Assessing the Value Added to Liberal Education by Academic Majors
Through a grant by the Teagle Foundation, these four colleges will examine the complementary relationship between general education and the major by (1) assessing how general education goals—critical thinking, civic engagement, and quantitative reasoning—are enhanced by coursework and advising in selected majors; (2) identifying strategies for using the information collected to improve student learning and realize liberal education goals.
The project will begin with reviewing and comparing campus-wide data routinely collected using national assessment instruments, and with the administration of the Collegiate Learning Assessment in order to generate a benchmark for students' overall critical thinking skills. The collaborative will then focus on four departments at each campus to:
- Articulate the relationship between general education, disciplinary majors, and student learning.
- Examine the sequence of courses in departmental majors, as well as the ways in which individual courses advance the general education goals specified above.
- Examine student's selection of courses outside the major, as well as their co-curricular choices.
- Interview faculty and students to attempt to identify how advising in the major affects students' curricular and co-curricular choices.
- Examine current assessment methods used within the major and identify ways of strengthening the major and students' overall educational experience