1. Using the PFW General Education Assessment Template
February 18, 2019
Using the PFW General Education Assessment Template
D. Kent Johnson, PhD
Director of Assessment and Accreditation

2. Assessment Overview
Course Level Assessment
General Education Courses comply with the Statewide General Education Agreement specifying Student Learning Outcomes SLOs all students should achieve
Course Level Assessment assures the course facilitates student learning relative to the stated outcomes
To ensure all outcomes are assessed, we recommend that outcomes are assessed on a three year cycle. Each year about three outcomes are assessed at the course level.
Assessment is part of the overall learning design for courses, it should provide actionable information for continuously improving student achievement of the SLOs.

3. Two Fundamental Questions to Answer
Assessment Overview
Integrating Teaching-Assessment-Learning
Two Fundamental Questions to Answer
How, or to what extent did the planned learning activities (readings, in-class work, and out-of-class work, etc.) contribute to gains in student learning relative to the SLO.
Based on the answer to Question 1 – What changes might a faculty member make in learning activities to improve student learning relative to the SLO

4. Assessing for Continuous Learning Improvement: The Pig Model*
Assessment Process
Assessing for Continuous Learning Improvement: The Pig Model*
Model
Action
Weigh Pig
Assess:
How or To what extent are the planned activities contributing to student achievement of the SLOs?
Feed Pig
Intervene:
What changes might I make to improve student learning?
Re-Assess:
Did the changes I make result in improved student learning?
Keston H. Fulcher, Megan R. Good, Chris M. Coleman, and Kristen L. Smith (2014). “A Simple Model for Learning Improvement: Weigh Pig, Feed Pig, Weigh Pig”. NILOA (

5. Using the GE Course Assessment Plan Template Part 1 – Assessment Cycle
Assessment Process
Using the GE Course Assessment Plan Template
Part 1 – Assessment Cycle
Year or Semester
Course
Section
Outcomes Assessed
AY 2018/19
OLS 252 01
5.1,5.2,5.3
AY 2019/20
5.3,5.4
AY 2020/21
5.5,5.6,1.5

6. Using the GE Course Assessment Plan Template
Assessment Process
Using the GE Course Assessment Plan Template
Part 2 – Assessment Plan
Course:
Section:
GE SLO’s Assessed
Teaching/Learning Activities
Student Artifact or Performance Assessed
Measure or metric used to evaluate performance
Performance Target
 5.1
 5.2
 5.3
5.4
5.5
5.6

7. Using the GE Course Assessment Template –
Assessment Process
Using the GE Course Assessment Template –
Assessment Reporting
GE Outcome Assessed
Teaching/Learning Activity
Student Product or Performance
Measure
Target for Performance
5.1
Semester Project
Individual Paper
Rubric for 5.1
80% of class scores between 3 and 4 on rubric
Outcome
Number of Students Achieving Level of Learning Relative to Performance Level
Capstone (4)
Milestone 2 (3)
Milestone 1 (2)
Benchmark (1)
5.1
10 (35.71%)
7 (25.00%)
1 (3.57%)

8. Assessment Process Using the GE Course Assessment Template –
Assessment Reporting – Part 2, Question 1
Describe your assessment findings for the course. (How and/or to what extent did students achieve the expected learning outcome?
Across all three outcomes, 71.43% of students reached either the Milestone 2 or Capstone Level. This fell slightly short of the goal of 80%. In reviewing the individual assessments of the individual paper, students who performed below the capstone level on 1.5 had trouble expressing their thesis statement clearly. This evaluation of the “argument analysis” for 5.2 suggested that students did not do as good a job as I expected in expressing multiple points of view in constructing an argument. These seem related. I think students need more exposure to argument construction throughout the semester so that by the time they turn in their final paper, they will have the critical thinking skill set necessary to construct a stronger thesis. To achieve this, I will replace the first two homework assignments with assignments more focused on critical reading. While we missed the target on 5.1, the distribution is similar to the overall performance on the final exam. One thing I am going to try is to add some very structured peer review within the team setting as a class activity. This will allow me to move through the groups to better understand thought processes.

9. Assessment Process Using the GE Course Assessment Template –
Assessment Reporting – Part 2, Question 2
Describe changes you are planning in your course to help improve student learning relative to the SLO
Planned Intervention
Change the first two homework assignments to require students to demonstrate critical reading.
Add more classroom activities that emphasize peer review and group discussion of the peer review
Re-Assess based on the changes to evaluate the effectiveness of changes to course.
Report success of intervention when SLO returns in cycle