General Education Curriculum Format and Assessment
GENERAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM FORMAT AND ASSESSMENT
DEFINITION: General education is the core of the undergraduate curriculum for all students, regardless of their major. It contributes to the distinctiveness of college-educated adults and guarantees that all college graduates have a broad, balanced education (Allen, 2006, p. 1).
PAST PRACTICESdistribution model
territorialism
lack of coherence, integration
CURRENT PRACTICES
- Shift from the instruction paradigm to learning paradigm
- Agreed-upon learning goals and outcomes
- Integrated and interdisciplinary curriculum
- Improved coherence in program
- Increased emphasis on application of learning to students’ personal, civic, and professional lives
SOURCES OF GENERAL EDUCATION GOALS & CURRICULUM:
- Institutional mission/vision/values
- Disciplinary perspectives
- Societal priorities/shifts/expectations
- Previous course offerings (distribution model)
National indicators of student success
- Professional Associations (AACU, NCTM, etc.)
- Employers’ feedback
- Alumni’s feedback
Three approacheS to GE assessment:
- One approach is to let faculty identify their own embedded assessment of the GE courses they teach. This approach gives faculty the greatest sense of ownership and therefore generates the most useful results. But it makes it difficult to aggregate the results and get an overall picture of how well students are achieving general education goals across the entire college unless the college uses accountability management software such as TaskStream AMS or TracDat.
- Another approach is to use a college-wide assessment, perhaps a portfolio, a published test of general education skills, or a capstone requirement of the general education curriculum. While this makes it easy to get an overall picture of student learning, faculty mat not be able to see how the results relate to their classless or how to use the results to improve student learning. Another challenge is that college-wide assessment is often add-on assessment, and student motivation may be an issue.
- The third approach is for faculty teaching courses in a group of related disciplines or subjects to identify a common assessment strategy. Faculty teaching science laboratory courses, for example, might agree to include certain key elements in their rubrics for students’ lab exercises.
Unless a consistent approach is mandated by an accreditor, state agency, or the like, there is usually no need to use just one approach throughout the GE curriculum. Writing might be assessed through a college-wide portfolio requirement, fine arts faculty might each develop their own assessment of the GE goal for creativity, and science faculty might agree to include a common set of test questions on their final exams.
ISSUES RELATED TO ASSESSMENT OF GENERAL EDUCATION
- Ownership and responsibility
- Lack of organized planning, review, coordination
- Learning outcomes tacked on to old curriculum
- Curricula often complex and decentralized
- Time consuming
- Low status work
Bibliography
Allen, M.J. (2006). Assessing general education programs. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing Company
Barr, R. B. & Tagg, J. (1995, November/December). From teaching to learning--a new paradigm for undergraduate education. Change, 27(6): 12-25. Available at
Driscoll, A. Introduction to general education. Presentation at 2011 WASC Assessment Leadership Academy session, June 17.
Palomba, C. A. & Banta, T.W. (1999). Assessment essentials: Planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Suskie, L. (2009) Assessing student learning: A common sense guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Tagg, J. (2003). The learning paradigm college.Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing