1. Core Goals Assessment – Using the Online Reporting System https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
for information or technical help:
Karen E. Dennis
or call: (848)
Core goals assessment reports have moved online, which we hope you and your colleagues find easier and more informative than the previous reporting process.
The Core Curriculum Sakai site remains available as the archive of your past Core goals assessment reports. The Drop Box function there can be used to upload other materials related to Core goals assessment that you may want to archive.

2. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
This link is on the Core Curriculum Sakai site…
This Core assessment reporting system runs on the software that supports Sakai, but you don’t reach it through the standard Sakai portal.
This is the direct URL:
Login is with NetID and password.
You can find a link to this site through the Core Curriculum Sakai site: see “Core Reporting” in the left-hand menu, or click on the text “ONLINE REPORTING of Core Goals Assessment Results.”
It can also be found through the SAS Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) website, at
On the Assessment tab of the main menu, select Core Curriculum Assessment; then midway down the page, see Core Curriculum Assessment Links.
…and the SAS OUE website, On the Assessment tab, select Core Curriculum Assessment, then Core Curriculum Assessment Links.

3. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Available Courses tab:
Use “Filter List” to find your course(s).
All the courses certified in any Core learning goals display on the Available Courses tab.
You can filter the list by subject code, or any part of the course title.
Department and Undergraduate Chairs & Directors have access to all forms drafted or completed by anyone in their program’s courses, as defined by subject codes.
Please note that for cross-listed courses, it does not matter which subject code and course number is used to file the Core goals assessment results.
Faculty teaching any cross-listed course can enter all the Core results on a single form under any relevant course number.
The Chairs and Undergraduate Directors (and other authorized people) in all the cross-listing departments will see that form on their respective Submissions pages… and will see the results included in any reports they download.
For example: History of the Byzantine Empire is 01:510:205 / 01:489:205 / 01:685:205. A form filed under the History number (510) will also be visible to Modern Greek Studies (489) and Middle Eastern Studies (685).
Note: for cross-listed courses, it doesn’t matter which number is used to file - assessment results will be visible to all relevant depts.

4. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
note the link to the Core Rubrics.
REQUIRED fields are outlined in red.
Save Draft, Delete, and Submit buttons are at the end of the form.
There are some basic instructions at the top of the form, including a link to the CRC rubrics for the Core goals.
Required fields throughout the form are outlined in red. These are the same items that were required on the previous paper-based assessment reports.
It is possible to create a Draft form – with all the information that can be filled out or attached – before the assessment results are available, and update the form(s) over time before submitting it.
Drafts can also be deleted at any point: the Save, Submit and Delete buttons are at the bottom of the form.

5. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
REQUIRED fields are the same as before, but now are outlined in red to make them more visible:
Year - text box
Semester - drop-down menu
Enrollment - numerical text box
Course Format - drop-down menu
Syllabus -attachment field
Plans for Modification - text box
For each Core goal certified in the course:
Assessment Tool forced choice, plus text box, optional file attachment
Assessment Prompt - text box, optional file attachment
Assessment Results - numerical text boxes, with auto-calculation
Sample Used? - No/Yes forced choice, with text box if “Yes”
We’ll review each of the required fields below.
To summarize, though - for each Core-certified course, the following information is needed, as it was on the paper forms.
These fields are outlined in red, to make it a bit easier to see what is and is not required - and what will prevent a draft from being submitted.
This is different than in the past, when it often was necessary to return forms to instructors for the missing information… and we hope it will save you some time and effort going back and forth for the missing information before you’re able to file these reports for the CRC.
Year
Semester
Enrollment
Course Format - is this course fully online, fully face-to-face, or hybrid?
Syllabus
Plans for Modification
And for each Core goal certified in the course:
Assessment Tool
Assessment Prompt
Assessment Results
Sample Used?

6. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Some fields have menus, and others text boxes &/or attachment fields.
A course form can be drafted by anyone with NetID access.
Multiple instructors can be added. This is an optional field.
A text box usually requires an entry, even if only “see attached document.”
A course form can be completed by someone other than the instructor(s) – anyone with a NetID.
Contact information for the creator will be visible for all Drafts and Submitted forms, in case you have any questions (or find any questionable entries).
Multiple instructors can be noted on the form, and there is a NetID lookup. This is an optional field.
When your department is asked to file your Core assessment results on the 3-year cycle, the CRC does not need to know who taught any particular class or section(s). The CRC wants Core assessment results aggregated at the level of the course number.
You will probably want this instructor information for your department analysis and tracking, however, especially in courses with multiple sections that you need to be sure are included in the results.
It’s also important if any course(s) may rotate among instructors.

7. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
attachment fields, such as for the syllabus, allow you to browse to a document for upload.
Uploaded documents can be easily replaced or deleted.
In attachment fields on the form, you can browse to a document and select it.
Note: to complete the upload, select “Save Draft” at the bottom of the form.
Attachment fields allow only one document (more on that below). To replace any uploaded document, just follow the same steps.
Please note: attachments can be easily deleted – and because this currently does not launch a warning message, you will want to be careful about the Delete buttons in these fields.
To complete the upload, select “Save Draft” at the end of the form.

8. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Core Goals Assessment – Online Reporting System
Plans for Modification: changes to improve student performance outcomes on the Core goal.
Plans for Modification (a required field)
This is one of the most important fields of the report, and one of the most important elements of the substantive narrative that the CRC also asks for in the reporting year of the 3-year cycle.
This field is for your analysis of the Core assessment results, and especially for any conclusions you may draw about changing the course design and/or content to promote better student performance of the skills and capabilities defined for the Core goal.
If the outcomes generally are satisfactory, that can be noted here - but in many cases, the results will help inform decisions about the future evolution of the course.
If such changes were made in a previous offering of the course, you might also note here whether overall student performance results were more encouraging this time - “closing the assessment loop” for student achievement of the Core goal.
If there’s not enough information to make a decision about such changes, you can note that here.

9. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Each Core goal certified in the course will display these fields:
Assessment Tool
Assessment Prompt
Assessment Results
Sample used?
Scorers (optional )
Each Core goal certified in the chosen course will display on the course form, with these fields:
Assessment Tool - in assessing the Core goal(s), how were performance levels determined?
Assessment Prompt – what student work was used to assess student outcomes on this specific Core goal?
Assessment Results – how many students showed a satisfactory level of performance on the learning outcomes? Unsatisfactory performance? Outstanding or Good achievement of the goal?
Sample used? – Was this core goal assessed in only a sample of the total student enrollment?
Scorers – was the student work scored for the Core goal by more than one person?
Again, this is the same information as needed before, but this should help resolve confusion about which specific Core goals are certified in the course, and are meant to be achieved by the students.
note the link to the Core Rubrics at the top of the form.

10. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Assessment Tool defaults to “CRC rubrics.” For “other criteria,” the text box will open.
A link to the Core Rubrics is at the top of the form.
The Rubric/ Assessment Prompt File is optional: it can be used if the alternate criteria are in table format, or a longer description is required.
Assessment Tool defaults to “CRC rubrics,” as this is by far the most common set of criteria that faculty have chosen to use in assessing Core goal outcomes in their courses.
(For convenient reference, a link to the CRC rubrics is at the top of the form.)
If another set of criteria is used to determine performance levels on this particular Core goal – such as a customized scoring guide or alternative rubric - the text box will open for a required description. This has a limit of 500 words, like all text boxes on the form.
Information can be pasted in from another document. Since pasted-in tables/grids may not display correctly, the alternative scoring guidelines can be attached in the Rubric/Assessment Prompt File field.
If you attach a document for this purpose, enter “see attached document” in the text box - otherwise the system won’t let the form be submitted.
This is a shared attachment field: if you want to upload both an alternative set of criteria for scoring student performance , and a very detailed Assessment Prompt (see below) , you may need to combine them in a single document.
(note: this attachment field is shared with Assessment Prompt, below.)

11. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Assessment Prompt: the student work in which this Core goal was assessed.
Assessment Prompt is a text box (with a limit of 500 words), but the Rubric/Assessment Prompt File attachment field also can be used to upload an assignment with special formatting or characters.
This may not be immediately obvious because of the way the form is arranged, but the Rubric/ Assessment Prompt File attachment field is a shared attachment field for the rubric and prompt sections.
For that reason, if you use both an alternative assessment scoring system – see “Assessment Tool” above - and your assessment prompt contains special characters or requires more than 500 words, you may need to combine them in a single document.
If a document is uploaded in that field, remember to enter a brief note in the text box(es) such as “see attached document,” or the form won’t successfully submit.
Otherwise, simply copy and paste into this box the specific assignment and/or exam question(s) used to assess student achievement of this Core goal.
This might be a description of an essay assignment; a set of exam questions; the instructions given to students for their final paper or presentation that require them to demonstrate the desired learning outcomes (to clarify, refer to the CRC rubrics).
The Rubric/Assessment Prompt attachment field can be used to provide more information on the Assessment Prompt. (note: only one document can be attached here.)

12. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Assessment Results: for each Core goal certified in the course and listed on this form, the number of students performing at each level from Unsatisfactory through Outstanding should be entered (in digits).
The total number of students assessed on this goal will auto-calculate.* If there are no students at a given performance level (no “outstanding,” for example) enter a zero in that box.
A reminder: this is not meant to be a measure of overall student performance in the course – that’s what the course grade indicates. It’s asking how effectively the students demonstrated achievement of the analytical and other skills defined for this Core learning goal.
In this case, for example: the question is how well students perform when asked to analyze the relationship of science and technology to a contemporary social issue (21C goal c). They might be weak at this while strong in other areas of course performance.
* the number of students assessed will not always equal the number enrolled - some students may not yet have completed the assignment, or taken the make-up exam, by the time this report is filed.
Assessment Results: for each Core goal certified in the course, enter the number of students performing at each level The total number of students assessed on this goal will auto-calculate.

13. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
Sample used?: in a large-enrollment class, a sample might be used for Core goal assessment. If so, this must be explained.
Was a sample used? This requires a Yes/No choice.
To clarify: in a class with very large enrollments (200+ students), a sample might be used for the assessment of a Core goal.
If so, the sampling method must be explained, and should clearly result in a significant proportion of student work being assessed for the learning goal outcomes. See the example on the slide.
Scorers (an optional field).
In some cases, the student work in which the Core goal is assessed might be reviewed and scored by more than one person.
For example, both a TA & the instructor might read and assess a written assignment using the Core goal rubric… or an in-class presentation might be assessed by both the faculty member and a visiting scholar, using a common scoring system.
Scorers (optional field): if more than one person scored the students on their performance of the Core goal outcomes.

14. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
REQUIRED fields – if missed, these will still be outlined in red on the form:
Year - text box
Semester - drop-down menu
Enrollment - numerical text box
Course Format - drop-down menu
Syllabus -attachment field
Plans for Modification - text box
For each Core goal certified in the course:
Assessment Tool - forced choice, plus text box, optional file attachment
Assessment Prompt - text box, optional file attachment
Assessment Results - numerical text boxes, with auto-calculation
Sample Used? - No/Yes forced choice, with text box if “Yes”
To re-cap: the required information will be outlined in red, and prevent a draft from being submitted. In the past, it was necessary to return forms to instructors for the missing information… so it should help everyone provide the information you (and the CRC) will need without a lot of back and forth.
Enter the year in which the course was offered in this text box.
Select the semester in which the course was offered from the menu.
Course enrollment – enter the number of students, in digits only.
Course Format – select “face-to-face, hybrid, or fully online” from the menu. Fully online refers to courses with a severely limited number of possible in-person meetings, including exams; Hybrid would be a course with a significant portion of meetings online - roughly 1/3 to 1/2.
Syllabus - an attachment field: browse to & upload the syllabus for this course this semester.
Plans for Modification – a text box in which to enter close the loop analysis and/or modifications made or planned - even if the answer is “none at this time.”
For each Core goal certified in the course:
Assessment Tool – forced choice, plus text description box & optional file attachment field if a tool other than CRC rubric was used to judge performance levels.
Assessment Prompt - text description box & optional file attachment field (shared with the previous field).
Assessment Results – enter the number of students, in digits, performing the Core goal outcomes at each level. The total will auto-calculate.
Sample Used? - forced Yes/No choice. If “Yes” is selected, a text box will open and require a description of the sampling method used.

15. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
If any required fields are not completed, selecting Submit will generate an error message. Look for any item outlined in red.
It is possible to delete a partial or completed form. This warning notice will appear.
At any point, an incomplete form can be saved - or deleted - by selecting the relevant button at the bottom of the form.
It is possible to delete both Drafts and Submitted forms.
Unlike with the attachment fields on the form, selecting Delete for a Draft or Submitted form will launch a warning notice before removing the form from the system.
Please be careful, however: we have no way to retrieve a deleted form!
The Submit button will generate an error message if any required fields are not completed.
Unfortunately, it won’t specify where the information is missing, so you’ll need to look for any item still outlined in red on the form.

16. https://sakai.rutgers.edu/core/
On the Submissions tab, you can filter several ways…. …and generate a report that combines all section results for a course.
Department and undergraduate chairs & directors have access to the forms drafted or completed by anyone in their program’s courses, as defined by subject codes.
You can filter the list by course number, semester and year, course format (i.e. online vs. face-to-face), and/or Core goal; by who created the form; and by whether this is still a draft or a final submission.
After doing so, you can generate a report (in an Excel comma-separated file) showing just those selections.
And there is a checkbox that allows you to aggregate the Core assessment results from multiple sections of the same course in a given term.
Please note that for cross-listed courses, you will be able to see reports that have been filed under any one of the relevant course numbers, even if that was not in your subject code.
It doesn’t matter which number the faculty may use to file the Core goals assessment results: Chairs and UPDs (as well as other authorized admins) in all the cross-listing departments will see that form show up on their respective Submissions pages… and the results will be included in any downloaded reports.
For example: History of the Byzantine Empire is 01:510:205 / 01:489:205 / 01:685: A form filed under the History number (510) will also be visible to Modern Greek Studies (489) and Middle Eastern Studies (685) – though the results will be aggregated in the CRC’s master database.

17. https://sakai. rutgers. edu/core/ Questions. Comments. Karen E. Dennis
Questions? Comments? Karen E. Dennis or: (848)
Reminder:
Fall assessment results are due by February 1.
Winter term reports are due by March 1.
Spring reports should be submitted no later than June 1.
We’re piloting this online reporting system for Core goals assessment reports as of AY , and will welcome your feedback at the end of the year, with the aim of improving it for future rounds of use.
In the mean time, let us know your questions about the reporting form or the Core goals assessment process.
The Core Curriculum Sakai site will remain available, with its Drop Box function and the archive of your past Core goals assessment reports. This is where you would upload your substantive narrative when you’re due to report assessment results in the 3-year cycle.
Reminder: you'll want faculty to submit their Core goals assessment results well enough in advance of these due dates to give you time to review them:
Fall semester reports are due to the CRC before February 1.
Winter session results will be due by March 1.
Spring reports should be submitted no later than June 1.