1. 2018 Annual Academic Assessment Seminar: Where Learning Matters September 7, 2018

2. UAA Showcase: Results from the Three-Year GER Assessment Pilot
Dan Kline, General Education Director

3. UAA GERs: 3 Tiers, 7 Categories, 9 Outcomes
Tier I: Basic & Crosscutting Skills (12 cr)
Written Comm (6 cr)
Oral Comm (3 cr)
Quantitative Lit (3 cr)
Tier II: Disciplinary Knowledge (22 cr)
Natural Sciences (7 cr)
Social Sciences (6 cr)
Humanities (6 cr)
Fine Arts (3 cr)
Tier III: Integrative Capstone (3 cr)
Meets GER in the major
Integration of Tier I in major
After completing the GERs, UAA students should be able to:
Communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and formats.
Reason mathematically and analyze quantitative and qualitative data competently to reach sound conclusions.
Relate knowledge to the historical context in which it developed and the human problems it addresses.
Interpret different systems of aesthetic representation and understand their historical and cultural contexts.
Investigate the complexity of human institutions and behavior to better understand interpersonal, group and cultural dynamics.
Identify ways in which science has advanced the understanding of important natural processes.
Locate and use relevant information to make appropriate personal and professional decisions.
Adopt critical perspectives for understanding the forces of globalization and diversity.
Integrate knowledge and employ skills gained to synthesize creative thinking, critical judgment and personal experience in a meaningful and coherent manner.

4. GER Assessment Principles
Because so many of the GER SLOs are “cross-cutting skills” valued across the curriculum, we have built the GER assessment so that it is
Shared across all curricula & developed by cross-disciplinary faculty
Sampled from a wide variety of student work in all courses
Sustainable alongside UAA’s current robust course- and program-level assessment processes
GER assessment offers a snapshot of collective student achievement across the breadth of UAA programs
All indicators are faculty-developed based upon UAA curriculum review materials and coordinated with the AAC&U’s LEAP indicators and VALUE rubrics where possible
General Education is everyone’s business!

5. Faculty-Developed GER Outcomes & Indicators
AY14-15: Faculty Senate GER Assessment Committee recommendations (GenEd Director & three outcomes per year)
AY15-16 – Rubric 1: Written Communication, Oral Communication, and Information Literacy.
GER assessment
AY16-17 – Rubric 2: Social Sciences, Humanities, and Fine Arts
GER & AA assessment (shared assessment and simplified outcomes) aligned
AY17-18 – Rubric 3: Natural Sciences, Quantitative Skills, and Knowledge Integration.
GER, AA, AAS (shared assessment and aligned curriculum; all five UAA campuses)

6. GER Assessment – Three Year Summary (AY16-18)
Other Fun Stats
2016
2017
2018
Number of assessors 6 18 13
Sections submitting artifacts 11 22 63
Total artifacts available
173
398
1003
With all nine GER Outcomes assessed, 2018 marks the end of UAA’s first full round of GER assessment!

7. Quantitative Literacy
Tier I: Foundational & Cross-cutting Skills
Quantitative Literacy
Students at the 0xx-level show mainly developing performance in quantitative literacy
At the 100-level, students show proficiency at (1), with developing performance in other indicators, which is expected for this level
At the 200-level, students show developing performance for all four indicators
Not surprisingly, students at 400-level show at least proficiency with all indicators, and mastery at indicator (3)
4 (Mastery), 3 (Proficient), 2 (Developing), 1 (Beginning), 0 (Absent), X (Null/Not Applicable)

8. Tier II: Disciplinary Knowledge
Natural Sciences
Evidence suggests students prepared for 100-level work in natural sciences, generally performing at developing (2) level
Student achievement either held steady or increased in moving from the 100-level to the 200-level
As assessment process continues, we expect to accrue more data through student artifacts in natural science courses, especially at 300 and 400 levels
4 (Mastery), 3 (Proficient), 2 (Developing), 1 (Beginning), 0 (Absent), X (Null/Not Applicable)

9. Knowledge Integration
Tier III: Knowledge Integration
Knowledge Integration
Knowledge Integration SLO in the UAA GER integrate GER Tier One outcomes within the major, and content and outcomes from Tier 2 disciplines within the major as appropriate
By design, all Tier III Integrative Capstone courses are upper-division
Students demonstrated proficiency or mastery in all the indicators for Knowledge Integration
Assignments volunteered by the faculty did not necessarily fully demonstrate all four indicators, so future attention might be given to soliciting multiple assignments from a course since all indicators might not be represented in one assignment
4 (Mastery), 3 (Proficient), 2 (Developing), 1 (Beginning), 0 (Absent), X (Null/Not Applicable)

