Thejomayi Akkoor
Research Mentor(s): Annaliese Paulson
Mentor Department: Higher Education
Authors: Thejo Akkoor, Annaliese Paulson
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Presentation Type: Oral
Abstract
Through this project, we aim to assess the impact of General Education Requirements at 6 public four-year institutions in Texas (Lamar University, Midwestern State University, Sul Ross State University, Texas State University, Angelo State University, and Texas Tech University). After the Texas Core Curriculum of General Education Requirements changed their credit requirements in October 2014, many courses were removed from the General Education curriculum. Based on previous analyses of General Education courses and student enrollment, we hypothesize that adding (removing) a course to the general education requirement will increase (decrease) enrollment in that course, consequently increasing (decreasing) departmental funding and faculty members in that subject area respectively. Through visualizations of course enrollments in different language courses and from introductory to advanced courses, we theorize that students are more likely to enroll in “easier†courses and introductory courses if they are part of the general education requirement. Further, we conducted a linear regression analysis to understand which factors influence course enrollment in general education courses the most. We concluded that, on average, 275 more students are likely to enroll in a course if it is a general education requirement according to course code. As such, it becomes clear that policies enforcing or removing particular courses from general education requirements can impact student course-taking, and career decisions. Using this information, policymakers can hopefully create effective curriculum structures that can guide undecided students to success.
