Challenges and Opportunities in General Education Outcomes Assessment at BC
Faculty at Bellevue College face challenges in defining Gen Ed outcomes, lack a shared conception, and struggle to align teaching with CAC expectations. Assessment data lacks collaboration, and accreditation recommendations call for meaningful reflection and refinement based on assessment results.
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General Education General Education (Institutional Learning) and (Institutional Learning) and Outcomes Assessment at BC Outcomes Assessment at BC Problems and Opportunities
Faculty own General Education Accreditation sets some expectations and parameters We are expected to have a program of General Education. We are expected to Assess our Gen Ed outcomes. We are expected to use the results of Assessment to refine and improve General Education. Within these parameters, we design and implement our program of General Education We write and articulate our Gen Ed outcomes. We decide how they are to be taught. We design, implement and execute our system of Assessment.
Where we are at: We as Faculty don t know our Gen Eds. Perhaps none of us can simply name all 18. A third of our 18 Gen Eds appear to have no definitions. Even where we are aware of a Gen Ed, faculty often lack a shared conception of that Gen Ed. Students don t know our Gen Eds. The only student facing language about General Education at BC is a page in the course catalogue: General Education - Bellevue College - Acalog ACMS We list course outcomes on syllabi, but not necessarily Gen Ed outcomes nor any explanation of how course content relates to Gen Ed outcomes. Students are largely unaware of General Education at BC.
We often fail to live up to our CAC expectations: When we rate a course for a Gen Ed outcome in a CAC proposal, we claim that 30% of the course will be devoted to teaching the Gen Ed outcome (not merely to applying it). We also claim that were a student to take no other course addressing this Gen Ed outcome, this would be sufficient education in that Gen Ed outcome. There is no review or accountability for following through on our attestations to the CAC.
Assessment feels meaningless because it is We do not collaborate on articulating a shared conception of our Gen Ed outcomes. Outcomes data is based on a broad variety of rubrics associated with each outcome. Rubrics are often written to address the curriculum of specific programs (faculty go looking for their rubic ). So we don t really know what our Gen Ed data measures. What we call Gen Ed data more accurately represents a composite of data based on program and course level outcomes. Most of our Gen Eds are not taught generally
Accreditation Recommendations Meanwhile we have an accreditation recommendation expecting us to make Outcomes Assessment meaningful by reflecting on the results of assessment and recommending refinements to teaching practice based on analysis of assessment data (#2). #2: Review the formative measures it uses to assess student learning outcomes and develop a summative assessment framework that can be effectively used as evidence to assess mission fulfillment (Standards 1.B.1, 1.B.2, 1.C.5). #5: Develop a process that utilizes comprehensive planning to guide and document resource allocation. The process needs to integrate the use of assessment and evaluation to illustrate the review of institutional capacity, and that resource allocation aligns to outcomes of assessment and evaluation and guiding continuous improvement (Standards 1.B.1, 1.B.3, 1.B.4, 1.C.7)
Learning From our Mistakes There is no chance of making General Education Outcomes Assessment meaningful without first making General Education meaningful. We as faculty have to come to some consensus about what we are measuring before we can meaningfully measure it. This would be greatly facilitated by having few enough General Education outcomes for us all to remember. We may also want an ongoing collaborative tradition around articulating our shared understanding of our Gen Ed outcomes, sharing curriculum, etc. (something like a standing Gen Ed Committee that does program level work on Gen Ed instruction prior to CAC approval and outcomes assessment)
Opportunity: Lets TILT Gen Ed Our Gen Ed language should provide a concise, coherent statement of what it means to get an education at BC. Our Gen Ed program should be student facing. Students should know what our Gen Eds are and when and how they are being taught. We need to articulate clear criteria for assessing Gen Ed learning. Criteria our students are aware of and can understand.
Opportunity: General Education as a counterpoint* to Guided Pathways Pathways is about getting students into a career. General Education is concerned with the rest of the purpose an education. It s our job to articulate what that is. The intended beneficiaries of General Education are our students as people (even though much of a well thought out program General Education will also be valued by employers). *Think counterpoint in music, not counterpoint in argument.
Opportunity: Addressing our Critics College is frequently criticized as not worth it, where this is a purely economic calculation. Education is increasingly instrumentalized, but education is not just a means to professional ends. It s also a process of becoming a more aware, engaged, and morally mature person. The misguided notion that higher education is mere indoctrination has found traction in our society. A well thought through program of General Education responds simply by saying what an education at this institution means.
Recommendations: Lets build a program of General Education at BC Let s think of our General Education language as a concise summary of what it means to get an education at BC Let s TILT our Gen Eds. Get them out in front of students in a variety of ways (on the college front page, in every syllabus, make them something we talk about with students routinely). Our students should know what we claim to be teaching them. If Gen Eds are going to be infused across disciplines, let s collaborate across disciplines before assessment (articulating our Gen Eds to each other, sharing curriculum and pedagogy, making our instruction of Gen Eds mutually complementary). https://commons.bellevuecollege.edu/wrussellpayne/2023/02/22/project-link/
Next Steps: Start a General Education working group. AAC&U Institute on General Education and Assessment (June 5-9). Pause Outcomes Assessment during 2023-24 for the purpose of renewing our program of General Education. Establish a General Education committee.