10. Conclusions
Student Achievement & Student Success  Coordination, Feedback, & Adjustment
Students are generally scoring at a point appropriate to the level of the course (beginning, developing, proficient, mastery), with some drop-off at the 200-level in many courses.
Programs that map their curriculum to the GER and incorporate GER skills and SLOs into their courses and assignments show better results
Wide variety in Integrative Capstone courses, with some leaning toward being a major capstone and others more fully incorporating the GER outcomes
Process  Simplicity, Scale, & Consistency
Greater need to identify assignments & courses more closely tied to and appropriate for the SLO being assessed.
Recommendations  For the next phase of the UAA GenEd
Consider fewer GER SLOs (on the model of the revised Associate of Arts outcomes)
Consider HIPs, signature assignments, and scaffolded approaches across the GER and programs
Develop shared high-level indicators for Critical Thinking
Develop criteria for a reconsideration of the GenEd

11. The Bottom Line
With nearly one-third of the baccalaureate degree and one-half of the Associate of Arts degree committed to the General Education Requirements,
we must continue to communicate the pedagogical value of the GenEd and its fundamental importance to a university education and to a successful career, and
we must continue to do meaningful assessment that furthers student success in all areas of their university experience.
A programmatically coherent, pedagogically coordinated, consistently communicated, and curricularly (and extra-curricularly) aligned GER is central to fulfilling UAA’s mission.

12. UAA Showcase: Anthropology
Kristen Ogilvie, Assistant Professor, Anthropology

13. Undergraduate Program Revisions
Transparency of program learning outcomes to students?
Standardization in program requirements?
Articulation with the program’s student learning outcomes?
Ability to assess the program’s student learning outcomes?
In 2014, our department began to undertake a revision of its undergraduate curriculum. A major issue was that we had over 50 undergraduate courses in the catalog, many of which were not being taught frequently, largely due to retirements that led to a near-complete faculty turnover.
CLICK
That represented four pages of course descriptions in the old print catalog. CLICK, CLICK, CLICK
Over the years, courses had just accumulated and a program structure was not readily apparent in the course offerings as of Students could fulfill some of our program requirements with everything from a 200 to a 400-level course.
For instance, CLICK for our ethnographic area requirement that required nine credits to fulfil, students could take a CLICK 200, 300, and 400 level course to meet the requirement, CLICK or three 300-level courses, or CLICK three 400-level courses.
Similarly for our topical/theoretical requirement that required six credits to fulfil, students could CLICK take one 200-level and one 300-level to meet the requirement or CLICK two 400-level. In this example too, students could take just these two theoretical courses and never take a course in anthropological methods. Or, conversely CLICK they could take two methods courses and never be exposed to any theory-centered upper-division courses. CLICK There was no standardization across the student learning outcomes in these courses to justify why they met certain program requirements or CLICK how they contributed to the program learning outcomes. CLICK Under this system the transparency of the curriculum to the students was unclear and, CLICK of course, program assessment was challenging, or shall we say, creative!

