal moves through the approval steps as expeditiously as possible and increases the chances of GEOC approval.
The most common problems that delay course proposals at the Academic Affairs/GEOC steps are:
- Official Catalog course descriptions are not included on the syllabi (usually resulted in conditional approval)
GE Learning Outcomes and/or Overlay Learning Outcomes are not included on the syllabi (usually resulted in conditional approval). - What is in Curriculog does not match with the syllabi that were presented to GEOC (usually resulted in tabling the proposal). We determined that this was primarily caused from old semester-conversion materials being imported into Curriculog and the way the courses were actually being taught did not correspond to what was in Curriculog.
- While not totally the purview of GEOC, we found that some of the student learning outcomes were the same as program learning outcomes. GEOC asked CIC to look at this issue. In the end we had to ignore this, but we did not allow new GE course proposals to use program learning outcomes as SLOs (see GEOC Guide to Faculty for this policy)
In addition, keep track of when your course will be on the GEOC Subcommittee meeting agenda and up for discussion/review. GEOC meetings are open to all faculty guests. You may request a time certain from the GEOC Subcommittee Chair. The GEOC Subcommittee meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month during the academic year by Zoom.
EXEMPLARY COURSE PROPOSALS
Here's a list of some GEOC-certified courses that have submitted exemplary GEOC proposals. These proposals are accessible in Curriculog.
Search Tip:
In Curriculog > Proposals > All Proposals >
In Keyword, search ART%323 (with "%" in between ART and 323, thus ART%323.
Then, in "Proposal Status" check "Completed".
Next, in the "Process Type" dropdown, choose "Course."
Lastly, click "Filter Proposals" for results, and you will find only "ART 323" proposals.
- ART 323 Modern Media, Art, and Culture I | Social Justice Overlay
Proposal: "1-CR-1: Course - Breadth (GEOC) - Recertification ONLY (2021-22 AY)" - ES 120 The People's History I | D1-2, Social Justice Overlay, and Code
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GR Certification/Re-Certification - US Code 1, 2, or 3 - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)"
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GR Certification/Re-Certification - Social Justice Overlay - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)"
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GE Certification/Re-Certification - Area D1-3 Social Sciences - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)" - ES 222 Race in the City | Area F Ethnic Studies and Social Justice Overlay
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GR Certification/Re-Certification - Social Justice Overlay - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)"
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GE Certification/Re-Certification - Area F Ethnic Studies - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)" - HIST 323 History of Sustainability | UD-C and Sustainability Overlay
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GE Certification/Re-Certification - Area C4 Upper-Division Arts or Humanities - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)"
Proposal: "Z-2-CR1: Course - GR Certification/Re-Certification - Sustainability Overlay - New/Revision (2020-21 AY)" - POSC 316 Politics of California | UD-D and Code
Proposal: "1-CR-1: Course - Breadth (GEOC) - Recertification ONLY (2021-22 AY)" - POSC 382 U.S. Immigration Policy and Law | UD-D and Diversity Overlay
Proposal: "1-CR-1: Course - Breadth (GEOC) - Recertification ONLY (2021-22 AY)" - BIOL 130 Connecting to Biology | GE-E
Proposal: "1-CN1: Breadth (GEOC) - NEW ((2021-22 AY)" - GLST 102 Global Issues | GE-D1-2
Proposal: "1-CN1: Breadth (GEOC) - NEW ((2021-22 AY)"
CONTACT INFO
Email the Director of General Education and Chair of the GEOC Subcommittee with any questions or concerns about the GEOC course application or approval process at: Kevin Kaatz (kevin.kaatz@csueastbay.edu)