Core IMPACTS FAQs

Instructors can access the syllabus template statements and models in each core area on CETLOE’s syllabus requirements and recommendations page, under the “Core IMPACTS” tab). Instructors should click on their course’s area (Institution, Mathematics, Citizenship, etc.) via the links at the top of the page to access the specific statement for their course’s area.

All courses in the general education core curriculum that correspond to what has previously been called areas A-E and what is now the Core IMPACTS areas must include the required syllabus statement on their syllabi, starting in Spring 2024 and continuing in all future semesters. Courses that count exclusively as Lower Division Major Requirements / Field of Study (previously called Area F) are not included as part of Core IMPACTS and do not need to include the syllabus statement.

While the policies do not mandate a location, we recommend that the Core IMPACTS statement appear after the basic course and instructor information, ideally on the first page of the syllabus.

The Soft Launch of Core IMPACTS begins in Spring 2024, and the Full Launch will happen in Fall 2024:
Nov. 29, 2023 – Spring 2024 courses are available in iCollege, including a link to the Skills Briefcase in the navigation bar.

Jan. 2, 2023 – Instructors submit their syllabus, including the relevant Core IMPACTS statement, to their department’s designated Core Course Coordinator for review. Instructors will have linked their Career Ready Competencies to specific assignments.

Fall 2024 – Full launch of Core IMPACTS. More details forthcoming.

No. Instructors should copy and paste the Core IMPACTS template statement exactly as the University System of Georgia has provided for usage. The only updates that should be made to the statement are to identify the specific course prefix, number, and name.

No. Instructors should list the specific career-ready competencies in the template statement provided by the University System of Georgia. If instructors teach other additional career competencies, they should be described or listed in other parts of the course syllabus outside of the required Core IMPACTS statement.

Yes. Many courses may already be teaching career competencies beyond the three assigned to the Core IMPACTS area by the USG. However, we ask that instructors who want to list additional career competencies or details (such as definitions of the career competencies) beyond the provided templates do so in a separate area of the syllabus, perhaps below the required Core IMPACTS syllabus statement language.

Yes. Instructors are required to incorporate coverage of all three assigned core competencies in their Core IMPACTS area. Instructors are not allowed to remove or swap career competencies for others, though additional competencies beyond the required three can be included. How instructors teach the required three competencies is entirely up to them and their departments. Instructors wanting additional pedagogical support for teaching CRCs can contact CETLOE for a consultation ([email protected]) and/or coordinate with colleagues in their department.

While the new policy requires certain career-ready competencies to be included in each Core course, it does not mandate how we teach the competencies. For example, if the course is American Government and one of the required competencies is persuasion, the instructor is free to determine how they introduce persuasion into their course. The instructor could ask students to investigate, with a critical eye, some of the negative uses of persuasion in the political arena. The instructor is not precluded from teaching additional competencies, like civil discourse, along with the required ones. An instructor might even teach skills that are perceived to be in tension with one another (e.g., persuasive rhetoric vs. evidence-based rhetoric), and explore that tension with their students. Departments should convene to discuss the best way to frame the CRCs in their Core course. Instructors are encouraged to be creative and maximize their autonomy with respect to these CRCs.

Yes. Even though the names of the Core IMPACTS areas have changed and some courses have moved to different areas, the overall total number of credit hours in the core is staying the same.

Yes. Syllabi for separate sections of courses, even co-requisites such as lecture and labs, both need to list the Core IMPACTS syllabus statement and teach all three assigned competencies in both sections.

The only courses that students could count in either the Mathematics area or the STEM area are as follows: MATH 1113, MATH 1401, MATH 2211, MATH 2212, MATH 2420. For this specific list of courses, instructors should use a combined template that lists the orienting questions, learning outcomes, and career-ready competencies for both the Mathematics and STEM areas. See the CETLOE syllabus template website for examples of the combined template. For all other courses, use the provided area template.

The USG reviewed the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Value Rubrics, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) list, the “Soft Skills” listed in O*Net, and lists of desired employability skills from surveys of Georgia employers. Our limited list of Career-Ready Competencies was derived from these lists and filtered by what seemed appropriate to embed in core courses. Many of these skills are already being delivered in the core curriculum but making them explicit helps faculty specify what they’re teaching, and helps students understand the value of what they are learning, regardless of the careers that they pursue.

The Core IMPACTS Career-Ready Competencies are not intended to have a 1:1 alignment with the Core IMPACTS Learning Outcomes, though the competencies are broadly aligned (e.g., a Writing course helps develop a “persuasion” competency, while a Math course helps develop a “problem-solving” competency). A list of Career-Ready Competencies was created using the process described above. The decision was made to assign no more than three Career-Ready Competencies to courses in any Core Impacts area.

The Career-Ready Competencies are developmental competencies that cannot be expected to be mastered by taking a single course, but each course needs to play a significant part in developing that mastery. For the most part, faculty are already contributing to developing such competencies. However, we need to ensure that this is happening in all core courses, and that the value is being made explicit to students taking those courses, so that they feel better prepared for the majors and careers that they will eventually pursue. Assessment of Career-Ready Competencies will require a phased approach. The eventual goal will be to assess the outputs - whether the competencies have actually been acquired by students. However, before we get to output metrics, it is important to measure input metrics—whether the competencies are being taught. Therefore, the first step will simply be to ensure that faculty highlight Career-Ready Competencies (along with Learning Outcomes) in each syllabus, and also highlight it in their teaching practices.

Conversations about how new implementation of Core IMPACTS will be assessed should be happening within departments and in coordination across PC and Atlanta campuses that offer the same sets of courses. Additional guidance related to assessment will be provided in the coming months ahead of the full launch.

For the Spring 2024 soft launch, these tools are optional.

CETLOE used the Core Curriculum requirements listed in the undergraduate catalog, as well as consultations with the Office of Student Success, to create the course lists on CETLOE's Core IMPACTS website pages. If you think a course is listed in error, please contact us at [email protected] and we will verify. In some cases, courses are taught at one GSU campus (such as a Perimeter College campus) but not at another (such as the Atlanta campus). If departments would like to pursue making changes to their core course curriculum to either add or remove courses currently listed in the catalog, they will need to follow the procedures for proposing curriculum changes through the University Senate Committee on Academic Programs.

Please email the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Online Education (CETLOE) at [email protected] for additional support. Emails to this address are routed to the appropriate team. CETLOE can help with pedagogical support if you want to talk through your course and assignment designs in terms of how to teach the Core IMPACTS goals, objectives, and career-ready competencies; we can also help with teaching technology support for how to use iCollege or other technology tools to help track and assess career-ready competencies.