1. General Education Assessment Report: Fall 2017 Attributes
Committee (GEAC)
SUNY Oneonta

2. GEAC Membership Gayane Torosyan, Communication & Media (Chair)
Paul Bauer, Economics, Finance and Accounting
Kirsten Hilpert, Dietetics
Angeliki Kazas- Pontisakos, Mathematics
Michael Koch, Philosophy
Priti Tiwari, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Steve Walsh, Management, Marketing and Information Systems
Eileen Morgan- Zayachek(ex-officio)
Amie Doughty, English

3. Attributes Assessed Fall 2017
· American History (AM3) · Other World Civilizations (OW3) · Western Civilization (WC3) · Foreign Language (FL3) · Critical Thinking (CT)

4. Why Assessment? SUNY/ Middle States mandate
To measure student learning
To measure program effectiveness
To provide feedback to faculty and Senate
Image from UConn (

5. 5
Fall 2017 Observations
On average, only one third of all faculty selected for assessment has returned their reports
Participation was much lower than the desired 20% of students
Only 9% of the student population has been assessed in Fall 2017
GEAC needs assistance reaching departments and faculty with reminders

6. Summary of American History (AM3) Assessment for Fall 20176
Summary of American History (AM3) Assessment for Fall 2017
About 62% of students assessed for this SLO have exceeded the expectations of their instructors
About 21% of all students assessed have met the expectations
Approximately 12% have approached the expectations
Only 5% of students assessed did not meet expectations

7. Summary of Western Civilization (WC3) Assessment for Fall 2017
Learning Outcome
% Exceeding
% Meeting
% Approaching %
Not Meeting
% Exceeding/
Meeting
Students will demonstrate knowledge of the development of the distinctive features of the history, institutions, economy, society, culture, etc., of Western civilization, and relate the development of Western civilization to that of other regions of the world.
19.3
45.0
17.0
13.9
64.3

8. Summary of Other World Civilization (OW3) Assessment for Fall 2017
Total offered = 37 courses Number selected = 11, but 2 were incorrect in identifying instructor Max enrollment = 1237 Max enrollment of selected = 330 or 26.68%

9. Poor quality reporting:
Using multiple data sources that reflected a final grade vs the specific SLO area assessment measure not effective, and performance criteria were not defined Based on the 2 poor quality reports 80% of students met or exceeded

10. Good quality reporting:
Developed specific assessments that evaluated students’ competency in the SLO area. Defined the performance criteria. Provide clear outcome results Closed the loop with thoughtful insights/changes if necessary Based on the 2 good quality reports 85% of students met or exceeded

11. Summary of Foreign Languages (FL3) Assessment for Fall 2017
Only one class was assessed Results cannot be generalized

12. 1212
Shortcomings
Current GenEd assessment methods do not work well for some of the skills associated with attributes, for example - Critical Thinking
Inconsistency of our charge: perception among faculty that GEAC is evaluating courses rather than attributes
In the light of limitations of course-based assessment, perhaps consider the possibility of involving departments for increased oversight
Consider an outcome-based assessment program rather than a disciplinary distribution system

13. 1313
What’s Next?
Workshops dedicated to assessment training and discussion (as part of “closing the loop”)
Forms emphasize use of assessment data to inform teaching and learning and to help guide improvement of general education
Please announce in your departments:
Fall 2018 drop-in workshops scheduled
Thursday, April 26
From 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
IRC B-19

14. Next GenEd Attribute to Assess
BS3: Basic Communication = COMP 100