The General Education Board is engaging in a number of activities related to assessment, and more are planned for the upcoming year. The following are highlights of past and current activities:
2007-2008 Academic Year
- Included questions related to gT Pathways competency in writing, reading, critical thinking and mathematics as part of end-of-semester student perception/evaluations
- Compiled data from student perceptions and evaluations
2008-2009 Academic Year
- Surveyed department chairs to determine what students need to get out of the general education curriculum. Results were shared during a convocation discussion with faculty, who indicated a desire for assessable SLO's in the general education program that would be shared by and communicated among faculty
- General education student learning outcomes were developed and approved by the Faculty Senate
- Assessment plan was developed
- Commercially-produced standardized tests of general education outcomes were reviewed
- General education board members attended the Critical Thinking Assessment Test training
- The general education-related copy for the 2010-2011 catalog was revised
2009-2010 Academic Year
- Administered the National Survey of Student Engagement to First-Year and senior students
- Finalized plans for administering the Proficiency Profile during the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semester
- Updated the general education-related copy for the 2010-2011 catalog
- Disseminated the results of the CAT via campus-wide e-mails and colloquies
- Planned The Year of Critical Thinking for the 2010-2011 academic year, including a faculty kick-off during convocation
- Two faculty representatives attended the 30th International Conference on Critical Thinking
2010-2011 Academic Year
- Administered the Proficiency Profile and a locally developed essay to incoming First-Year students and seniors
- September 17, 2010: A workshop was held for defining/applying critical thinking
- The NSSE results were released to the campus
- October 14, 2010: A faculty-led, hands-on critical thinking workshop
- November 12, 2010: Professional development speaker, Dr. Bill Roberson presented, "Turning Beginners Into Thinkers to Promote Critical Thinking" and "Course and Syllabus Design to Promote Critical Thinking"
- February 3, 2011: A workshop was held to assist faculty in developing critical thinking rubrics for student assignments
- March 4, 2011: A group met to share their ideas on connecting discipline-specific critical thinking to general education
- The general education theme for Academic Year 2011-2012 was developed: Changing World, Changing Roles: Social Responsibility in the 21st Century
- April 28, 2011: The final Year of Critical Thinking event included a poster session and presentations held at the LARC
2011-2012 Academic Year
- August 17, 2011: The General Education Board kicked off the semester with a convocation session which introduced the theme: Changing World Changing Roles-Social Responsibility in the 21st Century, including conversation about social responsibility and strategies for teaching in general education and in the major.
- September 20, 2011: The first 20/20 Lecture Series was held and included Paul Chacon and Christine Rochester as they addressed the General Education theme.
- October 11, 2011: "How'd They Do?" This session included discussion of the results for testing incoming freshmen and senior students.
- October 20, 2011: The second 20/20 Lecture Series featured presentations by Jackie Stroud and John O'Connor. Jackie addressed "Social Responsibility and Historical Research: Taking Care of the Artifacts We Touch" and John addressed "Peter Singer on Global Poverty and Responsibility."
- November 10, 2011: The third 20/20 Lecture Series featured presentations by Libby Samaras and Joel Johnson. Libby addressed "Stakeholder Dissonance as a Critical Determinant of Patient Safety in New Health Information Technologies" and Joel addressed "Should Voting Be Mandatory? Social Responsibility in Politics."
- November 11, 2011: The General Education board held a workshop to discuss how we, as educators at a public university, can help our students become more socially responsible scholars in an ever-changing world.