General Education Reform and Assessment

Joint Provost-Senate Council Planning and Coordinating Committee

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Reading Room

The purpose of this page is to allow students, faculty and staff access to pertinent documents, committee reports, PowerPoint presentations and other media that will assist in documenting the on-going campus conversation regarding General Education Reform and Assessment.

• Team Report by AAC&U Summer Institute Attendees
• Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship (SAGES) at Case Western Reserve University

Presentations and Documents from Process and Planning Workshop (August 2006)

August Workshop Intro (Ernie Yanarella)
AAC&U Summer Workshop Review (Ernie Yanarella)
Threaded Discussion II: Mapping Exercise (Ernie Yanarella)
Basic Skills, Part I (Bill Rayens)
Overview of ERC Report (Bill Rayens)
Evidence of Learning at James Madison University (Deb Moore)
Evidence of Learning at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (Deb Moore)
Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes (Deb Moore)

Readings for AAC&U Summer Institute Attendees:

• External Review Committee Final Report
• Electronic Portfolio Information: Ehrmann/The TLT Group and Mueller/Authentic Assessment Toolbox
• Peter Ewell, Noted Assessment Authority, Presentation 2/13/03
• The Greater Expectations report (For a “quick read” of the report, see the executive overview, Chapters 3 and 4 (including sidebars), and Chapter 5 – the charts and recommendations.)
• Integrative Learning: Mapping the Terrain (A paper on creating opportunities for students to connect their learning into a more coherent whole.)
• Our Students’ Best Work (An AAC&U position paper on assessments appropriate for learning and accountability purposes.)
• Liberal Education Outcomes: A Preliminary Report on Student Achievement in College (A publication of the Liberal Education and America’s Promise campaign that reviews available evidence of student achievement and support for liberal education. The report concludes by advocating for the development of local course-embedded assessments as the foundation for improving students learning and providing data for accountability purposes.)
• “Avoiding the Potholes” (An article offering lessons and strategies for general education reform, from first stages through adoption and follow-up.)

Writings from GERA Members:

• Assessment (Deb Moore)
• Boundary Conditions and Obdurate "Realities" Affecting All Prospective Curriculum Models (Ernie Yanarella)
• General Education Models (Phil Kraemer)
• Making Sense of Curricular Models for General Education (Larry Grabau)
• Essential Skills and the Major (Ruth Beattie) - coming soon
  
  

Campus-Specific Materials:

• External Review Committee Final Report (NEW!)

• College forum brochure (DRAFT) (PDF document)
• GERA Committee blueprint for college forums and related attachments
• Senate Provost Committee on Education Reform Letter,
  from Provost Scott Smith and Ernie Yanarella, Senate Council Chair (November 17, 2005)
• USP External Review Committee presentation to University Senate (PowerPoint presentation)
• Assessing General Education Survey-Item Summary (Overall Response Rate=25%)
• Meachum Survey Overview
• USP External Review Committee Report
• USP Self-Study (PDF document)

Other Resources:

• Greater Expectations
• The Boyer Report
• Assessment Bibliography
• Can Liberal Education Cope?
• The Crisis in Liberal Education
• Liberal Education on the Ropes
• The Cheated Undergraduate
• America's Top University: Does College Need to be Reformed?
• The Demographic Window of Opportunity: Liberal Education in the New Century
• University of Alabama at Birmingham’s SACS Quality Enhancement Plan
• NASULGC Accountability Discussion Paper
• AASCU’s discussion paper, Value-Added Assessment: Accountability's New Frontier
• 'Building A Nation Of Learners: The Need For Changes In Teaching And Learning To Meet Global Challenges'