General Studies Third Year Review Written Report

Evaluation Rubric

Assessment contact person, and person preparing the report, (if different):

Dave Vollrath, Director of General Studies

Attach 2004, 2005 and 2006 annual reports. Attach an updated departmental assessment plan.

Describe any changes to the program's educational goals since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes. Describe any assessment techniques used for measuring the Educational Goals that have been added or discontinued since the last Third Year Review, and the rationale for those changes

I cannot locate these annual reports. I am not aware of any update in the plan or of any changes in the techniques used since the last Third Year Review.

Attach any assessment instruments that have been used during the past three years, and the data collected, (or, summarized data, if that is more appropriate.) What analysis has been done with this data? What conclusions has your department drawn? What changes have been made to the program as a result? (Curriculum, classes offered, classes discontinued, scheduling, advising, faculty education etc. . .) How did assessment data and analysis support these changes?

A survey questionnaire (sent to alumni in 2003) has been administered each semester to students in the capstone course, F401. (I can find no electronic copy to attach to this report.) I have located the raw data of student responses, which have not been summarized as far as I know. I am not aware of any conclusions drawn or changes made to the program, as a result of the data collected.

What changes does the department plan to make in the coming years to the program and to assessment techniques, and why? How were faculty, students, administration, alumni and other groups involved in assessment? How were assessment data and results shared with faculty, students, administration and alumni?

In the past, general comments of Committee members about the capstone papers of our senior students have been part of the General Studies assessment plan. By October 1, we will apply the new educational goals to develop an assessment rubric for the capstone papers. We plan to check the inter-rater reliability of the rubric (in the fall semester) by having committee members rate a sample of recent capstone papers. After any needed revision to increase reliability, the rubric will become part of our assessment techniques.

We also plan to summarize the data collected from graduating students over the past three years and to discuss what changes, if any, are called for in the degree program.

In one paragraph, please summarize the most important impacts of the assessment of student learning on the program. Is there any other information that you would like included in this report?

I have been Director for only a few months. Consequently, I do not know how assessment of student learning has impacted the program under my predecessor. Please keep in mind the unique characteristics of the General Studies degree program that make assessment complex. General Studies students take a far wider range of courses (in more disciplines and at other institutions of higher education) than the typical IU South Bend student. The General Studies faculty, in one sense, consists merely of the Director and Assistant Director, who teach the two 1-credit courses in General Studies. The General Studies Committee represents another sense of our faculty, which is spread across the campus. Instructors at other colleges and universities comprise yet another sense of the faculty that impacts our students’ learning.

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