Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Documentation on the periodic assessment of General Education at Chico State.

General Education is more than a collection of courses; it is an academic program. Like all academic programs, GE needs to be periodically reviewed to ensure that it is current, meeting its goals, efficient, and contributing to rigorous student learning. A major goal of GE revision at Chico State was to create a General Education program with clearly articulated learning outcomes that can serve as a means of programmatic assessment, as well as to create an institutional structure – through Pathway coordinators and CAB – that can lead assessment efforts.

All GE courses and substitutions include one GE Program Learning Outcome.

Oral Communication – Demonstrates the ability to speak publicly in both formal and informal contexts in order to increase knowledge, foster understanding, or promote change in the listener’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors.
Written Communication – Demonstrates the ability to develop and communicate well-reasoned ideas effectively in a variety of written genres appropriate to purpose, audience, and context.
Critical Thinking – Demonstrates the ability to assess the relevance and strength of claims in written texts, visual media and other forms of discourse.
Quantitative Reasoning – Demonstrates knowledge of and applies mathematical or statistical methods to describe, analyze, and solve problems in context.
Information Literacy – Demonstrates the ability to recognize when there is a need for information; to identify, locate, and evaluate information; and to effectively, responsibly, and ethically use and share information for the question at hand.

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) are assessed on a regular basis, using validated instruments, rubrics, and benchmarks, so that all PLOs are assessed within a five-year period.

Intellectual Curiosity – Asking questions, seeking answers, contemplating, and pursuing investigations with intellectual rigor, while making connections between cognitive and personal development, both inside and outside traditional instructional settings.
Civic Engagement – Participating in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually enriching and beneficial to our various local, regional, national, and international communities.
Sustainability - Being an engaged member of society informed by a systems approach to balancing environmental responsibility, social justice, economic feasibility, and cultural diversity.
Diversity – Understanding the intersectionalities and complexities of differences among people, such as those based on race, ethnicity, ability, age, class, culture, gender identity and expression, political affiliation, regional and national origin, religion, and sexuality.
Creativity – Cultivating artistic expression, imaginative and divergent ideas, interdisciplinary connections, and a willingness to take intellectual risks, contextualizing innovation within the larger history of ideas.
Global Engagement – Using cultural knowledge and linguistic skills to understand and successfully engage with global cultures both professionally and personally, and to contribute as responsible global citizens.

Created by GE Minor faculty who participated in the 2021-22 GE Minors Retreat on February 4-5, 2022. Beginning in Fall 2022 and continuing each semester thereafter, Pathway Coordinators will administer a short survey to students enrolled in their upper-division GE Minor Courses, asking whether the students have learned the outcomes (PLOs) for their Minor (Likert scale).

GE Minor: Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

Program Learning Outcomes

PLO 1: Recognize the cultural importance and interconnectedness of food through agricultural, environmental, economic, and social concepts.
PLO 2: Discuss the inequities and/or policies facing food producers and consumers at local and global scales.
PLO 3: Demonstrate an understanding of foodways through research and scientific inquiry, and the production of verbal, written, or media-based content that emphasizes cultural representation.
PLO 4: Become more socially conscious, recognizing the implications of individual and community choices on agriculture, food and the environment.