Status of General Education Assessment at ESU

Aug. 10, 2001

(Compiled by Rodney J Sobieski)

Events during 1998-1999

• Assessment document was developed and submitted to departments offering courses in the program.
• Rejoinders were requested after the initial replies by the evaluation sub-committee.
• No single course meets all the goals or guidelines.
• No course meets outright goal #5, which is to develop a commitment to scholarship, intellectual curiosity and life long learning.
• Student focus group meetings resulted in student summaries of issues discussed and are incorporated into the Theme Statements developed during the next academic year.
• Grant was written to obtain outside funding to develop assessment tools-this was not successful.
• Critical thinking continues to require special strategies to determine outcomes.
• Continued expanding options for our better students to meet the competency exam requirements.

• Detailed report (9-14-99) distributed.
• Assessment results/goals were fine tuned by Council into Theme Statements (attached).
• All GTA taught Gen Ed courses have a mid-term evaluation that the supervisor implements was proposed.
• Document distributed to all students in SWARMs and new faculty noting importance of Gen.Ed.
• Call for upper division courses that could meet elements of the Program found several.
• Marketing of test out options in the schedule of classes for the first time.
• Proposal to seek Faculty Senate legislation having all syllabi articulate how the Gen Ed course meets one or more goals or guidelines of the program.
• Legislation also sought to survey of all Gen Ed classes by asking students and faculty if they feel the syllabus statement was an outcome of the course.
• Graduating Senior Survey to seek specific information on a commitment to scholarship, intellectual curiosity and lifelong learning.
• Continued expanding options for our better students to meet the competency exam requirements by opening options for transfer students.
• Two unsuccessful grants submitted to develop instruments to assess outcomes of the Program.

• Several of the items on the Themes document have been implemented.
• Proposal to seek Faculty Senate legislation approved.
• GTA mid term evaluations approved.
• Additional competency examination alternatives (reading) for the better students approved.
• Advanced Core curriculum approved, but the Advanced Orientation program needs integration with newly developed SWARM program
• Senior Survey finds that students feel that their acquisition of lifelong learning skills earns the best score of any of the 18 questions in the survey dealing with aspects of their general education experience.
• Critical Thinking experiment approved to have some students take this exam instead of the competency exams.
• Several items on the Theme document, especially those under Modifications, are more difficult to consider, such as the elimination of the Applied Sciences under the Graduation Requirements. However, the Council has seen data that speaks to the following points on the motion to consider eliminating the Applied Science courses:

Enrollment figures

Grade distributions and Student Evaluations

Student Surveys (HPER & Sociology)

Additional departmental information (Sociology and HPER)

Assessment Discussion Themes

Teaching Issues GTAs

• GTAs are not knowledgeable or effective, but comments focused on "lecture" sessions not laboratories.
• Improvement of instruction/excellence in GE teaching.
• The Council should develop and recommend to the Faculty Senate an evaluation document for GTA taught courses that is administered around midterm, then near the end of the semester.

 

• Faculty need to be interested and enthusiastic about the course.
• Course materials should be updated each year.

• Instructors should be familiar with the text used in the course.
• Faculty need to relate individual courses to the General Education curriculum as a whole.

Marketing

• Goals of the program need to made clearer to students (and faculty)
• Better marketing to incoming students (Director generated information sheet for SWARMs).
• Better marketing to General Education faculty, such as asking them to point out to their classes how the course fits into the program.
• Better orientation of incoming faculty to the features of the program.
• Emphasize test out opportunities, such as including information in the class schedule.

 

• A wider variety of course offerings such as testing into a higher level class in the same area, or a course for business majors that emphasizes business related government philosophies, like capitalism and socialism.
• Eliminate Lifetime Fitness.
• Are the graduation requirements necessary?
• Drop the physical education elective, since other health-related courses might be better, such as Women's Health, Men's Health Issues, Self-Defense for Women, or Rehab.
• A foreign language requirement was suggested, and that sign language be an option for it.
• Should the science requirement be increased as a minor change to the Program?
• A transcript entry for computer literacy should be developed.
• A required computer class
• A capstone course for General Education which covers issues like interviewing, the first year on the job, buying a house and basically living life after college.

 

• Ongoing critical thinking survey needs to be finalized.
• Graduating Senior Survey and the Alumni Survey need General Education specific questions tailored to the Off-Site and Distance Education Goal.

Last Updated November 20, 2008