LOOKING FOR AN EXTERNAL GEN ED EXTERNAL REVIEWER?
AGLS Now Offers External Gen Ed Program Review Support!
Looking to conduct an external academic program review for your general education program? You’ve come to the right place! Whether you are conducting the review as part of an institutional or accrediting body cycle or need an outside perspective as you gear up for a gen ed reform, AGLS can inform the process and connect with you people to get the most out of your review.
Here you’ll find questions to consider while planning out your external review, a list of potential reviewers highly involved with gen ed at the national level, and guidance on conducting an institutional self-study to inform and complement the external review.
Disclaimer: Although all of the listed potential reviewers are experienced in gen ed at their institutions, have served in an official capacity with AGLS (e.g. AGLS Council member), have expressed a willingness to serve as a reviewer, and have received strategies and tools for conducting a useful external review, AGLS assumes no responsibility for quality, fiscal negotiation, or agreed-upon commitments related to the review. AGLS seeks to play the role of “matchmaker” and resource hub to help you design and facilitate a useful external review. If your review is linked to accreditation, be sure to review their specific expectations and requirements.
A critical friend is a trusted person who provides constructive feedback and support to help someone, or something improve. They are invested in the success of the work and the improvement of the individual, and they are not an impartial bystander.
Here are some characteristics of a critical friend:
- Provides honest feedback: A critical friend is encouraging and supportive but also provides honest and often candid feedback that may be uncomfortable or difficult to hear.
- Asks provocative questions: A critical friend asks questions that can help someone see their work from a different perspective.
- Fosters an adult-adult relationship: A critical friend tries to foster an “adult-adult” relationship, rather than a “parent-child” relationship.
- Is invested in the outcome: A critical friend is invested in the successful outcome of the work and improvement of the individual.
Because the concept of critique often carries negative baggage, a critical friendship requires trust and a formal process. Many people equate critique with judgment, and when someone offers criticism, they brace themselves for negative comments. We often forget that Bloom refers to critique as a part of evaluation, the highest order of thinking (Bloom et al. 1956).
Critical Friend is the perfect moniker for an external reviewer from AGLS because it connotates exactly the purpose of the program we are designing. We want gen ed people to have access to a process, and a person who believes in and follows Critical Friend Theory:
- be clear about the nature of the relationship, and not use it for evaluation or judgment;
- listen well — clarifying ideas, encouraging specificity, and taking time to fully understand what is being presented;
- offer value judgments only upon request from the learner;
- respond to the learner’s work with integrity; and
- be an advocate for the success of the work.
Hence, the ‘critical friend’ is a powerful idea, perhaps because it contains an inherent tension. Friends bring a high degree of unconditional positive regard. Critics are, at first sight at least, conditional, negative, and intolerant of failure. The critical friend comes closest to what might be regarded as ‘true friendship’ – a successful marrying of unconditional support and unconditional critique.
We highly recommend completing this Pre-External Review Questionnaire to help plan out your goals, timeline, budget, etc. for your gen ed academic program review process.
AGLS strongly recommends that your institution conduct an internal self-study of your program before any external review; it can be a very enlightening and useful part of the process, allowing your institution to develop a fairly comprehensive picture of the state of the program and the perceptions of its constituents. To inform your self-study, check out our AGLS Guide to Program Review.
Now that you have a good sense of the what, when, where, why, and how of the review, now it’s time to identify the who. Let AGLS play matchmaker!
If you are looking for external reviewers with a great deal of experience in gen ed and gen ed reform, email our Executive Director to grant you access to our Gen Ed External Academic Program Reviewer Database.
Once you’ve identified potential candidates, please reach out to them directly to coordinate the details. We recommend using some of your responses to the questionnaire in Step 1 (e.g. purpose, context, timeline, expectations, compensation, etc.) to open the conversation.
Beyond matchmaking, AGLS plays no formal part in the process. All contracts, compensation, travel costs and planning, etc. are handled between the host institution and the reviewers individually.
Request access to AGLS members who are open to serving as an external reviewer!
It is important that the external reviewers have the opportunity to evaluate the state of the gen ed program from a variety of perspectives. Possible constituencies with which external reviewers should engage among others include students, advisors, faculty, support units, gen ed program or committee, and campus leadership.
It is also helpful for external reviewers to have some advance information so they can hit the ground running on-site. Resources your external reviewers might want to have in advance of the visit might include links to important program information, past internal/external review reports, data related to the program, accreditor requirements or past suggestions, etc.
Contact us at execdir@agls.org to receive individualized guidance wherever you are in the program review process.
In a few months, we will reach out with a short survey to ask about your experience with our external reviewer matchmaking service. We want to improve on our process and appreciate your feedback.
If you have been a gen ed professional (director, administrator, reform committee chair, etc.) and would be interested in being on our external reviewer list, please contact our offices at execdir@agls.org for more information. The need for experienced gen ed people to help with accreditation and reform processes is great!
This page was updated March 15, 2025