The General Education Ambassador and Assessment Program is designed to achieve two main goals:
- Create communities of practice for the General Education Program and
- Design/implement the assessment procedures for the General Education Program
The General Education learning outcomes and skills have been organized into five groups with an Ambassador representing each group. The five Ambassadors promote a shared understanding of the General Education Program and provide opportunities for continued discussion and teaching and learning development. Ambassadors work together to create and implement a plan of engagement for faculty teaching the respective learning outcomes AND/OR for faculty/departments looking to put forward courses through governance.
Each year, one of the Ambassador groups will focus on assessment of their respective learning outcomes and skills. The development of the assessment procedures will take place over a five-year period, beginning in 2021-22, and thereafter assessment will continue on a five-year rotation.
See General Education Learning Outcomes for learning outcome rubrics and guidance documents.
In order to assess the new General Education Program, all instructors of courses that receive learning outcome or skill designations will be asked to volunteer student work and participate in the assessment process. Assessment completed by faculty that “closes the loop” and provides data back to instructors in order to inform and strengthen instructional and program design is essential to the health and further refinement of our general education.
Selection of Ambassadors and Assessment Groups
In each spring semester, a call will go out to faculty for applications to the General Education Ambassador and Assessment program. Faculty will be selected to serve for the following summer (to attend a workshop), fall, and spring. If possible, each faculty (adjunct or full-time) member selected should be teaching a course with that learning outcome or skill attribute at some point in that term.
Assessment Procedures
The design of our assessment procedures will take place over a five-year period, with the General Education learning outcomes and skills organized into five groups. One group will be assessed each academic year.
- Ambassador Group: Information Literacy, Reading, Writing
- To Be Assessed: Information Literacy, Reading, Writing
- Ambassador Group: Fine Arts Expression and Analysis, Historical Inquiry and Analysis, Literary Inquiry and Analysis, Scientific
- To Be Assessed: Fine Arts Expression and Analysis, Historical Inquiry and Analysis, Literary Inquiry and Analysis, Scientific Inquiry and Analysis (Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking)
- Ambassador Group: Quantitative Reasoning, Procedural and Logical Thinking (Digital Literacy)
- To Be Assessed: Quantitative Reasoning, Procedural and Logical Thinking (Digital Literacy)
- Ambassador Group: Civic Learning, Diverse Perspectives, World Languages Speaking and Listening
- To Be Assessed: Civic Learning, Diverse Perspectives, World Languages Speaking and Listening
- Ambassador Group: Ethical Reasoning, Integrative Learning (AIA and IHIP), Personal Wellness
- Ambassador Group: Information Literacy, Reading, Writing
- To Be Assessed: Ethical Reasoning, Integrative Learning (AIA and IHIP), Personal Wellness
The Assessment Process
The call for student artifacts will be sent periodically throughout fall and spring semesters).
This call will be sent mid-spring semester under separate cover. To be eligible to assess, a faculty member or librarian must teach at least one course with the learning outcome designation that they will assess or offer library instruction in information literacy. Assessors will be compensated for their time participating in Assessment Day. The number of assessors will depend upon funding and the number of student artifacts to be assessed
This day will take place shortly after the conclusion of the spring semester. Assessors will have the opportunity to norm the assessment process, complete assessment of a selection of artifacts, and debrief on the process, including the effectiveness of the rubrics, all of which will be included in the subsequent reports.
The overall data collected (no data will be collected by individual course sections) and interpretations of that data will be provided to the instructors who submit artifacts and to the campus as a whole (in particular, through professional development, perhaps at the CTL and/or at the following Fall Development Day), and it will be available for use in any required reports, such as for NECHE and program reviews.