General Education Electives (GenEd)
What are General Education Electives?
General Education courses are mandated by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development for all post-secondary students. The purpose of a Gen Ed course is to provide a breadth of knowledge outside of the student’s program area. According to ministry guidelines, Gen Ed courses fall into one of the following ‘themes’ or subject areas: Arts in Society, Civic Life, Social and Cultural Understanding, Personal Understanding, and Science and Technology. We offer various Gen Ed courses at Fanshawe in subjects such as Anthropology, Film, Psychology, Sociology, Literature, History, Cultural Studies, Indigenous Studies, and more. Gen Ed courses can be offered at the diploma or degree level. We continuously develop new courses each semester to keep our curriculum relevant and topical for students.
Meet your Coordinator
Kristan Verhaeghe
Email: kverhaeghe@fanshawec.ca
As coordinator, I am responsible for administering courses, new course creation, advising students, assessing external credits, and dealing with other coordinators/administrators throughout the college, along with various other duties.
- General Education course offerings website – this will give you a good idea of what types of courses we offer (these pages change every semester as we rotate courses and offer new ones)
What do you need to know about teaching a GenEd course?
- Any student can take Gen Ed courses from any program across the college.
- Gen Ed courses are currently offered in blended and online delivery modes
- NFT faculty are welcome to submit proposals for new course development (calls for proposals usually go out in October or early November of each year)
- Students can satisfy their Gen Ed requirements with previous credits earned at other colleges or universities
- The number of Gen Eds required by a program varies across the college (the range is between 3 and 9 elective credits)
You can find some helpful links later in the GenEd area of this course.
Ideas from Instructors
- Keep it basic: Students are not required to know your subject area, so courses should be accessible to all students.
- Understand the role of GenEd within the college. Teaching general elective courses, I’ve experienced a variety of attitudes about GenEd from students. Generally, it is a very positive experience. Many students are excited to pick a class outside of their core curricula. They are engaged and ready to learn since they are intrinsically interested in the subject matter. A minority of students harbour some resentment that they need to take an elective course. For them, it is a “useless course” that won’t help them with their degree. Other professors may have told them that their GenEd courses “don’t matter” and that they shouldn’t devote time and attention to the content. I find that contextualizing the role of GenEd within the larger curricula is helpful for how I plan and deliver the course learning objectives.
- Know your audience. I’ve had students from many programs within the same general education elective course (from accounting to paramedics to horticulture). This variety of students can make the classroom environment very dynamic and exciting. However, it can also mean differences in interest and knowledge about a particular topic. For example, I’ve taught several GenEd courses on addiction. When we discuss drug use and the brain, paramedics and nursing students in the class already have a sophisticated understanding of the content that is being presented. Within the same classroom may be students outside of the health sciences who find the same information overwhelming. I’m constantly assessing to see if I meet my students’ interests and knowledge levels.
- A general tip is to get to class 5-10 minutes before class begins to set up. And remember that classes are only 50 minutes!
- Try not to crush students with too many writing assignments or readings. Gen Ed students are not enthusiastic about reading, so keep tasks to a minimum.
