| Table of Contents: | Philosophy Statement | Objectives | Assessment Reporting | Implementation of Embedded Assessments |
"The college defines general education as courses that are balanced and broadly-based, which expose the student to the mainstreams of thought and interpretation in humanities, sciences, communications, mathematics, social studies, and arts; and that develop the student’s understanding of the interrelationships among these fields of study. These courses must not be directly related to a student’s formal technical, vocational, or professional preparation.
Ultimately the college works toward the creation of an informed citizenry with the ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and solve problems, both qualitative and quantitative. The college strives to provide a general education that promotes tolerance, lifelong learning, and a devotion to free inquiry and free expression, to develop sensitivity to the needs of local and global community, and to contribute to society through civil habits of thought, speech, and responsible action."
Assessments are embedded "randomly" throughout the college curricula. Specifically, each faculty member was asked to design and embed one activity or assignment to assess one of the five GEOs in any one of their courses for Spring 2009.
For example, Bob Philbin will assess GEO#3 in PHY 112 and 212 using a post-lab writing quiz; Speedy Gonzales has volunteered to assess GEO#4 on all GUS 125 students using a "Spiral Loc Thread Debate" exercise; several plan measure GEO#2 by having students create posters or live demonstrations that they will present to class to measure GEO#2.
These assessment instruments will be written and maintained by each individual instructor for their course of choice. All instructors will use the same common rubrics (pdf).
The process of reporting these general education assessments will consist of scoring the questions using the common rubric, then submitting a scoring sheet using this scoring template to the assessment chair via e-mail.
Assuming an average of 12 students per class, since there were ~10 faculty per GEO, this pilot study will provide about 120 data points per GEO this semester. The problem of inter-rater reliability is being dealt with up-front by starting with a workshop where faculty review and revise the rubrics prior to developing the instruments. The AISLC will encourage conversation during the course of the semester among those individual groups to solidify these understandings.