From the GEOC Assessment Subcommittee:

Dear Instructors and Departments Teaching General Education Courses:

You are receiving this message because you or your department offers courses designated as General Education (Gen Ed) at WSU. Thank you for offering Gen Ed courses to our students! The purpose of this message is to review responsibilities associated with Gen Ed and increase awareness of the support available to you.

What are the Overall Goals of the Gen Ed Program?

The Gen Ed program provides important foundational skills that are the basis for success in college and future careers. It also serves to introduce students to different perspectives and methodologies that shape the acquisition of knowledge.

How Are Courses Approved for Gen Ed?

To satisfy the Gen Ed requirement, a course must address all of the learning outcomes for the designated Gen Ed area(s). As a general practice, the GEOC checks Gen Ed course proposals for the following:

• Satisfactory description of content alignment with the Gen Ed area
• The course learning outcomes in the syllabus align with Gen Ed area learning outcomes

What are the Gen Ed Roles and Responsibilities?

Three groups have responsibilities for the Gen Ed program:

1. Instructors (part- and full-time faculty, instructional staff, and GTAs) design their syllabus in accordance with the course description and learning outcomes approved by General Education Oversight Committee (see General Education in the Undergraduate Bulletin), provide instruction to students, and participate in the Gen Ed program assessment process by collecting and summarizing data to demonstrate the learning outcomes.
2. Departments propose Gen Ed courses, offer approved courses at least once a year, ensure the integrity of those courses, verify that Gen Ed learning outcomes are listed on syllabi, participate in the Gen Ed program assessment process, and ensure that all conditions of the Gen Ed guidelines are being met.
3. The General Education Oversight Committee (GEOC) oversees implementation, review, assessment, and revision of the Gen Ed program (see Board of Governors [BOG] code 2.43.03.230). The GEOC is comprised of faculty representatives from across the university, a member of the academic staff with student advising responsibilities, and ex-officio members from the University Libraries, Academic Senate, and other areas (see BOG code 2.43.03.240). The GEOC is currently co-chaired by faculty member Jennifer Wareham and Associate Provost Darin Ellis.

What Will Gen Ed Instructors and Departments Need to Do for Gen Ed Assessment?

In this process, instructors will be asked to provide data for their Gen Ed courses every three years. (Classes with multiple Gen Ed designations may be asked to provide data more frequently than the three-year schedule.) GEOC may request artifacts for a randomly selected subset of students for review.

Departments will receive advance notice about annual assessment responsibilities. It is the department’s responsibility to: (1) notify all instructors affected by the assessment group cycle; (2) develop a plan for monitoring completion of the assessment process; and (3) meet deadlines for submitting data, their findings, and plans for improvement and continuation.

Of course, departments are free to request removal of Gen Ed designation at any time should they find they are unwilling to satisfy the aforementioned criteria for Gen Ed designation or unwilling to participate in assessment. However, the GEOC would prefer to work with departments to revise curricula and assist with meeting these criteria rather than remove the course from the Gen Ed curriculum.

What Are the Goals of Gen Ed Assessment?

Our goal is to provide the best General Education program we can for our students. To ensure the quality of the program, the GEOC oversees assessment of Gen Ed. Assessment is a means for the GEOC, departments, and instructors to evaluate how they are meeting the learning outcomes of the program; it is not an evaluation of teaching (e.g., not a SET) and cannot be used without the instructor’s permission in performance or merit evaluations. It should be open and shared data and encourage GEOC, departments, and instructors to strengthen program design, instructional delivery, materials, and assignments and build on areas of strength. We cannot do this without your cooperation!

What is the Current Gen Ed Assessment Plan?

Since Fall 2017, the GEOC has worked very hard (meeting every two weeks, excluding spring/summer) and consulted with program faculty to develop a plan for assessment of the Gen Ed curriculum. Some of you have already participated in the preliminary steps for creating Gen Ed assessment tools. We encourage everyone teaching Gen Ed to get involved with the development of the assessment materials and look forward to working with instructors in this process.

Based on these efforts, GEOC has articulated a plan for assessment to make this process as useful, efficient, and simple as possible. (The general timeline and process for Gen Ed assessment are summarized in Table 1 below.) Initially, assessment will be implemented in four annual phases for a given competency or inquiry area.

1. Assessment Method Planning: GEOC’s assessment subcommittee reviews the learning outcomes for the Gen Ed area, drafts an assessment rubric based on the learning outcomes, and involves instructors in providing feedback and piloting the rubric. The full GEOC reviews each rubric and decides whether to approve it.
2. Data Collection: All courses in the selected Gen Ed areas submit data for Fall and Winter that align with the learning outcomes. This process will be completed in collaboration with GEOC and individual instructors. In addition, a staff member from the Provost’s Office will provide assistance with data collection for Gen Ed assessment.
3. Analysis, Action Plan & Report: The data collected in the previous year (phase #2) will be analyzed. A report summarizing the data analysis will be written and shared with stakeholders. Based on the analysis, action plans for improvement and maintenance of Gen Ed will be developed.
4. Continued Improvement (Action Plan Implementation): GEOC, departments and instructors review the assessment results contained in the report from the previous year (phase #3). Each will articulate steps to strengthen and maintain student learning success as needed and implement the action plan.

The next year will return to Data Collection (phase #2), and repeat the cycle.

Where Can I Learn More About Assessment?

Several resources are available to support your work on Gen Ed assessment:

• WSU General Education Program website – GEOC will be updating the site with additional resources soon.
• Office of Teaching & Learning
• Dr. Cathy Barrette, WSU Director of Assessment
• Dr. Stefanie Baier, liaison for GEOC assessment
• WSU program assessment website

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact one of the GEOC co-chairs (Jennifer Wareham or Darin Ellis).

Sincerely,

GEOC

Table 1. Gen Ed Assessment Timeline and Process