General education and student success

Small class sizes, good options for student choices, faculty enthusiasm for teaching general education courses and excellent communication between deans who work together well were cited as Germanna Community College gen ed strengths during a faculty workshop featuring a well regarded state expert.

Faculty members Wen Maier, Bill Carter and Amanda Dowd
hear Prof. Sue Skinner during a Germanna faculty workshop 

A grant from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia secured by Dr. Ann Woolford made the workshop, “How Does General Education Lead to Student Success?” possible. It was organized by Prof. Cheryl Huff and Dean Shashuna Gray and led by Dr. Kathryne McConnell, assistant director of assessment at Virginia Tech and president elect of the Virginia Assessment Group.

"The workshop continued our active conversation about the role our Gen Ed Program plays in preparing our students for both ongoing education and their vocational lives," Prof. Huff said. "Faculty and administrators need to keep assessing and evaluating, and engaging in hands-on activities like this, with a knowledgable facilitator, helps us do that." 

General education addresses critical thinking, communication, quantitative and scientific reasoning, among other things.

About 40 GCC faculty members heard Dr. McConnell discuss the benefits of general education rubrics.

General education at community colleges is “so important,” Dr. McConnell said. “So many students are attending community colleges and that number is only going to grow.” Germanna currently serves a total headcount of about 13,000 students at campuses in Spotsylvania County and Locust Grove and centers in Culpeper County and Stafford County.