General Education Reform

These questions and answers were originally generated over the 2-3 years leading up to the approval of ACE by UNL's eight undergraduate colleges:

• ACE FAQs #1, December 2006
• ACE FAQs #2, September 2007
• ACE FAQs #3, September 2007
• ACE FAQs #4, October 2007
• Additional documents and information can be found on UNL's General Education reform process website

ACE Archived Q & A

• What were the 2008 deadlines for submitting courses to be certified for ACE?
• What is the role of the Interim ACE (IACE) committee in course certification?
• What is the ACE Incentive Program and how do I request the funds for my department?
  
  

• 1. What were the 2008 deadlines for submitting courses to be certified for ACE?
  
  The deadlines for submission are as follows:
  
  June 2.  Submit existing courses for ACE certification that do not need approval from the University Curriculum Committee (UCC), which does not meet during the summer. The UCC needs to approve courses put forward for ACE certification that are new courses, or for existing courses that have changes in title, credit hour, description and/or prerequisites.
  
  Aug. 15, Sept. 15 and Oct. 15.These are deadlines for submitting ACE courses for consideration. These include new courses, existing courses that need UCC action as well as existing courses that do not need UCC approval. (Faculty can submit courses needing UCC approval before Aug. 15; however, UCC action will not be taken until mid-September.)
  
  The ACE team encourages submission of ACE courses at the earliest possible date. The goal for certifying the first set of courses is the end of the first semester 2008-09, for inclusion in the Undergraduate Bulletin and New Student Enrollment materials, which have early 2009 deadlines.

• 2. What is the role of the Interim ACE (IACE) committee in course certification?
  The IACE committee will follow the guidelines created and approved by the now-dissolved General Education Advisory Committee in its deliberations to certify ACE courses. The job of the IACE committee is to ensure that students have the opportunity to attain the outcome in the course and that faculty members have a plan to assess and improve their courses over time. The IACE committee’s job is not to approve course content; that is the domain of the department and college. [IACE dissolves August 31, 2009. The curricular responsibilities for ACE will be transferred to an ACE subcommittee of the University Curriculum Committee (UCC). For more on the the UCC subcommittee see the ACE Governing Document 4: Governance and Assessment]
  
  

• 3. What is the ACE Incentive Program and how do I request the funds for my department?

  To help stimulate submission of courses for the ACE curriculum, Chancellor Perlman and SVCAA Couture have offered funding incentives. Departments/academic units will receive $1,000-per-course for each of their first five courses certified by the ACE committee. Upon implementation of an ACE course the department/unit will be awarded an additional $500-per-course bonus (for up to five courses).