Helping community college faculty focus core-curriculum courses on the discussion-based study of transformative texts.
Providing training and mentorship for faculty from all disciplines in their continued exploration of texts that investigate persistent human questions and the discussion-based approach to teaching them.
Organizing and supporting convenings, reading groups, speaker series and mentoring relationships directed to the improvement of discussion-based teaching and learning.
Help make general education liberal education in this fellowship program, supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation. Assemble a team at your institution to collaborate with others in this national project to expand discussion-based liberal education opportunities for community college students. Find out more below.
The Great Questions Foundation Course Redesign Workshops focus on helping faculty members incorporate the discussion-based study of transformative texts in general education courses they teach at community colleges. In each workshop, 10 community college faculty members will collaborate with two experienced faculty leaders on developing discussion-based pedagogy, student-centered study questions, assignments and a redesigned syllabus for a general education course they teach at their home institution.
The Community College Course Redesign Institute in American Political and Social Thought aims to help instructors in history, political science, and related social sciences explore discussion-based approaches to studying transformative works in American political and social thought. Learn more about this support for curriculum exploration and course redesign, which includes both on-line and in-person activities.
Application Deadline for Summer 2025: May 26
The Great Questions Foundation organizes course redesign workshops each year, which are geared toward helping faculty members incorporate the discussion-based study of texts from our list in general education courses at community colleges where they teach. Expect great discussion with community college faculty colleagues from all over the US.
Confidence that I have the tools to facilitate student-centered, discussion-based courses, and to teach with a more diverse materials that might be somewhat out of my comfort zone or field of study.
TGQF Workshop Participant
I LOVED being a part of TGQF. It opened my eyes on how I was/am teaching my readings and how to discuss them with students. I now focus on broader, more connecting discussion questions and have noticed a big uptick in participation and engagement.
TGQF Workshop Participant
Combing through these great texts with the mindset of creating discussions that reflect the current world instead of trying to get my students to answer “correctly” and/or recite a quote from the reading.
TGQF Workshop Participant
What are the texts that faculty might explore with students in a discussion-based classroom that address these great questions most productively, which could be easily integrated into general education courses already present in most community college course catalogues? This is a list of 100 transformative texts that faculty representing 12 different institutions have identified as important in this regard.
Purdue program works to revive liberal arts as key part of the college experience
It’s time to support the humanities there.
College is a unique time in your life to discover just how much your mind can do.
The Great Questions Foundation seeks to promote liberal education and core-text and discussion-based learning at the community college through supporting faculty development and course redesign and helping to establish and support core-text programs and courses.
Thank you for your interest and support.
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