GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE-BASED ASSESSMENT – IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK!

1. GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE-BASED ASSESSMENT – IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK! 2014-2015

2. OVERVIEW • We teach the skills and content that GVSU and society want our graduates to have. • We assess how well students learn it (each course every 3 years) • We report the results to students, faculty, and the larger community • We revise our courses

3. TEACH, ASSESS, REVISE • Content goals (unique to the category) • Skills goals (you have 2 or 3) Collaboration Critical and Creative Thinking Ethical Reasoning Information Literacy Integration Oral Communication Problem Solving Quantitative Literacy Written Communication

4. How and Why We Assess in GE • Grades – we can’t use grades! (UAC) • We use course-embedded measures because • Through the curricular process, faculty said how they would teach the goals in the GE course • Students take it seriously because it is part of their course grade • Results can cycle back faster to improve teaching.

5. KEY POINTS • Assessment is a work-in-progress • No pre- and post-test needed • One measurement of learning is fine • Assess towards the end of the term • Use the rubric to assign scores (0-4) • You can’t use a grade to assign a score • a 4 is not an A, a 4 is an extremely high level of skill • We hope all students get to a level 3 by the time they graduate

6. KEY POINTS • Critical point  One measure (e.g., a paper) can measure many goals but you must disaggregate the score. • A student could get an A- on a report. However, that A- doesn’t translate into a 4 or even a 3 for assessment purposes. You need to evaluate the report using the rubric. Even though the student received an A- in a Foundation course, they may only receive a 2 on written communication, and a 2 on information literacy, and a 3 on the content. You need to evaluate the goals separately. • You may not want to assess all the goals with one measure. • We encourage you to share the assessment rubrics you have “scored” with students so they know where they need to focus their efforts

7. DO NOW 1. Do you know the content goals for your course? 2. Do you know the skills goals for your course? 3. Do you know the definition of the skills goals? The GE Course Assessment Process Assessing this Semester Background • Directions • Assessment Overview • Assessment Login • Assessment PPT • Goals and Rubrics • 3-Year Cycle • CAPs • Recertification To find the materials listed above, go to the GE website, www.gvsu.edu/gened. Click on “Assessment”, then “Assessment Process”.

8. SKILLS GOALS Click here to read definitions of all Skills Goals. Click on each of the goals below to see the corresponding rubric. • Collaboration • Critical and Creative Thinking • Ethical Reasoning • Information Literacy • Integration • Oral Communication • Problem Solving • Quantitative Reasoning • Written Communication

9. DO NOW 4. How will you teach the goals? 5. How will you assess the goals? 6. Do you know how to log in? General Education Course Assessment Assessing this Semester Background • Directions • Assessment Overview • Assessment Login • Assessment PPT • Goals and Rubrics • 3-Year Cycle • CAPs • Recertification GE also distributes materials. Email us for copies! To find the materials listed above, go to the GE website, www.gvsu.edu/gened. Click on “Assessment”, then “Assessment Process”.

10. COURSE ASSESSMENT • http://intranet.gvsu.edu/courseassessment • If you are off campus you need to use VPN (see directions online) • Click here

11. RUBRICS

13. 2 3 3 2 3 The skills rubric has 3-4 subcomponents, but you can report one number for the category. If you want to report on each of the subcomponents, let us know and we’ll add them back in. These are broad questions (make sure the students see the forest for the trees)

14. DO TOWARDS THE END OF THE SEMESTER Enter the assessment data online • Submit the data before: • Dec. 31 for fall courses • Apr. 30 for winter courses • Then wait for us to mail you tables and figures of your results The GE Course Assessment Process Assessing this Semester Background • Directions • Assessment Overview • Assessment Login • Assessment PPT • Goals and Rubrics • 3-Year Cycle • CAPs • Recertification To find the materials listed above, go to the GE website, www.gvsu.edu/gened. Click on “Assessment”, then “Assessment Process”.

15. DO IN JANUARY Complete the CAR (Course Assessment Report) • Submit the CAR by: • Feb. 1 for fall courses • Oct. 1 for winter courses • 1 CAR for all the sections • Email: gened@gvsu.edu The goal of the CAR is to reflect on what you learned and figure out what you want to change about teaching or assessing.