1. Assessment of General Education at the University of Wisconsin- Madison Report to the University Academic Planning Council April 20, 2006

2. UW-Madison’s General Education Requirements –Communication, 3 to 5/6 credits: Part A and Part B –Quantitative Reasoning, 3 to 6 credits: Part A and Part B –Breadth, 13-15 credits, distributed over three areas Students are required to complete the following breadth requirements: –Natural Science, 4 to 6 credits, consisting of one 4- or 5-credit course with a laboratory component; or two courses providing a total of 6 credits. –Humanities/Literature/Arts, 6 credits –Social Studies, 3 credits –Ethnic Studies, 3 credits

3. Why do we do assess General Education? Goals: Are we achieving the goals for gen ed set out by faculty? Quality: Are we doing the best we can for our students? Resources: Are we making the best use of scarce resources? Baseline data, articulation, awareness. Accreditation: An increasingly important element in institutional accreditation.

4. General Education Assessment Plan, 2003 NOTE: We are not assessing individual instructors or students, sometimes not even individual courses. This is program level assessment Long-range planning. Main goal is articulation and assessment of student learning and related outcomes. Areas: Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, Breadth, ESR. Developmental: Future work with ONSP, LEAP.

5. Work to Date Work of the Quantitative Assessment Program. Comprehensive study of Comm B requirement: Professor Denise Solomon, finished 2001 with policy changes completed Spring, 2003. QR-A: A First Look. A curricular analysis, 2001. Information Literacy workbook project: Denise Solomon and Abbie Loomis, 2002.

6. Work to Date, Continued Student mini focus groups, 2004. ESR: completed assessment loop as of fall 2005-06. Comm B database, “redundancy”. Chuck Halaby QR A Studies, 2005. Chuck Halaby QR B Studies, in progress. Faculty, Instructional Staff, and TA articulation of gen ed goals survey: currently in the field.

7. Studies in Planning Stages Structured interviews of Comm B TAs to learn more about their training and training needs (Brad Hughes). Assessment study or studies of Comm A and Information Literacy (Comm A Course Directors and Abbie Loomis). Course-taking patterns: transfer students, breadth in programs for which breadth is limited. Study of students who took “Core Plus” math in high school. Visit the website: http://www.ls.wisc.edu/gened/Assessment/default.htm