Why Have General Education Program Level Assessment?
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.
GE Program Learning Outcomes
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 abilities 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.