14. Program’s Student Learning Outcomes
Cha-cha-cha-Changes
Previous
Categorical Description
Revised
Explain current understandings about human beings and behavior including the evolution of humans, the nature of culture and cultural processes, the features of language and characteristics of linguistic use, the forms of biological diversity and the significant trajectories of change which have led to the current status of humanity.
Demonstrate an understanding of different scientific and theoretical approaches in anthropology, their epistemological and conceptual foundations, their strengths and limitations, and the types of topics, issues and problems they are designed to address. 
Apply liberal educational skills, such as independent knowledge acquisition, problem identification, critical thinking, formation and evaluation of hypotheses, and organized and effective presentation of information, to anthropological materials demonstrated through various types of presentation including scientific and technical writing, effective public speaking and electronic media presentation.
Demonstrate ability to apply anthropological concepts and perspectives to understanding local social and cultural practices occurring outside the classroom in the community.
Four-Field Knowledge
Understanding of Anthropological Theory
Awareness of Ethical Practice in Anthropology
Information Literacy and Communication Competency in Anthropology
Methodological Skills in Anthropology
Describe current understandings about human behavior and language, cultural processes, the evolution of humans, biocultural diversity, and trajectories of cultural change.
Demonstrate an understanding of theoretical approaches in anthropology, their foundations, and the issues they are designed to address.
Explain ethical practice in anthropological research and issues encountered in the discipline.
Exhibit proficiency in documenting, evaluating, and communicating anthropological information, including perspectives relevant to Alaska and the Circumpolar North.
Apply anthropological methods and techniques to research questions and practical problems.
Program’s Student
Learning Outcomes
Our aim in the course revisions began with the idea of creating flexibility in our course offerings while also reducing the complexity of the catalog. CLICK But, we quickly became engaged in structuring the revisions to reflect a purposeful design aimed at linking program course structure to help students achieve the program’s student learning outcomes. Instead of just updating the courses, we chose to design the course structure intentionally around a set of revised and simplified program student learning outcomes. CLICK Our previous program learning outcomes were dense and hard to articulate, especially for students early in their education. Take a look at them here. The mere length and complexity of wording made them unclear. CLICK The revised ones are shorter and more clear, and we highlighted important elements like ethics and methods. CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK The new outcomes address the same core expectations as the old but in a more direct and clear way. We increased from four to five outcomes to emphasize ethics and methods specifically but still, as evidenced by the font-size alone in the slide, sharpened and clarified them. CLICK The new outcomes are also link directly to shortened categorical descriptions for each outcome. So, there are CLICK Four-Field Knowledge, CLICK Understanding of Anthropological Theory, CLICK Awareness of Ethical Practice in Anthropology, CLICK Information Literacy and Communication Competence in Anthropology, and CLICK Methodological Skills in Anthropology. Easily communicated to and reflected upon by our students, we believe.

15. Our goal with revising the student learning outcomes and program more generally was three-fold: First, CLICK we wanted to ensure students could understand the language and intent of each outcome to make student learning straightforward; so we have each simplified learning outcome with its categorical descriptor.
Second, we wanted to create a sequential and apparent development of each outcome through the program course structure, CLICK so, we now students move through the course structure purposefully. They are required to take four core courses at the 200-level that build foundational knowledge in the four subfields of anthropology along with the theory, ethics, conventions, and methods associated with them. CLICK Then, they take two ethnographic courses at the 300-level that has students integrate four-field knowledge into holistic and comparative perspectives in anthropology. CLICK Then, students must take two 400-level topical-theoretical and two 400-level methods courses that have students strengthen and apply their knowledge, expertise, and skills in anthropology. CLICK Finally, they take the capstone course that asks students to synthesize their knowledge, highlight their information literacy and communication skills, and reflect on their anthropological learning and education. Even if students take some courses out of sequence, the program structure and course offerings still provide a map and guide to the development of the knowledge and skills reflected in the learning outcomes.
Third, CLICK we wanted to link or nest the General Education learning outcomes in our program to demonstrate these skills and knowledge as a core to each student’s educational achievements in anthropology. So, CLICK you can see, for example, our first programmatic learning outcome links directly to three General Education learning outcomes. Four field-knowledge both requires as a foundation and develops the social-sciences-related GER learning outcome, which I have shortened here to social context understanding, the natural-science-related learning outcome, which I call scientific thinking, the GER learning outcome related to global and diverse perspectives.
In terms of assessment, CLICK we have moved away from using course grades and miscellaneous assignments as indicators and now focus on built-in assessments throughout the curriculum. All students in our four 200-level core courses take short baseline surveys that measure knowledge of key concepts, theories, ethical considerations, and methods in anthropology. These same assessments are repeated CLICK at the end of these 200-level courses and then again in a selection of 300 and 400-level courses and finally in an exit survey. Through these repeated surveys we aim to gauge the overall progress students demonstrate in achieving the learning outcomes through the program.
However, CLICK these assessments don’t capture higher level-thinking and synthesis so we also have students complete an anthropology e-portfolio in the capstone course in which students reflect on their education and experience in relation to each of the program outcomes. They highlight and make explicit their learning in this required exercise.
CLICK Overall, our new program aims to promote active and reflective learning, ensuring students understand the purpose of their coursework and program requirements (as well as their general education requirements). We are excited as our first cohort of majors navigate the new program, but we are also engaging our grandfathered students in the process of reflection on the learning outcomes as well. I appreciate the opportunity to share our efforts with you and welcome any questions, comments, or feedback that you might have. Thank you.