Minutes, November 11, 2005
General Education Core Assessment Committee
The Committee approved the Proposal that gen ed assessment be con= ducted in the core by departments who teach the various core courses.
Proposal for General Education Learning Outcomes Assessment Review =
of Core Curriculum Courses
The General Education Assessment subcommittee of Commi= ttee on Academic Programs would like to propose a review of general education learning outcomes assessment in core curriculum courses. The review process would require a= ll departments with courses in the core curriculum to submit the following:
Rationale
Assessment of general education outcomes is required b=
oth by
the BOR and SACS, and the General Education Assessment subcommittee of CAP =
has
been given the responsibility of conducting that assessment. Currently the nine subcommittee me=
mbers
are collecting and analyzing the data themselves, a process that is not only
time-consuming but also represents a top-down approach to assessment. The assessment effort needs to be =
driven
by the faculty in departments that actually teach core curriculum courses, =
with
the subcommittee’s task being to review the results and make
recommendations. This proposal
would accomplish both those goals, as well as provide a principle for guidi=
ng
core curriculum course development.
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Status of Learning |
Results to inform changes |
Tools/procedures for others to use |
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Communication--Written |
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Communication-Oral |
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Collaboration |
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Contemporary Issues |
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Critical thinking -Humanities -Science |
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Quantitative Skills |
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Technology |
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AACSB Accreditation Standards, Adopted 1/2005
The standard requires use of a systematic process
for curriculum management but does not require any specific courses in the
curriculum. Normally, the curriculum management process will result in an
undergraduate degree program that includes learning experiences in such gen=
eral
knowledge and skill areas as:
• Communication abilities.
• Ethical understanding and reasoning abilities.
• Analytic skills.
• Use of information technology.
• Multicultural and diversity understanding.
• Reflective thinking skills.
p. 15
General
and Management-Specific Goals
The =
core
learning goals for business programs will likely include two separate kinds=
of
learning. First, there will be goals for the general <=
/span>know=
ledge
and skills acquired by students. The general knowledge and skills goals, wh=
ile
not management specific, relate to knowledge and abilit=
ies
that graduates will carry with them into their careers. Such learning
areas as communications abilities, problem-solving abilities, ethical reaso=
ning
skills, and language abilities are the types of general knowledge and abili=
ties
that schools might define as a part of these goals.
p. 59
Example
2
Scho=
ol B
has a communications learning goal that is a part of its expectations for a=
ll
undergraduate deg=
rees.
Student achievement on this goal is relevant to demonstrating
satisfaction of
Standard 16. The school’s faculty has defined the goal:
Learning Goal
R=
20;Each
student can conceptualize a complex issue into a coherent written statement=
and
oral presentation.”
Demonstration of Achievement
The =
school
uses course-embedded exercises to demonstrate achievement of this learning
goal. The Strategic Management course required of each student in the final
year of the program includes among its course evaluations a written analysi=
s of
a multi-functional case study and an oral presentation on an industry-wide
analysis. A faculty task force has developed a standardized scoring key for=
use
with these two exercises. Using dimensions agreed to by the faculty, each
student’s performance on these exercises is evaluated. Students must
repeat the exercises until they have satisfactorily accomplished minimum le=
vels
of performance.
p.60